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!!