The majority of the parents around my area have the fifty-pound SUV strollers. The double ones. Plus a weimeraner or golden Lab, yoga mat, and Starbucks coffee cup. It’s a little difficult to manoeuvre around them. The prices on the heavy-duty ones make me feel faint, too.
On the plus side, as a thousand Dopers and you are unlikely to get the whole “everyone absolutely needs a MacLaren and you are abusing your child using cold wipes” opinions of most baby boards.
We Dopers are a practical lot:
Ask for new during your shower what you can’t find used or what isn’t good used (like carseats - I’d use a recent used carseat from someone I knew if it had never seen an accident), but its generally recommended you have a new carseat.
Borrow what you can
Don’t buy it if you don’t need it (with the exception of the safety sort of stuff you’ll need to have around “just in case.”)
I use a cheapo wipe-warmer system…I leave the little 60-watt bulb lamp that’s on my changing table on. The wipes sit right under it, and it keeps them just the right temperature! 
Got a freebie for you – tape your pediatrician’s # and poison control - (800) 222-1222 - on ALL of your phones. Have a cell AND a land-line (an old-fashioned one, not just a handset - those die if the power goes out).
I called poison control once, and 911 once. That shit is not fun.
I know the feeling. We live in a high conspicuous consumption area (the Kingsway, for Toronto Dopers) and we used a cheapo stroller - got quite a case of stoller envy, seeing everyone else with bugaboos and other super-pricey strollers. 
But it is a most absurd thing to spend lots of cash on.
I agree, both about the envy and the absurdity!
If I had that kind of cash, I’d buy more bibs and save some to buy more sippy cups later on. It seems we never have enough bibs or sippy cups. Actually, my kids prefer the insulated straw-style cups to the sippy cups, but there’s never one to be found, despite the fact that I know we own at least half a dozen!
Mine likes the brand with a retracting, soft straw (I think the “nubby” brand). Always can’t find 'em, around the house though.
Or you might have a kid who hates the stroller, like mine. He gets annoyed after about 10 minutes in it, and has ALWAYS been that way, hence the number of carriers I have - I’d rather have him happy on my back instead of crying and annoyed in the stroller (and sneaking out of it, like at Borders this weekend, when my husband forgot to strap him in - he slid right under the tray and out onto the floor ). If I could do it again, I’d go back and wouldn’t even GET a stroller - just a carseat, and I’d have bought a nicer sling from the beginning. And then we’d get a cheapie umbrella stroller when he was old enough.
For me, it was cost. Cost, cost, cost. We were basically cutting our income in half and increasing our expenses and every economy was essential. That was the price I chose to pay in order to stay home with my babies, and I never regretted it. I would not count the cost of my work as a cash outlay, and the cost of soap (not detergent – soap flakes are cheaper), bleach and hot water did not approach the cost of the disposables. Plus, whenever possible I would hang them on the clothesline to dry in the sunshine, thus saving on electricity.
And with my huge sample of exactly two, there was 100% less diaper rash.
I came in to recommend Baby Bargains, which I see has been mentioned.
As far as slings go, the New Native pouch worked very well for us. Pro: it’s very easy to use and tiny babies seem to like it better than a ring sling. Con: It’s not adjustable, so you and your husband will have to get different sizes.
Another thing that I don’t think has been mentioned: our kid slept in a cosleeper attached to our bed for the first few months. Very handy for breastfeeding.
Well, I can think of more absurd things if you get good use out of it (like the baby wipe warmers 
). My hundred odd dollar travel system has gotten really good use since, as I said, I don’t drive so it’s walk or take the bus everywhere with the stroller. I imagine a Bugaboo could be resold and still get decent value for it whereas my el cheapo version I’m throwing out because it’s looking its age (plastic is cracked in places etc).
That’s another thing. If you plan to walk a lot and it snows where you are, the umbrella strollers or ones with small wheels are an absolute BITCH to push through the snow and those carseat bags are wonderfully cozy for when they are smaller.
I’d stick it aside for college, myself. That happens a lot sooner than you think and its just around the corner that your kid is going to need his own laptop - he’ll get a lot more use out of that than a really fancy stroller.
My problem with my NICE stroller is that I had a second baby almost immediately - so the single stroller quickly became useless. And doubles are a lot more than I was willing to spend. But we seldom needed one - with two kids 13 months apart, we didn’t leave the house much with kids in tow - when we did we usually had as many grown ups as kids. Plus, my daughter was a September baby in Minnesota - you really don’t take them out until April - too cold before then - and by then she was old enough for the umbrella.
(We got our neighborhood walks in with a wagon).
Yes, I was looking critically at wheel sizes. Small wheels would be impossible until probably the end of March, when the snow disappears.
There’s a hideously overpriced kid’s store near here that sells Bugaboos. I think I’ll go in and drool.
Do you really need a special diaper pail, or can you get by with a sealing container, like a drywall bucket or Rubbermaid?
Baby strollers tend to come in three cost ranges for singles: cheapo umbrella strollers; mid-range systems around $300; and the expensive bugaboos etc. The umbrella strollers are not winter navigable. The mid-range ones are winter-navigable, but made of cheaper materials - no real rubber inflated tires, etc.
…
You know, we tried every system and variety of diaper pail, and none really worked well for us? No matter what we did, keeping stinky diapers around for any length of time = a distinct aroma in the baby room.
What we do these days, is re-use those plastic bags newspapers come in, and take each diaper out to the garbage house. It was less trouble than constantly fiddling with those damn diaper “systems”, and no odor.
You’re right. It’ll probably be easier to instantly dispose of the disposables. Right now I am kind of vaguely thinking about doing half-and-half- disposables mostly for when we’re out of the house, and cloth inside.
Why don’t they sell cloth diapers at Wal-mart? I didn’t see any, and it was confusing. They sell plastic pants.
That’s similar to what we did for the first 5-6 months - use cloth most of the time, but when we’re out and about and/or traveling, we’d use disposable.
I really liked the idea of the cloth diapers for the first few months, but after a while, they were so bulky they were a hindrance rather than a help. They prevented our son from sitting up well, so at about six months, we stopped using them. Two days after we stopped, he was able to pull himself to sitting and sit up for long periods, completely unsupported. We used the nylon covers with velcro closures and cloth diaper inserts. I highly recommend them, though if you want enough so you’re not doing laundry every day (though if you’re washing your own cloth diapers, you’ll probably be doing laundry every day anyway), they can get really expensive.
Cloth diapers can be completely confusing. Especially since there are so many types to choose from - 7 fold, 3 fold, different types of 7 and 3 fold. Urgh! Then finding them can sometimes be a nightmare, too. Target usually carries them and Babies R Us always does.
The diaper genie contained the smell best for us. The Genie II is an improvement over the first one in ease of use, I have both. I also have another kind that just closes up and uses regular trash bags but it didn’t do anything to contain the smell and the lid seal broke after a few months.
Can you tell I have wasted money on trial and error when it comes to baby products?
Also, I don’t think anyone has mentioned a humidifier yet. We use an ultrasonic cool mist one pretty much all winter. Make sure you get one with adjustable output or you can end up with a soaked room by morning.
Do I need a humidifier?
Diaper disposal, we just had a small garbage bin with a closing lid and made sure to take out the trash often. We’ve also replaced the bin a couple times when the smell seeped into it and was sickening when there was nothing in there. That’s really all you can do.
If it’s really dry there in winter, then yes a humidifier is good. We have three (one for his room, one for mine, one for the living room) but we didn’t get them until recently. I know I breath a bit easier at night when I have mine on, and my skin isn’t quite so dry. Velociraptor seems to breathe easier also. I remember my Mom having one in my room when I was a kid also.
Humidifiers are good for when baby has a cold or congestion. If you live in a dry climate, or during the winter when the heat is on and the air gets dry they are helpful. I keet ours on low in the baby’s room during the winter, and turned it up a little when he had a cold.
You can get a pretty good one for less than $50. I found that they are nice to have around. You may not need one very often, but they are nice to have on hand when baby is sick. I found it really seemed to help with coughing at night.
The cool mist ones are recommended for babies. Warm mist can scald, and is an easy place for bacteria to grow.
I know some people don’t like them, but I really like the cute creature ones like these:
[url=]http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-2/qid=1190912676/ref=sr_1_2/601-3323520-3595362?ie=UTF8&asin=B0008GPM5E
I previously had a more expensive Vicks model that needed special filters and such that were a pain to keep buying, when that one broke I bought this Froggie one and I like it a lot. I will probably buy another one for our upcoming baby.