Saving and Spulrging

I’ve always been an incredibly cheap person… like I buy clothing at Goodwill, but only if it’s 50% off… so of course being a new mom, I’ve had lots of additional shopping to do! Most of the things I’ve bought have been second hand, but I’ve had some varying experiences that I wanted to share for others.

Disclaimer- I’m tired and crunched for time, so you’ll have to forgive any lack of coherency or blatant typos… re-reading is not in the agenda for today ;)

Here are some things I saved on, and some I should have splurged on:

Clothing: Mega Save! Second hand clothing is pretty much just as good as anything you’ll buy new. I did really well by shopping sales at consignment stores. One day, I purchased 30 pieces of clothing for $30, and that pretty much lasted us until he moved into his 6 month clothing.

Car Seat: Save! I purchased a travel system (car seat, stroller, car seat base) for $30 off of craigslist and the car seat has been perfect. Just check for recalls and be sure it hasn’t been in an accident before you purchase.

Stroller: Should have splurged. As I just mentioned, I got a car seat, base, and stroller all second hand. The deal was impeccable as it retailed for over $150, but the reason I was able to purchase it so reasonable was because the stroller was pretty beat up. I wasn’t heartbroken as I only spent $30, and would have gladly spent that for the car seat alone, but looking back I should have purchased a new one off the bat. Anyway, to replace the original stroller from the travel set, I purchased a universal stroller that just snaps the infant car seat into it. Again, I went second hand and spent $30 for the snap-n-go. I must have been so thrilled with the price at the time that I failed to realize how beat up it was. It still is serving us well, but a new one probably would have lasted through multiple children whereas this one will most likely need to be replaced in a few months. Long story short, could have spent an additional $20 for a new snap-n-go… should have splurged!

Dresser/ Rocker: Save! Actually free… I repurposed my old dresser from my parent’s house. It’s in good shape, and holds the clothes perfectly! Same deal with a rocking chair... why buy something you can borrow!

Changing table: Save! Another consignment store find… spent $35 for a basic white changing table that came with 3 really cute baskets. It has some scratches on it but ultimately I saved about $70 compared to buying the same one new, so I can’t complain!

Crib: Save! Cribs seem to have quite a bit of novelty with new moms. When I was pregnant, I was constantly searching for the “perfect” crib. For me, that meant craigslist shopping or amazon, and I was prepared to spend about $250 for a Da Vinci crib. Ultimately, my saving gene kicked in and I found a great crib from walmart which my sister bought for us, and it was less than half of the price of a Da Vinci! It looks great, and I’m pretty sure FJ isn’t disappointed with it!

Cloth diapers: splurge! I notice that they’re sold frequently on craigslist, but I’ve avoided them for a few reasons. The first thing that’s a turn off about second hand diapers (aside from the pure concept) is that they tend to be over priced… spending $15 for a diaper I can get for $18 just doesn’t make sense. The second reason I’ve avoided them is that it seems like they may be being sold because they weren’t working right for the family. I’d rather get something I know will work for us. All that being said, I still managed to score a great deal on Oh Katy Diapers off of Amazon… they had a buy 5 get the 6^th free sale, and I purchased a color that was 20% off bringing the sale price down to around $13 a piece.

Diaper bag: Spurge! I registered for a carter’s diaper bag. It was cute, it came with a main diaper bag, mini diaper bag, changing pad, and little bottle cooler… best part was you got all of that for $25. I used the bag for the first 3 months and it served its purpose. Unfortunately, as the amount of gear that I carried increased, so did the chaos that exploded from my diaper bag. The main bag was large, but didn’t have a single pocket so it just became a disaster.  The final straw came when I was at a check-out register, totally convinced I had lost my wallet… when it was actually just buried! So I bought a new bag, with lots of pockets that I’m thrilled with. It retailed on Amazon for $140, but I got a pattern that was reduced by 50%... and applied a $25 gift card… Score!

Breast Pump: Splurge! The first breast pump we got was the bottom of the line Medela pump. The sales women said that the technology was basically the same, but it turns out it wasn’t and the pump died after a few weeks. It was still under warranty with Medela, but when we called them we found out that they no longer even sell that pump. Babies R Us was selling discontinued models… so Medela did the right thing and sent us a new and better pump in exchange for our old one. But the moral of the story is that cheap isn’t always good! As for second hand breast pumps, I see great deals all the time… it just wasn’t for me… but you could always buy it used and then purchase a few new parts…

Bouncy Chair, Swing, Boppy Pillow, Bumbo chair: Save! I purchased most of my baby “gear” second hand and haven’t regretted it. Everything I found was at least half of what it would have cost new! My one blunder with this was not checking to make sure that all of the parts were washable. My bouncy chair has a little awning that is attached to the fabric that makes up the seat, and consequently doesn’t wash very well… but now I know for next time ;)