Cloth Diapers, Baby Clothes and Other Ways to Spend My Money

I am generally a very frugal person.  I am pretty good at only spending money on things that I really think are useful and/or beautiful.  I oftentimes get a bigger kick out of additional money in my savings account than additional items in my home.  Plus, I am quite the picky chick, so the number of things that I actually buy is further restricted by my tastes.

All of that, to explain that I am pretty choosy about what things to buy and pretty conservative about my spending.

Then came this pregnancy and I just want to spend, spend, spend. 
 

We have Baby P.'s dresser and it is slowly filling up with goodies: books, diapers, clothes, a few toys, etc.

I want to shop for diapers and clothes nonstop.   

I know that we will get lots of good stuff at my baby showers.  I try to remind myself of that when I want to go shopping.  The showers are still a month away, though, and sometimes I can talk myself into buying things just to "be prepared."  

I guess I think that I might not get the things that I think I need at my showers.  I figure that I will have to go shopping at some point, anyway, so I might as well just do it now.  

Or, more likely, I am just making this little argument in my head so that I can go look through all of the cute baby things and not feel too guilty about purchasing some of them.

Maybe this spending spree can be blamed on the fact that the things I am  buying are not for myself.  I don't feel so guilty spending the money on someone else.  Maybe it's because I have daydreamed about having a baby for so long and how I would decorate his room, clothe him, etc. and now that it is finally true I am trying to live up to all of those self-imposed expectations.  

As this battle continues, I will keep you posted on how I am doing and how my mindset changes.  I am afraid that this is just the beginning, but I am hoping not.  I hope that once he is born I will settle back into my frugal ways.  

As far as the cloth diapering goes, I recently read an article that really  made me stop in my tracks.  It reminded me that the reason we are cloth diapering is to save some money.  So, if I just buy and buy and buy I am defeating the purpose.  I think that I will start a little ledger to keep in Baby's diaper drawer of how much I have spent on cloth diapers.  I think that will help me to keep myself in check.  

Did anyone else have this same struggle?  Did it end when your bambino was born?  Did it get worse?  

♥ brooke