In the video interview the other day with the authors of Baby Bargains (great book, btw) they were talking about how much it costs to buy gear for a new baby.

www.dadlabs.com/The-Lab/baby-bargains.html

I'm really shocked at how much cribs can cost. Playing $700 to 1000 or more for a crib seems pretty outrageous. Especially because a kid will only use it for a couple years unless you buy a convertible one but then you'll have to buy the conversion kit. Is a $800 crib really any better than a $200 one?

I know some parents worry about safety and what is in the finish on the crib. I don't want my kid gnawing on chemical laced wood (because you know he's going to once he's big enough to stand) but do you have to pay out the nose for that?

Would you ever make your own crib or use a second hand crib? Thoughts?

To be honest, no. We would break our budget if we did that. We are really big on living below our means.

We got lucky, we had a friend loan us a crib - it is not the latest and greatest, but it is the finest crib that mid-1990s money could buy. At this point he's still co-sleeping with us, so the crib hasn't been put to use yet, but it is ready and waiting in the baby room.

What hasn't been gifted to us, we've generally tried to buy used from local consignment shops. I think there will be plenty of time later in life when my son might want brand new things - right now we are trying to save money. When I see babies wearing expensive-looking clothes, I think the parents must have more disposable income than we do!

(edit:

In terms of making a crib myself - OK, I would buy a $700 crib before I put my son in a crib of *my* making - I didn't take shop class in school and unfortunately it shows )

Roger in Portland
(by the time the Feds gets theirs, the State gets theirs, the City gets theirs, and my family gets theirs, I have just enough left over for bowling once a week - thank heaven I bought the ball when I was still single...)

It's all relative, but my wife is nicely frugal. We found a beautiful wood crib at a consignment shop for $200. When we are finished usig it, we will still be able to sell it for $200.

She bought all the clothes at consigment shops (onesie's for 60 cents ea.)Reusable diapers off of Craigslist for $10 or less. Hardly anything is new and Olivia doesn't seem to mind at all.

Most people at our baby shower donated money for a new camera: a Canon

I would not spend that kind of money. Don't get me wrong though, I surely would accept one as a gift if given the opportunity, as the craftsmanship is usually very high. What I have noticed is that cribs in that price range are "certified organic" or "green" however that is possible when you're talking painting it and construction of a wood product. Mattresses I can understand, since they can be made out of cotton and natural fibers.

Some people judge their own success by what others think of them and such is life. I will put my child's safety above all else, and sometimes that does cost a little more, but never is it at the top end of the spectrum.

If you are considering a crib in this price range, just ask yourself if it's worth spending the extra cash versus a $200-$300 model, and then what else you could spend the difference on? Perhaps the remaining balance of funds could be used to buy a dresser and nightstand or a stroller and highchair? The expenses never stop, and for that reason alone, for me, does not justify spending almost a grand for a crib. (Though they are pretty to look at, it's still just wood.)

Oh, and NO don't build one yourself. Too much is at stake to wonder if it's "good enough".

Not even if I had that kind of disposable cash. $300 would be about my max for a NEW crib.

We were loaned a big convertible jobby. And it has been great. It has seen I think 4 kids before ours, and probably has 3 or 4 more left in it's life. We did buy a new mattress, as I'm not cool with a used mattress. (It didn't have one with it anyway.)

As for clothes, we've bought very little. I'd say 90% of his clothes are hand me downs. And the few we do buy, are usually bought on clearance. It's just too easy to NOT spend money on that stuff. I don't do used socks or underwear, not that he's in underwear yet, but those all got tossed out of the bags we've rec'd. (Seriously? They're kids, and family, but don't send us used underwear.)

My key 'Dad gear' purchases: the jogger stroller (it rocks, but I don't jog), and the diaper backpack... Craigslist, and consignment.

Daddy's poor. And when the kid is makin' money, he's gonna know how to use it to have more of the things he wants. Or when to spend it (first class travel and select destinations).

Oh, and I had every intention of building a rocking basinet myself. Still might for the 'next one.' But a full on crib, nah. I don't have the skills, tools, workspace or patience. But maybe someday... perhaps for my Grandkids.

If no one minds, I would like to resurrect this forum topic... and maybe turn it on its head. So, to invert the original question, I'd like to pose a new question:

What piece of baby gear have you bought brand new, and found to be indispensable in your home?

(Since so many replies here, including my own, have been about saving money and buying things used, I'd like to know what things we've acquired that we've forked out cash for, and been quite happy with).

In our home, it has been the Prince Lionheart Warmies wipes warmer.

www.princelionheart.com/site/n_bc_9001.html

We had a friend pick this up for us at Babies R Us a few days after we brought our son home. It cost us $32.

Within the first few diaper changes I did on our little guy, it occurred to me that the wipes we were using were kind of cold, and that would not be comfortable for anyone, let alone someone who had recently exited the warm comfort of the womb. In theory, I could run the tap water until it was hot, and then wet the wipes, but with a crying baby in my hands, that did not seem practical at all - I needed to get him on the changing table and out of that dirty diaper as soon as possible. So we got this little unit. It keeps cloth wipes warm and moist. They sell cloth wipes to go with it, but you can also use your own (as we do).

Parents have been making do without one of these for millennia , but it's a welcome addition to our changing station. We've been using it ever since.

(He still fusses during diaper changes sometimes, but at least I know it's not due to cold wipes.)

Cheers

Roger

Mother-in-Law wanted to get us a wipe warmer and I nixed it. We do diaper changes in several places in the house. The place we hardly ever use after about 3 months is the changing table. We figure that if the kid can't deal with a room temp wipe at home where it's climate controlled, then we're SOL when at the ball park in April or the farm in September.

I mean, enjoy it, but it's certainly not on any list of must have's for me. It's quite near the top of the list of "Why?" items.

Our big win was some interlocking foam pads for the floor of the kids' room. Instead of spending a lot more on something to go over the wood floor or refinishing it, we got a colorful, protective (for the floor and kids) play mat that goes wall to wall. Easy cleanup and nice on the toes.

Locking foam pads sound cool! We don't have hardwood but it sounds useful.

It would be interesting to hear what type of other "luxury" items people have purchased, and since found indispensable. Part of the inspiration for this thread was the forum discussion about the Beaba baby cooker - I thought it didn't look like it was worth the money, but some other folks said it had become an essential part of their kitchen.

a new detachable shower head sure made bath time much easier. it has a "trickle mode", so you don't have shut the water off/on repeatedly (and try to re-find the correct temperature). we also used a bottle warmer when our son was an infant. it was fast and much better than warming milk in hot water.

I'm told that a sturdy walled laundry basket makes nice mobile crib for a new born.

as for the crib, I'm building it. although the staff in the "babies r us" got pissed off at me when i started taking pictures and measurements of a crib I liked.

actually I bought plans off a wood working websites. should cost me in the neighborhood of $120 to complete, and look as good the $1000 ones.

We used a second hand crib for all three of ours. Our main concern was safety and we didn't worry too much about fancy bells and whistles. Making your own sounds really cool, a handmade family heirloom.

The misses and I are HUGE Star Wars fans so we are modding the crib we are getting. First we are gettign one of those $300 5-1 convertible cribs then using a wood burner to etch out the Rebel Symbol and other accouterments. We are still deciding on whether or not to get a bassinet for the family room.

So in short we would not spend $700 on a crib.
Cribs are like cars; once they are taken off the lot they lose significant sticker value.

A crib for $700? No way on earth! We had a crib from IKEA with mattress for under $100. It could be converted into a toddler bed. You can find also good used ones. Just the mattress should be new.


Our nursery does/ did not contain much:
(we basically had the same list in the US as now in Germany)
A simple crib (can be converted to a toddler bed)
plus mattress and a draft protection thing (can't remember that name in English)
A simple changing table (for the night time)
A dresser
A chair for night feeding
A night light
Baby phone
A trash can (one you use foil in to collect the diapers)
Baby bathtub: in bucket form
Baby sleeping bag (no blanket!)

Otherwise:
a bottle warmer to be used also for glasses


All together we spend roughly $300 for everything in the US. Here it was even a little less.

Ceanji... PICS or it didn't happen! Must see the Rebel Alliance crib.

Okay, this just became a new topic for me. Not that we need a new crib.

I've taken the crib apart to convert it into a full sized bed. This spurred me to look at the web site for the crib maker, Munire. I found the crib and the assembly instructions which the movers kindly detached from the frame. But they didn't help, of course. The instructions I need will be in the box with the bed rails we have diligently transported with us.

Okay, so while there I notice that this $430 crib needs bed rails (which we have) that they charge $190 for. I noted that the bed rails cost half what the crib did and that they're almost $200 to my wife. Her reaction is that I must have the wrong crib. Our's cost $650 as USA Baby in Indianapolis. She'd done research and that Baby Bargains book had said to go there for the best deals in the area (that was 2 hours away then) on baby furniture and when she looked for pricing online, Munire wasn't selling direct.

So, it looks like my MiL paid $200 too much for the crib and then we still paid for the rails. But it's over.

The side story to this is that a year later, this store (a franchise of USA Baby) took a lot of money from their customers. They took your payment for furniture and then collected paid orders until they filled a truck. This took three or four months. So they sat on four months of fully paid orders before making their order. Well, in 2009, they never did place that order and went out of business without notice. People likely paid them in full while they knew that they were just taking the money.

Be careful out there.