Budgetting for babies

[You're MDNWU]

Target, as pozzed as the company is, has decent store brand diapers. Get friends/family to gift you them in all the sizes instead of ugly ass clothes you'll maybe use once.

Don't be afraid of second handing clothing as they'll grow out of them almost immediately. Or stain them.

Sign up for all the free baby registry gifts you can from Walmart/Target/etc. if you're doing formula, sign up for all the brands samples as well.

Buy a decent car seat that has all stages. Buy second hand for stroller/crib/etc. Buy a decent mattress because the true cheap ones are trash. Remember to not keep really anything in the crib at all.

 

[Otterly]

Don't buy or use strollers, they are total garbage and everyone hates you when you try to bring a giant stroller to events.

Instead learn to baby wrap, much better and easier IMO.

Have to disagree on this one. I used our pushchairs to death. Wraps are fine for some stuff, but I walked everywhere with ours, and a pushchair was invaluable for hauling home loads of shopping, parcels, and all the other stuff kids need (wellies, coats, flasks, beach stuff, all that.)
Personally I’d get both. If you have any kind of back or skeleton issue, carrying a kid will get old fast

 

[Hweeks]

Have to disagree on this one. I used our pushchairs to death. Wraps are fine for some stuff, but I walked everywhere with ours, and a pushchair was invaluable for hauling home loads of shopping, parcels, and all the other stuff kids need (wellies, coats, flasks, beach stuff, all that.)
Personally I’d get both. If you have any kind of back or skeleton issue, carrying a kid will get old fast

Fair point - you do need a diaper bag/backpack if you baby carry.

 

[Biggimus Bettimus]

Have to disagree on this one. I used our pushchairs to death. Wraps are fine for some stuff, but I walked everywhere with ours, and a pushchair was invaluable for hauling home loads of shopping, parcels, and all the other stuff kids need (wellies, coats, flasks, beach stuff, all that.)
Personally I’d get both. If you have any kind of back or skeleton issue, carrying a kid will get old fast

Yeah; I don't drive and so walking to get groceries with the baby it was necessary to get the stroller. Plus, fresh air!

I have to say... We got our first one second-hand, then it was such a pain that we just sprung for a fancy dancy new one because 1) I was going to be using it a lot, and 2) we plan to have 200 kids so a $600 stroller will be basically nothing spread across them all rather than buying a new second-hand one every year or two. It also influenced why we chose to do cloth diapers...

 

[Otterly]

It also influenced why we chose to do cloth diapers...

I am actually old enough to have been in Terry nappies before disposables were widely available. Disposables existed in England when I was a bairn but they were very very expensive, so babies generally had a Terry cloth nappy, pinned with a huge sharp safety pin and a crackly plastic pair of knickers over the top.
Perhaps I retain some kind of memory of how unpleasant it was. Respect if it worked for you, i think the modern ones look much nicer, but we used disposables.

 

[Biggimus Bettimus]

I am actually old enough to have been in Terry nappies before disposables were widely available. Disposables existed in England when I was a bairn but they were very very expensive, so babies generally had a Terry cloth nappy, pinned with a huge sharp safety pin and a crackly plastic pair of knickers over the top.
Perhaps I retain some kind of memory of how unpleasant it was. Respect if it worked for you, i think the modern ones look much nicer, but we used disposables.

Oh yeah, those old crinkly ones look uncomfortable. But apparently the modern cloth are still less comfortable than disposables, lol, they say that kids in cloth will want to learn potty skills earlier because of that. Ours are just cotton with snaps or velcros that fasten the same way as a conventional disposable one, with a polyester waterproof "shell" on the outside.

 

[internet friend]

I wouldn't bother trying to get your baby to budget. They're not very good at finances or math.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

Oh. You meant the parents budgeting, not the baby budgeting. Was about to give advice on the latter. I was quite a finanicially savvy baby once.

 

[There She Glows]

Have to disagree on this one. I used our pushchairs to death. Wraps are fine for some stuff, but I walked everywhere with ours, and a pushchair was invaluable for hauling home loads of shopping, parcels, and all the other stuff kids need (wellies, coats, flasks, beach stuff, all that.)
Personally I’d get both. If you have any kind of back or skeleton issue, carrying a kid will get old fast

There are also a lot of different baby wrap/sling styles and brands, the frustrating part is that you will have no way of knowing which one is going to work for you. Borrow off of other mothers to try them out before you buy, or make sure you keep the receipt and that the store will accept returns. Just because one style or brand feels like pure agony to your spine doesn't mean all of them will, the weight distribution varies by design.

 

[Breadbear]

Diapers are always on sale somewhere. Here's a diaper calculator, but expect 10 diapers per day for the first 3 months. Use the most absorbent ones for overnight. You can also get absorbent inserts if you need to.
Do not buy car seats, cribs, or mattresses used.

 

[Convallaria majalis]

All the ladies in my life were piled high with other mothers crap as soon as they said they were pregnant. I haven’t had a baby yet but I always planned to get anything I can sanitise second hand. Everyone will want to give you clothes since babies fit into outfits for like 12 hours sometimes.