Planning Can Save You Hundreds When Purchasing a Stroller

06/25/2016

Written by: Evelyn

At Mommy Stroller, we get a lot of questions from parents looking to pick out the right stroller for their family. By far the most common question is:

How do I pick out the best stroller for my family?

We’ve covered a lot of the factors that play a role in making that decision over at our website and blog, so today we’d like to do something different for the readers at Mommy Connections. By the way, we’re glad to be back writing another piece for Mommy Connections! Our last piece was about the pros and cons of using a stroller vs babywearing when traveling, for those of you who are curious.

In this post, we’d like to go over how spending some time to plan ahead before buying a stroller can have plenty of benefits. As a parent, you’ll probably know how costly it is to raise a child. In the United States, based on estimates from the USDA in 2014, it costs about a quarter of a million dollars to raise a child up till age 18 and based on a similar study in 2010, it costs parents on average, $12,000 in just the first year of having a newborn baby. Baby products – strollers, car seats, bassinets – account for a good chunk of where that money goes towards. If you can start planning and as a result, save even a small percentage of the money you’d otherwise be spending, the amount can certainly add up pretty quickly.

But before we get into why you should plan before making purchases of baby strollers, let’s go over the reasons behind how most parents pick out strollers (and baby products):

• We need this car seat stroller combo now, so we should just buy it. If the need for other types of strollers such as jogging strollers come up, we’ll deal with it then.
• We like picking the most expensive stroller because quality is often correlated with how expensive a product is.
• Let’s just pick the cheapest, least expensive stroller so that we can save some money.

These are 3 most common reasoning that take place in parents’ heads when they shop for a stroller.

While in the short term, these choices and decisions could work, more often than not, they wouldn’t work in the long run.

Here’s why:

• There are strollers that can be used for different purposes and it would be a much wiser and cost effective option to go with such a stroller. For example, if you’re a parent that loves the outdoors and would like to bring your kids with you on your adventures, there are all-terrain strollers that are not only suited for use in the outdoors, but also for everyday use.
• This is true for the most part whereby more expensive products are typically of better quality and offers more features. While pricier strollers can have better quality and build, in most cases, what pricier strollers offer are more features. And because the needs and preferences of different parents can vary from individual to individual, some of these features might be considered a luxury as opposed to a necessity.
• This reasoning is less common among parents, especially first time parents, as they want to ensure they get the “best” products for their newborn baby which typically translates to a more expensive stroller. While saving money is always something worth considering when picking out a stroller for your family, it shouldn’t be the most important factor.

Why Should You Plan Before Purchasing a Stroller?

Hopefully through the 3 different scenarios shared above, you have a better understanding of why you should plan before making any large purchases in terms of baby products. In a rather simplistic manner, I have broken down these into 3 different answers:

• Planning allows you to pick out the best stroller for your family

Nowadays, there’s just so many different strollers out in the market, which makes it extremely challenging for parents to pick out a suitable one. We know this because we’ve gone through the whole paralysis by analysis sequel as first time parents. By planning, you’re actually guaranteeing yourself to not be in such a situation since you know exactly what you’re looking for in a stroller. For example, if all you need is a stroller that you can use for running errands and for everyday use, then you’d want to look for an umbrella stroller.

• Planning allows you to make the most out of your purchase

If you are just starting a family, planning ahead of time can help make your purchases futureproof. This is not true for certain baby products, but definitely applies to strollers. Buying a futureproof product basically means that you’re purchasing products that will last you in the long term as opposed to in the short term. A classic example of this is in purchasing a stroller that can be “expandable”. Such strollers are able to act as a single stroller, as well as a double stroller, with the purchase of an additional seat. Definitely a must have if you’re planning to have more than one child!

• Planning saves time and money

Can you imagine the hassle you need to deal with if you purchased a stroller that does not meet your family’s needs? You’d not only have to spend the time to research and look for a new stroller, but also spend money to purchase a second stroller. To make things worse, if you’re living in an apartment, you probably won’t have much storage space to store this second stroller!

Closing Words

The is no doubt that parents want the best for their kids, which is likely the reason why so many parents end up spending so much money on their kids’ well-being. That being said, it is imperative that parents keep a tab on this spending as it can quickly get out of control. The way which we’ve found most effective in terms of controlling our spending on baby products such as strollers is by PLANNING. If in doubt, ask yourself this question before purchasing any baby product:

Do I really need this?

Who’s the Writer?

Evelyn is the main person behind Mommy Stroller, which focuses on helping parents figure out which stroller they should get. Evelyn and her husband, Paul, decided to blog about strollers after the overwhelming feeling they experienced when trying to pick out their first stroller. Both of them enjoy spending time with family and friend, live music, and going on jogs with their kids (in a stroller).

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