It’s Thrifty Thursday!! Yes, this title might sound a little EXTREME, but I’m telling you – IT IS NOT!
Last year we welcomed our youngest child, T, and right before his arrival my husband and I sat down to talk over our budget and adjust it accordingly with new baby expenses (i.e. diapers, wipes, formula, etc.) It is so great being able to pull out all the baby stuff we’ve accumulated since having Audrey and JP and I remember pulling one of the things from storage – the infant car seat – and having a moment. How on earth are we going to transport these kiddos, our family of five from place to place?!
My husband drives a sedan and I drive a mid-size SUV – a Ford Edge. These cars obviously aren’t the biggest for transporting a family of five and the back seat did not fit our car seats. That’s when we started our search for a new car. We bickered about the need for 2 SUV’s, argued about getting a minivan (I’m team SUV) or whether we should buy or lease and ultimately could not believe how expensive this investment would be!
I am proud of our financial decisions we’ve made thus far. Budgeting and planning has allowed us to clear away nearly all our debts. We aren’t ones who need the latest and greatest – my car is a 2008, I still have an iPhone 5 – really if it still works, all is good with us! The thought of tacking on more debt was slightly overwhelming – especially when there are no major issues with my car.
We swiped through a bunch of new and used SUVs and minivans and we couldn’t really agree on anything – which was a blessing in disguise. Again we tried out different configurations and were unable to make it work. Then my husband had an idea – a simple, yet brilliant idea – could we buy different car seats where we know by their dimensions they would fit in my backseat?!
Why we even thought a brand new vehicle was needed when my car holds five passengers still confuses me!
At the time we were making this decision we had an infant, nearly 2 yr old and 4 yr old – all kids need to be in a car seat (and still do). Audrey was in an older version of this car seat I picked up at a garage sale for $5 at the time…
…JP was in the Graco Extend2Fit Convertible Car Seat (I LOVE THIS CARSEAT!)
These car seats with the infant car seat and base did not fit in the backseat of my Ford Edge for reference. We Google searched slim car seats…
Introducing the Diono Car Seat
This slim car seat came highly recommended by so many and solves the fitting issue so many people are faced with.
They are pricey (I guess just as any other car seat), but the thought process was this “small” investment could literally save us thousands! No new car needed – no new debt to take on, we made it work!
Speaking of, Here’s how it works for us
I ended up finding the same exact harness booster Audrey was in at another garage sale for super cheap (so crazy!) so we only needed to purchase one Diono seat (SCORE!). Audrey and JP were both forward-facing so that’s why these seats worked for us and the Diono car seat can be reclined and put in the rear-facing position for T.
We were able to fit these two CHEAP car seats side by side and the slim fit Diono seat fits perfectly next to them.
Audrey knows how to buckle herself, so she is normally in the middle so I don’t have to reach over and worry about that (Not pictured here because she is my solo passenger)
Wish I had a better back seat picture, but you get the gist!
Ultimately, we are so pleased with this investment and the amount of money we’ve been able to save now for that bigger SUV down the line is totally worth it! Just another reminder to use what you have – generally, there is always some sort of solution to your problems for WAYYYY LESS!
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