Baby clothes budget

[Charlotte2020]

Just that really, I'm 26 weeks pregnant and I've planned a rough budget but forgot to include clothing to for the ever growing baby! Does anyone have any suggestions for the first year or two?
In terms of spending I'd prefer more M&S & Sainsbury's TU to mini boden & Joules prices!

Asda! Lovely quality clothes, dead cheap, wash/dry well. Sainsbury’s are good too but I don’t go there so much.

Also decent second hand clothing bundles are worth their weight in gold. My DS is 4 months old and is shortly going to be wearing 9-12m it’s crazy how quickly they grow out of things.

DS is 9 months but already in 12-18 months.
Most of his clothes are marks, John Lewis or TU, but we have a fair bit of jojo, joules and mini Boden mixed in.

I would budget around £50 per month but be prepared to spend it more as £150 once every 3 months. Essentials aren’t too pricey but the outfits add up and you will want the outfits.

I wait (like a spider) until the 25% off everything comes on for TU (every few months they have a big event) then I stock up on short sleeve/ long sleeve vests, sleep suits and socks. It saves so much money.

Marks can be great value but I find them hit and miss. Some stuff is pricey for no apparent reason. I shop the sales but do like their sleeping bags as the age ranges are bigger (6-18 months) meaning they don’t grow out of them as fast!

John Lewis sales are really good and actually a lot of their basic stuff even full price is lovely quality. I have two (technically PJ’s but you’d never know) outfits that cost £8 each full price.

Jojo, joules and mini boden I exclusively buy from sales/30%+ promos and I buy BIG so they have room to grow in.
No joke I have mini boden jumpers in 2-3 years stashed away. Will be rolling those sleeves up for months

Don't buy anything at first other than a few basics, you will be swamped with gifts of cute baby clothes. Even people you have barely met will give you things.

Then buy in sales and pad out with second hand bundles, you probably don't need to spend more than £10 per month unless you want to.

I also wouldn't buy too much of any one brand to start with until you find out how big/long your baby is. Some of the brands eg H&M and smaller/thinner - so its worth looking at actual dimensions of baby clothes as what is 6-9 months in one brand can be nothing like 6-9 months in another.

We barely spent anything at all for six months - so many people give you things! At first, we thought it was incredibly generosity, but now as my DS is growing out of his clothes, I realise it's just a good way to get all the old clothes out of your house

We've only started buying things now that he's about eight months. Agree with all the other posters - wait until there's a sale, then splurge a whole load at once. I've got bags of 12-18 months ready and waiting! You'll still probably pick up the odd bit as you go along.

And eBay is great for good quality stuff that's been worn a handful of times.

Budget-wise, we probably spend about £30 a month, but that's on all sorts of age-ranges

See what you can get in the Christmas sales. The little baby stuff always seems to be the last to go so you can get some great bargains. Also there are great selling pages on FB for Boden etc as well as eBay and FB marketplace.

It's really hard to say a figure, you get bought lots and might have some great hand me downs. I was so lucky with DS as my gorgeous friend gave me lovely clothes and I have done the same.

Honestly I buy pretty much as his clothes as eBay bundles. I've had tons of great stuff, not spent all that much, and not had the hassle if having to get every single thing individually.

I bought all my DTs clothes off of eBay, then sold them on once they’d outgrown it. Saved an absolute fortune, and it cost next to nothing to clothe them for the first couple of years!

I only buy next/joules/mini Boden/tu and have got some absolute bargains.

They’re now just shy of 3 and I’ve bought some new clothes (the prices on eBay were a couple of quid less than new!) and they’ve got an opinion on what they wear now which makes it more expensive/time consuming to hunt out clothes that they will actually wear!

Sainsburys are great, as is Asda, primary, Tesco and next sale. I bought pretty much all new for my little girl but have, on clearing the attic, realised how much money I've wasted as a lot was only worn once or twice before she outgrew it. I now often buy bundles of Next items on eBay and have had some excellent condition items costing very little.

Go for second hand and up where they are coming from - Joules are very good as hard wearing, M&S good too. Sains still invaluable for new babygrows and every day.

You do not need to spend alot honestly - so many people are struggling to pass them along these days - ask around and be prepared for a good wash and iron session and no guilt ditching the ones you don't want

Charity shops are your friend!

round our way you can get baby clothes (up to about 6-9m) at 3/5/10 for £1.

facebook market place often have bundles going for free or just a few £.

ditto car boots, although it's obviously not the season for those atm

then keep an eye out in sales etc.

You spend what you can afford.
DD is 5 weeks old and already outgrowing her baby grows length wise. They wear stuff for such a short period of time. I’ve got all her 3-6 months stuff second hand off Facebook, got a huge bag for life for £10 and all I’ve had to do is get a snow suit and a few extra baby grows. Bargains are out there.

Agree with everything @RB68 said apart from the ironing! I ironed the vests and babygros I took to hospital and I haven’t ironed anything since!

Don't buy loads of the 0-1 months clothes or first size as they don't stay in them very long at all. My 7 pound baby was only in them a couple of weeks and my 9 pound baby had grown out of them when we left the hospital.

In the first year when asked by relatives what dc would like for birthday / Christmas we asked for clothes

This sorted them out for the first year and we only needed to buy basic vests which we picked up from TU.

People tend to donate a lot of pre-owned stuff too and when they are under a year it gets hardly worn before they grow out of it

@bookisnerd I agree with you. When my little one was born early (the day we actually moved house) I lost the iron for 3 months and it only comes out on special occasions these days - usually when I am sewing rather than laundering. I am lucky to have an Aga like oven and just fold pop on top and it magically irons and airs woo love my Everhot!!