Oh isn’t hindsight the most wonderful thing?
When I found out I was first pregnant with my longed for baby I wanted everything to be brand new, pristine and absolutely perfect. I wanted a nursery that looked like it was straight out of a magazine and for my little bundle of joy to have the very best of everything.
I didn’t think a great deal about cost at first and so looking back some of out purchases were quite frankly a bit daft.
Baby Clothes
I have always loved baby clothes and have to admit I did get a tad carried away buying some rather lovely clothes for my baby pre-birth. This was rather a waste of money on reflection as I soon learned 2 important facts.
1.If I was happy to take hand me down clothes from friends why on earth wouldn’t I consider buying pre-loved outfits rather than new? It is the same thing.
2. Babies are in their little outfits for such a short time as they grow so rapidly. Consequently pre-loved baby outfits barely have any wear and you can often buy a big, beautiful, nearly-new bundle for a low price.
Travel System
My father in law offered to buy us a pram. Oh joy ! I thought.
He named his budget and I set about finding the very best travel system we could get for that budget. It was expensive, brand new, beautiful. Yet actually, on reflection, how much more we could have got for all that money. Had we bought a pre-loved pram instead we would have had money left for a Moses basket, toys, books, toiletries and a car seat too.
We didn’t use the pram for more than six months and I bought a cheap (and nearly new) lightweight buggy after that. No one ever really looked at my very smart travel system, me included as all eye were firmly on my gorgeous baby bundle. Why on earth had I cared so much and spent so much of our budget.
A changing table.
A changing table is simply a wooden table with a help underneath and a pad on top. Pre -loved is definitely good enough and can save you a lot of money!. You can always just paint it white if it is marked. definitely not an item to buy brand new the cost can be really high and it will soon be covered with a mat and a ton of baby stuff anyway!
So where should you have looked for pre-loved baby items?
If I had used an app like wanna I could have searched locally for just the type of pram, baby clothes and changing table I liked and popped to see them before I bought to check they were right for me and in good enough condition.
Wanna is a Parenting Marketplace. it is the go-to-app for parents to buy and sell goods and services within their local communities.
Essentially wanna is a platform which connects buyers and sellers of goods and services within their locality. It has a unique algorithm that finds the best matches for your needs. I don’t like the hassle of buying hard to post items on ebay (which may have to be returned) and I do like the idea of buying locally and seeing the item first.
You can download wanna for free and try it for yourself. It’s just perfect if you are thinking ‘I want to buy preloved for my baby.’ I believe you will be hugely impressed with how it meets your needs and saves you hours of searching through buy and sell websites.
Find out more…
If you wanna find more about wanna (see what I did there!) you can also follow them on social media
Twitter: @wanna_app
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wannaforparents
Download it here and embrace preloved! (it will save you a fortune)
Collaborative post
I made so many mistakes with things I bought even second time round. Though I did buy some preloved items from a friend I really wished I’d gotten more. Great post and I’ve downloaded the app š
We got a lot of things from Ben’s sister and brother who had had babies before Amy was born, which saved us a lot of money. I still managed to spend money on completely useless things. Duck-shaped bath thermometer that didn’t work at all, bogey suckers etc – no one needs this stuff. Big things like bouncers or swings are such good second-hand buys because babies use them for such a short time that they’re practically still brand new when you buy them preloved x
Author
I had a bogey sucker to review once…ICK!
Author
Thats fab Amanda You will love it I’m sure!
I, like you, spent so much unnecessary money with my first. I don’t think there was an app like that available at the time but certainly would have helped.
Our changing system was part family hand me down and the pad from Preloved. Gumtree was fantastic for baby clothes but I also got some from FB, Our travel system was free from Preloved as the family were moving home and their children had grown up. Financially I’ve no regrets.
I was guilty of buying too many clothes for my daughter, she easily had a new outfit for every day of the week. When I had my son I didn’t buy as many clothes and happily bought pre-loved ones. Now that I am pregnant again I keep looking at new clothes and thinking how long will she be in it, can I justify the cost etc. so I’ll be buying pre-loved again
Author
Oh good for you great attitude you should so download this app
We bought everything pre-loved – including clothes when Kit and Oz were little. It wasnt even really to save money at the time – more that buying new just seemed a waste of money when there’s plenty of good stuff avaialble pre-owned x