Need maternity clothes for two seasons on a budget. Help me please?

[OhTheDrama]

So I'm unexpectedly pregnant with DD3 after giving up and accepting that it wasn't going to happen again! Yep you've guessed it, with given away all our baby stuff so because of this I'm on a VERY tight budget with maternity clothes. I don't know how I'm going to manage this as my pregnancy will span two seasons (due in November) and I need to be smart for work. I'm only part time so will need casual clothes as well.

Please can anyone give ideas for a capsule maternity wardrobe?

[OhTheDrama]

Sorry carried away, meant to sat DC3!

[doyoulikewaffles]

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

I would initially look at your current wardrobe and see which things could still be worn during pregnancy. As you're not due until the winter, you will hopefully not be too big during the summer months, so could probably get away with wearing dresses and leggings/tunic tops that you might already have? For work, there are loads of stretch pencil skirts in shops like Primark at the moment, which you could wear with a maternity vest top and then smart jackets that you already have.

Primark also do maternity clothes now; I've seen jeans in my local one for £10 or £12 per pair. New Look maternity clothes are also good and very affordable. Also there are lots of sellers on Ebay that specialise in selling secondhand maternity clothes, so definitely worth a look on there too.

[homeaway]

I think you will be able to get away with dresses for work for the summer. You migt find that quite a few of your non maternity tops will fit so I would buy a couple of pairs of trousers and match tops with those. Could you buy some longer vest/cami tops to wear under cardigans that you already have?

[LoadsaBlusher]

eBay for good quality second hand maternity jeans - I also got brand new with tags DP Skinny Maternity jeans on eBay for £3.99.
For everything else just go a size or two up in Primark basics
For work you could try jersey midi dresses worn with current blazers ??

[OhTheDrama]

I don't think much of my normal wardrobe would fit as it's fitted due to my hourglass shape, I think one or two blouses and some t-shirts may work. I'm planning on getting plain short sleeved tops and dressing them up with a scarf and adding a plain cardi when it's cooler.

I have ordered this for only £14 from amazon to wear with leggings and flats and with boots and a cardi in autumn.

Thanks for the tips.

[Plateofcrumbs]

My theory (which I haven't fully tested yet) is that anything I buy on ebay (as long as I don't horrendously overpay) I can then resell on ebay and recoup most of the money I've spent.

There is a good market for brand names like Isabella Oliver - I've picked up a couple of good, classic dresses for £20 - £30 which I expect to make most of my money back on post-pregnancy provided I get around to listing them

If you are a canny ebayer you can even turn a small profit (looking for items ending at unpopular times of day, items which are poorly described/photographed etc)

[insanelycheerful]

H&M maternity clothes are good and v reasonable value if buying new. I got some great straight leg over the bump jeans for £25 and a pair of over the bump navy chino type trousers also £25 I think.

In the past I've also used New Look maternity range which is also v good value. Perhaps get a few of their cheapy t shirt type tops which you can team with non maternity (ie usable for years to come) waterfall style cardigans.

A friend also invested in a few cheapy H&M jersey wrap style dresses (non maternity) when she was pregnant and they could be worn with tights in colder weather or on their own in the summer months.

I've only ever bought one maternity item in eBay and that was a next maternity dress for my step sister's wedding. Would probably have been £30-40 new and I paid about £12. Sure you can get even better deals than that on eBay as I imagine people look to recoup a bit of cash on their maternity wardrobes.