One thing I’ve gotten really good at is buying stuff for a baby on a budget. Since we bought our house nearly two years, we’ve been trying to do our house up so a lot of our extra money has gone on that. Of course, at the start with a baby there were quite a few things we needed to buy, so I had a bit of fun with it and was determined to decorate the nursery and hunt out the cutest baby items…. all while on a budget.
Maybe I’m weird, but I’ve never really understood the idea of spending a tonne of money on baby gear, especially the clothing. You don’t need to be a parent to know that that babies poop and throw up all over their clothes, and they also grow so rapidly, meaning they get very little wear out of each item. There are some seriously cute clothes available for babies that are not only stylish but also super affordable too. I’ve made a list of my favourite places to shop for affordable baby clothes at the end of this post.
I know there are a lot of other mums or mums-to-be in the same situation, so I wanted to share the things I’ve learned about how to shop for a baby or toddler on a budget. It is possible to give your baby the best but not spend too much either!
Buy A Little Each Week
Before Jack arrived, we put aside around $30 each week to go towards buying clothes and other smaller baby bits, and each week I’d go in and buy a couple of onesies or a few bibs or muslin cloths. Setting aside a small amount each week made it so much easier to afford rather than going out and spending hundreds in one go. Plus, it’s super fun to buy something little each week too in the lead up to having your bub. I also really enjoyed being super prepared and having a lot of the clothing before Jack was even 30 weeks along.
Choose Your Big Ticket Items
For me, I knew I wanted a really good pram and a really good carseat for Jack, and so we were happy to spend most of the money on that. In my opinion, these are the two items that would get the most use and need to be of a strict safety standard, so we allowed extra for this. For some people, a carseat might not be necessary, but you might need a really good front pack, so just work out what items you think you will use the most, and spend the most money on that.
Research and Review!
Seriously, I spent SO much time looking up different items, reading reviews, and working out what I wanted to buy. There are a million different brands that essentially sell the same item, so doing your research here is a great way to cut back on costs. For example, I thought I was going to get this $450 cot from Baby Factory as it was the cheapest and best one I had found. After reading some reviews, I came across this one at Mocka and it was much cheaper and nicer, (especially, as I got a 15% off discount code for signing up). The reviews were actually more positive for the Mocka cot over the Baby Factory one too!
Another thing to take into account here, is look for websites that sell the same item. The Nile is an online baby store which sells a lot of stuff cheaper than places like BabyCity or The Baby Factory, plus they have free shipping. It just means you have to wait a little longer for the items to arrive as they come from overseas. I also got some great wall decals for decorating the nursery off Ebay whereas the same item here in NZ was over 10 times the price!
Wait Until the Sales
Pretty much as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I started to compile a list of everything we’d need for baby, and I spent a tonne of time working out exactly which items I wanted to buy and where the best place was to get them from. I then waited for the sales to happen and pounced! For example, I knew I wanted to get AVENT bottles and sterilising equipment, and I knew the best place to get them from was Farmers, so I just waited patiently until they had a 40% off sale and stocked up. I ended up saving well over $100 on just the bits for bottles that I bought.
Buy Secondhand
There are some really good quality baby items available secondhand on websites like Trade Me (or in the USA, eBay). While there are a lot of things I personally wouldn’t buy second hand like bedding, mattresses, or car seats, you can pick up some good quality and lightly used items for a fraction of the cost in stores. Things like playpens, toys and books are all good things to pick up secondhand as long as they are in good condition and can be cleaned easily. I’d never buy anything for my child that couldn’t be washed or wasn’t clean so always make sure you can look at the condition of them item first! If buying over Trade Me, it’s also good to ask whether the items come from a pet-free and smoke-free home too!
Use Lay-by or Oxipay to Your Advantage
Most baby stores offer lay-by and many online stores now offer Oxipay (where you can get your items straight away and pay it off over four weeks). We bought our pram and accessories via lay-by, and it’s much more manageable paying off a little each week, rather than straight away having to foot a $800 bill! If you get in early enough, then you’ll often have even more time to pay it off over the weeks.
Shop Ahead
One thing I also did right from the start, was to buy baby clothes in bigger sizes ahead of time. At the end of summer, I stocked up on toddler clothes in the 2 year size as by this coming summer he will be ready to fit these. Before Jack was even born, I had bought a lot of clothing in sizes right up to 1 – all of which were on massive sales. I would have saved hundreds buying clothing this way.
Just like after this winter, I’ll start buying some size 2 and 3 items such as jackets and hoodies, that I’ll put away until next year. As long as you have the space, you can save a tonne of money this way as it’s not like kids clothing trends really change that much!
Best Places to Buy Affordable Baby Clothing (For NZ Mums)
- Postie; the $8 onesies and $5 essentials are great quality and a good price!
- Kmart baby or kids section; Kmart often has mark-downs after each season too!
- The Warehouse
- T&T Kids; they often have deals online which are good value. Sizes do tend to run small though
- Baby Factory (shop the sale section!)
