Sweet Ride: My Stroller is My Car

Our stroller loaded up with a high chair and a wood fired brick oven pizza.

I haven't wanted to own a car since I moved to New York 17 years ago, in 1996.  I've felt no need for it and everything that comes along with having a car.  I've been a happy pedestrian, bike rider public transportation taker, and Zipcar renter.  And when my son was born 19 months ago, his stroller became the family car.

 It hauls, too.


Around Greyson's first birthday, we got him a new high chair, which someone was selling in a neighborhood nearby.  That neighborhood happens to have a great pizza place and it happens to be where our real estate lawyer works, too.  So, we picked up the high chair, then a pizza and then swung by our lawyer's office to pick up our giant file of apartment closing documents.  Where was the baby once we picked everything up? In a BabyBjorn on my chest. 

Hooking up the high chair we just bought to our stroller

In stroller reviews, you never read about a stroller's capabilities to haul furniture, groceries, sleds, packages, and pets all at once.  I think they should, especially for the city people. 

I hadn't foreseen the various non-baby uses of my stroller, but thankfully our CityMini stroller does it all.  I didn't search for a single stroller review before we bought it.  A trusted friend said she loved hers, I strolled her around for a minute and was like, done.  I'm not the type of person to say I "love" my stroller or any other baby-related equipment.  Equipment serves a function and I want to spend the least amount of time possible thinking about it, before and after purchase.

The essential equipment for stroller hauling is this SBiner (an unappealing and unpronounceable name...I guess they were like, it's an S-shaped carabiner, so SBiner!).  I'd get two.  We have one and we use a Mommy Hook on the other side of the stroller handle, so we can balance whatever we hook onto the stroller.  The Mommy Hook is crap, though.  It's flimsy and costs more than the SBiner.  My Mommy Hook broke once already and I emailed the company and they sent me a new one.  When (not, if) it breaks again, I'll replace it with an SBiner.

 Happy strolling!

Found a cute vintage wood kid's chair.  Strap it on!

What my grocery trips look like

Groceries and packages to mail off.  You may look homeless.  Own it!

When the stroller can't serve as our car, we have a wagon.  TVs are hard to strap to strollers...no hookable parts.