If I take out another debt will you ever forgive me?

Hannah_10

I feel right on the edge of breaking point and I'm seriously thinking of taking up hermitage in the living room.

My pushchair (baby 6 months old) is just plain not tall enough for me. This morning was the third morning in a row I have both gone to bed and woken up again with enough back pain to cry and it's the bloody pushchairs fault. It has to go!

It's already one of the tallest you can buy though. To get the one pushchair truly taller than the one I have means spending £150 for a reasonable second hand one or £235 for the cheapest new one (using megashopbot and accepting a horrid colour). I can't do it. I can't even manage the £150 right now.

I have an account with a catalogue. In my catalogue this pushchair is £325. I am £31 in credit anyway because I miscalculated in my own favour when paying something back before. I only have a £200 limit so I would need to put £94 towards it straight away to order it, then repay the outstanding £200 weekly. I can pay over a year interest free, so the repayments would be about £3.85 a week. I could over-pay them too if I wanted to. I think I would want to.

I'm sorry, I know more debt is a practically always a bad idea and all that, but pain is pain and I have frankly had enough. Is this an acceptable reason to run up a bill or do I need to take more painkillers, man-up and stay indoors more often?

If it helps you decide, I have a genetic connective tissue disorder which causes me to have a lousy skeletal system and painful joints (hence pain which normal people wouldn't have).

Verbatim

Freecycle? Rigging up something to extend the reach of the existing pushchair? How old is the child? How much longer realistically are you likely to need it?

dreamdreamer

How much would your old buggy fetch if you sold it on? That could make a dent. How long would it take to save for? Only you know what your budget will allow but nobody deserves to be in pain if it's avoidable. At least it's interest free!

barbiedoll

Hannah, you know the MSE mantra...."Do I want it or do I need it?"

You clearly need the new pushchair, back pain is no fun and you may damage your spine for life, take it from one who knows!

Buy the pushchair and don't feel guilty about it. I'm sure that it will have a decent resale value and you are always going to have other baby bits and pieces to sell on too, including your current pushchair.

Now, if you were going to spend £300 on shoes......well, that's an entirely different matter! :rotfl::rotfl:

solventsoon

barbiedoll wrote: »

Hannah, you know the MSE mantra...."Do I want it or do I need it?"

You clearly need the new pushchair, back pain is no fun and you may damage your spine for life, take it from one who knows!

Buy the pushchair and don't feel guilty about it. I'm sure that it will have a decent resale value and you are always going to have other baby bits and pieces to sell on too, including your current pushchair.

Now, if you were going to spend £300 on shoes......well, that's an entirely different matter! :rotfl::rotfl:

I agree with barbiedoll, Hannah, this is a need, not a want.

The payments are interest-free over a year, provided you keep up with them then go for it. Can you sell your existing one to help pay it off earlier?

Your back is really important and you need to look after it.

Take care
spoon x

Mandamoo_3

Hannah

I'm with Barbiedoll this is not a want, it sounds very much like a need. Is it possible that you could be doing more damage to your poor back by continuing to use the pushchair you have now?

It is more expensive via the catalogue but it is interest free and you have said that you would pay extra off, plus its coming up to the lovely weather where you will be able to use it even more

Hope the pain eases soon

Mandamoo

Edit: i have just realised I have said exactly the same as spoon, sorry I am a slow typer!

GeorgieFTB

I think from the responses so far the answer is yes, of course, the 'huggys' will always be here for you but can you mitigate the costs at all?

If you can work your budget to pay it off then do it. However from my experience with two boys, as soon as they can sit up, just about, and start taking notice of the world then a cheap umbrella buggy worked best for me. For about 25-30 quid you can get a quite nice one, so some manual adjustments should work for you. I had a really nice expensive buggy but I prefered the cheap one.

Gx

solventsoon

Mandamoo wrote: »

Hannah
Edit: i have just realised I have said exactly the same as spoon, sorry I am a slow typer!

Great minds and all that, Mandamoo :D

Hannah_10

To answer some questions... Baby is 6 months, sorry if that wasn't clear, so I would expect to use a pushchair for another 2 years. There is zero chance of the specific pushchair I want/need turning up on my local freecycle (I use freecycle actively to know this). My current pushchair has no resale value at all. It is wearing a generous share of scuffs, stains and fading. Although it's solid, safe and originally a top make, it's only actually fit to go back on freecycle (where it came from to start with). The £150 I said for a decent second hand one is worked out by what's currently listed on eBay.

Culex

GeorgieFTB wrote: »

If you can work your budget to pay it off then do it. However from my experience with two boys, as soon as they can sit up, just about, and start taking notice of the world then a cheap umbrella buggy worked best for me. For about 25-30 quid you can get a quite nice one, so some manual adjustments should work for you. I had a really nice expensive buggy but I prefered the cheap one.

Can you turn the umbrella round so it acts like a sail and pulls the buggy along by itself on a windy day?

Hannah_10

Well that was pretty unanimous then. Looking at it from a need vs want point of view, actually yes I do undeniably need it. I am pretty sure I'm not kidding myself there. Unneccesary pain does now seem a really stupid option compared to just spending something where spending is possible at all.

Bolstered up by MSE I've just had a late night moan to babys Dad (who I am not actually getting on with at present, but thats beside the point). The short version is the pushchair cost £235 inc. delivery in the end, which is £225.60 effectively when the 4% cashback comes back. I now owe "him" £140 of that, to be repayed as I see fit. What he means by that is he doesn't expect it back, but I didn't call him to ask him for a gift, I asked him for a loan. So I will pay it back... but I'll pay it back as it suits me, which was precisely what he agreed to. Owing him £140 and having mildly dented pride as a result beats either paying £90 over the odds to a catalogue (and getting defaulted again for any little thing) or being in pain.

The pushchair will be here (complete with footmuff and raincover, so ready to roll) on Wednesday. My bank account is pretty much dry, but there's enough food in till payday. All in all, an OK result. Oh and it's not a stupid colour, it's bearable. I could have saved another £10.72 by having a stupid colour but that just didn't seem good economy (especially as it was his tenner I was using).