Baby news can put anyone over the edge considering the upcoming medical bills, acquiring all the baby gear, nursery furnishings, clothing. All this is besides the upcoming every day expenses, like diapers, formula, health insurance, etc.

I am a minimalista and in less than three weeks we are expecting our second child, this time it’s a boy! We already have a 2-year old girl, and by going through her stuff the other day, I realized that we hardly need anything for our new baby boy! I would like to share with you how I managed to spend very little on both of my kids and still have all the necessities.

In this post I will be talking about setting up nursery. You can spend a ton or spend a little, it’s up to you. All I’m going to do is provide the information that could help you make the choices that are right for you!

1. Relieve yourself from extra work. If you’re planning on more than one kid, I would recommend designing the nursery in colors that would be appropriate for either gender. In my case, I knew ahead of time that we were planning on having two, so I chose to paint the nursery light green. I’m glad I did. Our two kids happen to be of opposite gender. To avoid extra work, we moved our “big” girl into her new room, leaving the nursery exactly the way it is. No more painting or moving the furniture (in the nursery that is). We still had to paint and decorate the room for our 2-year old though.

2. Furniture choices. If it’s your first, you’re probably thinking of the type and pieces of furniture you would like to purchase. First, ask yourself, what will you need and for how long? Some of the key pieces for the nursery include crib, dresser, changing table and a rocking chair. So now, lets look at it practically.

Do you have a piece of furniture already that you could possibly use for your new nursery, like a dresser, crib or a rocker? If yes, then you can build upon what you already have. This is what we did. We already had a dresser that my husband used since he was a boy. It’s old, but still in decent shape and adds character to the room. So I decided to purchase a crib that matched the dresser as closely as possible. You don’t have to necessarily get pieces that match, depending on your vision.

Now, evaluate the furniture that you may need piece by piece. What is the length of time it’s going to be used for? How practical is it to have for now and for later? Can you live with the same furniture for a while or do you need to update your furnishings every few years?

For example, if you were going to purchase a dresser, can you see it as a permanent piece that can be used for a long time? In my opinion, definitely. Your child can use it until they move out! Then it could probably be used in a guest bedroom. Is it worth spending the money on? I think it is.

What about the crib? There are tons of styles and types. There are light and portable ones, that can be wheeled from room to room on the regular basis. There are also more bulky ones that are not portable, but they can be converted from a crib to a toddler bed, to a day bed, and finally to a full size bed. What style is more appropriate for your lifestyle? If you choose to go with a small portable crib, consider that in couple of years your child won’t need it anymore. You will have to replace it with an actual bed. In this case, I would go with a less expensive brand or even a used one. For a used crib or other furniture check out garage sales, local newspaper ads, including their online ads, Craigslist.com,  The Flyer, etc.

If you choose to go with a convertible crib, then maybe spending a little more is worth your while. This is what we did. I decided not to go with the cheapest crib and got what I liked. Since it’s convertible, this bed should be good for one of our kids until they are fully grown and then some.

Lets talk about the changing table. You will probably use it for a year or less as an actual changing table. Then you can convert it into a storage shelf or get rid of it completely. In my opinion, it’s not a very practical piece to acquire, so I would not go out of my way for it. Here is a conversation between my friends that I experienced earlier this week. One (Olga) is expecting a baby in a few months. Another (Ira) has a one and a half-year old and planning on the second in a year or so.

Olga: “Do you think I should get a changing table?”

Ira: “I’ll let you borrow mine, make some extra room in my attic.”

Olga: “I can buy it from you if you like.”

Ira: “No, I’ll need it back, but I’ll be glad to lend it to you!”

Looks like it’s win-win for both parties. Olga will get her changing table and Ira will have extra room in her attic for the time being. Lesson learned: borrow from friends things that you’ll only use for a few months.

I actually chose not to get a changing table. I decided to get it as part of the playpen. If you check out the link, a removable changing pad attaches to one side of the playpen and can be used for a few months as well, just like the changing table. If you’re worried about storage, it also comes with a removable pocket on the side to place diapers and wipes into. It’s easy to remove once your child grows out of it. You get to save some bucks on the furniture and you don’t have to worry about what to do with it once your child grows out of it!

What about a rocking chair? Again, you will probably use it for only a few months, as far as your baby is concerned. Then you got to ask yourself, can I fit it into my home decor as a permanent furniture piece, once my baby grows up? If so, get the one you like and keep it for a while. If not, then it’s probably easier to borrow or buy a used one that you can easily get rid of later.

In my case, we already had a hand-me-down mini recliner that is a rocker as well. The fabric on it was a bit old-fashioned, so I updated it with the fabric of my choice.

So this is my input on the furnishings and for more decorating tips, visit my earlier post, How I Decorated My Nursery Cheaply. Stay tuned for my next post about choosing a stroller and a car seat.

It seems like we would do anything for our little miracles that we are about to bring into this world. Baby paraphernalia that people used to do fine without (and still do in most of the world) is now considered to be a necessity. Hats off to the baby industry marketers!  They know exactly how to get into the wallets of the emotional, hormone-filled expectant mothers and the nervous and excited fathers-to-be.  New parents can easily blow thousands of dollars on baby items, anything from designer bibs and cute little socks to dressers, cribs and changing tables.

When it comes down to the core of it all, do babies really care whether they are wearing a new Disney onsie or the one that was worn by their older cousins? Do they care whether the crib they are sleeping in, cost you an arm and a leg at Babies’r'Us, or if you bought it at a garage sale for a fraction of the cost. You know the answer, babies don’t care! As long as the baby industry has you convinced that you “need”, “can’t live without” everything that they are so successfully pushing on you, they will stay very successful.

I guess the difference between me and many other parents is that I draw a more defined line between “want” and “need”, “necessary” and “optional”. So anyways, here is the story of how I decorated my nursery.

Furniture

The baby was definitely on the way and I needed to get going on this whole nursery deal.  We decided to convert our guest room into the nursery. Our small guest room’s furniture consisted of a full-size bed, an old oak dresser, an office chair (don’t ask), a fake wood shelf and a bedside table. We packed up the bed and moved it into the garage. The chair and the bedside table we sold at the garage sale. We decided to leave the dresser in the baby’s room. My husband remembers having it in his room when he was a boy, so even though the dresser is old, it has plenty of character and history! I used furniture polishing oil to freshen it up. I chose to go with a new crib that matches the dresser (some things have to be new for the sake of baby showers). The match is not perfect, but it is hard to tell. We kept the fake wood shelf in the room to hold toys, books, diapers and other baby paraphenalia. My neighbor was getting rid of a rocker chair, so I decided to take advantage of the hand-me-down. I can see why she didn’t want it, it made a very annoying squeaking noise every time someone sat in it.  I decided to give it another shot by spraying some WD-40 around the joints and it helped with the squeaking. I decided not to get a changing table, since it already came with the new playpen.

Wall Decor

What about the wall décor? Why would I spend $20 on a little cloth wall hanging that half of America proudly displays in their nurseries? Too pricey and unoriginal for my taste.  I happened to find an old drawing that my husband did when he was five. It was so cute and free, a perfect decoration! Above the crib I hung my baby’s hand print along with her portrait from the hospital and some of the pictures from the baby shower. I decorated portrait’s frame with some scrap-booking materials that happened to be in a dollar pile at Target. I love these personal trinkets, each one of them carries a special meaning to us.

Bedding

After checking out pricey bedding sets for cribs, I decided not to get a set and settled for separates.  I could not believe that someone could get away with charging $100 or more for a blanket, bed skirt and a tiny sheet?  That seemed a little ridiculous to me.  I also wanted it to be more personal, special.  So I decided to make the blanket myself and I did.  Every time I look at it, it brings back the memories.  As I was sewing the blanket, I was imagining what it would be like to see my baby for the first time, to hold her, to cuddle her.  I would not trade this memory for anything!