Money Saving Pregnancy/Baby Diary...

Skintandscared

Hi, so I've thought it would be quite interesting to keep tabs on just how much it costs to have a baby, from Pregnancy right through to Birth (and probably beyond).
I'm approximately 10 weeks pregnant at the time of writing this, and have yet to purchase anything. But I will be adding up every little penny, and seeing exactly how much money I can save in comparison to previous pregnancies, as well as how savvy I can be financially. I am quite excited

When I was previously pregnant (many moons ago :rotfl:) I was a firm believer in everything brand new, and was mortified when my Mother in Law bought me a second hand bouncer (still in box) and refused to use it. I'd bite her hand off now though :rotfl:

Was quite excited at finding my youngest daughter's baby monitor in her room (she had been using it up until end of last year), so I'm going to be putting that away and total cost for that is = FREE! My favourite kind of price haha.

So starting my list of baby gear:
Baby Monitor = Free.

May the freebies long continue! Feel free to jump on with your baby bargains ladies x

Skintandscared

First freebie through the door today - the Cow and Gate baby club sent me a Cow teddy not practical, but cute haha.

Also, when I went to vote today there was a new food share scheme that has been set up down the road from me, which helps people on low incomes and benefits with free food donated by Tesco. It was an absolute lifesaver, as we've had so many unexpected costs this months that money has been really tight

So registered and took a few items, so feel really lucky to be able to use this service, as we have been struggling quite a lot with food costs. This isn't going to be helped with all the costs we've got over the next few months either

Anyway, hope everyone has a good day

jackomdj

Good luck. Facebook is good, local for sale sites often have things really cheap.

sweetilemon

I'm an angel mummy now but thought I'd join in if that's okay

We got sooo many clothes!!! We got given bibs, toiletries, baby bean bag, 10 in 1 baby support cushion, toys, books, towels and loads of little things.

Baby bouncer - £25
Play mat - £50
Pram, car seat and accessories - £1150
Breastfeeding cover - £30
Breastfeeding cushion - £45
Room decor ( changing mat, light shade, wall paper, curtains, canvas, mobile) - £250
Furniture ( cot with mattress and changing station drawers ) - £100 ...only paid for mattress after wardrobe missing from set
Cot, pram, moses basket sheets - £50
Sensor baby monitor- £150
Maternity clothes - £200
Moses basket - £100
Breastfeeding pumps - £200
Steriliser - £50
Ewan the dream sheep - £30

Spending time with my newborn - priceless and the best!!!!

Looks loads when I write it down and that's not it all but she was worth every penny and loads more.

psychopathbabble

Sorry to see what's happened Sweetilemon


Skint, I was all for buying a second hand cot and pram but my MIL told DH that we couldn't possibly have second hand stuff! I was absolutely raging... he wasn't too happy about second hand but would have gone along with it, until his mother stepped in and said absolutely not!

Skintandscared

Sweetilemon I am so sorry Of course you are more than welcome to comment, any advice gratefully received.

Psychopathbabble unfortunately you get parents and in-laws trying to tell you the "right way to do things" :cool: Could you possibly buy secondhand and just not tell them it's secondhand? :rotfl: Would they know?

Thanks for all your advice both xx

psychopathbabble

As they are paying for it, we have ordered new. Had we been paying ourselves, I would have gone second hand. I was more annoyed at feeling like DH had gone behind my back to his mother.

Everyone keeps offering us bits but not actually specifying what they have which is rather annoying

sweetilemon

We got given second hand baby baths. One was the table top one and one for in the bath. I didn't even use the one for the bath but would have probably used that if she'd got a little older. The table top one had a little tear but there was enough room for the water, it was pretty handy. I was also given a 2nd hand nappy bin, wasn't sure if I'd use it but it was great, well worth it.

Jox

I got baby clothes and highchair from Facebook local selling groups, moses basket and stand and pram from eBay, I would go and collect items while quite heavily pregnant, lugging things home by bus in the rain, what a dafty, but I was determined to save money and I did. Babies grow out of clothes and moses basket so quickly, it's not worth spending full whack if you can avoid it. I did get moments of thinking why am I not buying the best fancy stuff for my firstborn son but not running up debt is important to me and I've been able to set up a savings account for him which he can access in the future. Just a point to say that moses basket mattress and car seat should be bought new for safety reasons.

laura_hoggle

Congratulations! My little lady is now 15 weeks, and as soon as I found out I was pregnant I set up a new email that I wasn't bothered about getting junk sent to, and signed up to Emmas Diary, Bounty, Pampers, and almost every baby related company I could think of! I've had lots of coupons & freebies, from nappies to weaning books. I also enter a lot of baby competitions, mostly on companies Facebook pages & have been lucky to win a few things.

Keep a look out for Mothercare & Mamas & Papas running 'expectant parent' events... We went to a Mothercare one, got given a 10% off voucher and a decent goodie bag!

I've bought a lot on eBay & local Facebook sites; also from local nearly new sales (the NCT one being my favourite).

So far the only thing I've regretted buying was a swinging crib (did buy 2nd hand), the mattress & bedding (brand new); probably spent about £80-100 and she was in it for about 2 weeks before her arms were poking through the sides & scaring me; she's been in a (2nd hand) travel cot with basinette ever since!

With regards to bargains, don't disregard some of the more 'expensive' shops; last week I bought 100 Pampers new baby nappies for £2.80 (using £2 of coupons I was sent in the post) then got £2.01 cashback, making them 79p! They have an offer on, 2 packets for £8; but with the myWaitrose card you can choose so many items to save 20% on-the nappies are currently in this offer. They take the 20% off the full price of each item-in this case, 20% off both £8 items. It was £4.80 then I used coupons. A similar thing happened a couple of months ago with washing liquid, when Fairy non-bio worked out much cheaper than Aldi own brand!

Beckyy

Hi skint, I'm expecting at the moment too and have found gumtree and the local swap/sell pages really good for bundles of baby clothes. Some we have bought include things brand new, designer labels etc. Most bundles I've bought have been around £10 and would have cost 5 or 10 times that if we'd have bought a lot of the items new.

We used Emma's diary and lovetoshop vouchers from surveys towards a half price nursery set in Argos. I've also been saving up my vouchers/rewards from other surveys etc. for amazon as you can buy so much on there. The only thing we've really paid 'full' price for is a travel system as I felt more comfortable getting a new car seat than second hand, but even then you certainly don't have to spend hundreds or thousands of pounds!