This weekend we wandered into a baby store so M could show me a baby bed he liked. This store is a newer, cool, natural-focused baby & mom store in the downtown area and shall remain nameless for liability reasons. Turns out we have friends in com,mon with the owner who was a lovely, friendly woman very eager to talk about her products. After we explored a bit she took us through some options in baby transportation (strollers, carriers, etc.) and diapers. This is when I realized that I truly live in a different price universe than some new moms, one that is not conducive to the success of entrepreneurs.
We were talking about strollers, and she very generously pointed out that most people buy more stroller than they need, upscaling themselves to fancy wheels and jogging strollers when they don’t use these options. She informed us that we would still want a good, sturdy stroller nonetheless and should pay in the $250 – $350 range for it. Should, let me repeat. M & I had been planning more the $15 to $20 yard sale stroller, so this purchase would have involved a larger cash infusion.
On to the diapers! We bought a batch 2nd hand, and have been talking about making, looking for more 2nd hand options, and finding possibly a few cheaper new cloth pieces. Keep the costs as low as possible, that’s our plan. She showed us a wide range of lovely, soft, well-fitting diaper options that we could take home, ranging from $20 to $28 or so per piece. Since we will need 20+ of these (and depending on what we go with, also more covers, liners, etc.) a purchase of this size is quite unlikely.
On another scale, I read an older post by Frugal Babe where they calculated the total cost of diapers, detergent, water, etc. for diapering for the first few months, coming in at $100 or so – and much of that was upfront costs of large flannel sheets to make the diapers.
I also very much appreciate that it is people who spend the money on some of these items that keep small businesses in business, and that produce the used items that friends donate to us or we buy for much cheaper on castanet. Regardless, I find I can’t spend that kind of money for items that are available for so much less from other sources. I am open, though, that we will find a few items that we MUST have – during the lifetime of our baby – that we will gladly put down good money for. I will let you know when I find those items!