Baby Gear I Wasted
I’m rather wasteful when it comes to a lot of things. I don’t usually eat leftovers despite my good intentions. I get bored with lotions and shower gels long before they are used up. And baby gear was so much fun to buy, I went a bit overboard. Now, if you’re being frugal and wise, perhaps you can learn from my mistakes. Here are some of the most expensive baby gear items I wasted:
High Tech Diaper Pail
I didn’t have a Diaper Genie, but I had something similar. It would hold over 400 diapers or something ridiculous. To a new mommy this sounded great – until I got my first whiff of 400 diapers. I’m now wise in the ways of diapers and just chunk wet ones in the trash that is emptied daily. Dirty (and stinky) ones go in a plastic grocery store bag, are tied off and chunked in the outside trashcan. Saves time, saves money and stinks a whole lot less.
Wipes Warmer
My husband was responsible for the wipes warmer. He thought it would be better to have warm wipes for diaper changes. While this is good in spirit, the dang think just dried out wipes, took up space and was rather annoying most of the time. I now just have boxes of wipes ready to go in just about every room of the house.
Dishwasher Rack for Bottles
I’m not good like most people, and I don’t run my dishwasher everyday. We just don’t get enough dishes dirty most days to fill it up. So I hand wash bottles and nipples which works better for me anyway. I never did get a drying rack, but that might have been helpful…
Hats
I live in the Houston area and my babies were born in May and July respectively. Why would they need a hat? Plus, both have heads that match the rest of their giant selves. My 2-year-old is in a hat designed for a kid (not a toddler), and my two-month-old is wearing the toddler sizes. At least there are big brains inside those big heads!
Exercise Gym
Baby exercise is fun to watch. They kick their legs and watch the toys and lights. I got one of the top-of-the-line exercise gyms with bells and whistles. And my mom got a hand-me-down basic one with a few dangling toys. Guess which one they both like better? So guess what – I bought a cheap one, too and packed the expensive one, away.
Travel System
Now, I’m not a Mclaren kind of girl, so I went with the Graco system. Besides their carseats are ranked among the safest out there. Of course I wanted the best for my baby, so I bought the whole system complete with an extra fifty-dollar base. So I had a stroller that came with everything but a DVD player, the matching bucket car seat and two bases.
Most of my friends used their carseats for ages, but not me. Brian outgrew the carseat at two-months, and Jake was out by three. And hefting that thing around was so not worth it to me. Besides, the stroller took up the entire back of my mommy minivan.
I’m now eyeballing a simple umbrella stroller
