Where to spend the money?

so im interested in learning from others experience- when buying baby gear what is it best to spend more money on? is it worth spending lots on a pram (or any baby item) when a cheaper one will be the job?

i guess what im trying to ask is expensive better?

NO expensive is not better IMO. But do your research, esp with buggys! I do a lot of walking...and up and down hills so needed a buggy that would cope with road walking and was light(ish). the mountain buggy fitted the bill perfectly, whereas the Valco 3 wheeler we were given was lovely but a big old heavy sod to push up hills.

Also, with buggys...will it physically fit into your car? WIll you be able to lift it? I ended up having to buy a little lie flat stroller cos the MB wouldn't fit in my 2 door car lol.  It's perfect for popping around the mall etc although now I wear my baby in my moby wrap (shoulda started doing thats months ago!).

Car seats are all *about* the same as long as they have passed the NZ/AUS safety standards....the rest are bells and whistles which you may or may not want. We simply couldn't afford to spend $400 on a carseat so it was a moot point and we spent $150 brand new Go Safe on sale lol. It's great. And we hired the other one from Plunket!

Not worth (IMO) spending huge sums on clothes either cos people give you heaps, they get dirty and then the baby outgrows them in a blink lol.

Hmmm. That's all I can think of ATM. HTH

We are hiring a capsule (hopefully moving to the states when bubs is 6mo, so no point in buying one, other wise I would have liked to have bought one that was proven to be really safe even if mroe expensive (but I have no idea since we didnt look into it)
Other than that, I bought a new cot mattress, (will get) new sound and motion monitor. Other than that, everything else can be 2nd hand....
If you decide you want an expensive pram or what ever then you can always look out for a good bargain on TM...

Expensive isn't better IMO either. We got a pram (like a phil and teds) but bought it 2nd hand and its great. Our carseats were either bought on sale or a cheap brand, all for between 150-200. As long as they pass standards and can carry their weight for a while, the rest is just bells and whistles, like someone said.

My main thing is not buying into branding - Safe n Sound, Phil and teds/Mountain Buggy, Pumpkin Patch - that's not to say they're great, but you can find things just as good for half the price with a bit of shopping around.

Case and point - went to Farmers today and they had summer clothes marked down to between 3.75-5 dollars - I got $300 worth for $100. Can't say you'd get a bargain like that at PP, and TBH I notice no difference in wear at all.

Cots, we bought one off TM (new but only $300). Kids are only in them for a short time anyway.

The way I see it, most of us were brought up on a hell of a lot less than we give our kids today and I think we're probably better off for it. Kids don't need fancy stuff, in fact they don't remember it at all. What they remember is having mum and dad around, playing in mud and laughing

borrow whatever you can too !!

doesnt always have to be new or expensive BUT certainly whatever suits your needs best (if you walk lots vs pram etc) or is of good quality (guess somtimes that does mean pricey!)...We got new P&T pram, cot, angelcare monitor and SnS miridian (SP?) carseats (carseats are the biggest concern for me)....those were the things i aimed at for quality etc above all else.
We bought a new highchair off a parallel importer off TM for $100 which i thought was a great price bcos it does the whole recline/up/down/wheels deal its just not a known brand

...hope that makes sense! lol...im tired!

We got cot and bassinet mattresses new, and our carseats. The carseats (Safe n Sound) were on special for $280, down from $360 though. Everything else has been second hand! We bought cots from our bargains section ($20 each from memory) and have sanded them and painted them, FIL made the second bassinet to match the one we got that he used as a baby, dresser was from a second hand place, change table is borrowed from a friend....oh, and we hired capsules from the mUltiple Birth Club.

The only thing I wish we had researched more was the buggy. We got a second hand one from one of DH's workmates for $100, and it was bollocks. I recently upgraded to a MB, bought brand new, but only because they were 50% off at Farmers, so $450 which is not much more than you would pay for a 2nd hand one on TM.

We never used a monitor. And will be looking at high chairs shortly

We spent $$ on car seat - AHR meridian and it has been great, and also on the buggy, as I walk a lot and needed a decent buggy. We did buy almost everything new, but our parents gave us some of the big ticket items and the rest we bought on sale.

Shop around, as there are often sales on, sign up to loyalty programmes(e.g. at baby city) and if you are happy shopping online check out on line outlet/discount shops.

I also buy H's clothes at the sales for the following season, and shop at outlet shops. I hate paying full price for anything!

I think if you have the money then spend it on a great carseat. A Brio for eg is quite expensive, but being able to RF your child for such a long time is more than "bells and whistles" IMO.

I also prefer to spend $ on PP clothes, they are the only ones that seem to last on my kids. Ive bought clothes from Farmers, T&T, JK and the Warehouse, but none of them last as long (both in fit and wear) as the PP ones. Issy has stuff that she is still wearing two years later (and they were second hand to start with).

The only other thing we "splashed out" on was our baby monitor with the movementt pad and decent mattresses for the cots - I prefer to sleep on a decent mattress so I dont see why my kids wouldnt.

Everything else was second hand, hand me downs or pressies.

This is not a RF or FF thread so i think you can hold back on the preaching. Noone specified weight restrictions as bells and whistles.

We spent the money on a good mattress which would be the only thing i would insist on going all out on and a good carseat but not capsule (hired is just as good and most only fit in them until 6mths). Everything else can be hired or 2nd hand.

In saying that my parents got us a new mountain buggy with every accessory but we insisted on a good pram as we were spending a lot of time at the drag track so to us that was important to us. We also brought an expensive cot and my parents got us a bassinette so we brought pretty much everything new but im the oldest of my sisters who arent having kids yet and we planned on 2 kids so know that the stuff will be going through a few kids so seemed worthwhile spending the money.

My only new mum advice is get an easy wipe clean highchair as others have said and for the first few months baby gowns that have the drawstring at the bottom - best thing for changing bums in the middle of the night