Preparing for Birth On a Budget

O.K so despite endless advice on what to buy and what not to buy and what I would and wouldnt need I went ahead and spent god knows how much money on things I didn't really need and didn't spend half as much as I needed to on things I really did need. It was my first pregnancy, and I don't suppose any of us like to listen really as we all think we 'know it all' at some point. I found out I was having twins, and then twin boys ( non identical ) but I just wanted everything baby'fied in every catalogue and shop I looked in. Now though I realise half the things I bought were just a total waste, and now I know next time I have a baby I will be alot more sensible ...  Read the complete review

I had known I wanted kids at some point but when the pregnancy test was positive it began a whole new ball game. Suddenly we had to buy all the things a baby would need and there was a little thrill in the idea of choosing all the lovely things we would want or need. Still, I thought, I'll be cautious and wait until 12 weeks before I start buying anything and I'll spread the cost, though I couldn't help but admire little things as soon as I knew. Passing the clothing section in Tesco added a whole new dimension to shopping. Then, at 7 weeks and an early scan, we found we were going to be preparing for two babies. Shocker! I was delighted. This put a whole ...  Read the complete review

Society has a way of making you believe that you need everything that appears on the TV screen, in magazines and on high street billboards and this is no different when it comes to babies, in fact I think its worse. You are made to feel a failure if you don't have the latest highchair, most expensive rocker and the prettiest Moses basket in the shop. All the time manufacturers are bringing out new inventions that are supposedly suppose to encourage your baby to do this and that and you feel that you should buy it but I am here to tell you that you don't have to buy into these lies. You can get the best but without paying the earth. Having a baby can be an ...  Read the complete review

Preparing for the arrival of a baby does not have to be an expensive experience. There are of course alot of expensive products out there on the market, and they sound as though you must have them. But if you take a few minutes to think about it, do you actually need it? I have a 13 month old boy, and when we learned that we were expecting a baby, we started to write a list of things which we thought we needed to buy. One good bit of advice that I can give is to not always buy brand new. We bought alot of our baby stuff second hand from car boot sales and jumble sales. We manged to get some lovely clothes for very little money, and babies grow so quickly that the clothes ...  Read the complete review

I used to always say that if I'd waited until I could afford a baby, I'd never have gotten pregnant. I'm sure this sounds familiar to a lot of people. However, having a baby needn't be nearly as expensive as people would have you think. In fact, you needn't spend much money at all. I have to admit, I've changed a lot since I was pregnant with my first child 7 years ago. Back then, I wanted to get all the latest must haves. When my son was born just under 2 years later we did reuse a lot of items, but again bought some new. Looking back, we realised how much of a waste it all was. We've become a lot more frugal since then. Where I would've splashed out and ...  Read the complete review