Budget savvy tips

Get a belly band to save on maternity clothes. It’s a band of stretchy material you wear around your waist so you can still wear your trousers and skirts when they no longer zip up. Hold off on getting maternity clothes until you really need them. It is exciting to buy maternity clothes but you can save a lot by making do with what you have and/or borrowing. Your bra size is likely to go up a cup or two while pregnant and this isn’t going to change after birth. Instead of buying bigger bras for pregnancy and nursing bras after baby, wear nursing bras while pregnant. Don’t splurge on special breastfeeding tops. Make sure you’re committed to breastfeeding before buying these items. Fight your nesting instinct and hold off until after your baby shower to go shopping. Put nappies on your baby registry, and ask for larger sizes because your baby may only use newborn nappies for a week or two before he outgrows them. Get only the bare minimum of the essentials. Sure, you want to be fully stocked and ready, but your baby may react badly to a particular bum cream, or she may not take a dummy at all. So get only one of what you need and stock up once you know it’s a sure thing. Get everything major in gender neutral colours if you’re planning on having more kids; it’ll save you in the long run. Freeze plenty of homemade meals before D-day: cooking is not going to be a priority in those first few weeks and this will save you on take-out costs. And it’s healthier.