You are being very forward thinking in what you are doing. I think the best thing you can do is be debt free ie. credit cards etc before having a baby. Also buying things as you see them while they are on special is good especially big ticket items like prams, cots and car seats. Budgeting for no income and having the savings account is also a great idea.
Remember you will get loads of gifts especially if you have a baby shower - I got a gift voucher for my modern cloth nappies which was the best present so it's good to have an idea for things like that if people ask what you want/need.
With nappies, it'll cost around $1000 to set up in cloth (MCN) nappies, and I'm not sure about sposies. Count on about 6-8 nappy changes / day to begin with and a box of 100 huggies is around $50 (ish). If you're planning on using sposies, then stock up now - toys'r'us have good specials, and most shops let you exchange for larger sizes if the box is unopened.
Even if you're planning on BFing, plan for FF. 2 tins of formula @ $30/week until they wean (roughly) and if you want to express, then hire a pump (better quality & cheaper).
Either way, you'll need a steriliser and some bottles.
Clothes are a big "gift" item as are bunny rugs and toys.
I agree... be as debt free as possible. DP and I are TTC, we are getting all our debts excpet mortgage (damn!) paid off, money aside for bills and emergency money (cars breaking down, pets to the vet etc) and we are hoping to live off 1 wage shortly and the other wage can go into savings and extra mortgage repayments, and I would like to take 1yr off work, so trying to save money for the lost income during that time. As for nursery furniture and baby items, look around. We have decided to layby 1 item at a time, we have a pram on layby, the cot will be next. (we decided to layby while we are both working and can afford it) I won't be buying baby clothes until I am pregnant and further towards the end of pregnancy, only because my SIL and good friend were given soooo much in the way of clothes and things, that they both have enough clothes to do until there babies are 12months old. My SIL has said that she got so much stuff that half of it her DD has not even worn. friends, family will go baby crazy and buy heaps, so why double up?
It is hard not to buy up big now...oh the little baby clothes are oh so cute! But be strong, I would rather be able to afford to take 12months, maybe more off work than have more baby items than I can poke a stick at!
Yep, you can do it pretty cheaply. I think I spent about $1500 all up on cot (reduced from $800 to $200, cradle about $200, chest of drawers about $300, pram about $350, high chair $40, rocker about $100 and car seat).
It was tempting to go crazy on the Stokke cot, the Bugaboo pram and the Egg High Chair (that alone was $800) and given that DP and I are both on good wages we could in theory afford all that. BUT I looked at how many mortgage repayments we'd be able to make with that money given that I wanted to stay home as long as possible and went the cheaper options. I found that was a really good incentive for keeping me in line spending-wise.
I also make sure that I buy DD's clothes on sale at the end of season in the next size up for next year. I'm a bit allergic to paying full price for anything now.
Not that im promoting it (not at ALL) but DPs brother and gf got pg when she was 16 and have both been living off Centrelink since she was born (2 yrs ago, DPs bro is a lazy SOB and won't get a job)....and their daughter has everything she needs plus more...like I said not that im promoting it but you can provide for bubs on next to no income...im having at least a yr off and will be on about 400 a fortnite from C link, and DP only makes about 650 a week after tax, and we are gonna be just fine....
Paying off all debt is a great idea but if you are TTC and do fall pg, don't stress!! Ppl in a lot worse situations cope, that's all im trying to say
Well I think you can easily do it for under a thousand.
My partner has just had her first baby. We bought a 2nd hand cot (in perfect condition) for $40 through the local paper and then bought a new mattress (even though the mattress was fine we wanted a new one). We got the mattress on special at a baby store for $70.
My partner's sister bought her the baby car seat as her present (combined birthday, Christmas and baby birth). Though you can get reasonable ones for around $200 new (I would never buy a 2nd hand car seat in case it has been in an accident).
We painted up an old set of draws and I was given a change mat which we were able to screw onto the top of the draws. We then bought a baby bath for $10.
We picked up a range of baby clothes and plastic toys 2nd hand through the local paper, op shops and through a free "re-use-it" group where people advertise things they no longer need and give them away for free. We just washed everything again with bleach and softner or disinfectent for the toys and they are like new.
We have about 30 outfits for each size from 0000 - 0 so won't be needing to buy any clothes until bubs is almost 1. Most outfits cost less than $2 each and we got a few big boxes of clothes for free.
We got given a 2nd hand pram (in perfect condition) but you can normally pick up a good one 2nd hand for less than $100.
We also bought a baby carrier second hand for $40 (instead of over $140 new).
We spent the entire pregnancy checking out the paper, internet and op shops so that we could find the bargains and buy things bit by bit so it wasn't a sudden huge cost.
We are going to use fitted cloth nappies which are expensive to buy but my partners motehr has agreed to pay for these as a gift.
So I guess we have spent less than $500 in total but a thousand should cover it if you have to buy the carseat and nappies as well.
Babies grow so quickly that most baby stuff gets very little use so second hand gear can look just like brand new.
Totally agree with the others, it really depends what your approach is.
But to give you an idea I am doing a combination of new things and presents/second hand/borrowed things. For the new items we are getting kind of middle of the range i.e. $500 for a cot, changetable and mattress package, $400 for the pram. I am planning to BF and use cloth nappies so doing some quick sums the other day DH and I worked out that if we started with $5000 and used it only for baby stuff we will get the initial purchases and a surprisingly large number of months worth of the 'consumables' and day to day costs. Even if I can't BF and cloth just doesn't work and we end up with disposables, we thought we'd still be right for a few months. Of course these sums didn't take into consideration changes to income during that period.
You might be interested in a great book called "How To Afford a Baby" by Justine Davies. It has realistic advice for people wanting to prepare themselves financially before they have a baby. It's very easy to read & understand. It has everything from how to budget for a drop in income, work out how much time you can afford take off, get good bargains for baby stuff. The parts on government subsidies are excellent because it's written by an Australian.
I heard about it on the radio & got my local bookshop to order it in for me a couple of years ago.
I belive babies cost you as much as you let them cost you. Within reason!
You will be given SOOO much stuff when you have a baby, or a girlfriend will or can organise a baby shower for you. That is always fun.
You are a clever cookie.. I am sure you will be totally fine.. There are people out there with no money and keep having kids and they are all clothed and fed!
2nd hand clothes have been a godsend for me. Particularly since this child is apparently Gigantor...it probably won't fit into the newborn sizes.
We worked out last night that we've probably spent $1000 by now on everything we need - including 2 car seats. Not too bad considering we have no family support.
I like with the 2nd hand clothes that I can pass them on to someone else who needs them afterwards.
We decided to go for 2nd hand thing and minimalism becuase our lease ends in January and we'll have to move at xmas time...so this approach works for us becuase we rent.
Something else to consider, as we did, was what you plan to do for future bubs should you have more than one? We have been fortunate enough to have been able to buy almost everything new (after some very vigorous saving, I hasten to add!). Our reasoning is that we will be having at least 2 or possibly three.
We have planned ahead who will be using what beds etc. as they graduate from their cots. We have also considered timing our children in such a way that we don't end up needing three cots at one time, for example! As a result, we decided to get a sturdy cot that we intend using numerous times (we weren't silly about it and certainly didn't get anything near top-of-the-range, but it is a decent, well-branded" cot, with warrantees, that will hopefully last). Likewise, we forked out a fair bit on a change-table-chest-of-drawers modular thing from which you can remove the change table part and use for their bedrooms oneday.
What we did do with stuff like the linen, the rocker, the swing, the pram etc. was to buy gender-neutral colours (granted it may all look dull and boring to some) because we only intend on replacing things if they break.
We are also getting the nursery painted, but again, it will be a neutral colour so as to avoid having to paint over blue walls if the next one is a girl
What we haven't spent anything on is baby clothes (save a $15 pair of swim togs for him!). Everyone had been so generous in giving us bags and bags of boys clothes. My plan was to have my babyshower 2 months before the birth so that I can consolidate all of the borrowed and given clothes before spending a cent on anymore.
We have really tried to keep emotional buying to a minimum and even although I think we have spent a lot of money ($4500), we have not incurred any debt and see it as a worthwhile investment for more that one child. We have, fortunately, planned this baby for a long time and I understand that with less planning, this sort of outlay may be very difficult. As someone has already mentioned, not getting into debt over the baby gear is probably the most important thing you can do for both bub and your family.
Good luck with it all - I have had great fun preparing for bub's arrival
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