Budget: Mission Impossible

I now understand the pressure the treasurer feels each year when he hands down the budget. Some people will be happy, laughing all the way to the bank, whilst others will miss out and have to make each dollar stretch further. Fitting everything you want in to a budget is hard work, and I'm not sure my experience with budgeting has me in a very strong standing to be our next federal treasurer... because I've FAILED.

The initial mission was to spend $1000 on Tricky's first year of life, not including medical expenses. Well pretty soon after looking at the prices of everyday items that was blown well and truly out of the water and instead it became a budget for getting ready for Tricky's arrival, in other words preparing a nursery.

So what goes in a nursery budget? Things that I immediately thought I would not include in the budget would be baby wipes and the like that I could just put in to our weekly grocery list (I could always forgo my packet of Magnum icecreams if needed). But then I decided that I would purchase modern cloth nappies instead of disposables – now if I'd gone down the disposable path I'd probably have included them in the weekly shopping too (possibly causing us to swap to homebrand tomato sauce, even if it is like flavoured water), but the environmentalist in me means I've put the bulk purchase of cloth nappies in to the budget... and it's not liking it one bit. Kermit was right when he said it's not easy being green.

With eleven weeks to go before Tricky is born I've gone over budget by $149.50. I could have rounded that up to make it look prettier, but the psychological effect of that 50c is HUGE! I originally included maternity clothes in the budget but as I got nearer and nearer to the big $1K I took them off.

The breakdown of things I've purchased from most to least expensive:
Modern cloth nappies $240
Pram from ebay (RRP $400) $230
Drawers from ebay (RRP $300) $192.50
Cot from gumtree $150
Change table/bath from gumtree $90
Primer/paint for cot $55
Hugabubg from gumtree $50
Sheet sets x3 from BKM $47
Baby monitor from gumtree $25
Window shade $18
Jolly jumper from BKM $10
Nappy bag (RRP $90) from BKM $10
New Romper $10
Baby gym from ebay $8
Books from BKM $6
Rattle (so cute couldn't resist) $4
Shoes from BKM $3
Wall vinyls from ebay $1

All that equals a whopping $1149.50

I still need to buy paint for the walls, some shelves, a nappy tub and a car seat that will cost about a million dollars (one thing I don't want to buy second hand). I guesstimate that I'll end up spending about $1700. Failed. Big fat F on my report card.

But then again, it depends what you think failure is. Do I really think I've failed? Nah. I'm actually pretty chuffed at what I've achieved and how much I've learned. I was never in to buying second hand, but now I think I'm addicted. Why pay so much money for something that is going to be drooled on and chewed for a few weeks before Tricky either outgrows it, destroys it or becomes tired of it?

Through my searching for bargains I've come across not only some fantastic websites and markets, but some really lovely people who when hearing of my self imposed budget were more than happy to throw in a freebie! Though the kindness of friends, strangers and some excellent websites I've scored a bunch of stuff that helped the budget a lot! The freebies include:

• Pram cover worth $50 from one of Hubby's workmates
• A heap of baby and maternity clothes from a friend with a 5 month old
• About ten baby blankets and books from Yoink
• Vibrating bouncer from Gumtree
• Baby gates from a friend (who got them from another friend at his work)
• A change table mobile from the lady who sold me her baby monitor

So yes I've gone over budget and yes, I'm going to go even further over. But I've not scrimped on quality, nothing I've bought would endanger Tricky (I removed the razor wire from the bouncer and will make sure to get rid of the broken glass from the cot before I put him in it), and as a result when I stop working and again when he's born we won't have to struggle to make ends meet. It also means we can use the baby bonus on the truly important things in life, like plasma TVs.

Fight to the Death eBay Style

My sister P is a frugal queen and is always forthcoming with wise words of wisdom about saving money whilst not sacrificing quality or lifestyle, due to the fact she follows many a financial blog (yes, she's a bit of a geek, but that's why we love her). One of her frugal flashes was to set a goal for the amount of money spent on Tricky in the first year of his life. As soon as the budget of $1000 was mentioned I thought it was impossible... have you seen the prices of cots, change tables and car seats?? Even shopping at Baby on a Budget is expensive – I'm not sure who's budget they're catering for but it certainly isn't mine! So let's try the $1000 challenge!

I've always been a bit of an eBay junkie – I've bought lots of things ranging from makeup through to bathers and electronic toys. So why not use it for baby stuff? A lot of the items are big and pick up only, so while it cuts out over half the products for sale, it saves trying to figure out a courier cost from the eastern states.

There is a down side though. I'm pretty sure my blood pressure is sky rocketing at the end of each auction as I become the highest bidder for a few minutes until I'm knocked out of the race (probably by someone not participating in a budget challenge). I sit there with multiple windows open, a different high price in each, not trusting the automatic bidding system. Watching the countdown clock, calling out to Hubby “3 minutes, 26 seconds left!”, and if he answers back I don't actually listen – I can't listen – I'm way too busy being ruthless. This is the closest thing to armed combat I'll ever see. My weapons are strange prices, high speed broadband and the unpredictable craziness that comes with surging hormones – WATCH OUT!

Ok, so maybe not the healthiest option. A much more sedate version is Gumtree. List item, state the price you want, first person to make contact gets it. Easy. The only problem is people don't delete the ads after the item has sold, so you can be looking at an ad, only a few hours old, only to be told it sold immediately.

So far from Gumtree I've nabbed a Hug-A-Bub baby sling for $50 (RRP $120) and a cot for $150 (RRP ~$600). Plus with the cot the lady threw in a high-chair, a nappy holder and an older style swing bassinet, all in great condition. Because I'm fussy I'm going to sand back and paint the cot and bassinet, make them all pretty, ready for Tricky... who won't have a clue and really won't care that Mummy spent hours doing it.