I got my maternity clothes for free – how you can save money too

And if you’re anything like me, you would much rather be spending your money on items for your newborn than clothes that you’ll only need for a few months of your life.

A 2019 survey found mums-to-be spent £700 on average on their maternity clothes.

That’s a huge expense when you’re trying to put money to one side to see you through reduced pay while you’re on maternity leave.

But luckily I've picked up a few tips that might help you if you're also trying to save some cash while waddling around with a bump.

Why are maternity clothes more expensive?

The extra bit of material needed to accommodate my bump and a stretchier waistband means that generally all high street stores charge more for maternity clothes compared to basic items.

Say for example I was looking for a two-pack of cycling shorts. 

The cheapest ones I could find in H&M were £10.99 whereas I could only spot one maternity equivalent which cost £17.99 - an increase of 63%.

And then there’s the hidden cost of delivery.

I couldn’t find a high street store near me with any of their maternity range in stock so my only option was to shop online.

Depending where you shop and how many items you're buying, that can mean an extra cost of £1.99 for it to be delivered to a store or up to £4.95 for it to be delivered to my house.

How I got my maternity clothes for free

I’ll start with a disclaimer – I have been pregnant before.

But the first time around my clothes were just starting to get a bit tight when lockdown hit in 2020.

With nowhere to go, I lived in my husband’s clothes for months before finally splashing out on a few tops, dresses and leggings.

They were all still at the back of my wardrobe but this time I had a holiday on the horizon and was keen to have something other than retro football shorts and baggy tops to wear around the pool.

Check your own wardrobe first

My first tip for anybody trying to save money on maternity clothes is check what you’ve got at the bottom of your own drawers.

I found a number of over-sized T-shirts and loose fitting tops that would do the job so then all I needed was shorts, skirts and a few new dresses to get me through the summer.

Time for a clear out

My next task was to have a wardrobe clear-out.

My little boy was never keen on sleep so I spent a chunk of my previous maternity leave buying various sleeping bags and suits after reading reviews at 4am claiming ‘my child slept through the first night we used this’.

My little boy didn’t so all those useless items as well as clothes I hadn’t worn in years were scooped up, photographed and uploaded to Vinted.

How to use Vinted

For those that don't know, Vinted is an online marketplace for buying and selling new or secondhand items.

The beauty of this app is it’s great for sellers.

You don’t have to pay the delivery costs, the buyer does.

And you don’t even have to work out how much it will cost to deliver, the app does it for you.

I uploaded my items and found the offers were quickly coming in on all the baby stuff I had uploaded.

And once my Vinted balance was bulging, I started searching for my maternity wardrobe.

Rather than spending £35 on a Next maternity skirt or £25 on an H&M floral dress, I found those items on Vinted for £4 and £3 without a penny leaving my bank account.

I picked up a further three pairs of shorts, two dresses and two skirts from Vinted saving an estimated £297 on how much similar items would have been in stores.

Tips for selling on Vinted

• Check delivery methods first - Vinted has four shipping methods - Evri, InPost, Yodel and Royal Mail. It’s worth checking if the nearest drop-off point for each of these is convenient and if it’s not, turning off that option in your settings.
• Upload multiple items at once - it takes more time but I always ended up with more sales uploading three or four items at once.
• Keep bags for deliveries - you can buy delivery bags cheaply on Amazon but whenever you get a delivery, it’s worth keeping the plastic bag so you can use it again to parcel up one of your sales.