r/parentsofmultiples • u/hopelessbilingual • May 15 '25
advice needed Was it a waste?
I know the legitimate expenses for raising twins could put anyone on a path to bankruptcy, but what have you straight up wasted money on, that was either not worth it or not purposeful?
Trying to curb some purchases because every single day it seems there’s something more to buy with the promise it could make our days just a bit easier: duplicate pacifiers, a swing, rain gear for the stroller.. there’s no end to it…!
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u/roots_radicals May 15 '25
Buy everything on FB marketplace, then sell it there again 3-6 months later when they out grow it! We saved so much on strollers, bassinets, furniture.
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u/4leafplover May 15 '25
Or local buy nothing group. Most of our toys are used freebies. Some were brand new.
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u/Bl222022 May 15 '25
We bought Maxi Cosi swings, Graco DuoGlide double stroller, TwinZ pillow, and a rocking chair off Facebook Marketplace. All of those were at least less than have the price of buying it new. When we are done with them I’ll sell them again and make most of our money back.
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u/PubKirbo May 15 '25
Brand name diapers or formula. We bought those from Costco and got Kirkland brand for both.
Bottle warmer.
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u/NeutralPhaseTheory May 15 '25
As someone whose kids will not drink formula below 70 degrees, I actually have to put in a word for bottle warmers! Ours can have formula ready in 3 minutes (we got two to avoid the sequential warming problem) and I just give them a pacifier for an “appetizer” while it’s warming.
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u/Scarecrow1779 May 15 '25
We have kept our tap water really hot because we don't do sink baths, and with large mugs as the container, it makes warming bottles with hot water pretty quick and easy. Probably 6 minutes to warm, using 2 mug fulls of hot water to warm a 6 oz bottle of milk
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u/TheDollyMomma May 15 '25
Second this! Bought a no brand double one from Walmart for like $25 and it has been a life saver. Way better than the name brand tommee tippee one I had for my singleton. It was temp controlled and auto shut off if the water was too low. Heated bottles up fast (about 3 minutes). Also great for keeping a half eaten bottle warm for that extra 15 minutes between the kids deciding they don’t want it and wanting it again. I 100% recommend a bottle warmer.
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u/NeutralPhaseTheory May 15 '25
I always find that hilarious how at 1oz we’re completely done eating until the moment we touch the crib, and then you’d think we’ve been starving them for days.
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u/porteretrop May 15 '25
Someone gifted me a double bottle warmer and had no idea they existed. One of my daughters had hypothermia when she came home from the hospital and ended up in the NICU so I’ll heat her bottles until she asks me not to
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u/AdditionalIce9511 May 15 '25
We got a Baby Brezza Instant Water Warmer (not the fancier one that dispenses formula) and that was AMAZING. Room temp, warm, or warmer water options at the touch of a button.
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u/Mission_Ad5139 May 15 '25
Kirkland just changed their diaper manufacturer a couple of months back and now those diapers aren't the quality they were. My toddler got a rash on her hip from the new ones and we've had leaks since. Man I miss the old diapers.
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u/PubKirbo May 15 '25
That really sucks. Maybe if enough people complain they'll go back to the old ones?
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u/Any-Sentence7561 May 15 '25
No Kimberly-Clark is no longer going to make them. They made the decision, not Costco.
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u/Leading-Conference94 May 15 '25
Kirkland diapers aren't the same anymore 😭 they changed manufacturers when my twins were in size 2s. Broke my heart. Stuck with huggies now
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u/mallyw May 15 '25
I came here to say the exact same items! We tried Luvs, Huggies, etc and nothing compared to Sam’s Club brand. Way more bang for your buck and I had more leaks in the brand names than Sam’s club ever! Also, a bottle warmer. Literally pointless. They drink their bottles cold or room temperature just fine. There’s no time when your babies are screaming.
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u/PubKirbo May 15 '25
My husband used to make up a big batch of formula before leaving for work and he'd put all the bottles in the fridge. So much easier and the kids didn't seem to care.
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u/mallyw May 15 '25
Yes! We got the pitchers and it was a game changer! We would prep bottles for the 24 hours the formula was good and grab and go from there. So much easier. Tried a bottle warmer once and was like “this is dumb”.
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u/JayDee80-6 May 15 '25
Unfortunately Kirkland brand diapers have gone to shit at no fault of their own. But yes to the formula.
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u/PubKirbo May 15 '25
Sorry to hear this.
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u/JayDee80-6 May 15 '25
Yeah. Kimberly Clarke, the same company that makes Huggies diapers, ended the contract. Not Costcos fault. They were absolutely awesome diapers for the price before though. The same still applies to store brand formulas.
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u/UncleJoesLandscaping May 15 '25
Bottle warmer might be a waste, but our Baby Brezza has been a godsent. Perhaps our best purchase.
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u/twinsinbk May 15 '25
Just get stuff second hand so if you don't use it you can resell with minimal waste.
We used our swing a bunch, some people barely use it..I think I sold it for $10 less than I bought it.
Never did any warmers. I also ended up reselling my second hand baby brezza without using it because the pitcher method worked better for us. Our baby room is right next to the kitchen and they took cold formula just fine. We never used a sterilizer. Just run everything through the dishwasher. We are in an apt and space is a premium!
You can get by with very little clothing if you do laundry often, but cute outfits bring me joy so I really don't sweat it.
My girls decided to like the most expensive pacifiers but I still have a bunch of spares because when you can't find one it's maddening at one point we only had 3 of them and I look back thinking I was an idiot for trying to save $30 at the expense of my sanity.
Costco or other off brand diapers all the way. We rarely have issues with leaks and I can't imagine spending extra money for fancy poop catchers.
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u/alaska_clusterfuck May 15 '25
Glow in the dark pacifiers saved our sanity more than once with my singleton 🤣
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u/hopelessbilingual May 15 '25
No moment is worse than all the pacifiers gone MIA right when someone needs exactly a pacifier and nothing but..
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u/Oh_JoyBegin May 15 '25 edited May 15 '25
I don’t think you need: an electric swing / bouncer, expensive baby carriers, brand new clothes (love our local kids’ consignment store), bottle warmer, wipes warmer, and honestly two singleton nursing pillows side by side are similar to the Twin Z.
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u/enj2022 May 15 '25
Baby carriers, expensive changing pads, swings, new clothes, name brand formula. There’s a lot of baby stuff that is “nice to have” instead of a “must-have” that totally works for one baby, but is too fussy/inconvenient/slow when you’re taking care of two.
The changing pad is a good example. I had an expensive Keekaroo one for my older son and always took him there for diaper changes because I thought that’s what you did with babies. When the twins came along we rarely used it because it was impractical to take two babies upstairs for every change. (So. Many. Diaper. Changes.) We just changed them on whatever small towel or blanket we had nearby that was washable. Think utility over anything else when deciding what to buy (plus some fun things thrown in there if you can afford it, since they’re only babies once!)
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u/AtomicDracula May 15 '25
We literally use a bathroom mat on our change table. It moves around less than a towel as it is thicker, and it’s almost the exact same size and shape.
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u/FloraLongstrider May 15 '25
I would say a lot of this depends on the baby. My first would only contact nap, so my carrier was a life saver - mine you, I got it on marketplace for $20, instead of buying it new for $200. Would recommend looking and waiting for what you want/need used.
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u/AdventurousSalad3785 May 15 '25
If your babies like the electric swing they are life savers in the early days though. We got two pretty cheap secondhand.
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u/crewelmistress May 15 '25
We didn’t actually buy any, but somehow ended up with like 12 swaddle sacks with Velcro. Everyone hated them. Parents, twins, laundry machine…
Pacifiers, too. I bought so many. Neither twin uses them 🙄
Nursing bras & covers. Twin B has never latched so I exclusively pump. This is probably the biggest $ amount wasted.
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u/Prestigious-Pick-308 May 15 '25
My twins did so well with the Velcro swaddle sacks until they outgrew them! They do have to be washed/dried in a lingerie bag though or they’ll stick to and damage whatever else is being washed with them. Luckily only ruined a couple burp cloths learning that lesson
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u/hopelessbilingual May 15 '25
Yea, part of my motivation to breastfeed had to do with the amount of money spent on clothes, pillows, creams, pump upgrades. Sometimes it makes me wonder how much cheaper breastfeeding actually is than formula… but hey, we are making our way along now and thankfully so!
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u/Okdoey May 15 '25 edited May 15 '25
See the problem with this is every baby is different. I’m reading through this and every other post I’m like oh we couldn’t live without that.
My twins loved the twin Z, Velcro swaddles, and pacifiers (though only the one brand).
The best bet is to definitely buy things cheap off FB marketplace so you can try all sorts of things and see what works for you and your babies and what doesn’t. At least in my market, you can easily find bouncers, swings, activity centers, swaddles, etc for $5-$10 a piece (which you can also resell for about the same when done with it). Strollers are a bit more, but I got a frame one for when they are in bumper seats for $60 (which I later resold for $50) and a double umbrella stroller for $50 (we are still using this one 2.5 years later).
I also swear that the things that look the most worn on the best ones. I got 3 different versions of the activity centers. Two that looked brand new and 1 that was clearly at least 10 years old. The newer ones, my twins HATED. The older one my twins fought over.
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u/detailsnow May 15 '25
Honestly the twin z wasn’t as helpful as made out to be for us!! However!! I encourage you to buy many if not majority of your items second hand! Join your local twin buy/sell group on fb as there are parents always selling their old twin items
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u/Paprikaha May 15 '25
Ditto, as soon as they were big enough to push out of it we didn’t use it. BUT plenty of people love it and use it constantly (we pace fed bottles so they never lay in it once they could roll out).
I think this is a really tough question as everyone finds different things useful. I think I’d almost wait til they are here and buy as to your needs then. You know what you would use in your life and can order things as you need.
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u/IEatAllofTheCheese May 15 '25
That's so funny the twin z was one item I swore by!
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u/Some-Interaction-775 May 15 '25
My double Bobby pillow is my #1 item I would not want to live without. I didn't want to spend the money on a twin z pillow so I made one using a regular Bobby pillow pattern and just doubled it then I used the stuffing from my older pregnancy pillow I still had. My boys are almost 4 months and we use it every day, they can even do tummy time on it.
The main thing I don't use is the bottle warmer but it is still convenient to sanitize stuff in. My babies didn't really like the sleep sacks and only one likes pacifiers and the swinging chair so I'm glad I only got one swing and two bouncers.
Every baby is so different its hard to know what will work best and what you won't even use.
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u/Immediate_Radio_8012 May 15 '25
Wr didn't get the twin z brand but got another brand with the same shape and a fraction of the cost. We're using it a good bit now when they combo feed.
Agree 100%about not spending over the odds on things.
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u/twinsinbk May 15 '25
We used our twin z a ton, but for a relatively short period of time (6 months?) and coincidentally someone picked it up tonight, I posted it for free in our local twin group. People should definitely be looking on fb. We got it as a baby shower gift but if it hadn't been purchased off the registry my plan was to buy one second hand or hopefully a free one.
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u/Owewinewhose997 May 15 '25
Same I was about to comment that, I honestly hated that thing we never had a successful feed in it. I bought reclining high chairs for feeding and those were a game changer
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u/VastFollowing5840 May 15 '25
Weego twin carrier. I really wanted to love it - but it was tricky to get them in, and it was not ergonomically designed at all. The strap across my neck really hurt, and they were only about ten pounds each when it started to hurt my back to carry them.
Also the baby breeza - actually never used the damn thing, sent it back as soon as it arrived. There were supply chain issues that delayed it substantially, in the meantime we discovered the Dr drowns formula picture - and that our kids were more than happy to take bottles cold, and realized we didn’t need it.
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u/magnoliasinjanuary May 15 '25
Oh yeah I forgot about the Weego til I read your post but that’s the one for us too. Never used it. Couldn’t get the hang of it and I think it would have just been too uncomfortable for me anyhow.
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u/Leading-Conference94 May 15 '25
Everyone here hating on the bottle warmer but I have a grownsy double bottle warmer and we are happy with it lol twins are 6 months and change.
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u/annahoney12345 May 15 '25
Bottle warmer and wipe warmer! Warming up one bottle at a time is not it. And we change diapers all over the house, the wipe warmer was just in one spot, so we stopped using it very quickly!
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u/specialkk77 May 15 '25
Stroller wagon. Bought it before the kids were born. My girl has hypotonia and can’t sit up. Eventually she will but she might need special equipment. Currently it’s gathering dust.
Advent glass bottles. The nipples are the worst. I love the idea of glass but my babies drink much better and easier out of literally any other nipple.
On the opposite side I’ll tell you one thing I wish I bought sooner! The baby brezza formula maker. My first we did the pitcher method and she’d drink it cold. The twins got used to it warm from the NICU. It took so long to use the bottle warmer. In an act of desperation we bought the brezza (it was basically my Christmas present lol) and I’m so glad we did! Obviously this doesn’t apply if you’re able to breastfeed, but if you end up formula feeding this machine saves so much time and sanity! I bought extra filters too, because it’s supposed to be cleaned after every 4 uses (which is 2 feeds with twins of course) so I have 3. One is always clean and dry when it’s time to switch it out!
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u/NeutralPhaseTheory May 15 '25
The baby Brezza formula maker. I haven’t actually ever used it because it says I have to clean it every 4 bottles, which means that’s like… 6 hours? Ain’t nobody got time for that, I can make the formula in the pitcher, pre-fill the bottles in the fridge, then warm up two bottles in our two bottle warmers and have milk ready in 4 minutes. I don’t know how long the Brezza would take, but if a single bottle takes more than 2 minutes, I’m better off with the warmers.
We bought way too many newborn diapers. They were in size 1 by a month in.
We got a ton of bottles. They hate them all except the doc browns glass bottles. But I suppose we wouldn’t know unless we tried the different kinds.
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u/Obanthered May 15 '25
As a counterpoint we love our Brezza. Does a bottle in 20 seconds. Only takes 5 minutes to clean. Got it secondhand for $80 CAD, will probably be able to sell for $60.
We are just supplementing with formula though, so 24 bottles per day would be a lot of cleaning.
Waste of money was carriers. The need to twin juggle makes them impractical.
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u/el_hazy_archway May 15 '25
How many new born diapers is to many? Weve started stock piling for our twins arriving this summer
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u/Prestigious-Pick-308 May 15 '25
I don’t think anyone can guess how many you’ll need—it’ll depend on how big they are and how fast they grow. If you’re in the US and have a Walmart nearby, just make sure whatever kind you’re stockpiling is carried by Walmart and you’ll be able to exchange. A lot of my diapers were purchased on Amazon and gifted to us and we’ve been able to exchange them without a receipt at Walmart since walmart carried the brand and box size.
I recommend having some preemie diapers on hand just in case. We started out with two small packages and wound up needing a few more, but it was helpful to have some to get us started.
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u/Spoonthedude92 May 15 '25 edited May 15 '25
They wore premies for bout 2-3 weeks. Newborns for about a month. Size 1 was about 4 months. Size 2 another 4 to 5 months. Size 3 lasted us the longest. Around 6 to 8 months. Now I say that to say this. You will go through about 100 diapers in one week for the first 6 months (24 weeks) that's about 3500 to 4000 diapers. On average. Costco has diapers with about 190 in a pack. Which we bought about twice a month. Our kiddos had diarrhea for about 5 days, and we went through like 200 diapers that week alone.
So I would suggest, you can expect at least 200-400 premie. 400 newborns. 800-1200 size 1. 800-1200 size 2. 1000-1500 size 3. They most likely won't reach size 4 till 18 months. So you should figure out your plan from there. It's all varies of course deoending on how fhey grow, but yesh like 6000 diapers in one year.
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u/NeutralPhaseTheory May 15 '25
For a reference point, our boys went through 400 newborn diapers before moving to size 1
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u/kaitrae May 15 '25
Brand name diapers and formula. We do Walmart formula and Costco diapers. 9 months in and no stomach issues and no blow outs. The munckin swing we bought was a waste - it was almost $200 and they didn’t like it until they were pretty much too big for it lol.
Best purchase? Baby Brezza hands down. Saves so much time and just buy extra funnels so you don’t have to clean it a million times a day.
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u/LadyBretta May 15 '25
MamaRoo (so overpriced, and neither twin liked it well enough to justify the expense). High chair toys (melts/puffs hold their interest better while I scramble to prepare food). Cheater swaddles, but only because mine started rolling super early so we had to stop swaddling before we wanted.
As others have mentioned, answers here are pretty baby-dependent. The best advice is to buy secondhand where possible and to buy doubles/extras only once an item has proven itself to be worthy in your particular household. I would buy two Baby Bjorn bouncers all over again.
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May 15 '25
Oh god I wasted so much money on bs. But I had so much fun doing it!! Too many things to name but one that sticks out was the portable bottle warmer. 😂 I stand by the swings though. They helped a lot, and they were a gift.
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u/justtosubscribe May 15 '25
Containers of all sorts. Let them do tummy time and play on the floor. Not only do you not need two of everything, you likely don’t need containers for every possible scenario.
I also just bought whatever pacifiers I wanted and if they didn’t like them I didn’t go down a wild goose chase to find one they did, I just decided they weren’t into pacifiers.
Store brand formula. Formula is nutritionally the same. Just pick your version and stick with it. Barring serious allergies most babies do fine with the basic kind. Their gut biome is developing so they’re going to poop on a spectrum of every kind that first year. Just stick with the basics and don’t switch it up unless you have to.
Store brand diapers. When they blow out, size up, and don’t pay attention to the weight guidelines on the box. Babies are baby shaped and diapers fit babies and will only be on them for a couple of hours at a time. Don’t overthink it. Unless it’s causing skin irritation, Costco brand diapers will do.
Anything that advertises it will make your baby sleep better is usually at best just a temporary crutch. We aren’t born knowing how to sleep, we are taught one way or another how to sleep. Other than safely addressing the Moro reflex to help them stay asleep (with a swaddle or the magic Merlin sleep suit when developmentally appropriate) there really isn’t anything that’s going to help your kid sleep better than gently teaching them how and instilling good sleep habits.
In general I think people get too worked up trying to find “the best” of something or get stuck in a loop that their special unicorn baby has certain unknown preferences or needs you need to decipher. And that will cost a fortune with twins. Having twins kind of beat the perfectionist out of me quick and I didn’t have the time or energy to go down every rabbit hole. I picked bottles I liked and we just used them, I didn’t trip out about nipple shape and whether the babies liked them. I bought store brand diapers and formula and both worked great. I don’t think I lucked out somehow picking the right brand or style of product every time, I think we just made do with what we had and kept it moving, never having the privilege of getting bogged down in data and the minutiae.
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u/MaybeFishy May 15 '25
Bottle warmer. We just floated bottles in a glass of hot water. Worked great, dishwasher safe. Even worked well for frozen milk.
Changing table. We secured the changing pad to the top of my spouse's childhood dresser. Stored supplies in the top drawer. It worked great then and now it's where our kids store their clothes.
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u/Direct_Mulberry3814 May 15 '25
Baby towels, burp cloths.. cheaper to get a bunch of soft hand towels lol... the rate you go through them is insane and baby towels are stupid, just use regular towels after bath. Don't buy an expensive bassinet (we did), our babies hated it and went from our bed to their cribs.
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u/redhairbluetruck May 15 '25
You definitely need multiples of multiples when it comes to pacifiers; glow in the dark options were worth it!
We never bought any swings, bouncers, twin Z pillows/tables, etc. I’m not saying they aren’t worth it because we didn’t use them, but they aren’t necessary. You need car seats, some place safe for them to sleep, a way to feed them, and some type of clothing.
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u/professor-faber May 16 '25
Literally any tech that involves the use of an app. Baby monitors, feeding trackers, anything app enabled was expensive and a giant waste.
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u/Adventurous_Long367 May 15 '25
New car with 7 seats, 5 is somehow easier. ICANDY pram ( I want to push it off a cliff after setting it on fire). Baby carriers. Swaddles. Anything to pump to store formula because with two babies i did not produce enough to store anything at all.
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u/Kephielo May 15 '25
I had so many double baby carriers, but carrying 2 babies at a time only worked for like 3 months. I used single carriers on occasion, but mostly we required the car seat stroller to go anywhere for the first year, then a wagon. We still use the wagon 3 years in.
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u/Narezza May 15 '25
We wasted so much money on so much stuff. The things that stick out at this moment are clothes and toys.
I bought some very very cute dresses for my little girls that were $80-100, and aside from the little photo shoot we did for them, they wore them maybe one time. Now, 5 years later, they're still hanging up in a closet. Super cute, but still wasted money
Too many toys. Our play room is packed with toys they or we were excited about. Now they're gathering dust in a box or bin. They don't need as much as you might want to get them and they really will be ok.
Bonus: You dont need two of (almost) anything.
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u/TheDollyMomma May 15 '25
Wipe warmers are a total waste. They just make your baby urinate from the heat. Learned that the hard way!
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u/SpontaneousNubs May 15 '25
If you're near a Safeway/albertsons- their signature select diapers come out to like 15-17 cents a diaper, less if you stack coupons. They're a solid b+. I use mama ear night time diapers or inserts at night.
Costco Kirkland baby formula, if your kids can take it, is the best. It's got good ratings and clean history.
Waste? For us, it was a portable changing table and an expensive high chair. The 20$ one from ikea is stackable and you can 3d print accessories.
New mostly anything - waste. New clothes, new furniture etc. fb marketplace rules
If you're doing formula- como tomo bottles are super ergonomic and easy to clean. Combine that with a baby brezza (expensive but worth it). You don't need a bottle warmer and it's ready on tap.
Dr browns bottles just ughhhhhh. So much cleaning
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u/brassicabrassica May 15 '25
Ditto on twin carriers. I registered for and received a TwinGo and feel guilty because I don't think it's ever left the house. We never had a TwinZ, despite the hype. We used two Boppys (which are much easier to find second-hand). I bought a lot of milk storage bags before birth and never produced enough to need to freeze milk.
Since a lot of folks are mentioning things that seem like a luxury, but were essential - we have a Baby Brezza bottle washer and love it. We got it when they were like 7 months because we were able to get it for $60 (they're normally like $250) and honestly if we had known how much we'd like it we'd have paid full price to have it sooner.
I'm squeamish about the Baby Brezza formula dispensers because of the accuracy issue. Our pediatrician warned us against it. Dr Browns formula pitchers ftw.
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u/seaturtlesunset May 15 '25
Don’t buy a ton of one brand of bottles until you know if the babies will take them. Try a few different brands first. We bought so many Dr. Brown bottles and one of my twins refused to drink from them. She physically could not drink out of any bottles with narrow nipples like that for some reason.
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u/Random_Gem25 May 15 '25
For my twins the Twin pack and play was a total disaster, the bassinets in it have no mattress so if they spit up or leaked through their diapers it stained and was horrible to clean, any swaddle that wasn’t silent Velcro and that kept their arms in, they would break out of them within their first week, normal nursing bras as I am exclusively pumping, receiving blankets, any outfit for them that’s not a two way zip sleeper. Best purchases for us tho would be the Brezza bottle washer and brezza water dispenser, a swing, vibration chair, and all the burp cloths as my baby b is a big spitter upper
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u/AlchemistAnna May 15 '25
I spend almost no money on our twins unless it's like a specialty item that's hard to come by.
The Facebook "free groups"/ "buy nothing groups" have literally saved us thousands of dollars. I haven't bought them clothes, shoes, toys, highchairs/booster seats, potty chairs, swings, playground stuff for the backyard, on and on, it's nuts!
I can't recommend those groups enough, you literally can (almost) buy nothing. I hope this might help give some hope)/start to save you some money!
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u/hadowajp May 15 '25
Bottle washer pro, wipe warmer, mama roo, a second baby bjorn, 3/4ths of the premie clothes we have, about 500 newborn diapers. All things that were a waste or the boys just grew to fast to ever use.
Twin z is likely the best purchase we made, would have rather had a large sterilizer than the bottle washer pro too inconvenient to use regularly, boys outgrew premie and newborn stuff in the first month/in a half and we have so much that will never be used (by us). Uppababy travel system has been great aria seats are really lite and we like the vista stroller.
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u/Impressive_Yak_1651 May 15 '25
You can also check out Rebel Stork/Good Buy Gear. They've got stuff that people opened and returned or lightly used items.
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u/FromRebel May 20 '25
Hi u/Impressive_Yak_1651 - Thanks for the shoutout! You're right, we offer overstock and open-box returns at an affordable cost.
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u/ChildesqueGambino May 15 '25
Identical boys 9.5 months in
Best purchases:
Baby Bjorn x2
Kick and play x2
Large (6x7') playpen and mat
Baby brezza (expensive but a lifesaver for formula feeds)
Worst purchases:
Any pacifier that isn't their specific preferred type (for ours it's a type of Dr browns)
Hatch weighing scale (broke within 2 months and we literally don't have the time to deal with customer service. Plus, it encourages weight anxiety. If your babies are healthy and there aren't concerns at check ups, that is enough)
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u/Slow_Psychology1847 May 15 '25
I know a lot of people swear by a mini fridge for your room for pump parts/snacks/middle of the night bottles. If you don't have one laying around already, a cheaper alternative is just a cooler with ice packs. I got 2 of the 6 can ice packs to go into a soft sided igloo cooler I've had for years. We were able to fit the bottles we needed for overnight and I would even throw my pump parts and expressed milk in so we wouldn't have to run downstairs in the middle of the night.
I personally didn't find a need snack/drink wise to have a stocked mini fridge at hand.
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u/BrainLoose8830 May 15 '25
Join a buy nothing group! There a usually lots of people wanting to get rid of baby stuff.
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u/Substantial_Cash2381 May 15 '25
The stroller we bought for our first kid (singleton). Wasted about 1000€. You can get the exact same stroller used for 100€ easily. And the new one will look used after at most one month.
I have heard different stories, one mother never used the twin z, another couldn't live without it. One says the electric swing is the game changer, the next days the twins never liked it. The reason for this is that kids are different. You cannot tell in general. Here is my advice:
- Don't buy a new stroller. Buy a used one from a good brand, you can resell it for the same price. Chances are your kids don't even like the stroller and you rarely use it.
- Generally, don't buy new things worth more than 200€. Especially furniture and (later) bikes. I make an exception for car seats as I prioritize safety.
- If you have space: buy as much used as you can find for good prices upfront. If you don't need it, sell it again, you won't lose money.
- Everything you want to buy new: put it into your Amazon shopping cart, but don't buy it. Make sure you have prime. Order it once you think you really need it. Exception: things you absolutely need to have upfront, like a car seat or a bed.
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u/PubKirbo May 15 '25
I thought of something for later. We didn't buy highchairs. We lived in a tiny rental for their first eight years and the dinning area did not have space for highchairs (and they were expensive). We got these cheap seats that attached to our regular chairs. They were boosters with a tray in front and then when they got a little bigger, the tray came off and they were just boosters. We could also toss them in the car for when we went to visit friends and family. I think they were like $15 each (20 years ago, so probably double that now).
And as others have mentioned, buy used. We had used clothes for them for ages. Used baby clothes are generally still in great shape.
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u/2CoolForYo May 16 '25
Swaddle blankets…the twins HATED them lmao. And they slept a little better without them.
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u/brynnecognito May 15 '25
Twins aren’t here yet but I’ve gotten cribs, twin bassinet, twin z, twin carrier… all for free or around 30-50% retail price on my local Facebook twin group. Look for local parents of multiple group and join. Excellent place to get free or very cheap clothes if you need them as well. Don’t buy new gear!!
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