Over the last six and a half months I've learned two things. One, there's a lot of shopping to do when you get pregnant, and it comes in two phases: shopping for your pregnancy, and then shopping for baby. Two, it is not easy to go shopping when you're pregnant! First you're too nauseous. And then when you finally have the energy, you get tired too easily. And then you're too broke.

But over the months I'm fortunate to have learned a few tips on how to shop for yourself and for baby.

(1) Accept hand-me-downs and loans! I only had to buy 3 sets of maternity clothes, because a friend of mine dropped of a box of her old maternity clothes for me to use throughout my pregnancy. It was everything I needed! Another friend very kindly gave me three boxes of baby clothes that her son had already outgrown.

(2) Discover the wonderful world of online shopping. (I'll talk about this in greater detail in my next post.)

(3) Don't buy too many clothes--whether for yourself or for baby. When you're pregnant, you will grow quickly and you might outgrow the maternity clothes that you buy. According to all my friends, baby also grows really quickly, so you don't want to buy too many clothes that he or she will just outgrow.

(4) Some things are cheaper abroad. Car seats, electric breast pumps, baby monitors ... a lot of these are cheaper abroad. If you have relatives who can send things home to you, you might want to consider buying them online, and having them shipped to your relatives.

(5) Some things are much cheaper here. Baby clothes, for one, are much cheaper here. :)