Wednesday, October 09, 2019

5 Tips For Preparing For A New Baby - On A Budget! ♥

Becoming a parent is by far one of the most expensive things you will ever undertake in life. Children are expensive, lets not be fooled, but, does preparing for a new baby have to come with massive expense?

If you're planning for a baby on a budget here are some helpful tips which I've learned along the way and put into practice when planning for both of my boys.

1. Does it have to be brand new?
When we think about babies we immediately think of everything being brand new, however, forking out almost a grand on a pram system and a whole plethora of other baby equipment, which in reality won't be used for that long, just isn't an option for most people.

There's nothing wrong with second-hand products and in my experience, they're in great condition too and after a good scrub and wash they're as good as new and a fraction of the price of anything you could buy in store!

There's lots of selling sites online where people are always selling baby products in great condition and if you're planning for a baby on a budget I highly recommend having a browse through them for what you're after.

2. Buy baby things when they're on offer
Before we had both of our boys we stockpiled on the baby products we knew we needed while they were on offer.

Local supermarkets and stores such as Boots (sign up to the Boots Parenting Club to earn extra points on purchases - handy for getting things essentially for free in the future) always have great offers on their baby products and we stocked up on nappies in a range of sizes (don't make the mistake of buying too many in the smaller sizes as babies grow fast!), baby bath, lotions and snacks, etc. when the boys got a bit older.

I'd also recommend buying baby clothing when it's on sale and planning ahead for future seasons. When my boys were newborns I was picking up 9-12 month clothes while it was on sale because I knew the time wouldn't be long coming around and it saved me a great deal of money because good quality baby clothes are so expensive!

3. Only buy what you need
You'll have people telling you that you need this and that for your baby and honestly, in my experience, a lot of these things you won't need at all!

Things which I learned I never needed and didn't use with my second baby were a changing table (a safety hazard and waste of space, just use a wipe down cushioned changing mat on the floor!), a baby swing (I learned quickly that babies don't really like these!), hoards of baby oil (I think there's still bottles floating around the house 6 years on!) and lots of newborn baby clothes (they just don't get the wear and are hard to sell on!).

4. Reuse what you have
If you're having your second, third, etc. baby then reusing items and clothing from your first baby is not only a smart thing to do, but also quite sentimental too.

When your first baby has outgrown their favourite outfits of yours I recommend washing and storing them in a vacuum bag for when you'll need them again for a future baby. Trust me, it's so lovely seeing your second baby wearing what your first did.

If you have the room, storing baby equipment such as prams, buggies, cots, etc. is a good thing to do too and will save you a lot of money second time round. My second son's Beatrix Potter themed nursery was completed using a majority of preloved or vintage items and we all loved it.

5. Tell people what you really need & accept preloved items
When I was having my babies and people wanted to give them a gift I was asked constantly what they needed. My mother bought my first baby his pram and we still have it to this day, my grandmother knit both of my boys blankets and lots of cardigans before they were even born, my aunts bought their bottles and a steriliser. These were gifts we really needed and I was so appreciative of them, so be honest when people ask what you need for baby.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with preloved items either. Both of my boys used my cousins beautiful Moses basket (a baby item that's only going to be used for a max of 8 weeks), I took my boys for walks in the pram I had as a baby almost 30 years ago and when we were moving house I gave away a lot of baby things for free to one young couple who were in need of items for their new baby.

Hopefully these tips are helpful for anyone preparing for a new baby on a budget. I'll be putting these all into practice again if baby number three ever decides to come along!



Share:

1 comment

  1. Great tips and completely agree!! I've gotten a lot of preloved items and then passed them onto either the second hand shop or others. Most items were like brand new because they were hardly used.

    Buy things on offer and always shop around!! Things always seem to be on offer somewhere!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for reading my blog and taking the time to comment. I appreciate all your comments and try to reply whenever I can.

© Dolly Dowsie | All rights reserved.
Blog Layout Created by pipdig