Cheap dollar store ziplok baggies. Pop the used wipes and diapers in, seal, drop in bin. When out and about, put a couple or three wipes and a clean diaper in, seal shut after burping out air, drop into purse.
The first two things that I thought of when I saw the thread title were both mentioned, a wipe warmer and any kind of diaper disposal system. The wipe warmer was just a waste. The baby truly doesn’t care if the wipes are room temp or a bit warmer, parents might care, but baby doesn’t…honest.
Diaper Genie and all the other things, I had one, I hated it, it would get all clogged up (cuz we’d be too lazy to empty it). Just wrap the diapers up and empty the garbage once a day.
As for the rest, I just tried to think about if I survived being a baby without it and if my kid really would perish without this hundred dollar gadget. Probably not.
Another thing about the diaper warmer, if you leave the lid open overnight, you’ll have a giant stack of dried out (ruined) wipes in the morning. That’s another strike against them.
Here’s a quick tip. No matter what I did or how I packed (diaper bag or beyond that), until my kid had gone about a year without an accident I kept a full change of clothes for her shoved down by the spare tire in my car. It was nice that I could just put it there and forget about it for that random accident that would happen months after she hadn’t had any problems and not be stuck at someone’s house with nothing to change into. Do this even when the kid is a newborn, you never know when you’ll need that one extra outfit and everything in the diaper bag is dirty. Just remember to put a new one down there as the kid gets older. When I traded my car in I found the outfit in there that I had totally forgotten about, several sizes too small.
Speaking of trunks, if you’re out somewhere and need to change a diaper, the trunk works much better than trying to do it in the back seat of your car. It sounds silly (bad?), but no one will even notice you and it’s a nice big flat area to work on…just don’t close the top, that’s when it changes from “You changed her diaper in the trunk…I never thought of that” to “WTF, you put her in the trunk” (<-joke, I mean, I really did change her diaper like that all the time though).
Don’t buy blankets. Everyone and their mother, sister, cousin and podiatrist will buy/knit your baby a blanket. It seems to be the go-to gift. We had blankets coming out the wazoo.
Also, I’ll second not needing a bassinet. Was a complete waste of space and money with both of our kids. We bought one because we just though this is what newborns sleep in. But they mostly slept in their crib or, in the case of our son, in a swing (I know, you’re not supposed to do this. Desperate times call for desperate measures, especially at 3am when you’ve had 3 hours sleep in the past 48 hours. He lived.).
I liked the bassinet, even with our one story house, for parent who probably worries too much and is probably sometimes a bit to lazy, it was nice to have her laying down wherever I (or her mother) happened to be during her non-nap times.
It should probably be noted that I have two dogs so, even before she was crawling and knowing there was nothing for her to grab anywhere near her, putting her on the floor for a few minutes while we left the room was rarely an option. The dogs certainly wouldn’t hurt her, but all it would take is a doorbell ringing or a squirrel running down the street three blocks away for one of them to bolt across the room and step on her by accident.
Also, when people say ‘what do you need’ or when you add things to various registries, I always suggest getting them a size up. Everyone is going to bring you things meant for a baby that’s an hour and a half old (half of which you’ll hate for one reason or another), putting things on your registry meant for a baby that’s 6 months old or telling people ‘we’ve got so much for her right now, pick something for her to grow into’ will be really helpful.
Same for diapers, when I’d see some great deal on diapers and buy a bunch of them, I’d get one of what she was wearing and two or three for the next size up. Got burned once or twice thinking I was saving a ton of money and having her grow out of them.
My granddaughter just turned one and I swear her parents could have paid for the baby’s first year of college with the money they spent on baby crap. Please, please, please take your time and learn what you need after the baby is born. Even now that she’s a toddler, she’d much rather play with an empty bucket than the hundreds of dollars of toys laying in the basket. Above all else, you need to convince your friends and family to follow your wishes and not fill your house with useless baby crap. Encourage them to donate to the college fund or give a case of diapers.
Somebody upthread mentioned books and I need to second that. Instilling a love for reading will be a gift to your baby for life.
Sending healthy mojo to you and your new family,
Granny Ruby
Those damn Baby Genius, or whatever, dvds. My family meant well when they bought them, and they didn’t hurt, but they come with a ‘baby price’ cost; everything meant for baby is most precious and the cost will reflect. A few noise toys for baby to hold/move, a few comfort toys for baby chew on and a few toys for baby to cuddle with. Since every baby is different it is up to you to find out what it is. If you fail your baby will be scarred for life; I just want to tell you both good luck, we are all counting on you.
Wiper warmers almost might have a place. There was that time I went to change my sons diaper at zero dark thirty and when the wipe hit his junk he went into shock mode and I earned my very first ‘WTF U ASSHAT’ look, based on the look alone you’d think I was in training for GITMO. I was trained to warm a wipe between my hands after that.
A bassinet is not needed. My son looked good in one, at least for a few months until he grew out of it.
Things that I really liked having. A wind up mechanical swing. There was something about that swing that would calm my kids. Maybe it was the heart beat like ‘chik chik’, or the swinging motion, or maybe they thought they were superheroes, but it worked and that is all that mattered.
A johnny jump, something that hooked to the top of a door that the kids could sit in and leap up and down as much as they wanted. Just before nap time the kids would get a puppy like burst of energy where they had to do ‘ANY GODDAM THING’ and I, or actually Mom, found that this was good for burning energy. I don’t know who had more fun, them thinking they were superhero Jumpin Jehosophat and laughing or me sitting there laughing while I watched.
A comfy couch that you, as a parent, can lay on. There may be times when baby wakes up and will not go back to sleep and the other parent needs sleep. My first kid likes autosports, high revving fast moving stuff; my second liked kids shows, peaceful music and calm colors. Get the kid on a couch and snuggle while you watch what they like, not what gets (or you since this is late night!) them excited and slowly work towards a lying down position. Kids are mostly happy laying on a couch, adults are less forgiving on a bad couch.
A baby walker. There is a small window of time between where baby thinks ‘this crawling things sucks’ and being able to walk. A baby walker helps a lot, but since it is a small window of time you should be able to find deals on this equipment. Also guard your ankles and feet while baby is driving this. Assume baby is DUI and you are holding the very last whatever the hell baby wants. You will get run over and your feet may pay the price.
Surprisingly for my kids a bean bag chair in the living room. Maybe it was because they could ‘climb’ in it and move around and be comfortable. But I think it was for the next reason.
If you can train and swing it, a puppy for the kids. My kids are 13 months apart and when the youngest was 7 months we got a 6 month old puppy. Kids and puppies love giving/receiving love, mix three of those together and you get a big ball of slobbery, squirmy, smelly love. Kid 1 gets tired and lays on the bag, puppy sees it and cuddles on the bag, the other kids sees this and has to join in. Of course when they woke up, since they were surrounded by beanbag, they would be sweaty with hair sticking out in whatever direction and that WTF look that only babies can do.
Buy a camera. Not for the big things in life, but for the little things. The way you kids looks like when they wake up; when baby did ‘x’ mom/dad did ‘y’. I don’t have pics/vids of my son laughing while we are driving in mud bogs/off road, or my daughters glass eyes just before she falls asleep watching her shows, or my kids fighting over the perfect spot on a bean bag.
Or that one time where nobody could sleep but me, and that meant I couldn’t sleep. 2 hyped up kids and one hyper dog and a tired Mom telling me to handle stuff, while I just got woken up. I told Mom to give me 30 mins of loud time and to leave us alone. Work the kids and puppy up and then get on the couch. Of course stupid puppy gets allowed on the couch for the first time and after some play time and squirmy time we all pass out. I did NOT have a comfy couch, so my son takes a spot, my daughter takes another and the mutt squirms everywhere else.
I ended up with body on the couch and my legs not on the couch, but very much worth it.
Don’t get expensive baby shoes. The shoes stores like to tell you how important it is to have the right shoes for growing feet and how much their shoes are worth. Don’t buy it. Get the cheapest shoes you can find.
My daughter, with three young children, insists that this saved her life:
Without looking at previous answers:
Bottle warmers. My kid drank plenty of room-temperature milk and formula.
Wipe warmers. Wipe their ass with a cold one from the get-go. They’ll learn to love it, really.
Giant diaper bags. You really don’t need all that shit you think you need. I know, you’re going to be gone for 3 whole hours. trust me.
It is way easier to list the things you do need. I lucked out being a procrastinator. I didn’t buy a lot of the traditional baby things out of my procrastinating attitude and I didn’t miss very much. Besides what was listed here, essential for me has been an exersaucer, a rock-n-play, and socks.
The exersaucer entertains her and contains her. It also helps when she’s having a hard time pooping. The rock-n-play acted as a bassinet for me but was elevated. It was the only way she would sleep on her own when she was little. Baby has very cold hands and feet so I keep socks on her as much as I can. They are also great to chewing on according to Baby.
We actually scrounged around and got chests of drawers of appropriate (or nearly so) heights and affixed the changing pads to the tops of them, so that they do dual duty as clothing storage and changing tables. Plus, you can keep supplies and clothes right there, so changing your baby is easier at 3 am.
And babies will drink pumped milk straight out of the fridge, once they’re used to it. The only catch is to run some hot water over the bottle so you can get the fat back into the milk (it has a tendency to harden and stick to the sides as it cools).
(I have to admit I’m a little perplexed by the idea of cold babies and ones who have trouble pooping. Both of my sons emitted heat like little fleshy space heaters, and were enthusiastic and vigorous poopers.)
Well… if you plan on having more than one kid, it may behoove you to get ONE pair of nice shoes than multiple pairs of cheap ones.
My daughter is 13, so it’s been awhile. I agree on the wipe warmer…didn’t have one, didn’t miss it.
When the kid was born, Diaper Genies were a big thing, but hated the idea of having to buy special bags, so we went with the Diaper Champ …uses regular tall kitchen garbage bags. It worked well for us, but it looks like it’s been re-designed and is not quite as popular.
This can’t be stressed enough … 
First time parents: everywhere you go, there will be people trying to convince you of the One True Way™ of child-rearing, with the unspoken (or spoken) assumption that you are WORSE THAN HITLER if you don’t follow it - that you kid will grow into a mongoloid werewolf living in a junkyard by day and eating stray pets at night, if you DARE to do rather than [Y].
New clothes.
Check out thrift stores, consignment stores, eBay, etc. and you can find tons of barely-worn, quality baby clothes for next to nothing. Our son spent a good bit of his early childhood in Polo, Tommy Hilfiger, Doc Marten, and other name-brand clothes and shoes that we picked up for a tenth of their original price. And 2 months later, when he outgrew them, they went back on eBay…in the end I think we broke even on cost 
You’re a sucker if you purchase one toy for baby before his/her first birthday – you will receive many, plus they don’t play with much, plus they will find something random in your house they enjoy playing with.
I remembered one thing you DO need - spend a little extra and get the good socks. At discount stores, they will have something like 12 pairs in a bag for a ridiculously low price, which seems like a terrific deal. But they fall apart right away, and don’t stay on the feet very well, so between falling apart and losing them, in a few days you’re already down to about three socks total. Spend a little more for the name brand socks in department stores.
I found that used “nice” clothes weren’t much cheaper than new “cheap” clothes, and it was worth paying the very little extra to get plain clothes in colors I liked over all kinds of patterns and graphics that I did not. Plus, it’s so simple to just go to Wal-mart and buy a bunch of cotton pants and onsies/t-shirts.
I also followed the standard advice of “no point in buying newborn sizes, they outgrow them so quickly” and ended up having to go to the store, because “so quickly” on my average sized (8 lbs) baby turned out to be a month, and while a month is not long, it’s a long time to be naked. He was swimming in the 0-3 month stuff right at first.
One thing to not forget, is the owner’s manual they issue at the hospital right before you come home. I can’t tell you how many parents I know that forgot to get that thing, and then spend the first month as clueless parents, not knowing what to do.
Good luck!
DO NOT BUY NEW BABY CLOTHES. People will give you tons of clothes, or go to Goodwill. New baby clothes are like 15 bucks and for what? Goodwill is $2 an item and sometimes $1.50. Wash 'em. There you go.
I did wash and keep the newborn clothes and was glad I did, my baby was tiny.
In fact, as long as you have the absolute necessities (car seat, place for baby to sleep, cloth or disposable diapers, a few clothes) honestly you don’t need much else to start with.
To build on this, you’ll probably spend a lot of time at the local baby supply store, Target or some other place with baby stuff after the baby is born anyway, no matter how prepared you are. It’s hard to know what you need until you actually have the baby. They can be so different, and their temperament often defines your needs. My daughter’s “needs” changed from week to week. One week she wouldn’t nap without her feet covered. The next week she had to have her feet bare, but her head covered. The week after, she needed to be swaddled tightly, but only in one particular blanket. Babies are weird just like people are weird - only they can’t tell you their preferences first.