money saving when expecting twins

misspenny

jcr16 wrote: »

you say ur youngest will be 21m when twins born. thats a great age. as they are so helpful. my dd was 19m when my ds was born.although i bought a double buggy i really didn't need it, as she was a great walker.

Your really lucky my ds was 3 years 2 weeks when dd came along and he was a terrible walker at 4 he still is!!!! Forever complaneing 'my legs are tired' i really regreted not getting a double then. Im thinking of getting a 2nd hand phil n teds, and slinging one of the twins till 6 months, hopefully by then dd will be happier to walk. Pottering on at toddler pace if fine in the summer, but next jan in the snow and rain when ds has to be at school for 9, i really wont want to be plodding along.

I've a pretty good sling collection.

Oh has spent the whole afternoon online trying to find a car that will accomodate 4 car seats, and a double pushchair all at the same time. Or maybe we should just never leave the house again!?!?!?

jcr16

we have a renault espace 02 plate. it is fantastic. it is a 7 seater, but you can remove a seat giving you 3 rows of 2 seats and you could easily fit 4 car seats no prob. and room for the double buggy. we spend ages looking for a mpv, but the espace had the highest ncap rating for it's class. and we figured safety was paramount when travelling with our children. it is a dream to drive, and doesn't feel like it is a mpv when driving.

mrbrightside842

Congratulations! I tried reusuable nappies with my twins to save money, but I ended up wasting money on them as I prefered to save time than money once I'd got them! We didn't have room for a baby change station, so I used one of those mats that you attach to the cot, which was one of the best things we bought. We also wasted money on a baby bath, when it was easier to put the girls in the bath with me, getting DH to swap them over mid bath, lol. Like as above, we had the girls in the same cot for quite a while. We bought cot beds, and at age 5 the girls are still in them as beds, so a good buy! We also bought a giant playmat for them, which was good fun!

mrbrightside842

mum2twinsx2 wrote: »

Hiya,
firstly congratulations:T:T on twins. i have two sets of twins:D Its the best.

Just having a look at your signature, my friend has a set of ID and a set of non-ID twins too!

HelenKA_2

I was 8 weeks when we found out number 3 was actually numbers 3 and 4. Our jaws literally dropped!

We managed fine in a two bedroom flat for two years but we did get a multipla in the January before they were born in March. This has 6 proper seats so takes boosters and 2nd stage and baby car seats all side by side easily though we tended to put one of the other two in the middle either front or back. The biggest plus of it is that it has a bigger boot than all the others available at the time. Our girls are almost 10 now (Yikes!) so I'm sure things may have changed on both cars and pushchairs, but it's something to keep in mind and if possible get measurements and try to match one to the other.

The next daughter up was almost three when the youngest were born so was able to walk a bit further than yours but what I did was have twins together in the old carry cot with a buggy board for the toddler whilst going up and down for the eldest. Did this for as long as possible at first with them side by side then topping and tailing in the carry cot on wheels.

At night we had them sharing a cot for as long as possible then had one in said carry cot and one in a moses basket. When they out grew that we used one cot and one travel cot for them. So out lay so far was car and twin pushchair - I did chose one that took both baby car seats on the chassis but check your path and the school gate for width to see if you'd get through with a side by side affair, again I think things have moved on considerably since then.

I used terrys for them both. I had terrys and nappy nippers from the toddler but treated us to new fleece wraps (Velcro fastening, tots bots for choice), fleece liners and boosters with the result that these two wore terrys pretty much all of the time. I had a 5kg washing machine too, it was fine, I had 24 nappies and washed them every 2-3 days in their own load (dry pailed in two buckets, used sodium bicarb and non bio with lavender oil dropped into the comfort bit). (Always fold your nappies ready to put on as you take them off the line/out of the drier/off the radiator).

My best help was that my friends arranged for three weeks of evening meals to be brought in to us. I always say that was the success of my being able to feed them myself.

You'll probably have one of everything you really need anyway and a lot of stuff you'll be able to borrow or get off freecycle etc.

All the very best, now I look back and think my goodness how on earth did I manage it all - but at the time you just get on with it. And having twins after your others means that you are experienced parents so it's only the fact that there are two together to freak out at! It also means that the youngest two always have someone to play with.

Feel free to ask anything you think I'd be able to help you with.

One thing I did was to go along to my local twins club with my toddler before I had them so that she got a bit of an idea.

It is the most amazing thing to think that not only did we make a new human being but two AT THE SAME TIME!!!

sunnth

I had my twins when my first was just over 2. I used cloth nappies and found it fine to use just a normal sized machine - I found with two in nappies and one that still had accidents I just put a nappy wash on every night and a normal wash each day. I used a double buggy with a buggy board attached although at first both babies fitted into a normal carricot type pram together. I also used one cot upstairs and one downstairs for naps until they were too big to fit in togehter. My main advice would be to accept all offers of handmedowns etc - I didn't need two of everything and I still get clothes handed down even though mine are nearly nine now.

vodooelephant

ladybez wrote: »

Many congrats!! I know the feeling of finding out that 1 is actually 2!! One thing I found, you don't always need 2 of everything and the best thing I invested in was a changing station, rather than the mat I had for my girls. Breastfeeding is the way to go, as there is no way you can hold and bottle feed 2 at once. Just one thing, very often twins arrive early so make sure you have arrangements in place for getting your other children looked after if you need to spend any time in hospital, either before or after the birth.

I disagree I bottle fed my twins for11 months always both at the same time!! ALWAYS FEED TOGETHER & SLEEP TOGETHER!!!

I agree about bf though- my boys were both serverly tounge tied and We didnt get any surport to help feeding It cost us nearly £80 a month:eek:

Mine were also born at nearly 39 weeks and were 7 and 5lb so dont go buying wee baby thing until they have been born

halight

Well done on haveing twins:j:j

My twin girld are now 2 and a harf years old and they are great:T
Ours were our first so it was all new to us and we did not have any baby stuff. We needed everything. The bigest cost with twins is theat they grow at the same rate. We can not hand anything dow to the other one.

They are hard work and as you already have two kids you are really going to have your work cut out. If you thonk its a good idea then let your 4 year old help out. Maybe she could feed the other child while you feed the twins??
We fed our twins together we found it better to have them both asleep and both awake at the same time. The other side of this is that you have one awake and one asleep at the same time. In the day this is ok but at night its not good. You need time to rest and as you have two other kids this is even more inportant.

You will get ;loads of advice off people who have twins on how to do thing but the best way is your way. Mess about and find whats best for you.

TAMBA is great there web site is http://www.tamba.org.uk/

Its all about twins. You dont need to join if you dont what too. you can still use there web site.

Also there are loads of twin clubs in the UK. There very well may be one local to you.

All the very best

halight

mum2twinsx2 wrote: »

Hiya,
firstly congratulations:T:T on twins. i have two sets of twins:D Its the best.

Afraid you wont be entitled to the grant as if your ten weeks now by april you will twenty four [ish] weeks.

Ebay is great or netmums for finding things cheap and locally. if items bulky people less likely to post so go cheap.
You dont need two of everything... i made this mistake first time round. My girls shared there cot until they were eleven months, so dont bother with mosesbaskets cribs. i used a travel cot downstairs for them to sleep in.
Baby bouncers one will do and use carseat for other.
I can recommend some great double pushchairs.

I didnt breastfeed first time, as me and girlie twins were both quite poorly. second time round i expressed for first 6 weeks and i got infection and couldnt express through so unfortunantly gave into formula. is expensive, so stick at it if you can.
I dont use cloth nappies, i buy big boxes.

Cant think of much else now, but will come back when i do

Wow two sets of twins:j:j

We have ID Twin girls they were born at 30 weeks twin one was 3lb 10z and twin two was 2lb 8 oz they were in neo natal for 5 weeks But now you would never know that they were born early there size is just under what is normal for there age but we are all differnt:)

I would love ID twin boys next:T:T

But being a man i would say that.

Twins really am the best... Hard work yes but you get twice the love nad fun:j:j

jcr16

heard a few people mentioning there is a asda baby week coming up soon. might find some good bargains then hun.