If you happen to not be in any financial constraints, e.g. have loads of money to spend after settling your overheads, saving for your kid’s future and also for your retirement, plus, you easily meet your basic obligations, then you may be in a position to splurge away on luxurious baby stuff.
However, if spending on baby precludes you from a financially comfortable life down the road, you might want to control the habit from now on. Remember too that if your child is brought up with only expensive tastes, it’ll lead to financial strains and possibly even family feuds in the future.
Here are some areas you might want to consider more carefully before going overboard.
A fancy baby nursery
It’s hard to not get bowled over by beautifully-made baby furniture, alluring wall-papers, nursery walls decorations, toys, and high-end fixtures. Still, the fact is, your little one doesn’t care for those things and it’ll be some years before they even learn to appreciate a well-decorated room!
Instead, get practical and skip the fancy nursery in favor of a comfortable, safe place for baby to sleep. If you happen to have a spare room, a coat of cheerful yet calming shade of non-toxic paint and some basic furniture will do nicely for a nursery. You can add on other nice things as baby grows and as the need arises.
Intricate and expensive furnishings
Those miniature bedroom furniture sets for babies generally come with not-no-miniature price-tags! Many parents have been known to go overboard on baby’s crib and bedding only to find that their little ones have outgrown them all too quickly.
A baby changing table is nice to have if you can afford one, but if you’d rather not spend on buying one, and comfortable surface, like your bed, for instance, is good enough for nappy changes and the likes. Consider buying one only if you’re sure that you’ll be making full use of it. For example, do you intend to make your way to the nursery every time your baby needs a change? If your baby’s nursery is upstairs, for instance, you’ll probably end up changing your baby’s diapers where ever that’s most convenient.
Does your baby need loads of clothes?
Not, for babies tend to outgrow stuff very quickly. There is absolutely no point of burning holes in your wallet for a cupboard full of designer baby outfits (and yes, they can be unnecessarily expensive!). A few comfortable pieces of clothing will do nicely. You only need enough clothing to get through a week, less if you do a load of baby laundry mid-week.
Baby footwear
Baby shoes are quite in a league of their own and can be ridiculously expensive, even though they’re adorable to look at! The fact is, babies who haven’t begun walking yet don’t have any real need for shoes, but it can be fun to have a pair for special occasions. When your little one begins to cruise, protect his or her delicate feet with affordable, sock-like shoes with flexible, grippy soles.
Useful or wasteful?
There are dozens of redundant baby items available nowadays, most of them marketed to play on the sentiments of loving parents, especially new parents. — Diaper disposal systems, wipe warmers and baby bath thermometers are just a few examples of probably helpful but completely unnecessary items. The trick is to ask yourself before making a purchase: Is this useful or wasteful?
