$5000!? How much did you spend?

[Isadora]

I would say all up you could easily spend $5000. My advice to you is dont bother with the baby bath, just use the kitchen sink. Our baby bath has hardly been used.

[sushee]

I had no one to hand anything down to me, unfortunately, and my DH will not buy second hand from someone he doesn't know (don't ask!). My sister had had a baby, but she was only 11 months old when Charlie was born. I got some clothes from her, but they were virtually all pink.

I did on-sell a lot of stuff after we stopped using them, and as they were in great condition, got good prices for them. In fact I sold my capsule at auction for only about $20 less than I paid for it new.

[TheBear]

Big ticket items:-
Hammock and bedding - $350 - Amby
Stroller - $400 - Mclaren
Baby Capsule - $230 (ebay) Sns Unity
Change Table - $40 (bunnings)
Baby Bouncer - $40

Lots of smaller things, but still less than $1500

[JordieC]

I have no idea to be honest so I'm going to try and remember and have a guess!!

Pram: $400 - lucky us mum and dad paid for this!
Cot: $500 ish with mattress
Bath: (mum bought this too) - $60
Change Table: $350 (on special at Baby Bunting) it's a set of drawers with table on top and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!
Nappy Bin: $100 - we LOVE this
Car Seat: $300
Other stuff - GOD KNOWS!! Maybe $500 worth of clothes, blankets and just stuff!!!

We put $1000 in DD's bank account from baby bonus and rest went to above and maternity costs.

[MissWingBat]

Devon,
It is certainly amazing when you write down how much you spent on 'things' for the baby. From the other end of the scale, we did a $600 layby at Kmart for Cot, Car Seat and HighChair. Everything else, we were given, and whatever else we needed, we got from garage sales.
Baby rockers, porta cots all were under $20. We got our last baby-walker from the markets for $8. Our pram cost $8 from the Salvos, it is a nice (new) umbrella stroller.
I know that some parents have the ability to spend alot of money getting the things they really really desire, but we had our first bub before these payments came in. And when I think back now, at how much of the 'brand' new stuff went un-used for months, even never used, and if I could do it again, here is what I would do:
- Not buy a high-chair until they are 6 months or even older
- Not buy a vibrating rocker capsule thing - my bub grew out of it in 2 weeks
- Ask everyone to buy 'bigger' clothes - size 1 or 0. The amount of brand new 000's and 0000's we are still left with after 5 years...
- Never buy a jolly jumper if this ISN'T YOUR FIRST CHILD. The other children will try to use it as a bungee (with the baby inside!!)
- If people are getting you gifts, ask for things like nappies, and baby-wipes, instead of 'soft toys', toys, and weird vibrating rocker caspsule things. The nappies and stuff is going to be the stuff you'll need every week.
- If had been given a lump sum, I would set aside AT LEAST $60 a week in my shopping budget - because you stand at the start of the baby aisle, and that's how much it's gonna cost...

The best best best thing I have ever received in ALL my pregnancies, and that I will always remember were:
- My mum went halves with us in a brand new, huge, washing machine. It really is more worthwhile than 10x frilly dresses. It really helped with the added washing loads when bub came.
- My Sister In Law bought me about 6 months supply of wipes, nappies, baby bath, talc. It was so handy, and everytime I used any of it, it really made me smile. And it really saved us SOOO much money.

[amberj]

All up we spent about $850. I am total budget queen! We got just about everything second hand, a lot of it off ebay. A lot of people aren't comfortable with the idea of getting things for their baby second hand and that's fine, but if you are at all happy with it, I strongly recommend it- all the stuff we got is in really good condition and is safe and clean and nice. It was a LOT of running around picking stuff up, but way worth it. And I had fun!!

[~Trish~]

OK, we are a bit "tight" and managed to spend only a few hundred dollars with DS1 and maybe an extra hundred or so on DS2!

We bought most of our things second hand (at baby markets, garage sales, second hand stores, etc). We were fussy about what we bought and it had to be in great condition, but we saved an absolute fortune. I ended up starting a pre-loved baby goods business out of my passion to find ways to save money and also help the environment by recycling perfectly good baby items (this is not advertising for my business BTW LOL).

Look on eBay too, if you keep your eyes peeled long enough you can pick up some great bargains!

[satya]

There is absolutely no need to spend anywhere near that kind of money unless you are concerned about buying everything new & everything with a flashy brand.

We've done it for around $1000.

Buy at stores like Target, Kmart & Big W & you will save heaps. Aldi also has baby things from time to time so watch out for their catalogues, they are by far the cheapest for nappies. Don't buy anything unless it's on sale. The chain stores have heaps of big baby sales with huge discounts.

Accept everything you get offered that's second hand & free. If you decide you don't want it you can pass it on to one of the grandparents to use. That's what we did. I was anti second hand clothes at first but then realised that most of them either hadn't been used or had been used once or twice and were like new - babies just grow so quick.

Cot - $189 - 50% off at Target.
Cot & cradle sheets & blankets $50.
Mattress - haven't bought yet but will be under $100.
Cradle - gift but was on sale at Target for $99 - one of those nice frilly ones 50% off again.
Change table/drawers/bath - second hand gift.
Clothes for bub $100 - body suits and singlets only as we got heaps of gifts.
Maternity clothes:
Big W mat jeans - $30
Kmart mat jeans $39
Big W mat tops 2 x $16 & 1 x $20
K Mart stetchy non mat tops 2 x $15 & one mat top $25
Mat bras from Big W $60 (3) & one from KMart $20.
The rest of my wardrobe fit through most of my pregnancy.
Pram - $80 at Kmart - Mothers choice shopping stroller - 50% off sale. Made by IGC who are experts in prams & car seats.
High chair - 2nd hand free.
Capsule - $100 from Big W when on sale - Zuzu - made by IGC who make most of the capsules available in Australia - perfectly safe but without all the bells and whistles. It was the only 100% Australian made capsule on the market when we bought it. These are available at Big W right now for around $120 - I saw them yesterday. We only had to add a thing to cushion bubs head when he was a newborn & it cost $20.
Sleeping bags - 1 x $10 1 x $3 (second hand like new).
Bottles & dummies etc under $100.
Fisher price rainforest bouncer thing $50 second hand (around $180 new).
Nappy bag $30 from Kmart.
Bottle bag $10 from Kmart.

Remember that you will get heaps of clothing, wraps, toys, bibs & blankets as gifts so you only need to have enough for hospital. My mother & MIL were constantly giving us gifts throughout the pregnancy so to be honest we wouldn't have even needed to buy any baby clothing.

[SunnyRain]

Change Table - $40 (bunnings)

What's this? This is the cheapest change table ever! Do you mean you made one yourself, or do Bunnings sell a cheap change table?

$5000 sounds crazy! Here are some ways to save money and still buy new stuff (you can save a lot more buying on eBay etc):

Change Table from Ikea: $60
High chair / baby insert / tray from Ikea: $59
Ikea Cot plus mattress: $195
Wardrobe hangers 5 shelves from Ikea: $9
Nappy buckets from Toys R Us: $15 each
Rent-a-capsule (e.g. from QLD Ambulence): ?$60 for 6 months
Microfleece Peanut Shell Sling Carrier from babes in arms: $60

You can easily buy a decent stroller priced between $300 - $400.

Check out Toys R Us for specials, because they have surprisingly cheap items.