In my guest post on Simple Mom last week, I talked a little bit about how there are situations in my life where quality trumps price.
“Sometimes – in fact, many times – quality trumps price. I’m willing to spend more on a well-made item that will last for many years than buy a cheaply-made item that I’ll use for a short period and then dispose of in some environmentally unfriendly way.
Isn’t this the true meaning of frugality – knowing where you’re willing to cut corners, and which things are important enough to you to pay more?“
More often than not, items that I’m willing to spend more on revolve around my children. While couponing and drugstore shopping are a necessary means to make ends meet with my husband currently laid off, when he’s working they’re a tool to give us the extra wiggle room in our finances that gives us the freedom to spend more on areas that are important to us.
To expand on these thoughts, I thought it might be useful to provide some specific examples of items that I am willing to pay more for quality and, more importantly, why.
:: Car Seats
My children’s safety is important to me, so I didn’t hesitate to purchase the very best in car seats and boosters for them over the years. After much research, we chose the Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seats and Britax Parkway Boosters for our kids.
Yes, it was a pretty penny to spend up front (and thankfully we’ve never had to put them to the test), but the peace of mind in knowing that we purchased some of the highest rated models on the market was worth the price.
:: Quality Shoes
A second area where I don’t like to skimp is quality shoes. Yes, I could walk into Payless or any big box stores and purchase a pair of shoes for a fraction of the cost, but these shoes tend to be cheaply made and will probably fall apart quickly or pinch and hurt my kiddos feet.
A proper shoe fit is especially important for toddlers learning to walk, and for this reason, Stride Rite is the first store I take my kids to to purchase shoes. Their certified fit specialists ensure that I’m buying the proper size and style, so I leave the store confident that I’ve got the proper size shoe for my child’s foot. Busy moms may want to take advantage of their E-fit sizing system. It makes ordering shoes from home easy by walking you through the shoe fitting process step by step.
:: Well-made Strollers
In all honesty, I’ve spent far too much on strollers over the years to figure out what works best for our family. If I could pick just one stroller that works well in almost any situation, it would be my InStep Ultra Runner 2 Double Jogging Stroller. It works just as well in a crowded mall as it does when walking around our neighborhood, and it folds up surprisingly compact when you remove the front wheel (which is SO easy to do). It’s lightweight enough for me to hoist in and out of the car on my own and fits through any standard doorway.
So what are some things that I’m willing to skimp on or find alternatives?
Children’s clothing – Hand-me-downs, yard sales, consignment stores, and Target are our shopping venues of choice for the kids. Old Navy and the occasional trip to the GAP outlet are about as high end as we get, and I never buy anything there that’s not on sale or clearance priced.
Diaper Genies – Perhaps they’ve changed since I received mine, but the Playtex Diaper Genie is one item that I definitely could have done without. The inserts are exceedingly expensive, and it really didn’t do that fantastic of a job containing odors, especially since we’ve almost always had two, if not three, in diapers at one time. Wrapping them up in a grocery bag and taking them straight outside to the garbage can is what works for us.
Full-size highchairs – These have always been just a nuisance for me. They take up way too much space, and there’s just not a good place to store it between uses in my house. We purchased a Fisher-Price Space Saver High Chair and have been nothing by pleased with it from infant to toddler use.
Whether I scrimp or splurge, I do always search for the best price on an item. One of my favorite resources for baby and kid deals is Baby Cheapskate. Angie’s always in the know on the latest and greatest!
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. What baby and kid items are you willing to spend more money on? Is there anything that you wish you hadn’t purchased or would have looked for a less expensive version?
felicia
I am definitely with you on the shoes!! A well made pair of shoes is SO important for little growing feet!!
felicia´s last blog post..One Sick Little Boy
Amy
This is a great post, Tara, and I loved your Deal or No Deal post over at Simple Mom.
I have to say that I am with you on a good car seat and good shoes in those beginning days of walking.
Now that my child is kicking up pea gravel at school, I buy the Payless Shoes to save money and I am not panicking about them getting ruined on the playground. :) Boys seem to be particularly hard on their shoes! :)
Great topic!
Sarah @ Fiddledeedee!
I agree with you on high chairs! Our booster-ish seats go on regular chairs as well, and we love the portability, price, and the fact that they take up less space. Great post!
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Margie
I definitely agree about Stride Rite. Sometimes to save money, or get a pair of back up playground shoes, I will buy my boys second hand Stride Rite’s on ebay. They will then have one nice pair of gym shoes, and one pair I can send out on rainy days. I’ve also sold shoes on ebay, and you can get $10-$15 for a second hand pair of Stride Rites We are fortunate now to have a Stride Rite outlet near us. I buy shoes in advance off the clearance racks and save a ton.
The best thing I ever bought was a Phil and Ted’s double stroller (cost was about $500). It took me a long time to decide to spend the money, but it has paid off. We will now be using it for our third child, and the quality has held up. Any problems, Phil and Ted’s has taken care of immediately without any issues. I also reasoned that a high end stroller has a market in the resale world. I’m expecting to sell it one day on Craig’s List for $100-$150. Totally worth every penny we spent.
Betsy
I love Stride Rite too. My son’s feet have always been really wide and they’re one of the few places that carries Wide and X-Wide. The best deals I’ve found on them have been at the outlet and at Marshalls. They don’t always have them at Marshalls, but I’ve been able to get a couple pairs that way and they were so much cheaper.
Kaley
It’s definitely diapers for me! Cheap diapers add far too much stress to an already busy day. =)
Kaley´s last blog post..Money Saving Monday: The Cheap Date Edition
ANDREA
GOOD SHOE ARE A MUST FOR US. MY ALMOST 2 YR OLD HAS X -WIDE FEET AND ABOUT THE ONLY PLACE WE CAN FIND A GOOD SELECTION OF THOSE ARE STRIDE RITE. I JUST BOUGHT HIM A NEW PAIR LAST WEEK. I ORDERED THEM ONLINE AT SHOEBUY.COM. IT ENDED UP BEING A PRETTY GOOD DEAL. THEY WERE RUNNING 20% OFF FOR THEIR B-DAY AND WHEN YOU SIGN UP WITH THEM FOR THE 1ST TIME YOU GET AND EXTRA 10% OFF. LONG STORY SHORT, I GOT A $34 PAIR OF SHOES FOR $25 WITH FREE SHIPPING AND NO SALES TAX. CHEAPER THAN THEY HAVE THEM AT STRIDE RITE AND I DIDN’T EVEN HAVE TO USE THE GAS TO DRIVE TO MALL:) I’LL BE ORDERING FROM THEM AGAIN!
Abby
I am with you on the shoes. For my kids tennis shoes or the ones they wear every day I make sure I buy name brand usually nike or adidas. I do buy the Payless shoes for church though. Good grief they were these cute little church shoes for what 2-3 hours? I also have found our local MOPs group started this great idea where we do a trade table. We bring in clothes our kids have outgrown and put them on the table. We are all free to look through it and take with us what we would like. Works wonderful for everyone!
Heather
I’m with you on the high chair. When we had our first we didn’t have room for a free-standing one so we got the convertible booster seat and have always been so glad about that decision. Saved space and was easy to take other places.
We never used the Diaper Genie but loved the Diaper Champ. It just takes regular trash bags and you can drop in the diaper and turn the handle with one hand while still holding the baby in the other. We ended up replacing it once or twice over the course of having two kids two years apart, but we were happy.
We also buy kids’ clothes on clearance. I already have my son’s clothes for back to school and my daughter’s Christmas dress for ’09. I can’t justify paying full price for them….they either barely wear them or get them ruined. What still looks good I have had some success selling on Craiglist because Once Upon a Child is too picky or has too much inventory.
Good post!
Heather´s last blog post..Maple Syrup Festival
Katja
Awesome post Tara! The quality shoes for kids are important also for your kids feet development. And nothing is more important than your child’s safety – a high quality car seat is a must. We never owned a diaper genie, and I was thrilled to get hand-me-downs when kids were smaller.
One thing that we splurged though that I have been extremely happy with is the Stokke Tripp Trapp highchair, which you can adjust in a way even an adult can sit on it. It’s around 250 bucks and we have three of them, one for each kid, and they have been worth every penny. We bought the first one 8,5 years ago when my oldest one was 6 months old – and she is still using the same chair every day, and if she won’t take it to college with her, I will keep it! In a long run, it is actually a very frugal option regardless it’s high initial price tag.
Hillary
I agree about buying good shoes for your children….I just go to the stride rite outlets and get the shoes for 1/2 of the price of the mall.
Andrea @ Mommy Snacks.net
I agree with everything you said. And, the other thing are jeans. I cannot buy poor quality jeans because our boys will get holes in them in a matter of weeks. Also, since we pass these down to each of our boys, I can stomach the extra money spent too!
Andrea @ Mommy Snacks.net´s last blog post..Walgreens Snack: Sale Week of March 8
Jodi
I am the same way with what I will spend money one and where I will skimp. I have 2 britax carseats in my car right now. One is the boulavard and the other is a marathon. I have had my marathon for 6 years and am now replacing it. When it comes to safety for my children, they get the very best. The $300 for each car seat is money well spent to us. In fact the little ones and I were just in a fender bender 2 weeks ago today. My car seats did their job and protected my children. Now I have to replace them, but ins is covering them!!!
Shoes are the other thing we spend money on. My husband is big on shoes and buying good ones. He prefers the kids wearing nikes, but settles for Stride Right. My kids love crocs and I will only buy them the name brand with them also.
Clothes I am a little less strict on. I am awsome when it comes to shopping the sales. I have realized that I can get the same stuff cheaper, when shopping the sales at Gymboree and Childrens Place, then I can get at Target/Walmart. Though I am not opposed to digging through the racks at the thrift stores and used kids clothing stores. Love to shop for a bargain.
It sure does get expensive shopping for 3 kids. Somehow, though we make it work.
Amanda
I am willing to spend a little extra on clothes but only at Sears. That is because I use the Kidvantage program. With 3 boys they go through the pants and shoes faster than I can get them. I take them back and they give me a free pair until they grow out of them. This has saved us tons of money in the long run. I wouldn’t be able to afford anything without them!!!
Carrie
I agree with everything EXCEPT the clothing. I spend more on my daughter’s clothing. Well made clothing will stand the test of time and the playground and is worth the investment because it can be passed on to a second child and even a cousin or two and still look really nice. My daughter has Walmart clothes and home show clothes and the the cheap clothes only make it through a handful of wears. After doing the math, we figured out that we were saving money by just spending it initially. One way I can bypass some of the price is by buying her clothes off ebay where the clothes are 1/4 of the price and often still have the tags or have been worn one time.
Just a thought…
Kay
I must agree with the shoes. My son has type 1 Diabetes and shoes, especially for him is one area we refuse to skimp. We have spent upwards of $100 on a pair for him but it is still cheaper than a visit to the endo for foot sores. Ditto with socks, a diabetics feet must be kept clean and dry for good health. We do have an enormous problem finding good socks that last! Any suggestions on where to find good socks would be greatly appreciated.
Megan
My sons both have very wide feet and stride rites are great but there are other brands that make wide shoes. I have found great shoes at Ross and TJ Maxx. I have also found my best stride-rites at Dillards clearance sales- much cheaper than the stride rite outlet. I’ve paid about $8 for $32 shoes at the Dillards sales. I have found that good, quality brand clothes hold up so much better than cheap brands. Which is good because I want these hand-me-downs to last! Gymboree is my favorite and I had a great deal of success getting things for very cheap there. Unfortunately they just closed the store nearest me. For some reason, it was never picked over like the other stores. I love craigslist…found a $500 jogging stroller for $100 and it was worth every cent and then some. One way I’ve saved money is using cloth diapers during the day. I’m sure I’ve saved a ton doing this. It was about $60 up front to buy the diapers but they’ve lasted through 2 kids and they are still in good shape. I do love the Peg Perego high chair given to us by my old firm.
savmom
I like to stick to good brands too for things i want to last.. perego and maclaren for the strollers.. which have outlasted my two kids, eldest is 5, younger 2 1/2. and for the clothes i troll the sales at childrens place (their instore clearance is unbeatable and the styles are super cute), Gymboree and Old Navy and Gap. On occasion Macy’s. I just ordered a bunch of basics right now with the Gap 30% off coupon from ON and Gap.
For shoes, I stick to brands that i recognize such as stride rite and carters, mostly from marshall’s and ross. Once in a while i’ve bought something on sale at Old Navy… 5.99 for sneakers PLUS 20% off.. how could I not!