I can only have two of these three things. Help me choose?

[AngeloMysterioso]

DH and I have just over £300 in JL gift vouchers left over from our wedding. I also have £240 “treat money” from this year’s bonus with which to get something “for myself”. So here are my options-

Thing 1 - £229
We recently moved into a fairly small flat which has largely been furnished with hideous, chunky, black Ikea furniture - bought when DH was furnishing his bachelor flat (before I showed up). At the moment we are stuck with a dining table not dissimilar to this, with 4 matching chairs. We can’t fit all 4 chairs under the table at once and DH is using the table as his desk atm (new one due to arrive in a few weeks and it will go in our bedroom) so his office chair is in the sitting room and two of the chairs are currently in our bedroom.
One of the three things I have my eye on is this table and chairs set- it is pretty perfect for us in that it folds up nice and compactly and will look much nicer in the space than the awkward black one we have now. If I used the gift vouchers to get it we’d have roughly £80 left.

Thing 2 - £449-£675
I have wanted a Vitamix for so long. At least 7 years. I have watched the videos on YouTube more times than I’d like to admit. I have a Pinterest board full of delicious recipes I would make with one. Baby DS is also weaning at the moment and I would love to be able to make lots of lovely homemade things for him. I know there are other, cheaper blenders out there but I want one so badly!!
The Explorian is out of stock at JL atm so in order to get one of the more expensive better ones I would have to combine both gift vouchers and treat money. If I wanted the most fancy pants one I’d have to save up a bit more on top as well. DH is happy for me to get one with the gift vouchers and would probably use it too but to him any blender would do so he’s not fussed really.

Thing 3 - £240
I recently completed my first half marathon 5 months after having my first baby and have well and truly caught the running bug. I’ve been using my phone for tracking, listening to music etc but would love a proper fitness watch, and really like the look of the Garmin Vivoactive 4S. Of the three things, this is the only thing that would really be just for me is. The dining table, while being something only I really want, would be used by the whole family, the blender too but the fact that it’s a Vitamix is what makes it a treat for me.

My options are

A- get the table and the watch, spend the remaining vouchers on a shitty cheaper blender and continue to lust over a Vitamix for the rest of my days.

B- wait for the cheapest Vitamix to come back in stock, get that and the table or watch

C- combine vouchers and treat money for a more expensive Vitamix, make my peace with the ugly table, get a cheaper fitness watch for my birthday in a few months time.

What would Mumsnet do??

That amount on a blender is ludicrous. But I'd get the blender. You seem to really want the blender and you'll only be annoyed you didn't get the blender.

Oh no I'm too late. What was the decision?

@Nacreous in our old flat all the bedroom furniture was black too!

@Ginisatonic have deffo decided against that table, but may go for this one from Argos instead.

@Obviouspretzel have bought the Garmin watch with my treat money and will most likely get a Vitamix with the vouchers.

You will not regret the vita mix @AngeloMysterioso. Mine is at least 15yrs old. One of us uses it at least every week, usually 2-3times. Ice cream from frozen fruit is a favourite in summer. My friend came, experienced this, told another friend and they tried it in her bog standard blender and burnt out the motor. It's really really powerful. Yes if you just want smoothies and baby food it's a waste of money, but if you want to make humus, pesto, ice cream, nut butters, thick batters, it's fantastic. Ours gets used most for humus and ice cream. The motor cuts out when it overheats (you will be tempted to push it to its limits) but resets itself when it's cooled down.

I would NEVER have paid £500 for a "blender" - it was exHs purchase, but he didn't use it and left it behind when he went. The more I used it the more I loved it.

Definitely option A. One item for the home and the other item just for you (which is what your bonus is for after all).

Watch without a doubt. I would also treat myself to a nice perfume, some nice expensive shower gel or a nice face cream and some comfy shoes or trainers.
Your child will be on grown up food in no time and the food blender will be in the back of the cupboard in no time (unused, unloved and taking up space).

@AngeloMysterioso I can't believe this thread

Definitely Option A. I am shocked at the price for essentially a blender. I've just paid less than that for a really nice american fridge freezer. A blender isn't something you would use everyday, whereas the others would be used everyday.

I haven't really heard of Vitamix, and I've always used a stick blender for soups etc (though actually prefer chunky soups to pureed ones), but I had a Morphy Richards blender for 10+ years(it died eventually but it was under £50 new), and I did make houmous, nut butters (actually only peanut one but that's all I needed), frozen fruit and frozen banana ice cream in it no problem at all.
Made icing sugar in a small coffee mill (about £12)all my life, same with milling spices and actual coffee beans, until I switched to hand held coffee grinder because it's better for the coffee...

Smoothies are not very healthy anyway... I still don't understand how Vitamix would have been better than my Morphy Richards. Ok, maybe peanut butter took 3 min to make instead of whatever time Vitamix would take? So what?
How much houmous do people eat? How much pureed food? Even for my babies I couldn't be bothered to use a blender and most of the time mashed their food with a small wooden potato masher. I haven't got round to buying a replacement since my blender died and for a few months now just use a stick blender for everything and it's fine.
The stick blender was a fiver from WOOLWORTHS , so how old is that?(bought a year before they closed down). It's perfectly adequate, its ability to blend a soup or some pancake batter hasn't diminished with age...

Just to add, my Morphy Richards wasn't a jug type blender, but the one with a big metal(and plastic for dough) rotating knife, plus attachments for grating.

@AngeloMysterioso I think you’re totally mental for wanting a Vitamix but I have just seen there’s a 9% cashback offer on topcashback if that helps!

I understand your dilemma as my dream kitchen thing was always my Kitchenaid mixer. But I waited and got a bargain in John Lewis. It cost me half of what it was originally and ties in with the Ice cream attachment free. To this day I love it more cos I know it was a bargain. Still think that’s a ridiculous amount of cash for a blender.

I also agree with a few others above that I’d rethink the table. Not sure how practical it will be and if you’re anything like me and most people I know, you won’t be arsed putting it away and getting it back out regularly. Could you paint the chairs, add cushions and get a smaller more practical table?

The watch is lovely and looks worth the money. Having a good blender is important but you can get really good ones cheaper than that which will probably do the same job. Not too keen on the chairs.

Update (for anyone who cares)...

I didn’t get a Vitamix.

I just couldn’t justify the cost, vouchers or no vouchers. So instead...

I GOT THIS

VERY. EXCITED.