– Don’t Waste Money—The Family Will Provide Everything Your Baby Needs, My Mother-in-Law Said

Honestly, my mother-in-law and being tight-fisted go hand-in-hand. Shes convinced theres no point in buying anything new for a baby when the familys older kids have outgrown perfectly usable clothes. But Im sure you can guess what tenth-hand baby gear looks like. Thats exactly why I want nothing to do with that rubbish.

Back when my husband and I rented, she more or less kept her distance. But once we bought our own place, his mum took it upon herself to manage our renovations. Shes got this thing where she insists, Dont bother hiring anyone! My mate will sort the tiles, and my cousins good with electrics. The so-called experts she recommends are a total nightmare, though, and, to be honest, I want proper tradesmen for the job. Ive seen the results at her houseshe trips over uneven floorboards all the time. When I put my foot down, she called me stingy and accused me of throwing money away.

Then, when I decided it was time to swap out the furniture, she kicked off round two of her campaign. Suddenly, every random relative was getting a ring, and she was collecting every moth-eaten sofa, rickety cabinet, and faded rug she could find. When I turned her down, she had a go at me, saying wed wind up ruining ourselves at this rate.

Thank goodness my husband stood by me. We earn enough to furnish our home properly, and so, despite all her fussing, we went ahead and did things our way.

Just to be clear, Im not a snob or anything. My sister often passes on clothes to me, and theyre genuinely lovely and in decent condition. But Im not about to accept whatever cast-off comes my way just for the sake of saving some pounds. Id rather get a few new things for our baby that are comfortable and look nice.

Why are you wasting money? she moaned yet again. We have so many children in this family! I knew plenty of those clothes had been passed around the block way too many times. Some were so stained and patched I wouldnt even use them as cleaning ragsholes, missing buttons, broken zips, you name it.

One day, another relative dropped off a cot from some cousin, but it didnt even have sides. Her husband tried to fix it, but honestly, the whole thing was a disaster. I ended up taking it to the old house in the countryside and bought a decent cradle instead.

Just look at you lot, living the high life! Youre throwing your money around now, but just you wait until youre on maternity leave. Then youll wish youd listened to me and saved your pennies, my mother-in-law wouldnt let it drop.

But you know what? If shes annoyed, thats her problem. I have every right to care for my childs wellbeing. And even if things get tight, I know my own parents would step in to helpwere not going to fall apart without her hand-me-downs.