Budget for the baby coming

DaddyMx · February 2015

I know they are some expenses calculators in some sites and also in some threads, but I just want to ask you honestly how much are you budgeting to buy all the stuff of the baby.
I am starting the 2nd trimester (yeiiiii!) and I want to have the real thing on expenses.

Thanks!

Miz_Liz · February 2015

I would say a lot of it depends on if this is your first, if you already have stuff or if there will be a baby shower....after baby arrives and you already have the necessities (carseat,stroller, crib, etc.) it is mostly diapers and formula if not BF'ing for awhile.

Brodie and Chevelle · February 2015

I have been putting this off but I'm starting the 2nd trimester and want to get more serious about it as well. I think a lot of it depends on the shower and who gets what. I have some family that tends to go overboard and get things like furniture so I'm really not sure what to budget. I might budget for all of that and if someone gets some of it then we'll just have saved more.

Does anyone have a good calculator or website that they'd recommend for this? I'm sure there are a million things I'm not even thinking of that need to budgeted for!

DaddyMx · February 2015

Liz, I am going to be a first time dad

Chevelle I ask myself the same; I will be a dad through surrogacy and single. I have lots of friends who are giving me gifts even today; some friends of mine suggested that my shower will be of money in an envelop (i found it tacky...but they are all excited); but still I dont know how much to budget.

You can go to google and put expenses of the first year of birth and you will find lots of them

cosplaymom · February 2015

You can get a lot of things for free. Formula, clothes, furniture, etc.

Why don't you figure out what you absolutely have to have brand new and calculate the cost of those items, then figure out how much more you can afford to spend on the baby? If money is tight, start working on acquiring stuff for free. Sign up for mailing lists for free products, network with friends, etc.

For example, the ladies at our church hand down old baby clothes... I ended up with two bags of clothes for every size, and then gave them to the next mommy when we were done with them. (The only clothes I have bought for LO so far were a handful of character T-shirts purchased for fun, plus I bought her some good walking shoes.) If you don't have a community of moms, check out craigslist or other social trading sites/apps for clothing exchanges.

Miz_Liz · February 2015

Congrats! I would tell your surrogate to stock up on diapers from the hospital - with our first each time a new nurse came on we would ask for more diapers and they bring you a pack. The insurance pays for it in the end. In the beginning the baby will seem like a pee machine and it will feel like you are going through a MILLION diapers. It does slow down some. If you shop around you can find good deals that will help you save, for example Target often has "buy 2 and get a $10, $15, or $20 gift card" for diapers and if you have a Red Card you save 5% off everything (then get the cartwheel app and sometimes they have deals too). Then if you have a memberhsip to someplace like BJ's, they always have a coupon for diapers. Sign up as a new parent with whatever formula you are going to use, we preferred Enfamil once DS stopped nursing, but each baby is different and you may need to try a few. By signing up they will send you free samples and TONS of coupons. Have your friends and family sign up saying they are going to be new parents too - more samples, more coupons!! Once baby starts on real foods you have lots of options - you can make your own with a processor or a baby brezza, or you can buy premade, which isn't too expensive. I think the biggest thing is going to be learning where you can get the best deals on things and never be too proud for a coupon (Carter's has great coupons too when you sign up for free with them). If any of your friends have kids, hopefully you will inherit some hand-me-downs. You can also try generics of things, I personally ended up sticking with Pampers for diapers because DS peed out of everything else we tried, but I love the Up and Up (Target brand) wipes. If you are on a really tight budget, you can always explore the cloth diaper option - definitely not for me, but many swear by it. You can also save on things if you sign up for "subscriptions" for them on Amazon. Sorry this isn't really an answer fully on how to budget, but I honestly don't remember how many diapers we went through in a day/week in the beginning (other than it was a lot). Baby will eat every 2 hours or so at first, but then that will lessen too to about 4 hours, 6....baby food....

bakerlady89 · February 2015

This is my second, and DD is only 17 months, so we still have everything in great condition from her. I'm only planning on buying a few things for this one. Diapers, bottles, and pacifiers, as well as possibly clothes if is a boy this time.

Babies are simple, you don't need a lot. A car seat, diapers, wipes, clothing, and a place to sleep, as well as a way to feed. Diapers and wipes cost maybe $40 a month for DD when she was younger, I breastfed so I have no idea on formula costs.

WDDCH · February 2015

Well there's a lot of variables between families and how they choose to live/spend. Will you use cloth or disposable diapers, formula or milk bank, brand new everything or as many used as possible?

Break it down into categories: diapers, clothing, feeding (bottles, nipples, formula or breastmilk bank/donations), furniture, toys, bathing, etc. A LOT of the stuff these lists tell you to buy aren't needed or aren't needed brand new. Figure out about how much you'd spend on each category. Friends and family will most gift many things.

The car seat needs to be brand new, crib needs to meet newest safety standards but can be used.

Instead of a $150 high chair get a "space saver seat" for around $30. Use a messenger bag you already have for a diaper bag instead of plopping down $80+ on a new bag.

DaddyMx · February 2015

These tips are great!! I plan to cloth diap...(yes I know everyone tell me I'm crazy...); I do it because of the Ecology more than the budget. At the end as Liz mentioned and WDDCH you can get a lot of disposable diapers for free; so the saving is not that much if I may say. Plus I think cloth diapers look so cute

I will try to do Breastmilk bank for the 3 first months. I will keep you updated on how that goes. If not formula.

I am taking notes on everything you are telling me, I guess most of the stuff I won't buy it and ask my friends whose babies are getting older to pass me stuff as you mentioned.

Will you say that a budget of $2,500 is too much? I went to BabyrUs yesterday and started seriously doing a budget on everything "basic" (I am a boy...so I was enchanted with everything...); this is why I made this threat because I guess I was thinking on spending a lot.

I saw a car seat for newborns and a car seat for 6 months, then a toodler one...Is that normal? Or you can buy one that works for everything.

Thanks

ChristyM87 · February 2015

DaddyMx said:
These tips are great!! I plan to cloth diap...(yes I know everyone tell me I'm crazy...); I do it because of the Ecology more than the budget. At the end as Liz mentioned and WDDCH you can get a lot of disposable diapers for free; so the saving is not that much if I may say. Plus I think cloth diapers look so cute

I will try to do Breastmilk bank for the 3 first months. I will keep you updated on how that goes. If not formula.

I am taking notes on everything you are telling me, I guess most of the stuff I won't buy it and ask my friends whose babies are getting older to pass me stuff as you mentioned.

Will you say that a budget of $2,500 is too much? I went to BabyrUs yesterday and started seriously doing a budget on everything "basic" (I am a boy...so I was enchanted with everything...); this is why I made this threat because I guess I was thinking on spending a lot.
I saw a car seat for newborns and a car seat for 6 months, then a toodler one...Is that normal? Or you can buy one that works for everything.

Thanks

I know my midwife center says that people who cloth diaper might want disposable for the first week for the nasty meconium stool.

You can by a car seat that transitions from infant to toddler seat. So in 6 months you save a couple hundred bucks.

bakerlady89 · February 2015

DaddyMx said:
These tips are great!! I plan to cloth diap...(yes I know everyone tell me I'm crazy...); I do it because of the Ecology more than the budget. At the end as Liz mentioned and WDDCH you can get a lot of disposable diapers for free; so the saving is not that much if I may say. Plus I think cloth diapers look so cute

I will try to do Breastmilk bank for the 3 first months. I will keep you updated on how that goes. If not formula.

I am taking notes on everything you are telling me, I guess most of the stuff I won't buy it and ask my friends whose babies are getting older to pass me stuff as you mentioned.

Will you say that a budget of $2,500 is too much? I went to BabyrUs yesterday and started seriously doing a budget on everything "basic" (I am a boy...so I was enchanted with everything...); this is why I made this threat because I guess I was thinking on spending a lot.
I saw a car seat for newborns and a car seat for 6 months, then a toodler one...Is that normal? Or you can buy one that works for everything.

Thanks

The newborn seat is not necessary, you can use a convertible seat from the get go. I liked the newborn seat though, because if baby feel asleep in the car, we could simply bring the seat inside without waking her.

If you cloth diaper, remember to size up on clothing as the cloth diapers are a lot bulkier. I would stick with your $2500 budget simply because I'd rather have too much set aside than not have enough.

Miz_Liz · February 2015

I would agree with @bakerlady89 on the infant car seat. We went with an infant seat (Graco Snugride 35) and I am SOOOO glad we did. It is MUCH easier to pop the baby into the car when they are already buckled in on a rainy or snowy day than to stand out in the cold and fight with the straps. I also really liked not having to wake the baby when we got places and he was asleep. I don't remember exactly when we transitioned our son to a larger seat, but I feel like he was at least a year - but he is light, so we only did it because of weight and length. When we did transition him we went with a Graco Smartseat - it also has bases like the infant seat so you can pop it in and out, but the baby cannot be in it when you do this. We chose this one because of safety and we needed to move the car seat between both of our cars as well as my mom and my MIL's cars, so it made more sense to get one seat and multiple bases. I think $2,500 is a great place to start - and I think if you are smart about things, you can really stretch that. If you haven't already done so, sign up for a rewards card at BRU so you start getting coupons. We also signed up at Buy Buy Baby and they sent us a 20% off coupon which we used towards our glider (LOVE our glider from there). It ended up covering taxes and shipping. And if you register at BRU (even if you never tell anyone you did), put the baby's due date sooner than it is, and after the due date they send you a coupon for 10% off anything that wasn't already purchased on your registry (the 20% off coupons are obviously better, but they will be for one item whereas the 10% one will be for everything so you can make one trip instead of 20).

Starynightsky24 · February 2015

The only things you HAVE to have for baby is diapers, feeding tools, clothes, and a place to sleep. There's no guarantee your baby will like or even tolerate things like swings and bouncers or bumbo seats.

If you are on a tight budget I would budget for the nessesities and buy what you think the baby will like/need after s/he is born.

I bought most everything in advance for DS and he didn't use a lot of it. Hopefully this baby will. But no guarantee.

julie1445 · February 2015

Plan out your big budget items, shop around and check out prices, were on our 3rd and gave away all our stuff thinking we were done. I plan on buying a crib second hand for less then 100, a crib matress around 120. A car seat still checking out sales, tge stroller used and those are my big ticket items, i want a swing so im looking for a used one too

princesslockness · February 2015

Hubby and I are budgeting around 1000-1200. We are members of different buy/sale/trade groups and they always have lightly used baby stuff.
If you are worried about having $ enough look for consignment, or join a buy/sale group.

puccagirl77 · February 2015

I would buy everything except the crib and the carseat used. You only use most things like swings and bouncy seats for a brief time (maybe 6 months) and you can easily get them for half price or less. I mainly shop at a huge consignment sale held 3-4 time per year in my area. Stand-alone consignment shops are also good, but prices are higher and selection is not as good. Freecycle is another good resource, as is Craigslist.

Unknown · February 2015

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DaddyMx · February 2015

Ladies, thank you so much for all the replies. Indeed all the different tips and advices are very well taken.

I guess I am going to put the money on buying the newborn seat, but buy an extra seat for baby that can transition into toodler.

I also love the advice of putting your due date earlier! How clever!!

I won't put too much on cloths because for me is things that in a few weeks you don't use again + I have friends right now with babies that I can profit their stuff. I will buy 3 or 5 things that I really love but for the rest don't think so.

@knittingmama I hear you. Currently I did a surrogacy process because I discovered an IMF almost 4 years ago; I had been saving money for the past 4 years, and the process because of my IMF has been tougher so I really want to put apart money for a really nice high end crib and rockseat.

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