Soon to be Mum 10 November 2013 at 3:00PM in MoneySaving mums 18 replies 2.3K views

FunLovinCriminal

Hi all
A little early I know, but we have been told we are 12 weeks pregnant. And would like some MS tips so we can start getting organised as soon as possible.
Anyone got any advice, hints or tips?

Many thanks

fluffysox

Join Pregnancy thread and/ or 12-24 week pregnant thread.
We saved lots by buying big items (pram and highchairs etc) second hand.

Carrie80

Hi, I have a 1 year old and the best money saving tip I can give you is to check out https://www.babyandchildrensmarket.co.uk they are table top sales of mums selling second hand baby / toddler items. It's saved me a fortune, especially as they grow out of all the baby items so quickly, and for that reason you'll always find the items in very good condition.

Also if you're on facebook see if your local town has a selling site as my town does and all the parents post a picture of what they're selling and you pick it up locally so no fee involved like ebay.

Carrie80

p.s. Register on every website baby club going - you'll get loads of vouchers and freebies (pampers, tesco, asda, sainsburys and especially Bounty).

SmlSave

Let everyone know that you are happy to accept second hand stuff. Its amazing what people will let you have or borrow!

Join lots of baby clubs like Boots etc to get freebies.

Cloth nappies can save money especially if you plan to save more than one child.

Congratulations FLC The most MS tip overall is not to buy all the tempting things on offer.

DigForVictory

Set up a web mail account for the baby clubs - keep your "real" email address separate!

ClaireJollies

Firstly Congratulations!! Sign up to Bounty and all of the Baby Clubs. They share really helpful voucher codes and have some lovely packs.

sacha28

:j:j:j Congratulations!!!

Depends on you really. I was a bit weird regarding stuff like nursery furniture. Being my first (and probably only) I really didn't want a 2nd hand cot so we signed up to mothercare babyplan. This meant that, once the furniture was chosen, we paid a 10% deposit then paid the balance off as we could. It was such a life saver, we could never have afforded to buy what we wanted outright. If we had an extra tenner in our wallet we would just pay that off the balance....every little goes a long way. This IS NOT credit

Another thing I did was make a list of the absolute stuff....stuff you can't do without then hit the car boots/ebay.

I really wish I bought a 2nd hand travel system, we paid so much for it new but didn't get anywhere as much use out of it as we thought we would (it was just so bulky, despite folding down flat, and felt a stroller was much easier!!) and the re-sale value was about 10% what we paid. Total waste of money.

grey_lady

Asda baby events and Ikea, all you need.

whitewing

Difficult to do, but I would save up but not spend until baby is here. There are always deals on nappies and things, but you won't necessarily know how many of what size stuff you need.

You can get decent stuff second hand as babies grow so quickly.

You do get given a lot.

Baby wipes have distinctive slight smells, depending on the brand. I had postnatal depression and to this day whiffs of certain brands bring back horrible feelings.

Things that other people recommend may not work for you so you could spend a lot on something but rarely use it. Still do the research but buy when you need it.

I tried to get too much in advance and DH actually wanted to go out and buy things when she was born. (It wasn't too real to him before then). We didn't really have money then to 'fritter' (even vouchers went on nappies). I didn't want to take away his pleasure at buying cute stuff for her but it was difficult when I was trying to pay all the bills.

peachyprice

Don't get sucked in to believing you needs loads of equipment and clothes, as long as baby is loved, fed, dry and warm he/she will be happy.