Baby shit and the minimalists
I am having a problem - the same problem I had in the months before Lane was born. There is too.much.baby.shit.
Not literal shit, because there's none of that right now (thank you potty training), but shit our consumer-driven and truly sick culture tells moms to buy in order to be ready for a baby. A new mother is infiltrated with lists that tell us what to spend money on. That last one actually suggests you purchase "clothing hangers". HA! I'm laughing at you...OUT LOUD. Also....infant feeding spoons and bowls? My newborn infant is going to be eating with a spoon? Can she teach my toddler how to do that?
We are somewhat self-proclaimed minimalists. I spend cash without abandon on clothes for myself and electronics, OKAY? But in all other areas, if we have something that works, we work with it. That's why most of our furniture is hand-me-downs and we only have two pairs of sheets for our bed that we rotate seasonally, and our house looks like it was decorated at good will, because it pretty much was.
With Lane, we rejected "stuff". Our newborn list looked like this:
1. boobs
2. 10 plain onesies
3. diapers
4. car seat
5. sling
And yet still we fell into a few traps of things we thought we needed only for Lane's preferences to completely rule them out (hello $400 breast pump and $50 worth of bottles. hello crib.) or for him to outgrow them in just two months (hello $300 travel system).
The problem is not this view. I'm proud of us for trying to draw lines in the sand between what we want and what we need. The problem is that I'm up against this hormonal urge to nest with no stuff to nest with. I keep going to the store and losing my mind, filling a cart full of baby shit, getting up to the register and saying, "Don't need this, don't need this" and walking out with only finger paint for Lane.
It's so EASY to want to lose it in a culture that's telling you you should. It's so EASY to go for broke when you sign up for a registry and are delivered a three page list of "essentials" and your hormones are telling you "yes! yes! uproot your office and paint it pink and buy the crib and the changing table and the monogram sheets and the video monitor and the hooded towels and the - and the -"
Here's the truth. You don't need much of anything for a newborn, especially if you're breastfeeding. You really just need a mommy and something to wrap the baby in and some diapers and something to drive them home in.
You will need stuff when your child starts growing, maybe. I mean....maaaaybe. If you want to be American, anyway. A 6 month old list will look a lot different than a newborn list - but why buy that 6 month stuff right up front? We wasted SO MUCH MONEY with Lane doing this. 'Buy things as you need them' is my motto throughout this pregnancy.
My new version of nesting is going to look like preparing a good essentials list for our lifestyle (sneak peak: it doesn't even include a stroller). I'll share once that's complete, for all you minimalists out there.
Not literal shit, because there's none of that right now (thank you potty training), but shit our consumer-driven and truly sick culture tells moms to buy in order to be ready for a baby. A new mother is infiltrated with lists that tell us what to spend money on. That last one actually suggests you purchase "clothing hangers". HA! I'm laughing at you...OUT LOUD. Also....infant feeding spoons and bowls? My newborn infant is going to be eating with a spoon? Can she teach my toddler how to do that?
We are somewhat self-proclaimed minimalists. I spend cash without abandon on clothes for myself and electronics, OKAY? But in all other areas, if we have something that works, we work with it. That's why most of our furniture is hand-me-downs and we only have two pairs of sheets for our bed that we rotate seasonally, and our house looks like it was decorated at good will, because it pretty much was.
With Lane, we rejected "stuff". Our newborn list looked like this:
1. boobs
2. 10 plain onesies
3. diapers
4. car seat
5. sling
And yet still we fell into a few traps of things we thought we needed only for Lane's preferences to completely rule them out (hello $400 breast pump and $50 worth of bottles. hello crib.) or for him to outgrow them in just two months (hello $300 travel system).
The problem is not this view. I'm proud of us for trying to draw lines in the sand between what we want and what we need. The problem is that I'm up against this hormonal urge to nest with no stuff to nest with. I keep going to the store and losing my mind, filling a cart full of baby shit, getting up to the register and saying, "Don't need this, don't need this" and walking out with only finger paint for Lane.
It's so EASY to want to lose it in a culture that's telling you you should. It's so EASY to go for broke when you sign up for a registry and are delivered a three page list of "essentials" and your hormones are telling you "yes! yes! uproot your office and paint it pink and buy the crib and the changing table and the monogram sheets and the video monitor and the hooded towels and the - and the -"
Here's the truth. You don't need much of anything for a newborn, especially if you're breastfeeding. You really just need a mommy and something to wrap the baby in and some diapers and something to drive them home in.
You will need stuff when your child starts growing, maybe. I mean....maaaaybe. If you want to be American, anyway. A 6 month old list will look a lot different than a newborn list - but why buy that 6 month stuff right up front? We wasted SO MUCH MONEY with Lane doing this. 'Buy things as you need them' is my motto throughout this pregnancy.
My new version of nesting is going to look like preparing a good essentials list for our lifestyle (sneak peak: it doesn't even include a stroller). I'll share once that's complete, for all you minimalists out there.
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