Was your CR "in your budget"?

ZephyrBlue

New member
I'm really beyond annoyed at a friend right now, and am wondering if I'm being reasonable or not. My friend is an electrical engineer, her husband is the same (they work for NASA in FL). They have a 45lb 42" 6yo dd and 37lb 3.5yo dd that is probably 39" tall. They are expecting a new baby this month. Even though I have explained that their 6yo is much less safe in a backless booster than she would be in a HBB (or Regent, Apex, Radian), they told me that another booster just "isn't in their budget". Same for the 3.5yo that is in a Cosco HBB (w/seatbelt) and they plan on using their old DOM 2000 OHS Century seat when the baby outgrows their Graco SnugRide. They think we're crazy for spending $300 per seat for our kids, and keep saying that it's just not in their budget to buy new/better seats.

We are a one income family, and it's a struggle to buy the seats we do. I have to save $, and shift things around in the budget to do so. But to me, CR that provide the highest degree of safety are as important as medical insurance, a safe house in a safe neighborhood, good food, clothes and shoes, etc. It's in the budget because it's a necessity to us.

So tell me this- were your child restraints within your budget, or did you have to save and/or sacrifice to buy them? And how much did cost factor into which seat you chose?
 
ADS

ccjones

New member
I have about $1,200 invested in carseats for ONE child, so I can't really say I needed to make any sacrifices to buy DS his seats. But, I would have scrimped and saved to buy DS a higher-harnessed, higher-weight seat instead of spending a little less money and buying him a seat he would outgrow quickly.

Sometimes I wonder if some people actually need to get into a bad car accident to really see the value of having age/height/weight appropriate seats for their children?
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Yeah, mine are in my budget, but I also don't really have any other extravagances...I don't spend money on my hair, don't get my nails done, don't buy or wear jewelry, don't drink, don't smoke, don't drink starbucks.... Nothing's more important than my kids, no activity is more dangerous to them than being in the car...seems like any budget can be stretched to at least put them in $40 HBB's from Target and a $40 Convertible from Walmart.

People think they won't be in a crash, so why spend money on something that won't ever get it's full use? Hopefully they are lucky and right, but I'd rather be prepared...
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
I'm only here to find threads about the DJ recall ... but :whistle:

Is their child's life within their budget? How about ER costs or maybe the cost of a casket + funeral :confused: I mean seriously, show them my "Preschool -- Preteen" page, encouraging them to actually view all the crash testing comparisons: if they still think a backless booster is fine as a primary seat in a vehicle without side curtain airbags, then you've really done all you can (wash your hands of it & just walk away)

Yes, Leila does ride in a backless booster, but only in vehicles that have either center shoulder belt + headrest (both) and/or rear side curtain airbags.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
People think they won't be in a crash, so why spend money on something that won't ever get it's full use? Hopefully they are lucky and right, but I'd rather be prepared...

Exactly -- this image seems to help get through to a lot of people:
crimecrash.gif
 

Morganthe

New member
Hmm, well, when I finally became pregnant, a future obsession with car seats was not in my original plans. :rolleyes: But we all adjust, right? ;)

I thought it would be EASY to determine what carseats would be needed by my dd. Boy, have I been WRONG!
I researched and for where I was, the Evenflo infant bucket was the best possible choice on the US side. (I should have looked at the German options :p )

I thought I'd be done after I purchased the Triumph.

Nope.

I had the idea that dd would move on to a Start Booster seat after the Maxi-Cosi was outgrown. Ummm, only if she had been average sized for her age, so maturity/size matched better. :rolleyes:

I didn't like how the Triumph sat in dh's car + other things, so I bought the Radian. I used some of dd's birthday money from relatives to pay for it. She had plenty of clothes, books, toys -- but not a HWH car seat which she NEEDED.

The Regent was paid for by selling loads of stuff on Ebay (& here), including the Start Booster. :thumbsup: (I also paid for dh's car repair with the same income instead of dd getting a new bed.)

So other than the infant seat & Triumph, none of these purchases were in my original 'baby budget'. But I scrimped, sold, & used gift money to pay for her later seats.

It might sound a bit self-centered, but this is my only child. Barring an act of God, she is all I'll ever have. If something happens to her, that's it. No second chances to be a parent for me. It's vital that I protect her to the best of my ability.

Coming up with funds for a good restraint seat to keep her safe now in a car is so much more important than the latest electronic gadget, college fund, or more 'stuff' that's just not really necessary. :(
 

Avery'sMama

CPST Instructor
No, my seats have not been in our budget. We are pretty bad at budgeting for expenses, to be honest. But as my husband says, it's ridiculous that people won't pay $300 for a seat that will last six years when that is LESS than ONE payment on their car. I am always so irritated at checks when the brand new $40K cars come rolling in with $5 garage sale seats. Grrrr.... And, it doesn't have to BE a $300 seat! Pick up a freakin' Scenera for $40 at Walmart if your budget it tight but to use an expired seat...
 

Beckers

Active member
I had to use money from the kid's savings account to buy a seat when I found this site and realized my barely 4 yo was NOT "just as safe in a HBB"....I figured they would forgive me when they were still alive to use the rest of the money!
 
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ZephyrBlue

New member
But as my husband says, it's ridiculous that people won't pay $300 for a seat that will last six years when that is LESS than ONE payment on their car. I am always so irritated at checks when the brand new $40K cars come rolling in with $5 garage sale seats. Grrrr.... And, it doesn't have to BE a $300 seat! Pick up a freakin' Scenera for $40 at Walmart if your budget it tight but to use an expired seat...

Yep. My husband says that if a person can afford a computer in their home (excluding the situations where an employee is provided a computer by their employer and didn't pay anything for it), they can afford a better seat than a $40 Scenera. It makes me nuts to see people driving around suburbia with brand new SUVs and Sceneras, when they could have a cheaper vechicle and a seat with SIP :rolleyes:
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
Like Jools, I'm pretty low maintenance and don't splurge much on discretionary extras, thus freeing up room in the budget for carseats. I once tallied up how much I had spent on seats for a thread on another board about a year ago. The number was kind of shocking to me initially, but not so shocking compared to what I might have spent if I had a daily Starbucks fix, weekly hair/nail salon habit, or booze/cigarette expenditures over the same time frame. :whistle: Our new roof did put a bite on us recently, but it was something we had been saving up for over several years, knowing it was just a matter of time before it would need to be replaced, along with saving up to replace DH's twice crashed Saturn. If it weren't for the darn roof, DH might be tooling around in a more luxurious car than a 2008 Scion xB, lol, and maybe we'd have a clothes dryer that isn't 12 years old and taking extra time and energy to dry a load of laundry. I prefer to maintain some monetary cushion for carseats and forgo other discretionary purchases if at all possible. :twocents:
 

stayinhomewithmy6

Senior Community Member
No, my seats have never been in our budget. DH just got a new job :), but prior to that, we were considered poverty level, got food stamps and everything, but we still had good car seats. I would save & save, even Xmas & birthday money to get my kids the seats that I wanted for them. Everyone has their priorities. Unfortunately, for many people, their priorities are in the wrong places (and things).
To the OP, I'm equally annoyed with a friend of mine right now. Her DD is 3 and is 43 lbs. I have encouraged her to buy an Apex, but she goes on & on about how they can't afford it. A few months ago, when I actually believed they couldn't afford it, I told her to apply with the Kyle David Miller Foundation (which she did and still hasn't heard anything from them). But, I also told her that she couldn't be in her old harnessed seat anymore because she was over the weight limit and that it was actually better for her to be in her booster. (Gulp) - I couldn't believe I was telling her to put her 3 yr old in a booster, but they already had 1, so the choices were booster or 40 lb harness. So, since then, in the past few months, they have bought a new boat, a new computer, and a new (used) car. And, her DD is still in her 40 lb harnessed seat. I've given up. :(
 

natysr

New member
When it comes to safety I have no budget. That is one area where even if I didn't have the cash in hand, I would have no probem going into credit card debt in order to keep my family safe. This goes for 2 areas in my life, Carseats, and Motorcycle safety gear.

I will find a way to get the best carseats for my son and the best motorcycle helmets and leathers, and riding suits for my husband.

I cringe everytime I see a $60,000 car on the freeway that has a $40 carseat in it.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
I have never had any discretionary funds when I've absolutely had to buy carseats -- when we needed spare seats, I convinced the other adult drivers to help pitch in for the cost -- in fact, when we got our 1st Britaxes (Wizard & Husky) I had custody of my 2 stepkids: a family of 5 living off $15,000/yr ... I sold my living room furniture to buy the seats my family needed :twocents: (yardsale furniture is fine, but yardsale carseats are not OK)
 

keri1292

Well-known member
Dh only made $17,000 the year that we bought our Roundabout.
And, yes, it WAS "in my budget" ;)
The budget is in the eye of the beholder. :rolleyes:
 

kangato2roos

New member
I make $13,500 a year BEFORE taxes.

I scrimped and scrounged and saved and shifted things around, but I made sure safe carseats that would last were in my budget.

It took a long time to save enough, but I bought my ds a Marathon so he can stay harnessed until the seat expires (thank goodness for small children!).

If a Marathon is in MY budget, I think most people can at least manage to spend $40 on a Scenera.
 

super_grape

Active member
not really, but buying a mediocre seat was never an option.
we were fortunate that relatives decided to give us $$ instead
of gifts so we used that for our car seat and stroller purchases
and then i used our cctb (canada child tax benefit) to buy katie
a marathon and allie a snugride.

after we moved to the us and i bought the boulevards, it never
even crossed dh's mind to worry about the cost...he new they were
very safe seats and that was all that mattered. big step for him:D,
but his girls are more important than his wallet.
 

steph

New member
We have two Britax BV's for Ryan (before that a Keyfit with 2 bases - although the Keyfit was a shower gift). The carseats have always been in our budget so fortunately I haven't had to worry about that.

However, like most other pp's have said there is no $$$ amount to put on Ryan's safety. I too don't get expensive cars with crappy/outdated carseats. For goodness sakes people a Scenera is only $40 - when I know your car payment is upwards of $1000:eek:. But I have come to realize that people just don't get it when it comes to childrestraints. They think a carseat is a carseat and that if the law says 1 and 20 (for ff) or 4 and 40 (for a booster) than that makes it okay.

If money had been an issue I would have done 1 of 2 things a) ask grandparents to chip in for an early christmas present and only get one BV and maybe a Scenera as a backup or b) bought two FPSVD.

The thing is you have this beautiful child and why wouldn't you want them protected? $200-300 dollars over 6 years only comes to around $4 a month (if I did my math right:rolleyes:) that is nothing in the grand scheme of what I will spend on Ryan.

I make it a point now to tell people I know that are having babies but may not have alot of money to start saving a little now for that carseat they will need in 6 or 7 months when the baby outgrows the infant seat.

Sorry for the rant....I'm so over people who don't get carsafety or even more when you present them with facts they ignore them:mad:
 

Lea_Ontario

Well-known member
IN the budget - as in the money was just there on a whim ? No.
Rather, we had to budget the seats in - saving here, scrimpling there, and planning ahead to get the seats.
 

LuvBug

New member
Well I dont really budget stuff, lol! I pay for what we need, and then IF we have money left over, I will buy something we want. We NEED a CR, and one that I feel like protects him better than the others... but the price of just 1 marathon or regent is how much I make in 2 weeks... so you could say its not in our budget lol!
To buy his MA I cleaned houses, to buy his husky I sold his MA(yeah I got the same amount back), and for his regent I sold anything and everything that wasnt nailed to the floor!!
I keep my priorities in line with making sure he is as safe as possible, and that HE is taken care of before I am. His safety and well being is more important than anything I might need or want for myself.
 

lovinwaves

New member
Yeah, mine are in my budget, but I also don't really have any other extravagances...I don't spend money on my hair, don't get my nails done, don't buy or wear jewelry, don't drink, don't smoke, don't drink starbucks.... Nothing's more important than my kids, no activity is more dangerous to them than being in the car...seems like any budget can be stretched to at least put them in $40 HBB's from Target and a $40 Convertible from Walmart.

People think they won't be in a crash, so why spend money on something that won't ever get it's full use? Hopefully they are lucky and right, but I'd rather be prepared...

Um...yeah...pretty much that :yeahthat:

Oh, except my "stroller extravagance"...but I think maybe Jools has that problem as well... :whistle:
 

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