Best Tip for Buying Baby Gear

If I could give only one tip to first time parents it would be this - buy some gear each month so you are not overwhelmed buying it all at once just before the birth of your baby.

I started my research early which lead to the birth of this blog.  I decided what types of products I needed, and then looked at many brands to find which products would best suit my lifestyle.  I used the Amazon Baby Registry as a tool to create a virtual shopping list for everything that I would need for baby.  After some research my list was almost complete, and I added / changes items as time went on.

Starting around 12 weeks I started buying items from my list.  I was still researching, but I knew I wanted to cloth diaper, and had already picked Bumgenius 4.0 as my system of choice so that is where I started.  I was looking at purchasing 25 diapers at $17.95 each which is a $448.75 investment so I didn't want to have to fork that out all at once.  The good thing about this diaper investment is that these diapers will take my child from 8lbs to potty training so I won't be at the store buying diapers each week, and in the long run I will be saving money as well as making a healthier choice for baby.

Eventually we started getting gifts, and moving on to larger purchases such as the car seat.  I checked things off my list as I went, and before my baby shower I made sure that the registry was practical rather then cute.  I ended up only getting a few things from my registry, but with gift cards and returns I was able to check off many items.

Now I am sitting at 30 weeks with not too much left to purchase for baby.  I am still buying things a little at a time, but instead of feeling overwhelmed with the cost of it all I am excited that we are just about ready for baby to arrive.  We have spread out our buying so much that it has barely been noticeable.  We only have 21 items left on our list which are small ticket purchases with the exception of the monitor.

So in the next 10 or so weeks until baby arrives we have some light shopping to do, but can focus instead on saving some money in our general savings account for the future.  Buying a little at a time has had little impact on our budget, and has made getting ready for baby simpler then I ever imagined!

* Images copyright Brooke Photo Studio.