How much have you spent on baby?

[ElleDubloo]

Babies are notoriously expensive, and we've certainly felt like we've spent a lot of money recently. So I decided to sit down and add up all our baby-related spending and see how much it came to in reality. I was pleasantly surprised the grand total was just less than £1200 - not nearly as much as we'd expected, and about half the cost of our new bathroom !! (new baby is so much more exciting than new bathroom, btw). We've pretty much bought everything we need.

How much have you spent on the baby? Did you expect to spend more, or less? What are some savings you've made that you're especially proud of?

Here's my list if anyone's interested:

Bugaboo Bee, Maxi Cosi seat, adaptors, easyfix base... Peppermint £564.95 (online promotion)
Furniture set 3-piece... Homebase £212.49 (£75 discount in sale)
Cube shelves x 2... Homebase £19.98
Cotbed... John Lewis £99.00
Mattress... John Lewis £60.00
Playmat... Gumtree £15.00 (second hand, RRP >£45)
Moby wrap... Ebay £25.00 (second hand)
Changing bag... Ebay £22.20 (second hand, RRP >£100)
Clothes (0-3 months)... Mothercare £35.00 (half price sale)
Medela Swing pump... Ebay £33.75 (second hand, RRP >£130)
Tommee Tippee bottles... Tesco £12.99 (half price in baby event)
Bowl and spoons... Tesco £2.00 (half price in baby event)
Turtle costume... Amazon £3.93
Cloth nappies x 6 and 12 inserts (littlebloom)... Ebay £29.04 (second hand)
Cloth nappies x11 (bambino mio)... Ebay £10.00 (second hand)
Nappy liners x 2 packets... Amazon £10.96
Nappy bin... Amazon £6.03
Changing mat... Amazon £3.39
Muslins x 6... Amazon £9.98
Baby shampoo... Tesco £1.50 (half price in baby event)
Baby bath lotion... Tesco £1.47 (half price in baby event)
Baby wipes x 10... Tesco £8.00 (half price in baby event)

Gifts:
Babygros x 2
Newborn clothing set with hat and mittens x 1
Ellaroo sling wrap x 1
Moses basket x 1

Left to buy:
Cotbed linen
Nursing bras
A few disposable nappies as backup
Cot mobile (on our gift list)
Clothes for 3 months onwards (on our gift list)

Oh dear, I guess I haven't done as well as I'd thought... In my defence, it's our first baby, I love buying the nicest things, and I did try very hard to hunt around for bargains. If we had bought everything at full price, it would have cost much, much more! We're having the first baby in the next generation in our extended family, so there haven't been any hand-me-downs.

Most of our stuff has been bought second hand or donated.

Graco Electra Contour travel cot (new) £90 - plan for the baby to sleep in this in our room till it's big enough to go in its own room
Moses basket and stand - £0
Travel system - £65
Car seat (new but on sale) £70
Bouncer chair - £8
Swing - £15
Clothes - absolutely tons of tiny baby, newborn and 0-3 months sizes and a few 3-6 months, plus lots of blankets, muslins and hooded towels- approx £65
More muslins - about £10
Cath Kidston changing bag - £15
Sophie Giraffe (new) - £10
Bumbo seat - £10
Boppy breastfeeding pillow - £15
Toys - £15
Jumperoo - £20
Wallpaper for nursery - £7.50 (massively reduced at Mamas & Papas!)
Various nappies, wipes, toiletries, maternity pads etc I've picked up when I've done a grocery shop - not sure but haven't missed it as it's been counted as grocery shopping
2 changing mats - £0
A few sleeping bags - £0

There are a few more bits and pieces I've forgotten about but not too much. I hope to breastfeed so won't buy bottles/steriliser until I know whether I need them - DH can just pop out to somewhere local. I'll buy a breast pump a bit further down the line. It was certainly well under £500 for everything including the travel system and car seat. We will buy a cot and some other nursery furniture (probably from Ikea) when I've got the nursery decorated, no point till then as we'd only have to store it. Also need to buy a new mattress for the moses basket.

I already had a gym ball, and am hiring a TENS machine. I'm the most pleased with the travel system, it would have been about £420 brand new but I got it used for £65 (plus £70 for a new car seat) and it's barely been used and looks pristine. All in all I think we've done pretty well.

Ah don't feel bad ElleduBloo. I spent hardly any money before first baby arrived BUT you have bought a lot of things upfront that I just bought when I needed - cotbed, nursery stuff, weaning stuff etc. I used a sling for the first couple of months and only got a pushchair after that, etc. But you shouldn't need to buy hardly anything else!

If you get on with cloth nappies they are a very big saving. The little bloom ones are very cheap and we found them great!

I sat in an office with a lovely lady who was clearing out her attic to move house. She gave me all her baby gear as I was pregnant and her baby days were over. It was 8 years out of date but saved me a small fortune. My sister gave me the tiny clothes, so I just had to buy was the nappies.

I have never regretted it, it meant I didn't have to go back to work so early. It was all the stuff you use for a very short time anyway.

I'm still pals with my ex-colleague.

Travel system was a gift from grandparents
Chest drawers - oak 350
Cot ikea and matress - 120
Moses basket- borrowed matress 10
Cellular blankets first nappies and wipes 50
Mini medulla - 50
Moby wrap - 40 - never used, never will
Bouncer 40
Gym- 35
Few clothes - 30
White paint for nursery 20
Blackout blind - 70
Expedit unit - 70

Clothes etc - gifts

Probably 200 spent on maternity clothes, pjs and underwear but have lasted second pregnancy

Ive bought a 90 quid buggy and the rest Im going to stick baby on boob and in our bed. I have been given some clothes and bought a pack of new born nappies and thats me done

For DC3

Phil & Ted's £100
Moses basket, mattress and sheets £30
Swaddling wrap £15
Newborn / 0-3 clothes £100 went a bit mad but only because it will be first girl

£245 - which is all well and good until you consider

New car to fit 3 DC in - £9000

Slight aside - but I thought ebay didn't allow the sale/purchase of 2nd hand cloth nappies?

Really pleased if that policy change has been scrapped. Got two entire sets in the loft that I no longer need.

You have done well by the way OP for a first child - you've done well, especially with the buggy and car seat.

In general I would advise against buying too much in advance though - loads of things you find you don't really need.

Things I have had and wouldn't bother with again:

• parasol for buggy
• changing table
• door bouncer
• bumbo
• baby bath (tried all sorts of set ups with DS1 and with DS2 we just laid him down on his back in the bath!)

Waffle I sold some successfully on ebay but then the next batch they didn't allow. I think if you name it in a way that makes it less likely to be picked up by their search it will help (like don't put nappy in the title!)

I'm 28 weeks with my 3rd baby and so far have spent
£11 cosy toes for the pram that was used for both older children
£19 on replacement raincover for pram
£55 on new car seat (but my dad paid that)
I'm going to Sainsburys tomorrow to buy sleepsuits/vests in their 25% off deal and would imagine I'll spend about £30 on all the clothes she'll need for the first month or so.
I also need to buy a new mattress for her which is £45 but MIL is buying that.
I'll probably need to spend another £30ish on nappies/wipes/maternity pads/breast pads etc and that's it. So I'd imagine my spending will come to about £100 altogether with another £100 from her grandparents.
With ds1 I got a huge lump sum from work just before I went on mat leave and spent about £3000 on useless tat that I didn't need.

find it bizarre that some people spend about £1200 on a designer pram alone. more money than sense in my humble opinion....

Looking at my receipts I spent £1946.39 on my Donkey (inc accessories) and £ 1,113.90 on Buffalo (inc accessories)

Forgot I spent £50 odd on an Angelcare monitor, and a bit (not much) on maternity clothes which were all second hand.

I think about £1000

Uppababy vista travel system £650
Clothes £50
Changing mat £14
Changing unit (ebay) £25
Grobag £15
Cotbed mattress (6+ months) £80
Monitor £25
Bath (gumtree) £8
Toys £10
Books £12
Steriliser, pump & bottles £50
Matress covers £30

Given: cotbed, crib with new mattress, rocking chair, wardrobe, lots of clothes & sleep suits, bibs, muslins, and lots of other stuff!

Oh... 38 weeks with my first here!

You lot need to get yourself to your local NCT nearly new sales!
You'll be amazed at what you come away with for £50...

For now 4 month old:
£20 ish on some newborn vests and babygrows,which he never wore as they were too small.
£12 on a new sling
£5 blow up activity ring (ebay).

Everything else hand me downs, gifts, pulled from skips or found on the side of the road (and thoroughly washed!)

A report just came out last week in the U.S. declaring that The Cost of Raising A Child Today is $241,080 - and this does not include university expenses! www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/14/cost-of-raising-a-child-usda_n_3757365.html

For DS2:
Mothercare Xpedior travel system - (new but shop return) £82
Babybay cot £70 (ebay) and mattress £32 (new)
Ameda lactaline double breast pump new, about £95 I think
Baby clothes (0-3years), sheets, blankets, sleeping bags, toys - combo of new/2nd hand gifts, some things I saved from DS1, some NCT nearly new sale bargains and a few new bits - about £40
Cloth nappies - most saved from DS1 inc nappy bin, but some 2nd hand gifts & bought some new newborn items (wraps, terries etc) - £30
Baby gym, baby bath, baby swing - all borrowed / 2nd hand gifts
New changing mat £7
Baby toiletries & 2 packs disposable nappies - about £15
Moby wrap - £15 second hand
Not bought bottles or any other baby furniture, will buy if/as/when needed.
Gift DS2 is 'bringing' for DS1 £60

I make that £356 but I think there might be other things I have forgotten about.

Oh yeah, antenatal, birth and postnatal doula - £350 :) Although I think I have this in place for me, not for baby!

So total just over £700

Nothing so far, but we need to move to a bigger house. So although DC2 will re-use all of DC1's stuff, it'll cost us about £60,000 to buy somewhere bigger, plus moving costs, solicitor's costs etc!

Ummmmmm.....about £200........(Please don't judge me)

.......yet we have

1 x pushchair for 0-4 years - given to us by a friend who used it once
1 x lightweight pushchair - mil bought it for DN and he was too big for it
1 x 3 in 1 travel system - used but in excellent condition - free
1 x Graco sling - free from friend never used
1 x Moses basket - from friend (new mattress and bedding £30)
1 x Swinging crib - bought for DN but never used
1 x Cotbed - friend of Mil gave it to us (new mattress £25)
3 x Travel cots - dm/mil/DSis all bought one for their houses
1 x swing seat - friend of mil
1 x bouncy chair - free friend
1 x bimbo seat with tray - from DSis
1 x baby bath - free from friend
1 x bath seat - gift
1 x giant chest of drawers - £20 from gumtree
1 x manual breast pump - gift
1 x digital in ear thermometer - half price (should have been £70 got for £35)
Various clothes - mothercare outlet £40 and gifts
Nappies - various sizes and brands £20
Bedding inc swaddles/gro-bags/blankets - gifts
Rocking chair - family heirloom
Nursery soft furnishings/curtains/blinds/paint - £15, gifts, paint from friends

I just have a few more bits to get (and 9 weeks to get it)but have lots of vouchers for money off/free things.

Even though this is dc1, this will be our only dc so will not be keeping much after and really didn't want to/couldn't afford to buy £1000's of things that I probably won't use. The money we have saved on not buying much has gone into a savings account for DC.

That's it, I'm not going to buy any more stuff Honestly I thought I was being frugal and spending less than average But I do like nice things, and I keep justifying it by saying we can use it for the second baby when it comes.

Our main expense was the Bugaboo Bee, which I just fell in love with when I saw it. And we live in a third floor flat with no lifts, and a tiny 2-door car, so we really do need the lightest and most compact travel system.

And other than buying a second-hand Bugaboo, and getting more hand-me-downs from friends and family (which they haven't offered), I'm not sure how we could have made more savings :)

Thanks weebairn, that's reassuring. I'm glad you had a good experience with the littlebloom nappies because I did a tonne of research before finally selecting them, and I still wasn't sure I'd made the right choice! I might buy some more now.

Oh damn forgot about my home birth (inc 14 prenatal vists, birth, postnatal care, 3 scans (plus any recommended), 8 weeks postnatal care plus Gyn exam for me at 8 weeks, and MW on-call 4 weeks before due date) which is estimated at €2100. Damn!

Seriously, NCT sales are the way forward.

You could kit yourself out for about £200....