Can any of the experienced mum and dads here suggest places where I can buy all these things...? Sydney area. don't mind buying from other states if price's competitive.
thanks
thanks
Where to buy baby stuff (pram, clothing, beds, etc)...?
- Thread starter Edmond Dantes
- Start date
New or used?
eBay + Ikea. Or your local area facebook trading page - I hate the UI on that sort of pages because you have to check them REALLY often - multiple times a day - or you miss stuff and I'm more of a once-a-fortnight-ebay-search person.
Can kit out an entire baby for < $500 *easily* if you're willing to go second hand.
All you need is a pram, cot, change table (padded top foldup card table is great for this), car seat, high chair (the Ikea one is by far the best as well as the cheapest, wouldn't get any other brand if you paid me), cot linen you can probably get with a second hand cot, and its not hard to get a big bulk lot of mostly-new baby clothes for < $30. And you need puke cloths, a bunch of old towels or flat nappies is great for that. Then just grab some bum cream, nappies and baby wash at your local supermarket if you don't get given a million of them from relatives. We ended up with about 9 bottles of various baby washing potions.
There's a ridiculous volume of secondhand baby stuff out there.
Can kit out an entire baby for < $500 *easily* if you're willing to go second hand.
All you need is a pram, cot, change table (padded top foldup card table is great for this), car seat, high chair (the Ikea one is by far the best as well as the cheapest, wouldn't get any other brand if you paid me), cot linen you can probably get with a second hand cot, and its not hard to get a big bulk lot of mostly-new baby clothes for < $30. And you need puke cloths, a bunch of old towels or flat nappies is great for that. Then just grab some bum cream, nappies and baby wash at your local supermarket if you don't get given a million of them from relatives. We ended up with about 9 bottles of various baby washing potions.
There's a ridiculous volume of secondhand baby stuff out there.
Both.........
If this is your first baby, I suggest you don't buy too much clothing. We had a ridiculous amount of clothing given to us for our first child which pretty much lasted until she was 9 months old- the reality is that a small baby is usually in bonds growsuits for ages, and the size of the newborn is a bit unknown.
I buy most of our kids gear from gymboree.com + I wait for the big sales (ie Black Friday -the day after Thanksgiving) or get a coupon, + split the post with a few friends- the gear is tough as hell as the Americans don't believe in line drying and they are in the opposite season to us. I found the quality better than pumpkin patch.
I pick up basics from target, kmart and big W but my favourite thing when they were really little- the babykidsmarkets ie
http://www.babykidsmarket.com.au go early, with cash and bags with elbows out (I'm not sure why people think its a social outing and bring their twin prams- you can buy equipment and gear there.
Just make sure you check the latest safety requirements ie bar width on cots, brakes on prams before you buy. HTH
ETA Spotlight has some good basic fitted cot sheets and cotton blankets- if you want polar fleece, its easy to make your own.
I buy most of our kids gear from gymboree.com + I wait for the big sales (ie Black Friday -the day after Thanksgiving) or get a coupon, + split the post with a few friends- the gear is tough as hell as the Americans don't believe in line drying and they are in the opposite season to us. I found the quality better than pumpkin patch.
I pick up basics from target, kmart and big W but my favourite thing when they were really little- the babykidsmarkets ie
http://www.babykidsmarket.com.au go early, with cash and bags with elbows out (I'm not sure why people think its a social outing and bring their twin prams- you can buy equipment and gear there.
Just make sure you check the latest safety requirements ie bar width on cots, brakes on prams before you buy. HTH
ETA Spotlight has some good basic fitted cot sheets and cotton blankets- if you want polar fleece, its easy to make your own.
One thing to think about too is to actually rent a baby capsule for the car, we hired from queensland ambulance, I am sure there would be similar places in Sydney.
Certainly saved up a heap of money buying one, especially since they grow out of them pretty quickly
http://www.ambulance.qld.gov.au/babycapsule/
Also depending on your attitude, we did everything on the cheap.
2nd hand clothes from friends (as they go through them so fast)
Baby slept in a wash basket for the 1st month until a family member bought us a travel cot, that lasted 6 months until we found a nice 2nd hand cot that we liked.
We bought a $20 2nd (or 9th) hand pram from gumtree which gave us time (it gave up after about 6 months) to see what features we actually wanted in a pusher before we forked out ($120 odd) for a new one. Alot of people regret their pusher/jogger/pram purchase because they spend so much without knowing what they actually want so it worked well for us.
We used the kitchen table as the change table as Mrs Mango didnt like the layouts of any of the change tables and once the boy hit 1 yr old she preferred changing him on the floor so he couldnt roll off the table anyway.
One thing Mrs Mango wanted was a rocking chair, i think we picked one up new for around $180 which helped her alot for the 1st year, doesnt get much use now though but it was very handy for breast feeding and soothing bub to sleep.
All in all we did things on the cheap, but we didnt 'go without.' We had what we wanted, we just made sure that we didnt buy things that we would never use or would be used very little.
Hope that helps
Certainly saved up a heap of money buying one, especially since they grow out of them pretty quickly
http://www.ambulance.qld.gov.au/babycapsule/
Also depending on your attitude, we did everything on the cheap.
2nd hand clothes from friends (as they go through them so fast)
Baby slept in a wash basket for the 1st month until a family member bought us a travel cot, that lasted 6 months until we found a nice 2nd hand cot that we liked.
We bought a $20 2nd (or 9th) hand pram from gumtree which gave us time (it gave up after about 6 months) to see what features we actually wanted in a pusher before we forked out ($120 odd) for a new one. Alot of people regret their pusher/jogger/pram purchase because they spend so much without knowing what they actually want so it worked well for us.
We used the kitchen table as the change table as Mrs Mango didnt like the layouts of any of the change tables and once the boy hit 1 yr old she preferred changing him on the floor so he couldnt roll off the table anyway.
One thing Mrs Mango wanted was a rocking chair, i think we picked one up new for around $180 which helped her alot for the 1st year, doesnt get much use now though but it was very handy for breast feeding and soothing bub to sleep.
All in all we did things on the cheap, but we didnt 'go without.' We had what we wanted, we just made sure that we didnt buy things that we would never use or would be used very little.
Hope that helps
Ebay, gumtree, freecycle, etc.
The only big-ticket items that we bought new for bubs was a car seat and her cot mattress. Everything else (even all her clothes, toys etc) were either gifts or bought in mint condition off Ebay, gumtree. Her cot is from freecycle. You can save a tonne of money this way if you don't mind using "used" things.
The only big-ticket items that we bought new for bubs was a car seat and her cot mattress. Everything else (even all her clothes, toys etc) were either gifts or bought in mint condition off Ebay, gumtree. Her cot is from freecycle. You can save a tonne of money this way if you don't mind using "used" things.
Not at the time as the change mat and assorted paraphanalia limited the space on the table.
The table has now reverted back to a dining table though, want to come around for dinner?
That's good to know. Had a visual flash of 'On the Buses' reading that
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maZW2lpJkAU
My daughter had a garage sale on Sat to get rid of her baby/child stuff (her kids are only 3 & 4 now so the stuff isn't that old).
Everyone commented on the quality and condition of the stuff she was selling as A1. It was actually embarrassing the amount of toys/games & clothes she had considering she only has 2 kids.
Still left is -
Porta cot $40
Wooden rocking horse $50 (sells for over $200)
A potty chair that plays music when they 'tinkle'. $20
Tandem pram (not side by side) with accessories. $50
Vtech baby walker (push along for early walking) $40
Walkie trainer (sit in) on wheels with activity centre and tray
Sit in activity centre (4 legs) with a seat that turns around
Baby Einstein play centre $30
Fisher Price Rain Forest Mobile $30
Monitor $20
Baby blankets and muslin wraps
A sit in floaty thing with shade for the pool
Boxes of clothes sorted into size and season probably half that were never worn. Many 'sets' e.g. rashie & hat, shorts & t shirt, etc. All in perfect condition. Gender neutral or boys. 0000 - 18 months. Would prefer to sell as box load but may let you pick & choose. One women bought all the size 2's for $100 (3 boxes).
14 pairs of shoes from birth to 2yo. Sneakers/gumboots/sandals. Various conditions. $2 each or lot for $25.00
Heaps of toys that she was going to sort into age groups (baby/6 month etc) and sell on ebay, but would possibly split if you wanted to pick and choose.
A whole heap of Fisher Price specific toys at various prices.
PM your email address if you're interested and I can send you photos.
Sydney area - Greystanes (near Parramatta).
Everyone commented on the quality and condition of the stuff she was selling as A1. It was actually embarrassing the amount of toys/games & clothes she had considering she only has 2 kids.
Still left is -
Porta cot $40
Wooden rocking horse $50 (sells for over $200)
A potty chair that plays music when they 'tinkle'. $20
Tandem pram (not side by side) with accessories. $50
Vtech baby walker (push along for early walking) $40
Walkie trainer (sit in) on wheels with activity centre and tray
Sit in activity centre (4 legs) with a seat that turns around
Baby Einstein play centre $30
Fisher Price Rain Forest Mobile $30
Monitor $20
Baby blankets and muslin wraps
A sit in floaty thing with shade for the pool
Boxes of clothes sorted into size and season probably half that were never worn. Many 'sets' e.g. rashie & hat, shorts & t shirt, etc. All in perfect condition. Gender neutral or boys. 0000 - 18 months. Would prefer to sell as box load but may let you pick & choose. One women bought all the size 2's for $100 (3 boxes).
14 pairs of shoes from birth to 2yo. Sneakers/gumboots/sandals. Various conditions. $2 each or lot for $25.00
Heaps of toys that she was going to sort into age groups (baby/6 month etc) and sell on ebay, but would possibly split if you wanted to pick and choose.
A whole heap of Fisher Price specific toys at various prices.
PM your email address if you're interested and I can send you photos.
Sydney area - Greystanes (near Parramatta).
If you lived in Canberra, I got a heap of baby stuff I could give you for free - if you were interested in some secondhand gear. (you tend to accumulate alot when you are up too baby number 4).
Having said that - shop around. Check out everything online, go to a few major baby stores and see what products you actually like (Baby Bunting, Babies'r'Us, Babies Galore, etc - all of these stores have an oline presence too), and then shop around. Being in Sydney, you will have ALOT of different places you can go to, but don't rule out buying online - you can often save a packet. Ebay can be great for some baby items, but overpriced for others.
Having said that - shop around. Check out everything online, go to a few major baby stores and see what products you actually like (Baby Bunting, Babies'r'Us, Babies Galore, etc - all of these stores have an oline presence too), and then shop around. Being in Sydney, you will have ALOT of different places you can go to, but don't rule out buying online - you can often save a packet. Ebay can be great for some baby items, but overpriced for others.
Just trawl garage sales every weekend.
We had a couple of sales when we moved to the USA, and we had every item of kid's clothing for $1 each.
Still had some sad and sorry f*cks wanting to haggle the price down to 50c. geezarse...
Or there's ebay...saves petrol.
We've always gone to Savers - the kids grow out of stuff in 5 mins anyway, so who cares if it's not Pumpkin patch....
Facebook for used (often near new items). There's a group in Adelaide called Adelaide Baby Bargains but i know they have 1 in each state as some of the Mums on ABB sell on the Brisbane Baby Bargains FB site or Melbourne Baby Bargains etc. Look them up. They sell anything and everything. If you're looking for soemthing you can post a wanted item.
We bought all our stuff brand new with our 1st baby from places like Target and Toys R Us. When they're on sale, you can save a bundle. Wait for the Babythons at Target, they often have alot of things 50% off during that time. Toys R Us (or Babies R Us) also have significant savings on various items in their catalogues all the time.
If you're looking for a brand new pram, good to shop around online as we bought our pram interstate and even with shipping it was still cheaper than buying locally. For shipping, try E-Go, they have extremely good rates. Or greyhound freight (they put your item in with the passengers luggage area when there is room) and they are competitive as well.
Gumtree and Ebay of course are good places to look also. Again, if buying from ebay interstate, just do a quick quote for shipping on E-Go to get an idea of shipping costs. Let the Seller know you will arrange a courier to collect from their home so they don't need to drop it off anywhere as alot of the sellers don't offer shipping interstate because they don't have the time to worry about couriers and stuff. So make it easier for them and do the quote so that the courier collects from their home.
hope this helps
We bought all our stuff brand new with our 1st baby from places like Target and Toys R Us. When they're on sale, you can save a bundle. Wait for the Babythons at Target, they often have alot of things 50% off during that time. Toys R Us (or Babies R Us) also have significant savings on various items in their catalogues all the time.
If you're looking for a brand new pram, good to shop around online as we bought our pram interstate and even with shipping it was still cheaper than buying locally. For shipping, try E-Go, they have extremely good rates. Or greyhound freight (they put your item in with the passengers luggage area when there is room) and they are competitive as well.
Gumtree and Ebay of course are good places to look also. Again, if buying from ebay interstate, just do a quick quote for shipping on E-Go to get an idea of shipping costs. Let the Seller know you will arrange a courier to collect from their home so they don't need to drop it off anywhere as alot of the sellers don't offer shipping interstate because they don't have the time to worry about couriers and stuff. So make it easier for them and do the quote so that the courier collects from their home.
hope this helps
We looked at sales if we wanted some things new
eBay was fabulous but time consuming
People tell me the baby and kids markets r great .
Good luck !
eBay was fabulous but time consuming
People tell me the baby and kids markets r great .
Good luck !
