Take a look any book on preparing for your new baby and you will find a list a mile long of stuff you “have to” have. Baby R Us has a entire page of things to put on your registry, but do you really need 15 onesies and 4-8 flannel blankets, a baby swing, walker, crib, bassinet and the list goes on and on.

For our first kid, I will admit we did get carried away with some things. We bought the crib set with matching sheet, curtain, comforter and bumper pad— only to find out that the comforter and bumper pad are not recommended due to SIDS dangers and the curtain didn’t fit our window. But, we had thought, they were soooo cute. Most baby stuff is cute, so why not just get the cute stuff second-hand? Most baby items are pretty lightly used and the baby will never know if they aren’t the first one to use the swing.

Some of the best bets to find baby stuff are fairly common sense. We did find some great things at Goodwill (the one in SODO lets you buy by the pound so you can get a lot of clothes for junior on the cheap), a few items on www.craigslist.org and in the consignment stores in Seattle (I especially like Sweet Pea’s in Columbia City and Me N’ Moms  in Ballard).  Consignment shops are especially great places to get jogging strollers and bike trailers. The outdoor enthusiasts in Seattle seem to have created a high number of those items recycling through re-sale stores.

But I wish I had known about these nifty sites— www.swapbabygoods.com, www.babyswap.net, www.diaperswappers.com,and www.clothdiaperexchange.com — that allow you to buy and sell off baby items.  What a great idea for getting rid of the stuff you don’t want and getting what you really NEED.

I urge you to check out some of these re-use ideas, especially since you probably will only use that $150 bassinet for 3 months. And as always, if there are some new items you just have to have, put them on your registry and get the grandparents to shell out the big bucks.