Cot £39 @ Ikea

If you wish, you can spend £500 on a cot for your baby. Probably more, if you're Wayne Rooney.

• Or, you can bag one of these bargains at Ikea for £39 instead

Perhaps one of the most overwhelming things about expecting a baby is knowing where to start in terms of all the kit you need. You can spend a fortune without really knowing what's worth splurging on and what you can afford to live without. That's why I LOVE this cot. £39! I don't know of a cheaper one on the market. Heck, even the mattress costs more than that and in lots of baby shops you'd be hard pushed to find a blanket this cheap.

Now, granted, your baby's first cot might not be something  you want to be frugal about. I know my firstborn's grandparents were desperate to pay for something substantial like their first grandchild's cot, and we all harboured a vague idea that it might become a family heirloom; something to pass down to future generations.
The truth is it's stashed in our spare room and my kids play rockets in it every chance they can get.  At this rate I don't know if it'll survive their generation, never mind the future.

But that's why I like this so much. It's cheap as chips and yet it does the job. I can vouch for that because our kids' Scottish granny got one for her spare room and almost 5 years after she bought it it's still going strong, and that's after 4 grandchildren have done significant stints of sleeping in it at various stages over those 5 years. It might not have the wow factor that some of the more expensive models have, and it probably won't win any style awards, although I actually happen to really like its pared-down, simple look. But it's much more sturdy and durable than I expected for this price.

In hindsight I'd have been totally happy to have this cot at home, and to have had a few extra quid to spend on extra-strength coffee to get me through those early days with a newborn. If you're looking for a reliable but basic cot, either to keep down the costs of having a baby, or as a spare at Granny's house, you could do worse than this.

The bed base can be placed at two different heights and its assembled size is as follows: length: 124 cm, width: 66 cm, height: 80 cm, bed width: 60 cm, bed length: 120 cm.

This cot rocks. Er, no pun intended. It doesn't ACTUALLY rock but you know what I mean.