The Stroller Story

*Sigh* That is really how I feel about this whole stroller thing.
My luck with strollers is rather unfortunate. My cousin-in-law is expecting his first any day now, and he asked me how many strollers we owned. They of course were arguing between one or two. I hung my head and said, "four." Which isn't even accurate! WE HAVE OWNED FIVE TOTAL. And my most recent purchase will make six.

I'm not crazy.

The first was a hand-me-down from a friend. Free.

The second was our original car seat/stroller purchase.

The third was of course the umbrella stroller. (ps I'm not even counting the stroller(s) in Oregon my family keeps there.)

The fourth.. was a bad idea. I bought it last season at the consignment sales. But could only test drive it on bumpy ground. When I got it solid concrete I figured out it didn't wobble because the ground was bumpy. Further research showed that replacement wheels were back ordered, and were $20 each. I paid $30 for the darn thing with hopes of having a lighter weight stroller for traveling.

The fifth my husband bought me for mother's day, and is a nice light weight stroller to replace my bad purchase.

Number six, and my latest addition is another umbrella stroller. I purchased it brand new, with the registration info attached, and the wheels weren't even put on yet, for $8 at the consignment sales.



The reason for my second umbrella stroller purchase??  *sigh*  I packed Bradley into the car and never turned around to pack the stroller. I drove away and left it in the Marietta Square. Major blond moment. At  least my husband was really nice about it and kindly told me maybe someone really needed a stroller and they found yours and you helped someone! Unlikely, but it made me feel better at the time. I still repeat his lame but calming story to myself when I think about leaving the stroller just sitting there. It still makes me feel better.

The horrible part is that $8 for the new one at the consignment sale isn't even a good deal compared to the hour of annoyance that came with it! Here is the short version..
I waited in line for 5 minutes, then waited for the cashier to finish checking out the person a head of me for 30 minutes.. grr. THEN I had to wait for 15 more minutes for the cop checking everyone's receipts to verify I had indeed purchased one item for $8 and it was a stroller. GRR. If it wasn't a cop I would have just walked away. But cops are persistent, I didn't want him to track me down in the store and make a scene. That would have made this whole process even more fun!!

In the end we have four strollers in our garage. One doesn't work, three we use on a regular basis. We have the pool stroller- the large one that can hold a car seat and various flotation devices; the walking stroller - which is the light weight one I like to travel with; and my new umbrella stroller that lives in the back of the car.
The hand me down one I handed onto a friend moving out of the country for a few years.

See, I'm not crazy.

Consignment Dealz!

Last season was my first time attending the All 4 Kids Consignment sales. I was overwhelmed at all the deals and wished I had found it sooner. This year I was much more prepared.

This season I wanted to get some winter clothes, an umbrella stroller, and dvds. (I found if you go on the first day you can find brand new clothes, with the tags on, and "like new" condition for kids clothes.) I ended up finding exactly what I wanted, plus a few books, a puzzle, and duplos! I'll have to post the stroller story another day... I don't have the energy now.

Here's my loot!


I think I did pretty good! I found Baby Einstein movies for $5-$3 each, the Duplo bag was $5, and I found name brands like Disney, The Children's Place, Osh Kosh and Arizona.

I spent $35 on clothing. I am very very critical when choosing clothing. It can't be more than $5, must show NO signs of stains or rough wear like those little fuzzy balls that happen around the sleeves. It must also be cute. Cute colors that you don't typically find in cheap stores and cool patterns or imagery that is relevant to our family. For example, I would never buy any Georgia Bulldog anything-there is a lot of it here in GA. Nor would I buy any Cubs, Stealer's, or Marlins sports teams stuff - even if it is really cute, like really really cute.

The sadistic side of me wanted to see if all this crazy searching and inspecting of second hand stuff was really a savings. This is what I came up with...

	Consignment	Full Price
Carters Coverall	$5.00	$10.00
Carters Coverall	$5.00	$10.00
Blue hoodie	$3.00	$15.00
Osk Kosh LS Tee	$2.00	$16.00
Long Sleeve Tee	$2.00	$6.00
Child Place LS Tee	$2.00	$9.50
Disney Vest	$3.00	$10.00
Pants	$5.00	$13.00
Child Place Sweater	$5.00	$15.00
Arizona Sweater	$1.00	$13.00
Child Place Tee	$3.00	$9.50
	$36.00	$127.00

I tried to find accurate prices, and I feel like I did pretty well. Of course no one buys all full price items, we all buy the sales stuff! But this comparison makes my savings look huge!!

Plus I have a slight hippie side to me that says, "Of course it is worth it, it is just like recycling! Re-use is one of the three R's!!" And that is true. Especially for the toys. My mother in law still has the legos and duplos her kids played with. Those things last forever! Better to pass them on or save them rather than dump them in a landfill. Okay, back down off my hippie high horse..

I'm most excited for this outfit. Now if only it would be winter weather, and if only Brad would grow.. That is a whole other issue..
He'll be 24 months in November... Will he fit into 24 months clothes?? He had better!