This is a thread about Jujube brand bags and me.

A cautionary tale to expectant parents.

When I had my first child, everything about baby gear was so brand new and it was scary.

You never realised that there were so many things that you needed!

Changing table! Swaddles! Diapers! Carriers! Strollers!

And there were so many options to choose from!

So many different brands! Such a wide range of prices to suit any budget!

And, being the first-time expectant mother who wants support, I looked to forums and Facebook groups to see what's what and not be so alone on the journey.

And that was where I first heard of the brand Jujube, and learnt how powerful peer pressure was, even though I knew it was peer pressure and I didn't have follow but still.

I did.

Facebook groups and mom group chats, while does have some good parts, but as I look back, it was more about gossip, group buys and sales.

At least the ones that I was in.

Anyway, back to Jujube.

Some of the moms in the groups were already having second or third or fourth kids so they were quite helpful in sharing information on the essentials that you need to keep your baby alive.

And of course, they introduced to the n00bs the world of Tula and Jujube.

They extolled on the different brands, and the benefits but mostly it was more of "Look at how pretty the designs are! These are expensive because of xxx reasons!"

And we drank it all up.

It was fun at first, looking at all the designs and I knew some of them stayed up late to do the Fastest Fingers First to get the coveted design for the carriers or be the first to get the new design of Jujube.

I told myself that nope.

I don't need it.

I didn't need another carrier. I didn't need another diaper bag.

But being at home with the baby, and not doing anything much, I would window shop on those sites just to see what's the hype.

And I held out for months and months and finally, when my daughter was around 6 months, I told my husband. I wanted a Jujube for myself.

That I was going to get one as an early birthday present.

And I did. I got a BFF design with the black and white flower prints (I forgot what it's called). On top of that, I got the Be Quick, Fuel Cell, Be Set, and a pacifier holder, all in the same print.

And so we started going out with my brand new JJB diaper bag and my husband hated it.

HATED. IT.

It wasn't comfortable for him. The straps cut into his shoulders. And the jinggling.

OMG THE JINGGLING

He complained about it all the time. How for a big bag, we can barely put in anything in there.

And it was expensive.

The diaper bag itself was almost $200. Everything that I bought that day set me back almost $400.

My husband made me promise not to buy anymore because it costs too much and the return of investment was just not worth it.

The promise lasted a few months because they released the Tokidoki Kaiju City print.

And for the first time, I truly understood why people bought it for the print because I really, REALLY love the prints.

Unfortunately, because it was such a popular print, it sold out everywhere, very quickly.

I was lucky that one of the moms had managed to score 2 BRB in the same print and I bought it off her for $200.

And I was happy. Very very happy with my purchase. And to this day, I really really love that purchase.

It's spacious. It's cute. I discovered how to not make it jingle.

And I could fit 2 kids worth of things in there.

My husband sighed and made me promise again that I won't spend on JJB anymore.

And then JJB had a massive site wide sale.

I dropped a few hundred dollars worth of stuff during that sale, even though my kids were growing and I didn't need to carry that much things in a diaper bag anymore.

I bought a wallet, card holder, more diaper bags, more Be sets and Be Quicks.

The second Mummies Groupchat I was in just fueled the craze a little more too.

And my husband finally had to put his foot down and said enough.

I needed to use what I bought because the BNIP bags were taking up too much space.

And he was right.

I was starting to get a little frustrated with the bags and having 2 kids to handle with a bag strap that cut into my shoulders just wasn't working for me.

And I went cold turkey.

No more surfing the sites. I left almost all the mummy groups (another story, another time).

Unsubscribed fro the newsletter.

And it helped.

I started packing lighter, using only the smallest of the JJB bags I have now for when we go out.

I only break out the bigger ones when I need to.

And I actually use the JJB bags as work bags now, because I don't want to spend more money on bags when I already have some.

Looking back, knowing what I know now about what kind of bag I need to carry all the things for my kids, I should have just gotten an army bag and packed everything into ziploc bags (which I do now).

I didn't need to spend hundreds of dollars on bags I didn't need.

They're cute and pretty, but I realised that I'm more about function over asthetics.

They just need to do what I need it to do, and if they look nice, is a bonus.

So expectant parents, please think about what kind of diaper bags you want to get because frankly, don't get sucked into the JJB (or the baby carriers craze).

You don't need that many. Just 2 of each.

/fin