When to buy and How to get cheap stuff

[Darcychu]

Hey everyone,

Recently found out that i'm pregnant (around 7 weeks) with my first child and was wanting a bit of Advice really.

When should i start buying for the baby? like i was thinking probably around 5 months is a good time to start but i'm not sure.

Does anyone know any tips for getting baby stuff cheaper? for example furniture, clothes etc ... I have signed up to some like baby sites to get vouchers and stuff and i'm not entitled to the UK Maternity Grant (£500) as i'm working which is really annoying as it would have been helpful haha but i guess i will just have to budget and have a look around :)

Any advice/tips is greatly appreciated!

eBay for second hand. Don't buy any clothes as you'll get given loads. Join local mum groups on Facebook. I've got a free cot, bouncy chair and tonnes of clothes from there.

Last year there were some great Black Friday deals on the big ticket items I wanted. I didn’t buy then as it was ‘too early’ but was kicking myself come January when the offers weren’t as good!

Local Facebook selling sites. Think about if you want a sling for the early days or longer rather than a pram.

For furniture get normal adult stuff, you only need drawers and a cot.

The only things to get new are a cot mattress and car seat.

I use camel camel camel to track things like sterilisers from Amazon. Got plenty of time so waiting for a good price. If it’s your first most people like to buy - we got tons of clothes. My Mum also bought clothes in sales at the end of seasons when they were very cheap. We bought our pram/car seat at around 5 months (had saved for them before) and then got 1 bigger thing (Moses basket etc) each month leading up to birth. Spread the spending a bit. We bought most new but you can get lots of deals on Facebook.

Supermarket baby events can be good. ALDI do good and cheap baby towels during one these events. I also recommend the Tesco bedding.

Mothercare and Boots can be expensive.

Thank you so much guys! A lot of helpful advice :D Deffinately going to look into some of these :D

Buy second hand where possible. Prams cost a redic amount of money and there are some real bargains on the selling sites.

Let others buy things like clothes for you, or take hand me downs.

Realistically, you don't need much until much later on and you'll only really need to get stuff early if you buy brand new and there are delayed delivery times on things.

Buy when ever you feel ready if it's something you really like/a bargain, although it is sensible to wait until after your 12wk scan.

Personally I went for a mix of second hand and new. The items I bought new I waited to see them on offer or bought in the sales (having heavily researched exactly what I wanted from around 12wks pg!). We planned on having a second child so I wanted to make sure everything had enough miles in it, hence the mix of old and new. If I had planned on only one child I'd have bought more second hand. It's worked well as I have needed to buy very little for DD2.

NCT nearly new sales often have lots of good quality stuff at fairly reasonable prices, and I've bought and sold a lot through Facebook selling sites. Ebay is good when you want something specific (like a particular buggy), but is pricier than NCT and FB.
For new stuff I'd hit the (online) january sales as you should have just had your scan by then. Get bits for next winter, particularly the more expensive items like coats/snow suits. As mentioned above, I wouldn't bother with much in newborn or 0-3m as people will get you loads in those sizes.

Local stork sale sites on FB. I’ve got loads of stuff from my local ones. Bags of clothes, barely used, at great prices. They also posted details of actual stork sales being held locally, which is a great way of seeing items before you buy - prams, cots, toys and loads of clothes.

Definitely second hand. Look around to see if your local primary schools, nursery schools or baby groups do sales as fundraisers. These (and the NCT sales) often run only spring and autumn so it's worth getting them in the diary early!

I'd say also research what you want and try to resist the urge to buy anything that you don't consider an absolute essential as the shops will still be open after the birth. If you can put some money aside now for "oh crap we really need..." Later that would probably be the must frugal way! Babies and parents are so different I don't think I did quite the same shopping list as any of my friends and we all have must haves the others think are weird!

Definitely Aldi baby events.

Phryne makes a really good point about just getting the bare essentials before the baby arrives. Supermarkets being open 24hrs and online next day delivery mean you can get everything you need/forget very quickly if necessary. They are all so different, and there were differences in what each of my DCs were willing to use.
DD1 screamed herself purple within seconds if put down at all put in the pram or boucer, but she loved lying under a play arch if I was sat next to her. A friend lent us a swing in the end and she would happily sit in there for a bit. DD2 would sit or nap in the bouncer until she outgrew it, and slept for hours in the pram whilst DD1 and I were out and about, yet was never keen on the play mat or swing.

Congrats on your pregnancy!

Like others have said its completely up to you when you start shopping for baby, and again I'd advise waiting til 12 week scan is done.

Me and DH decided to start straight away after that because we both have pretty low incomes so we wanted to spread everything out between now and when the baby is due. So basically we get a couple of things per month and we have a big list on our fridge that we've been ticking off. We've just finishing getting everything and I'm 31 weeks so pretty pleased we're all prepared!

We did the same as Owltrousers above. List on the fridge and chipped away at it every month. Luckily I have a big family who all asked what we needed, so we reduced the list a lot that way.

I did buy new clothes if I absolutely fell in love with them, but spread the sizes, so there's a few bits in newborn, 1-3 m, 3-6, etc.

I was 4 weeks pregnant when I bought her
first babygrows! 🙈

And congrats on your pregnancy, @darcychu ! I hope you have a smooth one :)

Thank you so much guys! The list idea and buying a few items a month is a great idea so i'm going to do that!

Honestly really excited as it wasnt planned but me and my partner are happy :) i have my 8 week appt on wednesday and they're going to do my 12 week mid december as i'm not actually entirely sure when my last period was (terrible memory) so hoping to get baby stuff for Xmas XD

I’m 36 + 3 and planning on shopping to buy things next week. I’m on dc3 though so too busy to think about it all until I’d finished work.

Try eBay, gumtree, freecycle etc, local baby or nearly new sales. Remember you’ll get presents too.

I also recommend freecycle, I got some free things from generous mums. People that I didn't expect also gave me things like cot, clothes etc. because they wanted to get rid of them.
I got a travel system discounted in a baby show which I managed to get free tickets.
For months I have been following items on ebay and if you are patient, you will find a good offer.