The Money Mustache Community
Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: No Name Guy on April 22, 2013, 12:08:25 PM
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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/luxury-market-babies-toddlers-back-190137831.html
Ah, the foolishness displayed in articles like this.
Its all about the parental ego trip, as the little one probably can't tell the difference between a cotton sack and
...a $70 LemLem sleeveless cotton onesie and a cotton Appleseed sweater from Tane Organics that retails for $83.
The little one also couldn't tell the difference between a hand me down or inexpensive stroller and
Peg Perego...with its $800 strollers. And when the Bugaboo Frogs stroller was featured on Sex and the City in August 2002, it pushed the entire stroller market up, says personal finance expert Helaine Olen. “Suddenly, a $700 UppaBaby stroller looked reasonable.”
I can't think of the name for it (the placing a stupidly expensive item next to the outright ridiculous to make the stupid items seem OK by comparison) off the top of my head but
Unless you’re well-off, you probably won’t shell out $70 for a onesie. But that $35 organic-cotton baby dress that Gisele Bündchen’s daughter was photographed in starts to seem completely affordable.
Uhhhhh, no, it's NOT affordable at $35 for an item the kid will wear only a few times before growing out of it.
Oh, and lets exploit chemo-phobia as well.....and make some serious bucks in the process:
“A lot of cribmakers are having their cribs Greenguard certified,” author Fields says. The process, allowing companies to guarantee their furniture doesn’t contain dangerous chemicals, raises the price of a crib from about $200 to at least $600. Fields estimates that organic crib bedding is 15 percent to 20 percent more costly than its nonorganic counterpart.
Because junior is going to eat those metal parts of the crib and we have to make sure there's no lead in 'em.....and triple the price, and the profit margin, as well.
Remember, if you don't spend big bucks on the newborn, you obviously hate your child. ;-)
(edited to fix typo: Was "bugs" fixed to "bucks").
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I can't think of the name for it (the placing a stupidly expensive item next to the outright ridiculous to make the stupid items seem OK by comparison) off the top of my head but
I believe you are thinking of anchoring.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchoring
Also, if a company wants to increase the average checkout total, they will increase the number of high-end items they carry, due to people's central tendency.
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They didn't even mention the big house you need (for the good school system) or the giant SUV you must have (b/c small cars are deathtraps).
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My college aged son is ruined since he lacked the accoutrements of a luxurious babyhood, childhood, etc. Instead we made do with hand-me-downs or just did without lots of stuff, investing money for his college education so he could graduate debt free.
How foolish of us! (Wink.)
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Rumour has it there are people out there who dare procreate without the stability of two 6 figure income salaries. Pure madness if you ask me.
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I'm.. moderately green. More than that, really, but there are trade offs (I live in a small town in Canada and do the shopping, so organic food is just not possible to get, even remotely cost effectively here.. but I digress).
I'm not pro greenwashing, but I would certainly be looking at more rustic or just less *plastic* stuff for my theoretical child. Lots of otherwise healthy-living people are getting, and dying from, cancer. I know there are more regulations these days, but the issue is the 'new stuff' that comes before the regulations figure out there is a problem. Can't go wrong with a lump of wood turned into a cot, etc.
So these is at least some counter-argument, though I'm sure much of it is nonsense.
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Something I've thought about numerous times:
When I was in my 20s and had two babies, I wanted to buy them all the super-cute little outfits (though the things I craved were in the $15-25 range back then). Being sensible, however, I dressed them in .25 yard sale outfits and saved money for college. But, oh, I wanted to buy them more!
If I had a baby now, I could easily afford to outfit him or her in $50 outfits that'd be outgrown in a month . . . but I no longer have any desire to do so. When they were small, my mother usually gave my girls something small (a book or a crafty-project) for Christmas and birthdays along with a $50 check for the college fund. I'll be that same kind of grandma.
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Yes, I am surprised at how much baby stuff costs. We have had a lot of success getting free clothes & toys from a local parent meet up group and, of course, family members with older children. BUT we have certainly fallen prey to some marketing- like the organic fume-free mattress!
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We've bought virtually nothing new for our baby - all everything comes from 2nd hand sales and ebay - and she's often dressed in high end name-brand outfits that we picked up for a steal, because others no longer wanted them! Bundles of baby clothes off ebay are amazingly good value.
It's definitely not a choice between having nice things or saving money, it's just a choice between having nice NEW things or saving money!
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We've bought virtually nothing new for our baby - all everything comes from 2nd hand sales and ebay - and she's often dressed in high end name-brand outfits that we picked up for a steal, because others no longer wanted them! Bundles of baby clothes off ebay are amazingly good value.
It's definitely not a choice between having nice things or saving money, it's just a choice between having nice NEW things or saving money!
This is the same route we've taken. We've even found clothes at the consignment store with the original tags still on!
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Yep we've had the same with some items from ebay bundles - I guess they got them as gifts and just never got around to using them.
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We've bought virtually nothing new for our baby - all everything comes from 2nd hand sales and ebay - and she's often dressed in high end name-brand outfits that we picked up for a steal, because others no longer wanted them! Bundles of baby clothes off ebay are amazingly good value.
Besides cloth diapers, we bought NOTHING for our baby. There were too many people desperately throwing hand-me-downs at us just to get rid of them. What am I going to do with 32 baby blankets and 82 newborn onesies? Keep passing them on, thats what! No one should ever have to buy baby things! I was even thinking of starting a "baby library" where you check out baby items, and check them back in when you are done!
However, when our son turned 9 months, we moved from Texas to New York to be closer to family. MIL will not stop buying the kid useless crap. He gets AT LEAST ONE BRAND NEW TOY EVERY DAY!!!! ?????????? I understand that grandmas want to spoil, but WTF? MIL and FIL are the typical "6 digit salaries but zero money to show for it" kind of people. I really want to smack them across the face and say, "STOP BEING STUPID!" but that is not polite, nor would they ever listen anyway.
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However, when our son turned 9 months, we moved from Texas to New York to be closer to family. MIL will not stop buying the kid useless crap. He gets AT LEAST ONE BRAND NEW TOY EVERY DAY!!!! ?????????? I understand that grandmas want to spoil, but WTF? MIL and FIL are the typical "6 digit salaries but zero money to show for it" kind of people. I really want to smack them across the face and say, "STOP BEING STUPID!" but that is not polite, nor would they ever listen anyway.
Wow, that's simply insane. I don't even know how to pass on that many toys.
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Rumour has it there are people out there who dare procreate without the stability of two 6 figure income salaries. Pure madness if you ask me.
You made me gasp and flutter my hands in front of my face. I'm shocked! Shocked!