Jul 13, 2008

The cost of preparation

Planning ahead, especially for travels, can be costly but I know that it could be more costly unplanned. Catch 22 eh?

On Friday we bought the 2nd stage convertible car seat. Our rented Plunket baby capsule is due on 15 July. I made computed projections of renting with them again but found out that it wasn't cost effective at all for car seats. Funny how getting an opinion can also save you money. I suggested to J that we talk to a staff at Baby Factory about car seats but he thought that they would just sell us the most expensive item. To our surprise she actually saved us $20 because what we had wanted did not have the highest safety standard. Australia and NZ have the highest child safety standard on car seats by the way. This new one will be good for until he's 18kg (4 years plus). He's now nearly 8kg. I don't know how fast he will grow but hopefully we can maximize the money spent for it. Cost was $280.

In addition to the car seat, we got him a pair of gloves ($3), a long-sleeved shirt ($5), and a teether-con-toy ($9) because I stupidly sterilized his old one.

After buying that we proceeded to get the anchor bolt installed for tethering the car seat. Yes, apart from the sash-lap seat belt, the car seat is tethered to a bolt on the back panel. I don't remember how much that cost us to get that done, but I think around $22.

Because I did not have a pair of shoes that could be worn in the snow, I got me a pair of gumboots at the Warehouse that was on sale for 50%! I didn't know that until we paid for it. Cost: $15.

The next trip is in December. While we don't need to plan for clothing and accommodation, just the idea of Christmas is costly and to top that with baby's christening and a 3-day layover in HK will be crazy! Need to plan ahead!

No comments:

Post a Comment