MePride - Target clearances out old patterns of baby stuff in January and July so if you have a Target close, it's worth popping in frequently during July. I used to get all kinds of big baby items for 75% when I had a baby store on Ebay years ago.
As far as the necessities...I was so overwhelmed with what to get with my daughter. I ended up with just about every baby item imaginable and was completely surprised in how little you actually need. I breastfed my first, but went back to work at 8 weeks so a pump (which insurance covered) and bottles were a necessity for me. All of the other breastfeeding stuff was really unnecessary for me. I had several tubes of nipple cream and gel pads that I never even touched. I had boxes of breast pads that I didn't use and even had nipple shields, again that I didn't need. That is one area I definitely feel like I overspent. As far as bottles, buying the medela bottles only saved a lot rather than their breastfeeding sets because so much of the stuff was not needed. I had a few different types of feeding bottles but never bought any expensive sets of bottles because you never know what bottle is going to work best for your little one. I would suggest having several different kinds of bottles and then buying more of whichever bottle your baby prefers. My daughter did fine switching between different types, but I learned some seemed to leak more than others.
Big baby things...I had it all. My little one hated the bassinet and ended up sleeping by my bed in a rock and play for the first 8 weeks and then continued to nap in the rock and play until she was 8 months old. It was an absolute life saver for us. Due your research, some are very against using it as a night time sleep space because it technically doesn't adhere to SIDS guidelines because it has the baby sleeping at an angle rather than flat on a hard surface. Again, we loved ours so I would highly recommend looking into one for at least naps, etc.
We had a swing, pack and play, bouncer, bumbo seat. My little one didn't particularly like any of them and wouldn't stay in them for more than a few minutes. I highly recommend tummy time type play mats. They seemed to entertain my kiddo the best. I had the kick piano one and then one of them that has the dangly things that hang down in an arch.
As far as baby furniture, we were so blessed because my parents offered to buy a whole nursery set for our first baby. We are switching rooms now and my daughter will move into our guest bedroom and the new baby will use the baby furniture again. We got a convertible crib, changing table dresser with hutch, and chest of drawers. Many people find the changing table a waste of money but I loved having it. It has shelves above to hold all our supplies and the height was just perfect to not hurt my back. At night, I just changed little one on our bed when she was in our room and would always put a change mat down "just in case." I'm not going to lie, I slept in a wet spot more than once in those early days LOL.
Wipe warmers are a total waste. Babies are fine with room temp wipes. You can even rub it between your hands to warm it a little but the wipe warmer dries out wipes like crazy and then what happens when your little one is used to warm wipes and you have cold ones? lol
Diaper genies...many people say they were a waste but we did like ours. I do feel like they are unnecessary but I liked having a designated space for stinky diapers and it did keep the smell down. Some of the pails you can use just regular trash bags. The diaper genies have generic refills at walmart too.
One thing to really do your research on are car seats. Some infant carries don't fit newborns well even though they supposedly fit the smaller weights. It's all about the straps coming from below the top of the shoulders. If your little one is going to be toted around in several different vehicles, I would suggest an infant carrier with multiple bases. We had a graco snug ride and had four different bases so that it was easier to move her from car to car.
Clothes...I ended up with SO many clothes. I went crazy buying clothes. My mom went crazy buying clothes. Then I got a ton at my baby showers and received hand me downs from others. So many of the cute little outfits (dresses, dressier looking tops, etc) are adorable put so impractical with tinies. I am only buying outfits with onesies because regular tops (as in a tshirt or long sleeve shirt that doesn't snap in the crotch) does nothing but ride up and not stay down when they are tiny. Invest in plenty of sleepers and onesies/pants and you'll be good! Watch Carters right now...they have been running some awesome deals on basics.
Diapers...I did not cloth diaper so I have zero advice with those. As far as disposables, I stocked up prior to my little one's birth with a variety of sizes/types. Many people recommend against stocking up because some babies are allergic or just don't fit well in different brands. I lucked out and my daughter did fine with all. I do like name brands (huggies or pampers) for the wee ones and then more okay with generics as the baby got bigger. One note, keep track of where the diapers came from. Different stores offer different size pack/boxes. While it is true you can exchange unopened boxes for different sizes, you do have to know where they came from because a mega box from walmart is a different count than a mega box from babiesrus, etc. I just used post its to write where the different boxes came from. Newborn diapers were only used on my average kiddo (7lbs14oz) for a few weeks before moving into size 1 diapers so I am not buying any boxes of newborns this time. I have several packs and will buy more if need be but I'm not stocking up on newborn sizes.
Pacifiers...my little one didn't take a paci when she was little. When she got a bit older and we got her tongue tie corrected, she started taking a paci and the NUK paci's were the only ones she wanted. If you are going to introduce pacis, I would buy a few packs of different kinds to see which one your little one is going to like and then go from there.
Some items, like a high chair, booster seat, feeding utensils, won't be used for several months so if you are short on cash from the upfront costs, I would just hold off on purchasing those items.
I used burp cloths and receiving blankets a lot so having a nice stash of those is great.
As far as nursery decor, there is no reason to splurge on the $200-$300 bedding sets that you can buy. So many of the pieces you literally cannot use, such as bumper pads, the comforter, etc. I made that mistake with my first and won't be doing that with my second. I picked a theme and am just purchasing individual items for it.
Since it is not recommended to use blankets due to SIDS guidelines, I LOVE sleep sacks. I felt so much more comfortable with my little one in a sleep sack because I knew she was warm but didn't have to worry about her getting tangled in a blanket. I have two in each size range so that I have a back up in case one gets wet/dirty.
Baby monitor...I thought for sure an audio monitor would be sufficient but I splurged on a video monitor since I had a ton of gift cards to use and I love it. I still have it set up in my 3 year old's room. It is so comforting to be able to peak in without disturbing them. You can set it to different setting as far as how sensitive it is to noise. I'll try to find a link to the monitor we have just to give an idea. It's not an expensive one and it has been used daily for over 3 years and still work great.
This is a link to the monitor we use. I think I paid around $90 when we got ours and it only has one camera. This deal is $70 and has two cameras! That's a steal.
https://mylevana.com/product/Lila_D...eng-172.html?gclid=CN--n8rPg9QCFQwQaQodixsI_w
That's all I can think of right now!
He just wouldn't sit still! This LO was also giving the tech a hard time seeing his genitals so maybe it is a boy thing? I suppose they don't call them "bouncing baby boys" for nothing lol. Anyways they had me come back with DS1 and everything was fine.
Anyone else? 
. Husband and daughter are happy so I'm happy. Bring on the shopping.
