Hoarders: Stroller Edition

I have a problem, admitting it is step one. How many strollers do you think one 6 month old needs? If you are anything like the people I have asked this question the response is one or maybe two. How about four? For a combined total of about $1,000. That is JUST on strollers people?! You want to know how expensive kids are? Well, there’s a start. I won’t even get started on the accessories to go with the strollers and the baby carriers (where you strap your kid to you) that I have also purchased.

It all started with stroller envy, and at that point I didn’t even have my kid yet. I’d go for a walk and see these fine pieces of art strolling buy and think “I need to get me one of those, one of those will make having kids easier”.

Then started the research – amazon reviews, mommy forums, resale values – where I learned types of wheels, and weight, and cargo space required, and what fancy features each had and here is where I began.

Picture if you will me bored at work (not even pregnant yet) browsing kijijiji (Canada’s craig list) for baby items – you know just seeing what was out there. When I came across a woman selling a barely used peg perego stroller that had good reviews I jump on it. I sneak over one day and pick it up on my lunch and realize it takes up the entire trunk of the Jetta (ok, maybe not the entire…but 85%). It seems huge to me, and I realize it just isn’t what I’m looking for… you know for my un-conceived child. BUT, I decide it is something that I would take to my mother’s so that she can use it for all her future grandchildren. I then proceed to sneak it into the house and hide it in the spare bedroom closet as if T saw it at that point he’d probably have crapped his pants.

When I really started to look for what I wanted – light, colorful, adapts to a car seat etc, I remembered a stroller friends of ours had on vacation previously. It went through sand and on trails and packed up pretty small, so I looked it up - $700. Ouch. My dream was to own an Uppababy vista. (SHOULD NOT have gone to the site to link it for you, I just saw the G-Luxe and G-Lite and now want one of those!!!)It has a bassinet so when my conceived child at this point was born they would be able to use it inside the house and out. It came in yellow – perfect for spotting in large crowds. It turned on a dime and took up less space in the Jetta and it was oh so light! I stalked mommy forums until someone posted a 4th of July sale and scored it for $500. I told T resale would be awesome, and I could attach a second seat for a future child, etc. It was mine – well, Banditt claimed it as his J

For the first five months or so of G’s life I had the uppababy and loved it. Then one weekend I wanted to go to a market that was in an old building – plenty of stairs, no elevators, and I didn’t want to strap him to me because I was having some back issues – so this situation started the hunt for an umbrella stroller.  I had gone cross border shopping with my mom and aunt and found a lovely Graco umbrella stroller – technically it isn’t an umbrella that it just folds up – I went for the $70 deluxe version that has a basket, canopy, and cup holders. It takes up a tiny bit of room which is what I need when I have other purchases and I needed the basket for said purchases. T kinda got upset when this one came home.

This is my aunt assembling it IN target with a hammer from the hardware dept.

The final stroller and the one I’m likely to get in shit for is my new jogging stroller. I went back and forth with do I want one or need one, can’t I just be happy with a low quality one, will it motivate me to jog more? Again I searched reviews, forums and discovered the stroller I wanted was a BOB Revolution. So I started hunting kijiji in hopes of finding one used. It was like searching for a unicorn. Then it happened – first thing one morning I see an ad for one – never used still in box and the ad had been posted for 8 hours (seriously, who posts stroller ads at midnight?). It was 2 hours from where I live, and had over twenty something hits. I responded with “I will take it, have cash, can be there ASAP”, and got no response. I checked my email eighty zillion times. Nothing. I check the ad and the price had gone up $100. Now I was walking away – I could find a deal on a brand new one from the store. The seller emails and asks if I want it for $100 more. No….and I sulk for long enough to forget about it and tell myself I just wasn’t meant to have a jogging stroller. Then today an email pops up “I still have it. $300 and it’s yours”. Unlike shoes I can’t hide this from T under the bed. This one might be living in the trunk of the Jetta.

Ahhhh....... I'm having an ah-ha moment. My expensive purse addiction has been replaced with strollers!...well, not really. Maybe just put on hold.

Also – if you’re in the stroller market and want some reviews, I got plenty!