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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think some people have more money than sense wrt prams/pushchairs?

29 replies

moremoneythansense · 12/10/2007 23:11

And I mean some, not all!

I really don't understand why some people want to buy a pushchair for 500ish pounds. Afterall, it has to suffer with baby sick etc on it. Understand buying a travel system, or something if you always walk, but many pushchairs are either in the house or in the car boot!

And then they want another one a year later

OP posts:
Alambil · 12/10/2007 23:15

seems odd to me

I had my eye on a £450 one but it would have been the ONLY one I'd had from birth til finished using prams/buggies (it was a carrycot, buggy seat combo thingy)

Ex wouldn't let me have it though and went for a cumbersome pram which was more expensive - just cos HE saw it and no - he never did push it! (although it was rather nice for what it was - just sooo big)

Original poster
moremoneythansense · 12/10/2007 23:21

I suppose it is from here, I don't know anyone who has ever bought a pram for that much, then buy another one only a year later!

OP posts:
Alambil · 12/10/2007 23:41

me neither... maybe they hide them all!

ChantillyLace · 12/10/2007 23:53

As I have said on another thread I paid £180 fo a travel system, pushchair/car seat/rain covers/foot muff/hood etc etc and it was a brand name so why pay any more???

Is it a WAG mindset? Thats's the one thry've all got so I must have it?

Cosmo74 · 13/10/2007 00:04

i don't think it is fair to start a thread that is responding to another thread - why not just post on that thread - you look as if you are trying to intimidate the other poster which I think is not fair - after all she did not buy it and what is so bad that now she needs money she is selling something of value that she did not have to fork out the money for - after all if we needed money for our kids as a mother you would do anything!!! what she is doing is sensible - leave her alone!

Original poster
moremoneythansense · 13/10/2007 00:26

I haven't even read that thread!

It's in relation to some wanted threads that were here earlier

OP posts:
Cosmo74 · 13/10/2007 00:58

are you sure it seems too much of a coincidence!!

ninedragons · 13/10/2007 02:18

People have all sorts of reasons that you can't possibly know.

We bought an expensive pushchair, but we live in Asia and were warned by another mother that if you have the gene for curly, blonde or red hair in your family you should get a pram that the baby faces you. There is no cultural problem with touching other people's babies, especially if they are unusual, and while it's all perfectly friendly and well-intentioned, this mother said that her curly-haired child was traumatised by being picked up and petted by strangers 20 times a day. We have all three genes in the family and were happy to spend quite a lot of money to ensure that our baby would be left in peace.

The pavements are all old flagstones and not very well maintained, so we also needed something with big sturdy wheels.

It just so happened that the only pram that fit our requirements was expensive. I was going to say I would hate it if someone who saw me pushing it was thinking "that silly cow has more money than brains", but then I realised that actually I would think they needed to get a hobby or a more interesting job if all that preoccupied them was my pram.

LoveAngel · 13/10/2007 09:37

I see your point. We bought a £400 buggy as first time parents (ie. mugs). Rip off. So completely unnecessary. I plead ignorance - I had no idea a good old fashioned £60 McClaren's was actually far superior to half of these huge poncy great monstrosities. Next time round I won't be forking out for an expensive buggy...OR a £50 'changing bag'...or half of the ridiculously over price and mostly unnecessary baby paraphenalia.

NineUnlikelyTales · 13/10/2007 09:44

We are not well off but paid £500+ for a travel system - or rather my parents very kindly did. Because we don't have a car so the pushchair gets very heavy use and has to be comfortable for me and DS. It also had to be lightweight, easy to use on the bus and train, and have plenty of space for shopping etc.

But I don't get the buying another one for the sake of it after x months - I'm jut not that into pushchairs. Mine does the job and I don't care about new fabrics, slightly different logo on the chassis etc. However I did buy a £20 stroller for when we went on holiday so that does push me into the 2 pushchair bracket I suppose!

flack · 13/10/2007 09:46

£400+ for a pushchair? Are some people mad? How do I get their bank details so they can pay my house bills for a month or 2 -- they obviously wouldn't even notice!

kerala · 13/10/2007 18:43

I think alot of people get taken in by advertising and panic buying what they see other people are buying. They want the best for their babies and perceive that spending that much on a 4x4 buggy is doing the right thing.

I know 3 mums who spend £500 plus on these things. Sadly for Londoners they are quite impractical being hard to get on/off buses, then take up too much room on buses, very difficult for the tube and for going up flights of steps (lots of people here live in flats). So these mums then ended up buying basic Mcclarens and using those. Such a waste of money.

hana · 13/10/2007 18:44

how odd
it's not your money so why give it a second thought?

lizziemun · 13/10/2007 19:33

I spend over £500 on a mamas and papas 3 in one with a car seat. But i used it for 18mth with DD1 and now using it for DD2.

I bought it because it suited my needs I had a winter baby so wanted a sturdy carrycot, which i also so use for baby to sleep in during the day when downstairs as we don't have the space for pram and moses basket.

I use it everyday to walk dd1 to nursery about a half a mile each way. So for me it was value for money.

The only other buggy i have was £60 which i used when DD1 grew out of the main pram.

I don't understand why people keep buying new prams/buggy's every other month.

FlightAttendant · 13/10/2007 19:45

I have a thing about pushchairs. I tend to buy different ones to try out, mainly on ebay, then sell on the ones I don't particularly use.
I did walk a lot until last month when suddenly we are using my mum's car every day for school - now we hardly use the pushchair(s), and it seems a bit daft to have more than one!
I can see just how much I used them before though, and how little people with cars need them, so am just selling them off graduallynow and won't be getting too many more

However it is about finding the most useful/suitable one, partly. I have had some shocking ones that were not much use for anything let alone heavy use.

Definitely not a WAG thing, for me - just a personal quest! (I don't have any money, it is the bank's )

mumfor1standfinaltime · 13/10/2007 19:47

I agree with op, I paid less for my car than that lol! (my first car that is!)
Pushchairs should be a s cheap as poss imo, soon as you can get rid of them the better!

Washersaurus · 13/10/2007 20:00

I have an expensive pushchair, because I needed a double and didn't want to have a crappy side-by-side one to stress me out around town, and that wouldn't fit into my house unless collapsed!

I also only have said pushchair because my generous mum shipped it from America for us (we can barely afford to pay our mortgage athe moment)...so please don't make judgements about people like this. Some people like to spend money on clothes, beauty treatments, holidays, decorating houses etc etc. and some like to spend their money on pushchairs...I don't see the problem

MerlinsBeard · 13/10/2007 20:00

you need to bear in mind that you can get a maternity grant for £500 so you can get quite an expensive pushchair using that if buying everything esle is not a problem or relatives are buying cot/moses basket etc

3andnogore · 13/10/2007 20:08

lol more sense....I suppose people sometimes get carried away with this and could even develope a real obsession, lol!
But sometimes you only realise with using a certain Pram/Pushchair, that whilst you may thought it covers all your needs for one reason or another it may not....!
Also, of course some regular changes of pushchairs/prams could be due to changing needs and possibly lack off storage space to enable a person to hold on to a certain pushchair....
in the end it's up to teh individual and non of anyone elsees business I suppose, so, whilst you are Not being unreasonable to not understand...Yabu about making this an issue

morningglory · 13/10/2007 20:32

YABU. I spent over 500 pounds on the bugaboo for DS. I lived in Canary Wharf without a car, and it was the best pushcahir for a city and public transport. I used it continuously for 3 years (and will use it for DS2 when he arrives in February).

I had a Maclaren for travel (given to me) which I gave away because it was awful (handling, on cobblestones, and not as comfortable for DS).

I replaced it with the Quinny Zapp because I needed a pushchair I could take into the plane, as we do lots of international travel (3-4 times to the States), and it is the only one which can fit in the overhead compartment.

Why are you so judgemental?

Nightynight · 13/10/2007 20:35

An expensive pram is often bought just at the point where you have zero experience of using it and are completely hormonal though, ie just before the first baby.

nappynuttynormabutty · 13/10/2007 20:38

Well I've said it on another thread so might as well copy it here. I don't think you're being unreasonable.

I'd like to say I don't have a problem with people buying an expensive pram if they can afford it and if they actually use the thing for a reasonable amount of time. Personally I don't have the money to spend £500 on a pram and, even if I did, I prefer to get a cheaper one and save the money for other things but I understand that's my preference.

Tbh I think a lot of people get into debt because they buy things that are overpriced or unnecessary. I don't have a problem if people have plenty of money but there are people who buy expensive stuff then have no money. In those cases I feel v angry that they didn't think about their situation more carefully.

It's not just prams either, people go on holidays they can't afford, take out mortgages they struggle to pay if there's an interest rate rise...it annoys me that many people have a "buy now, think later" attitude.

paolosgirl · 13/10/2007 20:40

No, YANBU at all! I can't understand this whole £500 pram thing - there actually seems to be snobbery attached to some prams [genuinely puzzled emoticon]

LIZS · 13/10/2007 20:48

I think for some people, however, it is funded (by personal savings, Maternity grant or grandparents for example) they feel the need to spend it all on something tangible rather than scale down grade their expectations and have some money left over to set aside for later. In fact for Maternity Grant it may be that it all has to be spent or lost anyway.

bran · 13/10/2007 20:50

I think it depends on how you use it. I didn't spend that much on pushchairs, but I did have 4 of them for various different types of usage because I have shoulder problems.

I walked a lot when ds was still using a pushchair and I would have been in agony if I'd used a Maclaren all the time, they're too low for me and they transmit bumps from the pavement right up your arms. In fact I would have been willing to pay quite a bit if I could have found a very lightweight, reclinable pushchair that had good supension and was easy to push, it would have been cheaper than the 2 days that dh had to take off work because my back gave way.

(MorningGlory, I live on the island and have a 3.4 yr old, do you think we know each other?)

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