Weddingbee boards

I have a sit n stand stroller I believe it was $170 but so worth it.

i have one of the Graco travel systems that comes with the Graco Snugride car seat. I think it was around $169.

Originally I got the Beema Q Stroller. Its a $800 stroller over here.  And I picked it up on ebay, 6 months old, hardly used for $80.  It was a score and I loved it.  It served both my kids well.  As far as big three wheeler prams go, it was lighter than most and easy to use.

But now my eldest is 4 and my youngest is 18 months, I find it to big and bulky in my car.  it takes up the whole boot pretty much.  So I got rid of it and down graded to a small $60 layback stroller from Target.  Does the job perfectly.  Folds up small, and is as light as a feather.  Exactly what I needed.

We live in the suburbs, so our main need was for trips from the car to the store, or walks around the neighborhood.  We have been really frugal in our stroller choices -- my daughter is 9 months and we've only spent about $210 total and have had all of our needs met!  I was feeling really lost about what to do about strollers before I had my daugher -- so here is what we did, for those who are interested!  

• For the newborn phase, all we got was the Graco snap-in stroller frame for $69.http://www.amazon.com/Graco-SnugRider-Infant-Stroller-Frame/dp/B0007KMUH4  Our Graco car seat snapped into the frame, so we never had to wake our newborn when moving from car to stroller.  (Priceless.)  It had a large basket, a cupholder, and was so easy to fold into our trunk.  This was a GREAT buy, and the only stroller we needed for the first five months.

• When our daughter was about 6 months old, she was almost grown out of her infant car seat, and she also wanted to be more upright when in the stroller (to see more of the world!).  We got the Babytrend Expedition jogger stroller at Target for $99.  http://www.target.com/p/Baby-Trend-Expedition-Jogger-Grey-Mist/-/A-13248525  It is SO easy to steer, and was the cheapest jogger we could find.  My only complaint is that it takes up a LOT of room in our car trunk, and is not the easiest thing to fold up.  Nonetheless, for the price it was pretty great - I would get it again.
• Just a few weeks ago, I decided it was too hard to fold the Babytrend jogger into and out of the trunk for quick trips out of the car, so I got a supercheap umbrella stroller for our car.  We got the Firstyears umbrella stroller at Target for $39.  http://www.target.com/p/The-First-Years-Jet-Lightweight-Stroller-City-Chic/-/A-12711055.  We now keep this one in the car.  It is lightweight, so easy to fold, and just perfect for quick trips anywhere where you're not facing rocky terrain.  (For a walk in the park I would still take our jogger, but for a quick run into the drycleaners, this is ideal.)  For the price, it's awesome.

I felt so lost when it came to strollers, but we've been really happy with our CHEAP choices, so I thought I would share our thought process!  I'm hoping we will not need any more strollers until we buy a DOUBLE!  :-)

We have BabyTrend stroller frame that the carseat goes into - its small & inexpensive. It still doesn't fit in the trunk of my Toyota Yaris though, lol.

I recieved the Graco Quatro Tour travel system as a gift and it was about $250. They don't sell my pattern anymore so I can't link to it, sorry. I rarely used the stroller becuase it's just so big. I did use it for taking her for walks on dirt paths because the wheels are so massive they can run over anything. I used the carseat everyday as well. For everyday I used (and still use!) the Combi Flare. It's amazing. It folds up super small to fit in the trunk of my ford focus or in the backseat if needed. The only complaint I have is now that my daughter is almost 2 she knows how to put her feet on the wheels to "lock" them up and it's annoying but I think she would figure that out with any stroller. It was retail $100 but I got it for about $20 becuase I worked at a baby store while pregnant. 

@MerryC: have you heard of the Baby Jogger City Select? You can use it for twins and it has a bunch of configurations. It's my dream stroller. I know twin mamas who use it and love it.

@prettylizy: yeah even though we're not TTC yet, I always look up baby info. I was wondering what the differences were with city select vs britax? Is it just the price? The britax one looks nice too and I know their car seats have really high safety ratings.

We have the bob ironman ($350 ish + $100 in accessories) and the citi mini ($240 ish + $50 in accessorises). I ABSOLUTELY LOVE BOTH PURCHASES!!!!

My husband threw a bit of a fit when he realized the ironman wasn't a DO EVERYTHING stroller.... but we've flown 3 times with the citi mini and it's AMAZING :) :)

We actually borrowed a higher end umbrella stroller from my brother this weekend to go to the mall by their house and it was HEAVY and a PITA! The steering was awful. I had my hubby try to push it and said 'THIS is why we got the citi mini'. My hubby does love both the strollers.

Now that we have a second one the way we'll have to figure out what to do. Probably babywear the infant for a while - though I do love being able to click the carseat into a stroller for errands when baby is likely to nap so getting in and out of the car doesn't disrupt sleep.

I'll probably try to find a double jogger on craigslist because we run a lot.

@heathaah:  FYI - I'd hold off on buying the snack tray :) It's sits really high on the stroller and with Roo being 17 mos it still kinda blocks his view and is awkward :) I think the 'pull bar' might be better for older baby/toddlers especaiily because you can easily hook toys to it to keep them entertained.

I do HEART our citi mini!