How much are you planning to spend on baby stuff?

butterfly62682

Okay well I have seen so many people posting things they want to buy for baby. Some of these things that are listed are outrageous in price. I saw a $700 stroller post earlier...Ummm I only plan on spending $1000 on everything I need to get ready for baby. We are putting aside about $3500 to cover all expenses. So what do you plan on spending overall... on nursery, stroller, car seat, ect...

I know this is kind of vague, but I would like to get a general idea of what you plan on spending.

[Poll]

SarahP15

We just picked out the nursery furniture (crib, dresser, changer/shelf, bookshelf) which will be about $1,000 and everything else we have on our registry so I don't know how much we will end up spending, but I'm pretty sure my MIL will be buying the stroller/carseat and my mom will be buying one larger item as well.  Hopefully all in all we will spend <$2,000

DowagerCountessofNJ

I voted other.

We've priced out our nursery furniture and it's going to cost us about $800 for all the furniture.  I plan on spending about $600 on cloth diapers.  I'm hoping to get most baby items from my shower but I have every intention of keeping my registry list to the essentials and reasonably priced.  I'm sure we'll have to spend an additional $200-$300 on items that we don't receive through the shower.  Add in incidentals and odds and ends and I expect we'll spend $2,000.00 total.  That isn't including what our out of pocket costs will be for the hospital stay after insurance.

rattlecanqueen

I have no clue!  I'll see after we find out and our baby shower. 

KallieandJustin

I voted "other".  We need to buy a crib/matress but will be able to re-use the combo dresser from DS #1.  We also don't have to buy any carseats/strollers right now, however will eventually buy a double stroller.  I hope to spend about $1000 or less on this one, however we won't be buying the normal first time baby stuff.

earl&pearl

I voted 'other'. My parents briefly mentioned that they would like to buy the furniture and that my grandma would like to buy us the travel system. We are thrilled of course, but I am not counting on that completely. Only because if I want something more expensive (crib/dresser etc) I don't want them to feel like they have to pay for it since I don't know how much they plan to spend!

Our plan is to hopefully spend no more than about $1,500 when all is said and done! This will also depend on how much 'necessities' we get for our showers! I've been to showers where the majority of people will mostly buy cute baby clothes etc. If that's the case with us, we'll have to spend more on that stuff as well!

barefoot barista

Not sure yet...H's mom is buying the crib and another piece of nursery furniture, my mom is going to get the carseat and infant stroller frame.

we shall see what is gifted to me at the shower/baby party that we are going to have. 

we planned to spend around 1500.

Sazhrah

Since I  plan on making most of the "cloth" necessities (crib set, sheets, towels, blankets, etc) except diapers and that we will spend about $400, that will keep my cost down. We were given a dresser that i will repaint and stuff so all that right there is about $200. We have a friend that said we could have his daughters crib but not counting on that for sure that and SIL said she might get us one too so that I am not sure of either. I don't want to spend more than $125 on a crib since this is our last child.

I am hoping after all is said and done with clothing that we keep it under $800.

gymnst1013

I voted SS - chances are we will spend more than $1500 (yeah, I'm the one with the $700 stroller   I've gotten a ton of hand me downs though so that has reduced some of the things we will need to buy (bouncer, swing, glider and ottoman, tons of toys, etc.) and I don't plan on buying a ton of clothes.  I hear of all these parents with tons of clothes for their kids that just never get worn because they grow out of them so quickly.

We plan on buying an Amish made crib that will convert to a double bed.  I'm quite sure that will be relatively expensive, but Amish furniture is so well made that we fully anticipate it lasting until our kid goes to college so it is well worth the expense to us.  I haven't looked at other furniture so I don't know what that will run yet.  But I think we will only end up getting a dresser and bookcase.  And we will need an area rug (baby's room has hardwood floors), curtains (which my mom will likely make), decorations, etc.

We also plan on CDing which will be expensive at the outset, but we also won't be constantly buying disposable diapers for several years.  And we are hoping to BF which will save us on formula.

We are comfortable with the amount of money we plan on spending and don't think it is a waste.  I would rather buy quality items at the outset than have to replace cheaper ones because we end up not liking them or because they break, etc.

lynn97

gymnst1013:

I voted SS - chances are we will spend more than $1500 (yeah, I'm the one with the $700 stroller   I've gotten a ton of hand me downs though so that has reduced some of the things we will need to buy (bouncer, swing, glider and ottoman, tons of toys, etc.) and I don't plan on buying a ton of clothes.  I hear of all these parents with tons of clothes for their kids that just never get worn because they grow out of them so quickly.

We plan on buying an Amish made crib that will convert to a double bed.  I'm quite sure that will be relatively expensive, but Amish furniture is so well made that we fully anticipate it lasting until our kid goes to college so it is well worth the expense to us.  I haven't looked at other furniture so I don't know what that will run yet.  But I think we will only end up getting a dresser and bookcase.  And we will need an area rug (baby's room has hardwood floors), curtains (which my mom will likely make), decorations, etc.

We also plan on CDing which will be expensive at the outset, but we also won't be constantly buying disposable diapers for several years.  And we are hoping to BF which will save us on formula.

We are comfortable with the amount of money we plan on spending and don't think it is a waste.  I would rather buy quality items at the outset than have to replace cheaper ones because we end up not liking them or because they break, etc.

 

All of this, exactly. I have bought most of my maternity clothes from ebay and secondhand and will be getting hand-me-downs for baby.  I plan on splurging on quality items for the items we purchase and I also plan on CDing.  I truly believe that this will be cheaper in the long run and DH and I are in a position where we can afford to just buy the things we need.

kbel424

Just in looking at the prices of furniture and everything, I'm sure we'll spend over $1500. My MIL won't be as generous with gifts as some of the in laws that ladies on here talk about and I doubt my dad will either, so it going to be up to us to buy everything ( which is fine with us, we'd never expect anyone to get us something expensive) and our birth will be 5k... We have HMO insurance which doesn't cover the birthing center.

march2008

I honestly am not sure how much we will spend. I'm still working through the Baby Bargains (BB) book and DH and I recently started putting things onto a registry to keep our decisions organized. This is also helping us to get an idea of cost, as we anticipate having to purchase most of the baby necessities on our own.

There are things that I won't spend much on - like furniture. DH and I both agree that as kids, we did not treat our furniture quite as "delicately" as adults do and we fully expect that we'll need to upgrade their furniture as they get older. As such, we have purchased an inexpensive crib (although one that was rated well both in the BB book and by Consumer Reports) and will also be purchasing a dresser from Ikea.

We also don't like a lot of clutter in our house and try to live fairly simply, so we're going to try to avoid having too much baby flair all over the house. We're trying to stick more to the basic necessities. We are all about investing in experiences, not objects.

CarlaAndJames

Your thresh hold seem pretty low for the average baby stuff. We'll probably spend less $1500, but I would put us among some of the cheapest people out there!

Add up the cost of a crib, glider, dresser and or/changing table, any other furniture, carseat(s) (infant/convertible), extra base, stroller, swing, bouncers, bigger toys like jumparoos, breastpump, monitor, pack n play... it gets up to your $1500 QUICK!

Now granted you may get some of that stuff at showers, but I'm guessing we'll get a lot of the smaller stuff like bedding, bottles, clothes, etc from friends and have to cover most of the expensive stuff ourselves. And almost everything I listed above is at least $100, so you've got over $1k there easy. 

amyvan317

We have already bought furniture ($1500) and our bedding set ($300), and a rug for the nursery, so we got to $1500 pretty fast.  I have also been collecting cloth diapers when I see them on sale and sleepers and onesies when on clearance.  So by now, we are close to $2K with those 2 items, plus some maternity clothes for me.   

We are going to wait for our showers to see what we may receive as gifts and hopefully, we won't have too much more we are paying for on our own.  When it is all said and done, I have to imagine we will be around the $2500-$3000 mark.  But I am glad we have been spacing it out so far! 

PhotoCat82

This was actually one of my "to dos" for today - to figure out the cost of the big ticket items.  On that list right now is the crib, mattress, dresser, car seat, stroller, breast pump, & glider.  The total for those items is $1475.  Of those, the only things we will put on the registry are the car seat and stroller.  Then there are the smaller items, but they add up quickly.  I won't be buying a bedding set and will just be making the crib skirt.  We will also be cloth diapering, which costs more up front, but will save over time.  I have been building my CD stash as I have found sales or good deals.  At this point, it is going to depend on what we get at our shower, but I can easily see spending $2000 if we don't get any essentials at the shower.

cvl105

I put $1500, but I probably should have put other.  My MIL offered to buy the crib, so that should save us about $600 or so. We will buy two dressers (tall 5 dresser, low changing/dresser) unless one of my parents decides they want to buy that for us - probably more than $1000 for those two pieces.  Then once we paint, buy nursery accessories, buy things we didn't get (but need) off our registry, diapers, etc.  I'm sure it'll be upwards of $1500 or more.

ETA: forgot about a glider/ottomon...we'll need that too. So we'll likely spend over $1500.

Aubri and Lenny

So far with furniture we are at 2600. We have shopped around and found most of the stuff we like is right around that area within a few hundred dollars either way. Definitely wish we could do this cheaper but with wanting a lifetime crib and preferring a hutch on a dresser or armoire it adds up pretty quick. We are also putting new carpeting into the baby's room. That will be around 600 dollars. We started looking at strollers and child seats but haven't even began to rack up those costs yet. Thankfully we have pretty good insurances between the two of us so the cost to have the baby is hopefully pretty minimal. As far as showers go, we have a rather small family so we don't anticipate anything huge coming out of that.

 

newmomat33

We plan to make purchases after the baby shower. The only items we will probably have to purchase is the bedding and the breast pump.

YouAreMyILoveYou

My vote was other because it would mess up to accuracy of the poll!

Since this is my 3rd girl, I don't really plan on spending any money on "stuff." We'll get clothes from family and friends and everything else we will re-use (from the nursery set to the sit-n-stand stroller).

Once the baby arrives we'll be buying diapers and formula and all thatgood stuff.

My DH LOVES that I can't make him spend any money on baby stuff, and I'd feel wasteful if I did, because we truely don't *need* anythign at all!

sunset*skies

I'm budgeting $1500 - $2000, but hoping to spend much less than that.

Having Home Depot gift cards left over from wedding gifts will help, as I won't have to spend a dime on paint or shelving.

DH's best man already gave us a bassinet and a baby bathtub, and his wife thinks she has a stroller we can have as well. I have a friend who's got an infant car seat that she was given, and used a whole of twice, because she doesn't even own a car, so she's going to send it to me, I've offered to pay the shipping on it, which won't be much.

My mom's already started buying things for us - a nice wooden baby gate for the stairs, and some blankets. My MIL just found out on Christmas Eve, so I expect the gifts will start soon.

DH's family is HUGE, and was very generous with gifts for the wedding, so it's a good possibility that they will also give a lot for the baby. I'm not counting on it as a sure thing, but if they do, we'll come well below the budget we've set.

SpceCadet

I'm with Gym regarding the hand-me-downs and purchasing quality items.  My BFF had a little girl in August and will have outgrown nearly everything she owns by the time our LO arrives.  If LO is a girl, we'll have all the clothing and gender-specific items we could have ever dreamed of (her family and friends were very generous at her showers).

I put the necessities into an Excel spreadsheet and came up with a low-end minimum of $1300 and a desired total of $2600.  I've done a lot of research about strollers and car seats and the ones that will fit our lifestyle alone will be nearly $800.

Our OOP hospital cost will be $750 for an uncomplicated birth or $1500 for a complicated birth (c-section or any time in NICU). 

ETA:  We also plan to CD, so that adds $400-600 in the beginning, but will end up saving in the end.

jen&jay07

I honestly have no idea. My mom has already offered to buy the crib, we just need to pick it out. My ILs already gave us a travel system for Christmas so we don't need to put that on our registry. We plan on registering after we find out the sex in a couple of weeks. We will probably not buy too much prior to our shower. If it's anything like our wedding shower we should get most of our neccessities out of the way. We will purchase what we need to after that. We have already discussed that our tax return will all be going towards baby, including the deductible for the hospital.

pregarella

I voted other because in adding up just the few pieces I've been looking at for the nursery, we are already over $1500.  I think it's really hard to try to make comparisons or judgements on what others on the board are spending, considering everyone comes from obvious different financial situations.  What may seem frivolous to one person and "overspending," can be a drop in the bucket to someone else.  I think finding items that you love within your budget is important, whatever that budget (if you even have one) may be.

Turtle143

I honestly don't have a clue just how much either. DH and I have always been minimalists regardless of what we can actually afford so we're on the same page about getting only what we must absolutely have for LO.

jojobean1977

I put other because it is way more than the highest choice. This is our fifth/sixth baby and we need all new things. Everything was either broken or given away from previous babies. I have not even thought about an estimate. We are blessed to be able to afford the things that we will need without family help.

TheMrsHodges

This is our first pregnancy so we don't have any nursery furniture. Our nursery furniture will come out to be around $800, for the crib, mattress, dresser/changing table, glider. My MIL is buying us the crib so we'll only have to pay $500 of this. My husband made a baby budget for us and with our travel system, the rest of the nursery, high chair, bedding, and pretty much everything else a baby would need, we came to around $1500. We will be having a baby shower but I don't like counting on that so we're doing the budget regardless. 

Also I want to purchase the Go Crib, since we travel a lot to visit my IL and they won't have a crib for the baby in their house and that goes for around $250.

Altogether it'll be close to $2,000.  

bestmaid6

All the furniture will be $550. I'm guessing $100-150 for sheets and decor (we'll DIY most of it). Our starter stash of cloth diapers will be $400, including wet bags, a sprayer and detergent. We want that $700 stroller that was mentioned in an earlier post, but I think some of our family members will pitch in toward that purchase.

msb07

We've spent $300 so far on a 4-in-1 crib/dresser/changing table and travel system (gotta love clearance & coupons).  FIL gave us a glider/ottoman for x-mas and my mom gave us a diaper genie.  We'll be getting hand me down PNP, highchair, clothes, etc from friends & will DIY most decorative things so we should come in under $500.