How early is too early to buy baby stuff?

achapple

I am WAY into preparing early and getting good deals, etc. so I am keeping an eye on sales, coupons, etc.  But I am wondering how early is too early to be purchasing items.  We are not actively TTC until March, but I'm concerned that the deals I am seeing in the coming weeks (Black Friday, etc) are too good and I will miss out.  I don't want to buy electronics in case they don't work and then I have warrenty issues and if I buy and store a crib, what if it gets broken when we move next year?  Are there other times during the year when the deals will be this good?  Memorial Day, Columbus Day, etc?

 I realize this is a bit much, but we are on a tight baby budget and I am trying to capitalize on the sales as well as spreading the spending out over the next year.  I don't expect much from my baby shower, either, my family are all having financial hardhips. 

 Just thought I'd get all your experienced opinions!    TIA

Baby_Bunny_Hopeful

If you aren't even actively TTC until March- I'd hold off on any purchases until then, at least.  The only thing that I bought until I was 12.5 weeks along was a onesie that I had planned on giving my DH the day I got my BFP.  That was it.

Mystery2B

I'd wait till you were pregnant...if you aren't trying till March you'll be pregnant next year at this same time...and you'll still have lots of time to find good deals or buy used items after you get your positive test. Plus the "cost" of having money tied up in the not being used baby items...
If friends/family offer you FREE stuff that is the exception...that you can take now at zero cost to you (except having to store it).

KittyKatMom

I would wait at least until you are pregnant. You never know if your taste will change between now and then and you may not want the stuff anymore that you bought months earlier.

MarMat

KittyKatMom:

I would wait at least until you are pregnant. You never know if your taste will change between now and then and you may not want the stuff anymore that you bought months earlier.

this!

but I think you can lurk at the boards to see which are the most helpful items.. (with some of those your baby will end up deciding if he/she likes it or not).. and try to plan for a budget..

if you're planning to save, you can also take a look at cloth diapering on the EFF board & blog..

GL

GuitaristsGirl

I get wanting to get good deals   But I would really wait.  Once you start TTC, the average length of time to conceive is 6 months.  Then, your little one won't actually be here for 9 more months. . . so, even assuming that you don't have trouble TTC or anything, you still have 19 months to prepare!  So, any sales going on during holidays this time around, you'll be able to hit up again.  Plus, you might be surprised about how much your tastes change - I know mine did   GL!

7

calalily416

I would also suggest waiting- like the pp said, you would be pregnant this time next year, so you can find things then- and who knows what will be out then.

Also, I am curious as to what great deals you have seen?  I have been watching the ads and have seen very little.

Bridavey021508

I would wait until the second trimester.  On average, it takes a year to get pregnant when TTC, so you might even make it to the sales of next year's Black Friday. 

TX-Bride

Wait!! I just had a m/c at 10 weeks, it is really hard (emotionaly) to have baby things in the house. I had only bought a baby halloween costume on sale, I need to take it back and can't bring myself to do it, but it will be useless, too.

mybobble

With my 1st pg it ended up being an ectopic at 6.5 wks so if there had been anything baby related in my house that would have sucked. Especially after it took 2 yrs to get pg.

With this pregnancy we waited until our big u/s at 18 wks before we felt comfortable buying anything. Even then we waited to buy anything big just incase!

Personally I'd wait until you are pg. Just my honest opinion!

achapple

We are going to be doing IVF in March so I guess I kind of figure, it will work or it won't since we are only doing 1 fresh round plus if we have any we are able to freeze.  I suppose I have kind of an optomistic, naive outlook and figure it will work, we've been told our chances are somewhere from 50%-75%.  I know it would be hard if we didn't get pregnant or if we had a m/c but I generally err on the side of being overly prepared even with those possibilities. 

Having said that, I think I've been swayed into the waiting category.  Part of it is that I love shopping (who doesn't?) and baby stuff is freakin' adorable and fun.  But I feel better that I can find good deals over the next year.

achapple

Oh, and it's mostly BRU deals.  I just got an email with the Rewards R Us members weekend coupons.  20% off anything, 20% off cribs and mattresses, 20% off gear...and I just happened on a pretty good deal for the Medela PIS at Away Baby Essentials online ($219 free shipping)...I'm not sure if it's always that price with them or not.

 Thanks for all the relies guys!  It's hard to be patient...and really hard to know what to buy and when! 

GreekyPie

Before you are pg - too early.

Before you are even TTC - waaaaay too early.

There will be Black Friday sales next year, too. Save your money.

Flyswmer

I'd wait until you were pregnanty and fully into your 2nd trimester.  There will always be deals.

sarahmae8

deals don't go away. i know it is super tempting because you see things that are so cute and useful, but I would wait until you get that BFP. good luck!

fellesferie

I totally had a post written about how we didn't buy anything until the second tri, but I forgot about the baby's bedding.

Sooo.. when I was pregnant with DS, there was this little girl bedding (Sir Leapsalot by Wendy Bellissimo) that I was totally in love with. As soon as I got the BFP for this pregnancy, I went hunting for it. It's not carried anymore by normal retailers, but I found it on ebay (for $50 compared to the $300-400 it used to cost!) and I bought it. I was all of like 4 weeks pregnant. 

But other than that, we didn't buy anything until second tri. And we only had 2-3 things until our 20 week ultrasound. 

PunkyBooster

Nothing until my BFP and then I'll probably hold off until the second trimester. You have no idea how long it will take you to get pregnant and stay pregnant- and who knows what will be recalled in the mean time. You also run the risk of the warranty running out if you don't use it until baby arrives.

Remember you don't need much- a car seat and a crib are the essentials. 

VNME

achapple:

  We are not actively TTC until March, but I'm concerned that the deals I am seeing in the coming weeks (Black Friday, etc) are too good and I will miss out. 

 

We are the same age and my DH and I will offically start ttc in March too!!! Good Luck!!! ( I totally want to buy things too but I am holding off)

michellejdent

I don't think there is anything wrong with starting to buy things early.

I lost my baby at 11 weeks in September and my husband and I know that we are actively going to try again in December (when we get the green light).

We had already started reseaching things like strollers... and knew that the Chicco travel system because of its safety rating was the one we wanted.  Diapers.com had it on sale and with another 10% off we ended up getting it delivered free and with no tax for $225 (normally 319).  We felt like that was a deal we didn't want to pass up.

We also know that we want a neutral nursery and we've decided to paint it silver sage (restoration hardware) and put in the wood floors (allergies and think they are cleaner than carpets)... ALL before baby .

Do what's best for you.  We know we can get pregnant.  We know the reason why we lost our last baby (clotting issues) and feel confident that we'll be successful in 2010.