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.

this one will be in DD2's cloth nappies.

We spent £67, then the travel system, which we got half price from M&P because they were discontinuing the colour (was £210 I think in the end).
Freecycle, friends, ebay, NCT nearly New Sales, supermarkets etc etc.
Babies do not need to cost a fortune.... they will cost you enough later on!

Am now 19weeks with DC, and have spent so far....£0!
We do need a new travel system though, as DDs is falling apart.

We spent £67, then the travel system, which we got half price from M&P because they were discontinuing the colour (was £210 I think in the end).
Freecycle, friends, ebay, NCT nearly New Sales, supermarkets etc etc.
Babies do not need to cost a fortune.... they will cost you enough later on!

Am now 19weeks with DC, and have spent so far....£0!
We do need a new travel system though, as DDs is falling apart.

We spent £67, then the travel system, which we got half price from M&P because they were discontinuing the colour (was £210 I think in the end).
Freecycle, friends, ebay, NCT nearly New Sales, supermarkets etc etc.
Babies do not need to cost a fortune.... they will cost you enough later on!

Am now 19weeks with DC, and have spent so far....£0!
We do need a new travel system though, as DDs is falling apart.

oops- sorry

DS is 4.5 so all prices are out of date but we didn't spend nearly that much. The only new things we bought were a car seat (about £100 - but this is only essential if you have a car) and a Maclaren pushchair with cosytoes and headhugger - about £200 - and we are still using it occasionally when DS is having a fit of the lazies. We used the family moses basket - my mum bought a new mattress but all the sheets and blankets were hand-me-downs. DS inherited a huge heap of baby clothes all of which have been passed on. My BF passed on her baby sling which I did use, but not all that much, so I was glad I hadn't bought one new; and a newborn padded all-in-one suit which was useful as DS was born in March and it was still chilly. I did buy washable nappies but not until DS was about three months old.

Don't be precious about second-hand items - prams, clothes etc, most of them are very lightly used and completely cleanable - even nappies.

Have never been to one but going to an NCT sale is probably a good start.

Don't buy too much too soon but let it be known you are a bit skint, most people have stacks of hardly-used baby clothes/equipment, you can't even sell it and it's a pleasure to give it to a good home. We had loads of stuff given, much appreciated too. I have a microwave steriliser and six bottles in the loft for instance!

All our cot, nursery stuff, bibs, etc were from Ikea, the cheapest ranges.

As a rule, don't buy anything at all from Mothercare. They are always the most expensive option.

We spent:
about £30 on 2 x 2nd hand slings (small & large for me & dh)
about £15 on muslins
maybe £20 on random stuff (baby nail scissors, start off supply of disposable nappies)

rest all came 2nd hand . . . and we had a lot of stuff - 3 x pushchairs, 2 x car seat, frilly as hell moses basket, more babygros than any baby could conceivably wear (even one as sicky as dd was), a vast selection of different varieties of washable nappies etc .

We did get cot new (when dd was about 3 months) but it was a present from my Nan - cot sheets I made by cutting up & hemming old double sheets to the right size.

I can only suggest cultivating friends in their late 30s with 3 plus children - we seemed to know an awful lot of people who were very certain they didn't want any more babies and wanted to rehome their baby stuff!

In retrospect the only thing I would have bought new was nappies - when dd was about 1 we replaced all the random velcro on ones with boring old terry squares, and they were far easier to use.

Ikea is wonderful - Antlop high chairs, the £60 cots (although John Lewis has a good one for the same sort of amount that's solid rubberwood - if she does prefer to buy that new).

Beg, borrow, steal (ok not the last one) stuff secondhand (other than cot mattress and car seat as others have said). Freecycle, NCT Nearly New etc. are great.

Buy only bare essentials and wait to see a. what presents and handmedowns she gets and b. what she REALLY needs.

I spent much, much less than £500 with DS due to being very skint at the time but not entitled to the grant (long story). Almost everything we had was secondhand - from friends or friends of friends. IME people are glad to pass on things that they've only used for a few months and don't have space to keep.

everythign second hand, excpet for car seat, which was the result of gift vouchers from work.

Another vote for sourcing second-hand. Boot sales are great. Need to hone on people who just want to free up space in their homes and are happy for their baby things to be going to a good home.

Decent washing machine is where the big money should go if necessary (imo of course).

we bought:

a basket and lambs fleece for little to sleep on

a few sleeping sacks

a few new born babygrows - and we got given lots as presents too - everyone loves buying nb sizes!!!

my work bought a bath and a few toys

a changing mat

washable nappies (motherease sandys)

and that is about all...

really mamadiva new borns only need time, care and lots and lots of love!

oh - a sling - I forgot to tell you about the wonders of new borns and slings!!!!

And I happened upon a bouncy chair with a vibrator, heartbeat, sound of the ocean machine on it (think sex and the city "Your not a bad mother you just didn't have the chair!") I bought it because it was in the sale - they are magic. Mine cost 20 quid!

The only thing I would get new is a mattress and car seat (if starting out).

Am amazed with the amount of 'stuff' that is sooo unnecessary.

Essential: nursing bras (if breastfeeding), cot, sleep suits, cot blankets, diapers. (sling)

You don't 'need': changing table, changing mat (use a towel). I don't get muslin squares.

But start small - you can always get things later as and when.

We were fairly skint at the time, and certainly didn't get no £500 grant from anywhere, it is easy to get everything you need for well under £500 as long as you are not a pram snob etc.

Spread the word everywhere you can that you are having a baby and are willing to accept baby stuff. Say yes to everything - sort it out later. you will be truly amazed at the quality you get. Fill in any gaps once the baby's actually been born!

In truth I did spend about #600 of my own money, largely on travel system and cloth nappies, plus was given a beautiful new cot by my mum, but there had not been a new baby in our family for a while. I wish though that I had bought a second-hand pram (much nicer than travel system - our expensive purchase lasted precisely 5 months, although the carseat was good) and then bought a 2nd-hand Maclaren pushchair when ds was 6 months old. I also wish I'd bought 2nd-hand nappies. They cost very little second hand and are much softer once they've been washed a few times.

Your friend could also join Freecycle. Lots of people dispose of baby stuff there including expensive things like prams and cots.

We didn't spend much at all. We bought a travel system from mothercare which included a car seat (car seat and mattress were the only brand new must haves I insisted on). Everything else is pretty much second hand.

The amount of clothes DS has is ridiculous and we won't need to buy anything until he is about 3 years old and by then I am sure we'll have more hand me downs from cousins anyway.

I was one of those people when I fell pg that I wanted everything new but was offered second hand. Took everything offered and glad I did. He's been in some of the stuff we have once or twice.

Just another vote for Freecycle - ours is always awash with baby stuff, and if she posts a wanted ad, she could prob get everything.

One of the charity shops where I live always has a lovely selection of prams outside - full travel systems and three wheelers go for 30 quid.

The For Sale boards here are excellent for baby clothes bundles, slings and nappies

Didn't get a pram, but got a travel system buggy which could lie flat with a cosytoes to keep the baby warm, and the car seat (never used them together so wouldn't bother doing that again but just get a separate buggy and car seat if it worked out cheaper).

Some buggies don't lie flat and can only be used from a few months old, so worth checking unless your friend already has access to a separate pram. I know lots of people like slings, but they didn't do much for me.

Cot was £30 from an NCT sale, and we bought a new mattress. I don't like tiny babies in anything other than white so stocked up on white vests and babygrows - in fact at the time found the asda and tesco ones softer than M&S etc. Any outfits and patterned stuff was given to us as gifts after the baby was born. Oh we did buy muslins, cot sheets, a couple of blankets (but were given others) hats and a snowsuit thing from TKMaxx as it was January.

We did spend money upfront on washables too, but other than that I really don't think we bought a lot else. Moses basket was second hand but can't remember if we bought it or was given to us, and we bought a new mattress for that too.

Bought breast pump but used it twice, and bought bottles (and microwave steraliser) which didn't use for the first few months - but to be honest even if your friend is planning to bf I did find it reassuring to have the bottles etc to hand in case of problems.

Both my children hated the bouncy chairs etc so worth your friend seeing if she could borrow things like that for a short time to see if its worth buying.