Small Bundle, Big Needs

I am 14 weeks and 3 days pregnant with my first child. It is an exciting, terrifying, thrilling, daunting time. My hormones are raging and my mind is filled with all the decisions I have to make in the next six months. What will we name the baby? Will we find out the gender? What type of birth do I want? 

My husband Mark & I

Surprisingly, the questions I find the most unnerving are the questions about all the things a baby needs. What kind of crib do we buy for our 1 bedroom apartment? Disposable or cloth diapers? Jogging or conventional stroller? I know nothing about baby products, so where to start?

Well, given I am a planner and I love budgets and lists I immediately created a ‘must have’ list. At first, I pulled lists from the Internet, but I quickly realized that what I deemed a ‘must have’ was much more minimalist than the norm (is a wipe warmer really a ‘must have’?).

Ultimate Wipes Warmer via UsedOttawa

My husband and I finally agreed on our list (but not before a giant fight we had when he suggested that since we don’t have a car, we don’t need a car seat. Since I was giving birth in July, it might be a nice day so maybe I’d want to walk home. Yeah… right). We were both shocked to see that our minimalist ‘must have’ list still had us spending over a thousand dollars.

And that was the moment that I decided upon my newest baby related goal. The second-hand challenge. My goal is to purchase nearly everything I need for our baby, second-hand (if I can’t borrow it or have it made). I started by emailing my friends for brand names I should look for and items they might be able to lend me. In the start, I had a few items on my ‘buy new’ list that I just couldn’t imagine getting second hand… namely a breast pump and cloth diapers. Though, after a bit of research, it turns out that with some knowledge (and some replacement tubing, in the case of the pump) they are perfectly acceptable items to buy second hand.

With that, I acquired my first baby item: 13 ‘gently used’ cloth diapers.  Purchased new, this brand of diapers sells for about $20/diaper ($260 total). Used, I got them for $100! A 39% savings!

My fabulous first find

Next up… the hunt is on for a dresser and a bed of some kind. I think I’m going to enjoy this! If anyone has any tips or pointers, I’d love to hear how you saved money on baby items.