Family of 3- How much to live on?

ironman1

Just a little update.


We have now painted his room and have the furniture (got the cotbed, mattress, wardrobe and changing unit for about £260 which seems a good deal as we nearly paid £500 for another set).

We also have quite a few clothes and have started stocking up on nappies and baby wipes etc.

Does anyone know of a good deal anywhere (including online) for cot and moses basket bedding? And any other good deals in the sale for baby stuff!

Thanks :beer:

Tulip09

Would you be adverse to second hand stuff? I have been watching a moses basket/ toddler bed/ double wardrobe & chest of drawers presently and its pretty cheap tbh and suitale for boy or girl. lol i cant even have kids but cant walk away from a bargain!! so i have it on watch

remember to buy bigger sizes as people give you loads!! Try freecyle / gumtree for nappies( i gave 4 bags of newborn away)/ baby stuff - most is new and hardly used etc

JoJoB

Moses basket - use pillowcases for the sheets, the little mattress fits into them perfectly and then you can use the pillowcases after baby has grown out of the moses basket.

Cotbed - I used single sheets folded up. Cotbed bedding is stupidly expensive for something that won't be used for long. Buy a cotbed-sized bedspread perhaps, then the bed will look nice even though the bedding underneath isn't the exact fit.

Al1x

i wouldnt stock up on size 1 nappies as you don't know how big your baby will be. Our daughter fitted straight into size 2 nappies! (she wasn't huge at 9lb)

Also we found Tesco and Asda own brand nappies to be excellent and as good if not better than pampers and huggies.

I agree about getting second hand baby things. they grow so quickly that things don't get used very much before grown out of!

kindofagilr

Yeah I second that nappy thing, we bought loads of ones and twos and when E was born he was 10 pound 11 ounces, and we gave all the size ones away cos they were too tight on him, tahnkfully we managed to use the 2's but when he was in Special Care they had to go out and buy size 3's for him cos they dont stock them that big (obv normally special care babies are small babies)

Pickle_99_uk

HI,
Our son is 2 and a half now but when he was little we took up ever offer of second hand stuff from friends, family, neighbours etc. We borrowed a car seat and pram on long term loan from a friend, a family member gave us loads of clothes ranging from newborn to 2 years so we stored them until our son grew into them. We borrowed a baby bath from another friend and used furniture we already had but put it into his room. We could have afforded to buy the stuff but didn't see the point as babies use it for such a short time. We got some stuff from ebay as well (bottle steriliser comes to mind) then old it back on ebay when we had used it. So, if you don't mind second hand stuff then take up every offer of it. A bottle of wine to say thank you for loaning you the stuff is alot cheaper than buying it all new. Good luck and enjoy being a dad. xxx

FATBALLZ

Children don't really cost that much extra, so many people give you clothes and toys for the first few years you barely need to buy them yourself. By far the biggest expense we have for our child is childcare at £7k annually but if we didn't have that it would be barely noticeable. With Child Benefit taken into account it can't be more than an extra £50 a month at most if you're reasonable with your money.

LilacPixie

ironman1 wrote: »

Just a little update.


We have now painted his room and have the furniture (got the cotbed, mattress, wardrobe and changing unit for about £260 which seems a good deal as we nearly paid £500 for another set).

We also have quite a few clothes and have started stocking up on nappies and baby wipes etc.

Does anyone know of a good deal anywhere (including online) for cot and moses basket bedding? And any other good deals in the sale for baby stuff!

Thanks :beer:

your better organised than I am and i'm due in just over 6 weeks :rotfl:
personally I favour the sleeping bags and sheets from matalan

Miss_Orangey_Goodness

Congratulations! Its such an exciting time.
Your food bill will go up but then you will get about £80 CB and possible tax credits which covers nappies/wipes.
Get Next clothes off Ebay - they wash sooo well, and you can then re-sell them and they will get bid on as everyone buys Next stuff. We do that with our child, so effectively you are just recycling clothes, paying for them and then gettin your money back 6 months down the line!
Check out charity shops - we got a walker from the ones near us/books/clothes.

NickyBat

ironman1 wrote: »

Just a little update.


We have now painted his room and have the furniture (got the cotbed, mattress, wardrobe and changing unit for about £260 which seems a good deal as we nearly paid £500 for another set).

We also have quite a few clothes and have started stocking up on nappies and baby wipes etc.

Does anyone know of a good deal anywhere (including online) for cot and moses basket bedding? And any other good deals in the sale for baby stuff!

Thanks :beer:

I've just had a quick look on john lewis website for you and they have moses baskets reduced to £59 in their sale complete with covers.
Now is the best time to get your stuff, my little one was born end of feb and i got loads for him in the january sales.