It is quite understandable that parents give all the attention to their babies and are willing to spend a lot of money on them. In fact, they are spending more these days.

Parents-to-be and first-time parents are often anxious. They have a tendency to buy whatever baby stuff they can afford, or the stuff they see other parents are buying.

Not that I’m a very experienced parent, but I have gone through it myself and have seen my friends with newborns go through the same experience, I can tell you now: Some of the money you spend on your baby might not be necessary.

If you are a new parent or will be one soon, here are 3 tips on how to save money on baby stuff.

1. Borrow things from your friends

Before you go out and buy everything new for your baby, ask your friends whose babies have already grown up if they have any memorabilia they are willing to part with. They might have things you need and they no longer use. You can even ask people whose baby is still little. You will be surprised by what they can offer you.

Take my wife and me as an example. My wife has bought far more things for my son in the past four years than she has bought for me in the last 16 years. My son used to get three different strollers. I was told that the other two strollers were backups in case the first one breaks down. Since the first one never broke down, the other two strollers became a permanent part of our home decoration until they were sold online for half the original price.

Strollers, bottle sterilizers, baby cots and play pens are expensive items that are used when your baby is little. Once the baby grows up, all those things serve a single purpose: Sitting in a corner collecting dust.

Instead of buying new ones, borrow these things from your friends. They will probably jump at your offer to free up their storage space.

2. Buy secondhand items that are not needed for the long term

I used to think that blue whales were the fastest growing creatures on the planet, but now I know that title belongs to my son.

Every couple of weeks, my wife reminds me: “We need to buy new shoes for our son.” During the first two years of my venture into fatherhood, my surprised reaction was something like, “Already! Didn’t we just buy a new pair last week?” Now I’m already used to the phenomenon.

I can also count the number of times my son has ever touched his rocker, music box, walker, high chair and many of his other gadgets with one hand – OK, that might be an exaggeration, but you get my point.

I know as a new parent, you want the best for your baby and love to buy new things for him. But you will only use certain baby stuff for a short period of time, because your baby will always outgrow them.

If your friends don’t have them, you can usually find secondhand items for sale online. There are many websites that sell secondhand baby stuff, and you can often find nearly new stuff for a fraction of the retail price.

3. Share or exchange toys

Babies get tired of toys easily. I’m sure my son is not an exception in this case. Whatever toys we bought for him, he either broke it in a couple of days, lost it somewhere undetectable by adult eyes, or left it in the box without taking a second look again.

The thing is, the kids have ever shorter attention span these days, probably because parents give them too many things that create more distraction. You can build a toy shop yourself, but your kid will eventually find a way to lose interest in a zillion toys in that shop.

Another fact is the toys don’t come cheap now. When I examined the tiny toy cars that were bought at least S$20 and above, I didn’t find anything special. Maybe the manufactures used space-grade materials that are extra safe and durable for babies?

Instead of buying everything fresh and waste them in a short while, exchange or share toys with your friends. That way, both your babies will have something different.

 

The article previously appeared on Yahoo.