Monday 18 March 2013

Upcycling and recycling with a baby

My husband and I bought a second-hand (at least) Quinny Buzz last week.  One of the Facebook pages I follow was having a closing-down sale and I got it for £60!!  I had done my research prior to going and testing it, making sure that I could replace parts that were faulty or worn and ensuring that I could remove the covers for washing etc, and even though it smelled slightly musty and had a rip in the rain cover, I knew that it was an absolute steal for that price!!



As soon as we got home, I put the cosy toes and seat cover in the washing machine, hand washed the shopping basket and rain cover bag and gave the whole chassis, hood and seat a thorough going-over with the antibac wipes and spray.  Hubby adjusted the stiff brakes and front wheel with some WD-40 and it was as good as new!!  I am currently "watching" some newer rain covers on eBay and have bought some new Quinny decals for the chassis, but that was not essential-just something I thought would be nice. 

It just goes to show that even though this buggy had been written off by someone else, it is still in a perfectly good, usable condition and also means that I don't have to go around with my old  tank of a Graco travel system, which although is very sturdy and utilitarian, has no style or grace!!  I will now be cleaning up and selling it on to repeat the cycle and hopefully the person who buys it will feel they have got as much of a bargain as I do!!

When my friend who is heavily pregnant called me the other day, we got talking about this and what a bargain it was and it made me think back to when I was pregnant and caught up in buying new things for my baby.  I remember feeling that I wanted everything new and the best of the best we could afford and I remember researching day and night everything I possibly could about every item we bought!  It made me smile to think how much I have changed and how, although I would still only use new bottles, breast-pumps, car seats and mattresses, pretty much everything else has been handed-down to us or bought second hand or at nearly-new sales or car boots!  I previously would never have bought something in a nearly new sale for my baby, so thank goodness for my other mummy friends showing me the way!!


4 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your bargain buggy find!

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  2. I totally agree about buying second hand baby items, we did exactly the same with our buggy although we now rarely use it. Love your blog :)

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  3. Thanks Natalie! Your comments have really spurred me on! It's funny you say that you rarely use your buggy now, my little boy took his first couple of steps today!! No doubt he will be running around in no time and I won't need the buggy, but I will definitely be keeping this one for number two!! ;)

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