Money saving for pregnancy

susiebaby2011

I'm re-posting this to help more pregnant ladies.

Having recently had a baby I wanted to share my money saving tips for those of you who are on a budget like we were but still want nice items for your baby. I got everything I needed but I saved so much money. See below for my tips.

1) Only buy some cheap cotton baby sleep suits/ baby grows and an outfit for leaving hospital before your baby is born because you will get lots of clothes from friends and family. If you don’t you can always buy what you need after the birth. Or get family to pick up clothes you need if you’re not ready to leave the house.

2) Get a base for your car seat. They make getting your baby in and out of the car so much quicker and easier. I got a Maxi-Cosi Easy Fit base. See below for how I saved money on this.

3) Get as much as you can on ebay. For instance I wanted a Maxi-Cosi Easy Base for my Car Seat so I looked on Ebay. The only one I could find was being sold with a car seat (I already had a car seat) so I bid on it and sold the extra car seat which meant I paid £10 for a base that is usually £90 in the shops..

4) To prepare for birth it really helped me to listen to the birth hypnosis however the courses are so expensive and even CDs are £15 so I got iHypnobirth app on my iphone for £2.99. I listened to it all the time, even when I went into labour. It was amazing. It helped me feel relaxed and made my experience of birth both positive and calm.

5) Ask friends and family if you can borrow items that you won’t use for long such as bouncer chairs, door bouncers etc because different babies like different things so you might think something is a good idea then not use it much.

6) I got an activity centre from a charity shop. It is £50 new, I got it for £8. It looks as good as new because they are not used for long so it is worth getting them second hand.

7) Check local boards such as Netmums for second hand goods. I got a Bumbo for £20 which my baby doesn’t like that much so I will resell on ebay.

8) If you are planning on breast feeding don’t buy loads of bottles. Breast pumps usually come with bottles so you won’t need any extras. We got a half price Tommee Tippee one for £44 (they always seem to be on sale somewhere so shop around)

9) I got a pram on ebay. I changed the preferences on search to ‘nearest first’ and checked everyday and ended up getting a Bugaboo Bee for a third of the retail price.

10) When you buy items keep all the boxes so when you come to reselling them they are in good condition.

I HOPE THIS IS HELPFUL.

lostkelly

Hi, Just wanted to say thank you for such a useful post. I am 12 weeks pregnant and am starting to look for bits and i will definately use your tips. I am definately going to try that ihypnobirth app. It is soo tempting to buy baby clothes as i keep seeing them and thinking how lovely they all are, but they will grow out of them soo quickly and as you say you will get them brought for you too.
Kelly

mancbird

Thanks for posting this I'm currently 19+1 and am having a very moneysaving baby!

We have been very lucky as once people knew we were having a baby we have been inundated with baby gear from family and friends who have already has babies so my advice would be to say yes to everything offered. A lot of the stuff, especially clothes, is brand new with the tags still on. Babies grow so quickly that they hadn't had chance to wear it and the stuff they had worn had only be worn once or twice.

We managed to pick up a silver cross 3d pram for only £125 which had only been used a few times as it wouldn't fit into the sellers boot (it fits in ours though!) and I have seen lots of pram bargains in the classifieds section of our local newspaper so that's definitely worth checking out.

We bought our electric steriliser from Tesco from one of the baby events, £45 down to £20

We are so excited about the baby but know once she / he is here we won't have a lot of spare money so we are trying to do everything as cheaply as we can so we know we will be able to manage on reduced money after the birth

I_try

It may have been more helpful to have posted on the original post which many of us contributed other tips, it would have bumped it up the board that way. I am starting to suspect spam or hidden agenda.

Or maybe I'm in a cynical frame of mind today.

rebeccaxoxo

i dont know why anyone would have a hidden agenda with this, other than to be helpful ? unless im just naive?

MrsE_2

susiebaby2011 wrote: »

2) Get a base for your car seat. They make getting your baby in and out of the car so much quicker and easier. I got a Maxi-Cosi Easy Fit base. See below for how I saved money on this.

3) Get as much as you can on ebay. For instance I wanted a Maxi-Cosi Easy Base for my Car Seat so I looked on Ebay. The only one I could find was being sold with a car seat (I already had a car seat) so I bid on it and sold the extra car seat which meant I paid £10 for a base that is usually £90 in the shops.. .

Thank you
My DD who's expecting said advice now says not to use second hand car seats, car seat bases or matresses?

nancmat

I can recommend E-bay.. our baby right up until now (18months) is still called e-bay baby.. we got out lovely quinny and two other prams dirt cheap on there, loads of babygrows, snowsuits etc and stocked up on nappies, hunted for bargain!

susiebaby2011

I_try wrote: »

It may have been more helpful to have posted on the original post which many of us contributed other tips, it would have bumped it up the board that way. I am starting to suspect spam or hidden agenda.

Or maybe I'm in a cynical frame of mind today.

I didn't actually know how to do that but I will next time. No agenda although my husband did say I should be paid by eBay considering how much I mention it to my friends!

susiebaby2011

lostkelly wrote: »

Hi, Just wanted to say thank you for such a useful post. I am 12 weeks pregnant and am starting to look for bits and i will definately use your tips. I am definately going to try that ihypnobirth app. It is soo tempting to buy baby clothes as i keep seeing them and thinking how lovely they all are, but they will grow out of them soo quickly and as you say you will get them brought for you too.
Kelly

Really pleased this was helpful! The app is great and has helped quite a few of my friends. I must admit I did buy a few clothes for our little one before he was born because it is hard to resist. I also sold some clothes on eBay. You can sell baby clothes as bundles (see I'm always mentioning eBay) then buy things with the money you get. I also recently got a Quinny (for running) on netmums local for £50 with a car seat and carry cot. So worth checking out local sites too. Good luck with everything.

susiebaby2011

nancmat wrote: »

I can recommend E-bay.. our baby right up until now (18months) is still called e-bay baby.. we got out lovely quinny and two other prams dirt cheap on there, loads of babygrows, snowsuits etc and stocked up on nappies, hunted for bargain!

Haha glad it is not just me that goes on about it. Also I was saying local sites are good such as NetMums and Gumtree is also good.

susiebaby2011

MrsE wrote: »

Thank you
My DD who's expecting said advice now says not to use second hand car seats, car seat bases or matresses?

I know the advice is not to get a second hand car seat but I didn't know about the bases. I wouldn't buy a second hand mattress just for cleanliness. The advice is not to buy second hand car seats in case they have been in a crash which I can understand but I just took my inititative and the car seat we got looked brand new and it has been fine but you're right people warn against this so it really is down to the individual.