Laura Brown – yummy mummy turned top blogger – has spoken to CloserOnline about how to save your pennies when you’re a mum. And the first thing to do? Ignore the big businesses trying to guilt you into spending all your cash.
“It was a sign in Mothercare that read ‘Payment can wait - your baby can’t' that made me sigh and think ‘here we go again.’
As a new parent your greatest concern is providing for your child and big companies are playing on this fear - emotionally manipulating mums and dads. Throughout my pregnancy I was bombarded with messages encouraging me to spend.
Emails from Pampers reminded me my baby ‘deserved the best’ and junk mail from a photography studio warned me I’d regret not spending hundreds of pounds on capturing images of my newborn, suggesting that my own photographs wouldn’t suffice.
But this sign in Mothercare went one step further, encouraging parents to spend beyond what they could afford and actually get into debt.
Parents are the easiest target market because there’s nothing we care more about than our children and we’d do anything for them even if that means senselessly spending beyond our means.
Most new parents don’t consider buying second hand because advertising drills home the message that baby deserves best and if you can't afford it then get into debt to buy it. Because if not you aren't providing properly for your child.
I would never have considered looking around a car boot sale for bargains but my fiance’s mum, Eileen, completely changed my thinking.
I was astounding at the savings she made by buying stuff for our baby Odhran at the car boot. Most of the stuff was brand new and came in it’s packaging. And the savings were massive.
My frustration with the pressure big companies but on parents to spend and get themselves into debt, inspired me to create a parenting vlog ‘My Little O’ with my first video focusing on the bargains we found at the car boot.
Among the items Eileen sourced was a Fisher Price Rainforest playmat, which retails at Mothercare for £64.99. Eileen found it in all its packaging at a car boot sale for just £8.
Another steal was a Bushbaby Cocoon Carrier, which retails at £65 but Eileen found as good as new for £8. Other bargains included a Steiff cuddly toy elephant for £1 and a selection of story books for 30p-50p.
A Peter Rabbit porcelain dining set that retails for between £25-£33 cost just £1 at the car boot and came in the box it had been purchased in brand new.
The list of Eileen’s finds is huge, with further deals on a Peter Rabbit book collection for £3 and a Chicco football goal for baby that lights up and makes sounds for just £2.50. In total Eileen spent £35 on goods with a retail cost of a least £300.
I hope my new vlog inspires new parents not to bow to the pressure of big companies, to hunt around for a bargain and most importantly look for other options before getting yourself into unnecessary debt.
You'll regret it when you realise how little use your baby gets out of things you've spent a fortune on.
Check out more of Laura’s brilliant tips, here, and follow her on Twitter, here, to get daily updates!