How much have you and DH/SO spent in preparation for your LO? How much do you still have left to buy? I'm not interested in medical expenses or in things you received as gifts. Jut curious how much you and DH have spent on things for the newest arrival in your family. Have you spent more or less than you anticipated before getting pregnant?
Re: Nosy $ Question
Curtains $125
Glider/rocker $65
Clothes $40
Diapers $50
Exersaucer $30
Jumperoo $30
Misc $60
Diaper Bag $60
Total = $460
We are waiting to purchase anything else until after our last shower (which is 1 month after LO is born - we are team green). We still have about $140 in BRU gift cards/store credit, $60 in Kohl's gift cards and misc store credits from other places we have returned things...
We have probably spent about what I had anticipated.
We've probably spent around $1500 including furniture, clothes, gear, and decorating the nursery. I'd estimate another $800 to $1000 before he gets here since we still need a few bigger items- PnP, glider, swing... plus all the little miscellaneous stuff. This doesn't count the $2700 we spent on new living room furniture, or all of the other stuff we have done to our house as an INDIRECT result of having the LO join us.
It's probably right on target with what I thought we would spend... maybe slightly less.
Elliott Michael born 9/22/11
I've spent much less than expected.... we were given a lot of hand-me downs and also used AMEX points to pickup some big ticket items from amazon.com. We've probably spent about $400 on clothing/stuff so far. I had planned to spend about 3k by this point (I am an over-shopper).
We've been able to avoid a lot of expense by not doing a formal nursery. My mom will be staying in our guest room for 2 months, so baby is bunking with us for a while in a bassinet.
On the flip side, I dont think we're having a shower, so I will be doing some major last-minute BRU shopping next month to pickup the remaining items!
We've probably spent about $700 on everything so far. About $450 of that was nursery furniture and the rest has been other nursery projects, garage sale finds, a few outfits, and random diaper/wipes sales. I had a lot of stuff gifted to me from my sister, and any other baby stuff was from my first 2 showers.
That's probably more than I thought we'd spend honestly, because we actually bought mostly all new furniture and I'm typically finding great used stuff to refinish, but impatience got the best of me and our wallets! We really don't have much left to buy at all. I still have 2 showers coming up, and I'm going to have to add extra stuff to my registries for those.
We have been waiting very last minute to buy stuff since we are moving in August, so as of right now:
Stroller- 700$
Misc decor for the room: 500$
But, I am guessing we will blow thousands when all is said and done- because the furniture we are looking at is at least 1300$.
OMG, so much more than we expected. I haven't tallied it up, but I'll try to do it here and I'll probably be running to the bathroom to throw up after I'm done:
- $2,000 for crib, 2 dressers
- $600 for glider
- $700 for new carpeting
- $700 for wainscoting & crown moulding, paint, decor in his nursery
- $500 for stroller & car seat
- $150 for our Ergo and infant insert
I think that's most of the big stuff. Plus I'm sure that our families won't shop off of our registry, so we'll probably end up buying most of what is on there. Okay, yes, I'm definitely nauseous now.
Carseat - $220
Changing table - $25
Ergo - $90
Diapers - @ $100
Replaced bottle parts - $30
Bedding - $80
Misc clothes - $20
Room decor and storage - @ $100
Still need to make some curtains, but I don't think that will be much. And we don't need anything else at this point. Shopping is DONE.
I'm gonna say less than $500 so far. We are extremely fortunate that my mom paid for our furniture and MIL is buying the glider. This is the first grandchild on both sides, so a lot of people have been going overboard. We are being given clothes from DH's cousin's son who was also born in Sept. 2 years ago, plus I know my aunt and his aunts have been buying clothes since we announced we were pregnant back in January!
We are holding off until after our shower on July 31 to see what else we need, but I know that about 1/2 of the big ticket items have already been purchased.
This baby is spoiled already!
Glider/ottoman- $200
Crib-$75
Cubbyhole bookshelf- $80
Diapers- $50
Wall art-$180
Carseat- $135
Stroller-$25
breast pump-$100
PnP-$75
Colgate Classica 1 mattress- $10
=$930
Full Closet of Clothes, swing, bouncer, playyard- Purchased by my mom
Only thing we have left to buy is the ergo baby carrier. We are getting curtains and her crib set for my shower.
My parents bought the crib and mattress, my aunt and cousins bought the pack-and-play, and FIL made a cradle. I think MIL is buying the carseat and stroller as a shower gift.
crib+mattress = $160
changing table = $80
cloth diapers = $120
Ergo - $60
Random stuff = $50?
So maybe $500?
I have another shower this weekend so I'm not sure what we'll still need to buy. I want to buy a bookshelf and baskets for the nursery and we're lacking in the sheets, blankets, clothing department. I'm guessing another $500 will be spent in preparation.
We have spent much less than expected.
bouncer and swing- $60
cloth diapers- $50
Clothes- $50
Crib- $140
Fabric for crib bedding- $30
Stroller- $4 (I sold a bunch of books from my masters program to Amazon and got store credit)
Lamp, curtain, room decor, etc- $50
Total- $384
We don't plan on buying anything else until after the LO is born since we have pretty much everything we need. I am also having a shower but since we have all the big stuff I will probably end up with mostly clothes.
We've really only spent $$ on CD's and paint so far. So maybe $350? We've been gifted a lot of big stuff--all our furniture, swing, bouncy seat, exersaucer, car seat, etc., so we need to buy our BOB and any little clothes/toiletries we still need once baby arrives. We also need to buy our breast pump, but our birth center is having a sale next month--so we'll get that in two weeks for about $280. We're hoping gift cards and cash will cover the BOB and other little things.
This is all about in line with what we were expecting--we have cash in the bank in case we need to cover much more than this, but have been very fortunate to have VERY generous friends and family.
We'll always remember our angel baby: BFP 9/24/10, M/C 10/23/10 8w4d
Minus medical expenses, which are costing us out the butt, we have probably spent about $700 on nursery furniture and a few odds and ends that I picked up second hand.
We are fortunate that we have a 2 year old niece so we were given about 6 huges bags of clothes and a lot of nursery staples (bouncer, toys, tub, etc) from my BIL. We were gifted a few of our big items (crib, stroller, car seat, diaper bag). After my shower this weekend we will see what we have left to get.
I anticipate with breast pump and essentials remaining we will probably spend another $1000 or so.
This is probably right around what we expected to spend, maybe a little less because we ended up with a few more big gifts then I thought we would.
We've kept it pretty low. We've probably spent aobut $500 and have about 200 to go.
We went for pretty low cost items, like a $100 crib from ikea. And picked up quite a few items from craigslist (a glider, jumperoo, and a free dresser). We also did pretty well at our showers plus have used our birthdays to get baby stuff.
All in total, I think we have about $2000 worth of baby stuff. So our number would be greater if it wasn't for gifts, but still low compared to what we could spend.
craigslist has been my best friend
crib, PnP, exersaucer, - $100
car seat, 2 bases, stroller - $150
bedding/nursery decor from Amazon - $100
The most we really spent was on some home improvement projects that weren't necessarily for LO but things that needed to be done.
New paint/window treatments/floors for our bedroom and nursery - $1000
we have our shower in a few weeks and I'm sure we'll get most of the rest of what we need. My guess is I'll still have to buy:
breast pump - $275
Jogging stroller - $250
This is us too! Having said that - we have bought almost everything ourselves. I'm only having a very small shower, and have not depended on receiving any gifts at all. The one thing someone else did buy for us was a playpen - bought by my parents - with the anticipated use of our house and theirs.
We have purchased a few things second hand, but furniture, etc was all new. I think we spent approx what we expected to pay. We have no medical expenses.
The in-laws have bought a ton of stuff inc the crib and mattress and my dad bought the BOB (plus husband's REI credit) so that saved a ton of money. We're using my dresser in his room (good thing I didn't get rid of it when I moved in), friends sent us a pack n play, and SIL gave me her Moby.
Carseat plus extra base $200
Manual pump $50
Cloth diapers and everything to go with them $350ish
Clothes (thanks, Zulily for making husband so annoyed) $350ish
Other odds and ends (stuffed alligator, mobile, etc) $100ish
Paint plus supplies $100ish
Bouncy chair $5 (friend's yard sale)
Wall decor craft supplies $40ish
I've decided I don't want a baby shower so we'll be doing the big Target and BRU and Amazon orders at the end of July/beginning of August (blankets, bottles, etc.).
Crib $150
Bedding/Curtains/Decorations $310
Clothes $40
Cloth Diapers $454
Bouncing/vibrating chair $40
Floor play yard $30
Breast Pump $379
Breastfeeding pillow $15
Diaper Bag $37
Total = $1455
Still need to buy: Nursing bra(s), Nursing pads, milk storage bags, and maybe some other miscellaneous items.
not much at all since we had a lot from DS
purchases from DS
$180 carseat (Graco SnugRide 32)
$500 used UppaBabyVista car seat on craigslist
$20 used Quinny Zapp umbrella stroller at a garage sale
$200 breastpump
$500 pottery barn crib
$400 used glider from craigslist
$500 used pottery barn changetable from craigslist
$180 carseat (Britax Marathon for convertible seat)
$50 Ergo carrier
$150 pack n play + bumbo from craigslist
$75 crib sheets, pack n play sheets
$100 used fisher price papasan swing from craigslist
$80 exersaucer
purchases for this baby
$50 Baby Bjorn from craigslist
$50 used change table from craigslist
$40 storage bins and fabric for changetable
$100 stocking up on diaper sales
So far we've spent very little... just $70 on the Ergo (which I got on BabySteals.com) and maybe $5-$10 on baby wipes.
Having said this, our family and friends have been very generous so far. A friend of mine gave us her crib and mattress. I know my mom is getting us a bouncer, plus the carseat and stroller frame we wanted for our shower, which is this weekend. We're going to see what people buy us and go from there.
Honestly, the medical costs have been the worst part of this. We have a high deductible plan and finally hit the deductible a month or two ago.