When you’re expecting a baby it’s an exciting time. Especially if you’ve waited ages to get pregnant. Even more so if it’s your first baby! You can easily get swept away in the happiness of it all and spend, spend, spend. Whilst there are baby essentials you will need, there are baby essentials marketed to you that you simply don’t need. It’ll just cost you money you don’t need to spend and could invest elsewhere, maybe even in your baby’s future! In this blog post I’ve given my opinion on waste of money baby products that you can do without! Along with some help from some fellow bloggers.
Bath Time
One of the main ones that I found we just didn’t need, in my life as a dad, was a baby bath. It might be one of those picture perfect moments, giving baby their first bath in the oh-so-cute baby bath, but it didn’t work for us at all. Our bathroom wasn’t big enough to have it on the floor, let alone have one or two people sitting next to it. So we had to put it in the living room, meaning I had to fill it up from the bathroom and then carry through.
As I have a bad back, leaning over whilst holding the baby happily in the water did my spine no favours. In the end I just got in the bath and held baby instead. It was a nice way to bond together and I have many awesome memories of giving all three of my babies a musical education by singing some classics at bath time. You’ll save yourself £10 or upwards by not buying one new.
Hayley at Miss Manypennies agrees. ” They’re bulky, take up space and you just end up with water everywhere! Just as easy to use your normal bath or even the sink.”
The Nursery
One of the big things about having a baby is preparing the place they’re going to sleep. That’s probably a nursery and you’ll enjoy looking through the possible paint colours for the walls whilst deciding what baby essentials to put in it. Whilst you want the nursery to look great, it needs to be functional. Francesca from The Money Fox says “we were adamant that we wanted a chest of drawers with a baby changing area on the top, but never used it. I always changed her on the floor on a normal changing mat.” Unnecessary costing, building time and something in the way.
Changing Time
The all important part of parenting babies, nappy changing! You want it to be as quick and efficient as humanly possible. However you sometimes wonder how what comes out, comes out of a human! One of the things I saw on a shelf once was a baby wipe warmer. It does exactly what it says, but what a waste of money and time!
Victoria at Lylia Rose says top and tail bowl are a waste of cash. “We had one and used it once and never again! Really pointless! We just washed out the sponges in the bath water and didn’t need two for each end of the baby!” Pete of Household Money Saving had another pointless product. “A nappy bin. We found it didn’t keep the smell out much and it just took up more room in our already crowded house.”
What To Wear
You can go overboard with clothes for baby. Whilst you need to make sure you have enough to cover you whilst you wash and dry others, you don’t need mountains of clothes. Claire at Daily Deals UK says “I have learned (after 5 children) that for me the biggest waste of money was baby clothes. They are often only worn once, as babies grow so rapidly. I strictly stuck to baby grows for the first 6 months on my last three children and saved a fortune. I also only had limited outfits from 6 months to 1 year, for parties and special occasions.”
I’d add that there is nothing wrong with hand-me-downs. As Claire says, things are often worn very infrequently so if a friend or neighbour offers up some clothes, have a look through! We often receive a carrier bag or two from family members who have older children than ours. Good quality clothing with plenty of life left!
Sleepy Time
We bought a Gro Egg Room Thermometer thinking it was a good idea. It displays the current temperature of the room and changes colour accordingly so you can be more aware of what to dress baby in for night time. It was plugged it in and on for a few months, but we barely used it. We used sense. We used our judgement. £25 we could have saved, right there!
Hollie of Thrifty Mum had this to say about baby monitors. “I bought a baby monitor that was never used. Unless you have a massive sprawling house, I don’t think there’s any need for them.” I agree, the likelihood is you’ll hear them wake up. If you’re visiting friend or family where you know you won’t hear baby, video call one between two phones and and pop one of them in the room they’re sleeping for a free solution! Be sure to mute the phone where the chatting is happening!
Check out these top tips for your own sleep too.
Enjoy But Don’t Bankrupt Yourself
I’m not saying not to buy stuff. Having a baby is such a wonderful time in your life and we’re blessed to call ourselves parents. However, you don’t have to spend lots of money, especially if you don’t have it, on baby essentials you don’t need, just because things look cute or Pinterest inspires you. Financial worries can be a massive family stress, don’t add extra stress to bringing up kids. Save money where you can and enjoy the experiences, not the things!
