So is it really possible to spend less than £500 on baby to start?

[mamadiva]

My friend is here wityh mke and is currently 4 months pregnant, she wants to start baby shopping but is skint so can only really afford £500 sure start grant. I have tried explaining that there are so many thing she can wait to buy with first family allowance rather than mad dash to buy. Have also told all of the things I think are a waste of money. She won't take my word for it!

Could you all tell us how much roughly you spent on your LO when you were expecting and what was your best/worst buy? Sorry for hounding you all but I have to do it LOL. I am scouring internet sites to compile a must have list as we speak. Pram etc as cheap as possible she is bloody fussy

Thank You all.

First child: stupid amount

second: hardly anything. All you need is a cot, nappies and some clothes tbh.

ok well I spent a LOT. but you don't have to honestly.

if you have an ikea near you you can get stuff like a cot for £59! or look out for sales on websites too, kiddicare often have good bargains and will pricematch other sites if you can find things cheaper. (use froogle.com to search for specific products)

Only had one, spent a fortune, most of it was wasted, stuff that was used for a month or two then ebayed.

Good sites for getting stuff:
Ebay
Freecycle
Gumtree
MN of course!!

We are reasonbly well off and spent £500+ on travel system type thing - I ebayed it after 6 months, bought another rear/forward facing posh pushchair, ebayed it after 2 months and am now using a pushchair that I got on ebay for £32 inc postage and packing - ds is 16 months and prefers to walk - there is no need for an expensive set of wheels!!!

I spent about £250 on a Graco travel system (which lasted 3 children!), £50 on a second hand cot bed (was given a moses basket by a friend), £15 on 24 terry nappies being sold off cheap in Sainsbury's, about £30 on vests,sleepsuits,hat,scratch mits etc and a few bits and bobs. Probably about £400 all in and most of it got reused for dds 2 and 3.

that £500 can actually get you everything you need

I spent far, far less that £500.

I bought:

• Baby Bjorn sling NEW
• Baby Bjorn bouncy chair NEW
• Borrowed Moses basket from my sister FREE
• Used family cot that was at least 40 years old FREE
• Borrowed second hand pram (that my mother had bought for £30 for previous grandchild) FREE
• Borrowed blankets, sheets etc from family FREE
• All clothes etc were presents or borrowed FREE

So - spent about £150

Thanks I got my pram, cot and any big thing bought for me but I know it came to around £1000 in the end! My pram was £500 itself!

If I were to do it all again I would change everything I bought basically because I know I bought to much and most of it never got used.

cot, free from big sister/ aunt/ uncle/ brother/ neighbour etc or dont bother with a cot at all and co sleep
blanket? a couple of old pashmina's will do
baby bath? a plastic tub, old one, or new one from poundshop
clothes? same as cot. from friends and family. or neighbours of friends and family
pushchair. ditto
nappies? unlikely to be able to buy second hand. and if using disposables, she wil lhave tofork out a fortune on
nappy bag? any old bag. most places seem to be giving away 'eco' shoppers. very stylish ones with magazines usually.
milk? breastfeed.
massage oil? somethng from the kitchen
clothes? friends and family hand me downs, or charity shop if feeling extravagant.

a baby can be as cheap or expensive as youwant to make it.

£500 is enough. I spent £100 on a cot, £60 on a car seat, £100 on a pushchair, £100ish on nappies and clothes. Other bits and bobs I was given or borrowed eg cot sheets and blankets, a sling (pushchair was suitable from 3 months, or 6 months, can't remember).

I didn't buy a high chair until ds was 6mths, which was at xmas so I had a bit of time to save up.

Hell yes!
Second hand buggy, second hand or cheap (ie non brand) clothes. Baby looks just as sweet in Tesco babygro as in Gap one. You only need sleepsuit/vesty things and cardis.
Ebay/charity shops/freecycle.
New car seat recommended( although we got 2nd hand one).
No point being fussy re buggy brand/colourway. It will be covered in milk/sick/crumbs/wee soon enough!
Also..presents from friends and family can cover any gaps you may have.

oh yes, no need for highchair until weaning really. They can't sit in it anyway at first, and it's much nicer to cuddle or prop amongst some cushions (from the sofa or bed, not specially bought ones!).

also, things like highchairs and baby rocky chair things are not essential unless you make them. lots ofbabies are perfectly happy siting in the corner of the sofa whislt youfeed them, or on the carpet on the floor.
cot non essential too. co sleeping is the norm is developing countries because it is too expensive to buy a bed speccialy for a baby who will outgrow it so quickly.
car seat non essential if you never sit in a car
pushchair seems to be essential in this country, but my sister seems t omanage perfectly well without one.
th elist goes on.

Yes,absolutely,no-one needs all that stuff that is pushed at you.All you need are sleepsuits and underwear, snowsuit if its winter and some basic outfits with cardigans,nappies and a breast pump.oh and a moses basket for daytime naps.

i was all set for pfbhood and gigantic spend but really couldn't bear most of the stuff to buy. apart from the stokki sleepi cot which makes me very soppy.

anyway ds slept in our bed for 9m, had an ebay pram which later sold for the same amount. car seat and sling passed on by a friend. the only thing we shelled out on was trip trap, which i will doubtless sell or pass on. a trip to ikea will do it all for about £150 plus whatever nappies.

Yes of course it's possible, I spent far less than that too.

Best buy - bouncy chair £20

Moses basket would have been my worst buy but thankfully my sis loaned me one. DS was in 0-3 clothes and moses basket about 5 weeks.

Also I wish I had bought just vests and sleepsuits, and two or 3 outfits for social events in each size as fancy outfits never get used.

I have always been a size ahead in clothes, I pick things up in the sales, car boots, charity shops, the size above ds nees and put them away. It saves me a fortune!

Ah yes forgot about our cot - we ended co-sleeping!

yes!

used Gumtree to source a lot of great stuff second hand, as well as cards in shops and the local paper.

co-sleeping is free.

if you're planning on breastfeeding, just nursing bras, some pads, maybe some Lansinoh and three or four cheap pillows will do.

Didn't buy a cot as co-slept.

Got given a travel system/pram/car seat.

Got given clothes and blankets and stuff.

Bought a sling from car boot for £3.50. Also got loaned an EllaRoo wrap from local LLL group.

Didn't buy bottles or sterilising as wanted to breastfeed. Later got given pump and bottles and bought new teats which were about £10 by the time we found one ds would take.

Um.

Can't think of anything else much. We got given loads of stuff because of dh's work which was fab. But you really don't need to spend £500.

Charity shops FARA is great we(my firend - limited budget) got virtually new pram with seat and carry cot £50 including rain cover, floating bath support £5, Travel Cot with raised baby area and changer £30, bedding (fitted/flat sheets and blankets - 3 sets) £15 Bouncy chair £10 and Sling £10 total £120

Also clothes of varying sizes and seasons, a playmat and toys/ books at odd times probably £200 and this saw the baby thru to toddling

I spent less than two hundred quid - but, to be fair, was given loads of stuff. I spent about fifty quid on a cheap buggy (in retrospect, I think I should have spent more), fifty quid on a carseat, a bouncy chair that dd refused to go in and some basic white babygros, mitts etc from John Lewis. Was given second hand cot, moses basket, sling and blankets.

Actually, I was given a completely ludicrous amount of stuff (new and second hand) and ended up giving most of it away to other people.

We were sking and so spent very little.
Everyone insists on buying new for babies, so it's very cheap to pick up used items.
Pushchair - £20 (second-hand)
cot - given from relatives
New mattress - c.£30
Cot sheets - cut up old sheets and sewed new ones!
Carseat - c.£50 (bought new)
Clothes - given loads, bought bog standard white vests/babygrows. c.£20
Moses basket - borrowed from a friend for 6 weeks.

We also received lots of useful presents from friends, rather than endless cute-but-impractical outfits.

Is this convincing your friend mamadiva?!

you can get a baby change bag free by joining the boots parenting club

Pram needn't cost the earth. You can get a lightweight travel system with car seat for about £150 in Mothercare or Babies'R'Us.

Nappies......terry squares and a few wraps will cost less than £50 and will do for ages, or Lidl nappies are cheap but very good ime.

Agree there are lots of things that are totally unnecessary and a budget of £500 should be more than enough if used carefully and thoughtfully.

Good Luck to your friend

£200 in Total so the initial £120 and then £80.

I spent about £30 on a Wilkinet, inherited a load of cloth nappies and pins. Bought some wipes. Ihherited and was given loads of clothes.

I honestly spent under a hundred. You don't need anything if you're breastfeeding. There are clothes and nappies which babies are growing out of, ready to be passed on.

Actually I remember having to fork out quite a bit for Motherease pants.