The Winter Baby Gear Budget

Price a baby's winter gear by the months it fits: the sizes your winter needs from one measurement, new against second-hand after resale, one size up tested, what to borrow or keep, and a buy calendar with a set-aside

BabyPolar's Snowsuit Size Calculator tells you which size fits today. Its own size bands are three months wide for the first year (0-3M, 3-6M, 6-9M, 9-12M), and a winter is about five months long, so the size that fits in November can be outgrown by Christmas. Nothing on the site says how many sizes your winter needs, or what each one really costs for the months it is worn. This book lays your winter on those size bands from one measured height, then prices every piece of winter gear by the winter months it fits. In its worked example (all figures are examples), a 5-month-old measured at 64 cm needs three sizes between November and March, two of them for one month each: $194.97 bought new at $64.99 each. Tested one size up, it is two suits and $129.98. With a borrowed one-month size, a second-hand three-month size bought under its worked maximum of $52.99, and the size a younger sibling will also wear bought new, the whole list comes to $124.48 against $257.95 new, with a $24.90 monthly set-aside and a $16.09 starting fund that never leaves a month below $0.00. It is a money and planning book only: it does not say what to dress a baby in, how warm anything is, how long to be outdoors, anything about sleep or how to use a car seat, and it carries the AAP's line that bulky clothing, including winter coats and snowsuits, should not be worn underneath a car-seat harness, plus the CPSC recall check and the federal drawstring rule for second-hand coats. Every figure is computed by code and tagged as an example; it promises no price and no saving. Included: 24 printable pages (7 steps, 4 working pages, reference tables, a quickstart) and a personalised sheet worked from the height and age you enter in the Snowsuit Size Calculator: your size today, the months left in it, the next twelve months, and the sizes a winter needs by when it starts.

Look inside

Two full pages from the book, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• Step 1: your winter laid on the snowsuit size bands from one measured height, the months left in today's size rounded down
• Step 2: every piece priced per winter month it fits, new and second-hand, rounded up to the cent
• Step 3: one size up tested against every size as it comes, for the whole winter
• Step 4: new against second-hand net of resale, and the most a second-hand piece is worth
• Step 5: the check before you pay: the CPSC recall list, the federal drawstring rule for 2T and up, and when to walk away
• Step 6: what to borrow, what to sell in season, and which sizes meet a winter for a younger child
• Step 7: each buy in the month before it is first worn, a level set-aside and the starting fund that keeps every month at $0.00 or above
• Four working pages: a size calendar, an item price sheet, a cut-out second-hand check card, a buy calendar and ledger
• Reference tables: sizes a five-month winter needs by starting age, price per winter month, the size bands
• A personalised sheet from your child's measured height and age: today's size, the months left in it, and the sizes a winter needs by when it starts

The budget picks up where the free Snowsuit Size Calculator leaves off. The calculator gives the size band that fits today; its own bands are three months wide in the first year, and a winter is five months long. The book lays your winter on those bands from a measured height, prices each size by the winter months it fits, tests one size up, compares new and second-hand on what each costs after resale, gives a second-hand check (the CPSC recall list and the federal drawstring rule for sizes 2T and up), decides what to borrow and what to keep for a younger child, and sets each buy in the month before it is needed with a monthly set-aside. Every figure in it is an example, and it promises no price and no saving. It is a money and planning book only: it does not say what to dress a baby in, how warm anything is, how long to be outdoors, anything about sleep or how to use a car seat. Whatever its size, a snowsuit comes off before a car seat: the AAP says bulky clothing, including winter coats and snowsuits, should not be worn underneath the harness.