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This post is part of a series: click to visit Part 2-Paying for Childcare vs Leaving Your Job and Part 3-My Money Saving Diaper Strategy.
There was a number all over the web a few years ago that raising a child in the U.S. costs upwards of $233,000. About 30% of that sum comes from housing and 16% from childcare, both topics unto themselves I’ll discuss more another day. The rest of that total 233K is basically 18 years of spending a bit more on food, clothing, transportation, healthcare, and of course just more stuff.
For new parents, adjusting to sleeplessness and the complete reliance of a new helpless human being (no small adjustment!), the biggest money shocks are usually the early childcare expenses, followed probably by diapers, formula if needed, and the exploding industry of gear. Preparing for a new baby for the first time can feel like a financial hemorrhage getting “all the things” and that’s before the little one has even arrived. A couple years later and you’re buried in all this expensive equipment you don’t have much use for except filling up your basement… sigh.
As part 1 of a series on affording life with little ones, here are some savvy tips for gearing up for baby without undoing your carefully laid money plans.
What's In This Post
1. Infant gear needs are minimal, wait and see on YOUR needs…
Babies actually benefit from being loose on the floor when they are awake, learning to swing their limbs and wiggle, all on the way to scooting, crawling, standing, and walking. So they don’t really need much more than a safe crib for sleeping in terms of serious equipment and baby holding apparatuses. The ones who need the gear are us parents who just NEED to stop baby from crying at 3am, to cook dinner with the little one safely contained away from the stove, to have a bedside sleep spot for those early months, and to transport the new little one around outside of the house.
The thing is you likely won’t know what these key things you need are until your little one shows you just what kind of personality they have and you experience living life with your new family member. So, bouncer or swing? This stroller or that? Is that magical electronic bassinet worth it? Front pack carrier or ring sling? The first line of avoiding buying what you don’t need is actually to just wait. Get the essentials- a car seat and a crib- and not much else if you’re unsure about any of it. Take them one purchase at a time in your new life with baby, and when you can try borrowing from a friend first before investing.
2. High quality gear retains resale value
If you do it right, there are certain top of the line items you can have for almost no money. For instance, runners want a BOB or double BOB stroller, people desperate for some stinkin’ shut-eye drool over vibrating, shushing bassinet rockers, minimalists pine for BabyBjorn bouncers, and frequent flyers need a lightweight, carry-on compatible Guava Family Lotus travel crib (the stroller, bouncer and travel crib were all things we had and loooved by the way!). These items total up to thousands of dollars (yikes!). BUT between carefully chosen registry suggestions for groups of friends, family, or coworkers to pitch in towards and cruising second-hand listings you can get top quality gear for a fraction of the investment from your bank account just like we did.
For items you will buy yourself, procuring top quality stuff and taking excellent care of it can quickly translate to resale value since many of these highly desired, best quality items have a very short lived time in your home. For example, a friend made an agreement with their neighbor to share one of the top of the line bassinets, something both families will only be able to use for 3-4 months each, but they agreed to share the original cost. After that, especially if you can offload the item quickly before too many new models come out, they can resell and recoup a big chunk of their money.
Personally, I bought a 2-year old 2015 double BOB stroller on Craigslist for $375 and resold it quite easily two years later for $325. So, by waiting until I really needed the double (about 6 months after baby #2 arrived) and selling it as soon as my oldest didn’t super need that seat around the neighborhood, I essentially leased a $700 stroller for $50. Given how awesome that stroller is, I felt like this was an amazing deal!! Alternatively, the standard run of the mill stroller that came with our “carseat system” when we were brand new parents is basically worthless because it’s the exact same thing every person having a baby in 2014 got from Target and, besides, they’re not built to last.
High quality cloth diapers (read my review of using BumGenius Freetime diapers) also have a strong resale market, believe it or not. My batch of diapers for baby #1 I let sit around a couple years and the waterproof lining broke down so they weren’t in great condition anymore (lesson learned). So when I bought a second batch new (about a $250 investment), I was quicker to resell them after #2 was out of diapers… for $150. No joke.
So if certain top quality gear can be considered as an investment or lease, you can save several hundreds of dollars over those early months and years. Another method, of course, is to just borrow some items from the person who did pay full price and needs it to get some use! Then, with those big ticket special items handled, the start-up money hemorrhage of a new baby can feel a lot more controlled. Just remember to wait and buy the thing when you actually need them, take excellent care of your stuff, and sell again quickly while it’s still relatively new. These tips will save you money as well as space in your house.
To get a sense of typical resale value on an item you’re considering, keep an eye on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and eBay. On eBay in particular, you can filter by “sold items” instead of just seeing the current listings to learn what things are actually selling for and not just their list price. This is a helpful trick to see what really has resale value vs. what items people just really wish they did because they spent a lot!
3. IKEA furniture can’t be beat
When it comes to furniture, inexpensive, assemble yourself stuff from IKEA is the primo frugal choice. The style is simple to fit into any decor. The designs available to purchase stay consistent over time, avoiding your items from looking dated and making resale that much easier (nice when the assembly guide is still available online!). The IKEA crib we bought is still available today almost 7 years later and costs $169 new. Being still a current IKEA item, it was quite easy to sell our 7 year old crib despite its age. The items are quality, especially considering you will need a crib for a few years, not a few decades.
I also highly recommend IKEA’s Antilop high chair because it’s easy to wipe down and is $20. Seriously, that is a fantastic price for something you’ll use for a couple years. Even if you don’t live anywhere near an IKEA, it may be worth a special trip for a core set of furnishings. Or, if you know someone who does, it is worth perusing their website to see if you could have certain items delivered to a friend or family member within their delivery radius and then you can make a special trip to pick your delivery up.
Lastly, buy things that will longevity in your seasons of life when possible. Skip a changing table and consider securing a changing pad onto the top of a low dresser, something that will have long term functionality in your house. I also like this approach because it’s really nice having diapering supplies tucked into a top drawer instead of sitting out everywhere. Similarly, consider a comfortable chair that you might repurpose later in a living space instead of a “nursery” glider you won’t much care for past the nursery days.
But what about planning for more kids?
You’re probably saying, “But what about keeping stuff for future kids?” For a lot of items, I agree it makes sense to hang onto your things for planned future babies. But depending on your storage space and how temporary an item is (i.e., bassinets you can only use for 6 months max typically, a single jogger when you’re going to want a double), it may make sense to offload something even if you plan to procure something similar a few years later. This is especially true if it’s an item with proven resale value that you’re buying used but might lose value with time. Just do the same gig both times- buy used, resell as soon as you’re done. Also, with baby #2, you typically have a larger network of friends trying to move their stuff out, so there’s a bigger opportunity to borrow newer things or get items for the ‘friend price’ that they highly recommend.
In conclusion…
Even if you feel cash strapped, it is possible to procure some excellent baby gear if you spend your money very strategically. Just wait and see what you really need and want, buy used for whatever you can, and promptly resell items past their use for your family. This way you can cycle your cash from one thing (key infant stuff) to another (key toddler stuff ) and so on. I hope this helps you save major bucks on some of your baby gear and, ultimately, helps you maintain your path to mastering your money.