Thrifty baby ideas

[outthere]

Hi all,

Now I'm on my third I'm starting to feel like I know what I need to spend a bit of money on and what can be saved... for example someone recently posted that you don't have to fork out for an expensive changing bag - a large handbag with a changing mat will do just as well.

Thought it might be a good idea to exchange some tips...

I've just realised my maternity mattress protectors will double up (unused ones obviously!) as perfect little changing mats once baby arrives. One to keep downstairs, in the car etc...

I've also decided to buy a load of maternity pads for after the birth but I haven't bought quite as many this time... I think that Sainsbury's value pads will do just fine for the days when the flow's not so heavy but I'll be thankful for that bit of extra padding...

Any other ideas?

If you don't opt for washable nappies, Lidl are the cheapest and best disposables by a long way. (I wanted to use washables, but had unexpected C Section and couldn't face it.)

MoonFace :) that rule will not apply after baby is born :P

my point was, that often slings are given as an alternative for buying a pram/travel system etc and I do appreciate the fact that not everyone can afford or wants to spend a couple hundred quid on a buggy but I just feel that the sling idea is NOT really an alternative in some cases - I would say go second hand or get a cheaper make :) Btw am not against slings at all - they're just not for me :)

Rockchick- the baby jogger city mini can be a travel system if you have another one. That's what I'm doing!

if anyone was interested

Get bad SPD so you can't go to any shops before birth. This focuses one's mind on what you really need!

Washable nappies - the smaller sizes are bargains on Ebay and clothnappytree and many other places. Can start using them at any time - it's not compulsory to give up the disposables totally!
NCT sales for clothes and loads of other stuff like cot sheets.
Cut up old sheets and clothes to make wipes, muslins, protective covers, etc.

Best advice I got was buy as little as possible before birth, as people come out of the woodwork to give you stuff when you look about to pop! Also what you need is so individual that only you can decide what you need.

Ds is 3 now and has been in our car under 20 times in his life, so travel system would have been total overkill! A from-birth easy-fold slim pushchair, however, was vital (Maclaren XT plus JohnLewis muff). Someone who never goes on buses/trains would have other priorities.

Also chat to friends with babies turning 1 - they will be desperate to get stuff out of their houses while toys take over, even if they want it back again for another child later (when you will be delighted to give it back!) About to acquire a wonderful nursing chair and footstool from a friend who thinks I'm doing her a favour!

Before buying anything expensive think about how long it might be useful for. For example, shops will try and sell you a changing table and you might imagine how nice it will look in the nursery and how good it will be to change baby at table height. But your baby may start rolling over at 4 months, and certainly by 7 or 8 months they will just be too fidgity to change on a table. So you will be changing them on the floor and your changing table is just an oddly shaped set of shelves.

Perhaps better to put changing mat on top of a normal chest of drawers? It will be the right height for changing your small and will be useful for keeping baby's things in until they leave home!

I bought a cheap plastic change may from asda online and had it on chest of drawers, when he started rolling it went on bed or floor. Cost less than a tenner. Second hand Amby, eBay, then second hand cot with new mattress.

Mat not may! Sorry

There are always 100s of 'travel systems' in the for sale sections of local newspapers - we were given a second hand one but it was so much trouble to put up that we abondoned it .

90% of the crap stuff you are told you need for a baby is total marketing rubbish.

Agree that unless you are Billy No Mates you will be given far, far too much stuff when the baby arrives. . Long lost friends of your parents and in-laws will start sending gifts !

Do not buy a single soft toy - your house will be taken over by them.

A piece of advice I have taken on board is to ask myself "are we throwing technology at it? i.e. did they have it 50 years ago?" Lots of the "essential" gadgets developed in the past few years may only have been developed since cheap shipping from China became commonplace.

I am with those you-don't-need-a-fancy-travel-system: there was lots of wise advice on MN which we ignored. We got one, DS is 3.5 months old and I am already sick of the big, heavy, unmanouverable(sp?) thing. To be fair, we got the car seat & bases (for 2 cars ) with our Tesco clubcard points and my parents bought the pushchair piece, so we didn't spend out on it, but a few weeks ago I replaced it with a 2nd hand umbrella stroller for about 40% of price new. If I'd paid £00s I've have been well miffed: lots of pushchairs can be converted to take a maxicosi car seat with £20 clips so I'd probably have picked up a second hand pushchair+new adaptors if i knew then wheat I know now. We did spend out on the carrycot/lie-flat-car-seat piece which said it was for "up to 6 months", but DS isn't a big baby and has already pretty much grown out of it.

Also, anything they only use for a few weeks (whilst it seems like ages before they arrive) is worth picking up second hand: moses baskets, cribs etc.

AND we went MAD on the amount of newborn clothes: I gave away over a dozen tiny-baby sized babygros to our local SCBU when DS outgrew them. We probably needed 6: yes, we washed every day, but I am only buying 1 packet of each thing in size 3-6 months.

Just clarifying: if anyone does take my tips on board, do CHECK whether the lie-flat-pushchair you're after DOES take the maxicosi seat.

And sorry for the gibbering:
those *who say
knew then *what I know now.

Have had 2 big cash savers the first scabbing off friends and family have had so many hand me downs had been crazy 2 car seats, bumbo seat, Moses basket and stand, travel cot, steriliser and others.

The 2nd has been eBay I have managed to get practically new condition fisher price play gym, swing and bouncer for £50 on local pick up so no postage costs have bought practically all my maternity clothes off eBay too.

I have bought the city jogger with the carrycot all the stokke, quinnys etc look like little ones will grow out of them so quickly I even got a discount online as bought the footmuff pushchair carrycot together for £335.

Love a good bargain refuse to pay the money some of these things seem to retail at and i think I've still managed to overspend

My biggest tip is get what you think you need not what other people tell you to get because you will only end up replacing it!
For example with dc1 i got a cheaper lie flat pushchair as everyone told me that "monster prams" were a waste of money but I didnt take into account that since I walked miles everywhere and we didnt live in a built up area (so was often over rough paths/grass etc) i would have been better off getting something more substantial! So when the wheel fell off my cheaper puchchair after only a couple of months i did would have spent less money doing that in the first place.

second hand is fine or pretty much anything, and i love ebay and charity shops.

Baby baths are really not needed especially for dc2 onwards as you can just dunk it in the big bath with a support while bathing your older child (well unless the older child is say a teenager they may object to that)

My other tip is breastfeed if you can - i bottlefed my first three and breastfed my fourth and the difference to my shopping bill was happily very noticable :)

We bought a fairly cheap travel system 180 quid maybe- but what a waste- the pram took up the entire boot and was so heavy I dreaded getting it out.
Bought a second hand mclaren for 15 quid and I have never looked back- when no 2 comes i will get a second hand double mclaren and find a way of putting a newborn in it- maybe sling him till he is big enough to put in there.

Love love the mclaren push chairs-the lighter the chair the better.

we did not buy anything else new- all second hand or given but that travel systm waste still bugs me.

Secondhand all the way - DS has the most beautiful clothes, almost all under a quid a piece from car boot sales. Most of his vests and sleepsuits were free from friends or bought for 10p! eBay furnished the nursery. £20 for a cotbed, £10 for a rocking chair (which will look lovely in our living room once he's weaned), £20 for a solid wooden bookcase. Ikea for new things like changing mat (used on top of a chest of drawers I already had). Sleeping bags - genius for a wriggly baby who hates sheets, bought for a couple of quid on eBay. And I agree that a sling/light stroller is way better than a hefty travel system that they'll just grow out of in a few months. I think that's the main beef - once they hit 9kg, the travel system is useless.

I'd really recommend my stroller - reconditioned Petite Star Zia Plus for £65 from nurseryvalue.co.uk. Suitable from birth and so light :) my mates with fancypants Quinnys wish they'd bought one instead!

Thanks for that website recommendation hubbahubster, looks really good!

gumtree! we bought a cot plus so many extras on it.
freecycle - I asked for pregnancy books and was given loads!
changing bag - sign up to parental club at boots and buy some nappies with voucher which they will send you and they will give you one for free.
I am not intending to buy a bottle sterilizer - hot water poured into bottles does the job.
Instead of buying bottle warmer - buy a quick boiling cattle, then work out how much hot water you need to mix with cold (pre- boiled) to make the milk.
If you have cotton threads lying around a house and a pair of knitting needles and basic knitting skills - make a blanket instead of buying one.

Breastfeed: No need for bottles or formula or sterilising gubbins.

Wait until 6 months to wean: They can eat what you eat, and no need to sterilise.

Co-sleep: No need for a cot / moses basket / bassinet / crib.

Sling: No need for buggy / pram.

Accept hand-me-downs gratefully.

You don't need a changing table.

Washable nappies: esp if bought second hand.

People think I'm all lentilly and eco, but I'm really just a lazy arsed cheapskate.

Another one - instead of buying expensive nursing nighties, get the cheap night dress form peacocks - it has got buttons at the front.
www.peacocks.co.uk/product/index.jsp?productId=5053171&prodFindSrc=paramNav

Instead of maternity knickers, buy your favourite knikers in bigger size.

I've managed so far (29 weeks) just wearing my normal pants - they are all low cut so fit nicely under my bump.

The travel system thing is interseting. I didn't have one for my twins and really wished that I did. I found that I couldn't just pop into a shop quickly because I couldn't carry two car seats at the same time so I'd have to take both baies out of their seats (usually disturbing them) and strap them into their buggy. It was a complete faff because it was also the middle of winter and I'd have to remove all their blankets to get them out, rearrange all their blankets in the pushchair and then reverse the whole thing on the way back. Would have been so much easier if I could have just clipped their car seats to a buggy and been on my way. It really put me off 'popping' out anywhere and life became a bit restricted.

This time I'm buying an adapter for my Phil and Ted's / Cabriofix combo that I already have. That way I know that if I need to quickly pop out for something I can push baby in a puschair (carseat attached) whilst simultaneously herding the other two kids if need be.

FWIW a lightweight stroller was never any good for me as I like to do a lot of walking on paths, tracks and fields. Yes, my P&T can be a bit heavy to get out of the car but has been invaluable in other ways and I'm really glad I got it...

Not sure I'm going to bother with a steriliser this time... if I need to sterilise dummies or anything I'll just boil them in a pan of water for 10 minutes then store them in a sealed container. I'm always in the kitchen these days anyway so popping a pan of water on the hob won't be too much faff...

sidorek - thanks for that link to Peococks. I'd seen someone mention those nighties on another thread and planned on getting a couple - very useful, thanks!

Hmmm, just wondering though if they're real buttons or just decorative ones...

Get thee to Gap at the end of their sales - loads of maternity and non maternity good quality jersey basics for as little as £2.99.

Primark leggings for £2 in largest size- didn't notice a difference between these and proper maternity leggings.
Also Primark for babywear basics such as bodysuit vests - our favourites came from there - 5 in a pack for approx £3.

YY to Fara for good quality second hand stuff - they sometimes have nursery furniture aswell as clothes.

Real buttons, although a tab shiny:)

Yeh those Peacocks nigh tees are excellent! I now have one in ,ost of the colours I think!

Also check out oval buy and sell sites on Facebook, there are loads! I am now selling the stuff DD grows out of to buy the next size up!

Tips ummm: Asda/Supermarket clothes, plain White vests as they only go under other things any way, Ikea bath/highchair ect, Homebargains for blankets books ectand breastfeeding if you can. Don't buy the specific tops though as the are expensive and don't cover you up as much as a normal top lifted up with a vest underneath to stop flashing the belly!