(no subject)

[ocelot]

Yesterday, I saw this list posted somewhere:

The average cost of preparing for a baby
Crib, mattress, dresser, rocker $1,500
Bedding/Decor $ 300
Baby Clothes $ 500
Disposable Diapers $ 600
Maternity/Nursing Clothes $1,200
Nursery items, high chair, toys $ 400
Baby Food/Formula $ 900
Stroller, Car Seat, Carrier $ 300
Miscellaneous $ 500
Total $ 6,200

WTF? That's the *average* price? If I had to buy all this stuff new, I could probably get it under $2000 (decent enough quality to be safe and attractive, but not necessarily top of the line), and how many people actually buy all of it, let alone new?

I'm not sure which is more disturbing - that "average" means that quite a lot of people spend more than this, or that so many people believe that all this stuff (and spending this much on it) is truly necessary.

The list was attached to a comment basically trying to convince a 14 year old that she couldn't afford to be a mother. Stupid, really. The list is WAY too easy to pick apart, and it draws the focus to the exaggerations, not to the real issues involved in a 14 year old becoming a parent.

We head back up to lala land in a few hours. I am filled with various vague discontents.

Comments

[gdmusumeci.livejournal.com]

You know, you could cut $1500 off that figure by breastfeeding and using cloth diapers.

That's all I'm gonna say. :-)

That's obscene...

[tangodiva.livejournal.com]

We got a LOT of second hand stuff, but still those numbers are ridiculous...

Crib, mattress, dresser, rocker $1,500 $0 - I may let him have his own room when he's 5 ;-)
Bedding/Decor $ 300 $0 heh, not.
Baby Clothes $ 500 $200 I spent a lot here because of the Animal costume fetish.
DisposableCloth Diapers $ 600 $300 (the disposable number seemed a little low to me...)
Maternity/Nursing Clothes $1,200 $300 and that is only because I had two weddings to go to and had to buy new shoes.
Nursery items, high chair, toys $ 400 probably closer to $100
Baby Food/Formula $ 900 $50 breastpump/bottles $50
Stroller, Car Seat, Carrier $ 300 $200 (homemade sling... but I bought an expensive backpack carrier)
Miscellaneous $ 500 (we'll leave this in because I am sure I forgot things - plus things like extra washing for dipes, extra take out, etc.)

grand total $1700... I wonder where they got their numbers

[silkensteel.livejournal.com]

I think I spent 1/10 or 1/20 of that. Bought everything used, mostly from thrift shops; I spent the most on the crib - a decent, sort of generic Jenny Lind style crib is what I spent the most on.

Infant car-seat carrier I bought had a good sturdy frame, it was cheap because the padding was torn up and stained. I used a polyfill sort of fire-retardant-treated christmas tree skirt (checked MSDS on the retardant used, for safety in contact with kids) to thicken and reconstruct the padding, and a nifty geometric designed cotton with bright colors and stuff, using the old cover cloth as a pattern. (Yeah, ignore my protestations, I *can* sew when properly motivated.)

Bedding, onesies, jammies, I bought at Salv. Army and St. Vince thrift shops.

The only thing I bought new were the cloth diapers and diaper covers, which were either pretty crappy or really, really expensive in the early 90's.

I gotta ask - WTF is "decor?" :) When Debbie was born, the "nursery" was a room with boxes and the crib, and a comfy chair for nursing. The comfy chair was from an office surplus shop.

Oh, I had some weird bright Disney wall decorations, I got those free from the lady who sold me the very good crib-sized inner spring mattress for... what was it? $10? $20? Something like that.

Man. That's just funny. Six grand for fitting out a newborn? Quick, someone tell the people overseas. They're so deprived.

[mayna.livejournal.com]

$600 in disposables is like 60 packages of disposable diapers... that's MAYBE a year's worth. So "preparing" for the baby? You'd only need a couple of packages, but be prepared to buy it constantly. They'd need more packages than that to go through potty training since they tend to potty train around 3!