Raising Green Kids- Finding Secondhand Treasures

Reusing items is one of the best ways to keep them out of the trash. Buying good quality secondhand items is both green and economical. Follow these tips on your secondhand treasure hunts and you wont be disappointed.

Safety Issues: Make sure to be aware of product recalls. These can be found at manufacturer websites, and at the Consumer Product Safety Commission Potentially dangerous secondhand items include (but are not limited to) mattresses, cribs, car seats, strollers, playpens, baby gates, baby walkers. These items have changed greatly over the years and older versions may not meet current safety standards. Car seats can be especially dangerous if you do not know the history of the car seat. If a car seat has been involved in a vehicle collision it must be replaced, even if the child was not in the car at the time of the accident.

Great secondhand buys: clothing, newer non-electronic toys, books, movies and sturdy furniture. Clothing, especially baby clothing can be reused through several children before it wears out, as they grow so quickly that some outfits are only worn a handful of times. With 3 kids we buy 90% of our clothing from Value Village, a second hand thrift store that donates their profits to the Canadian Diabetes Association.

Bargain Hunting Places: garage sales, swap sessions, friends, family, coworkers, newspaper classifieds, thrift and consignment stores, internet sites (such as ebay, craigslist, kijiji, freecycle).

Twice a year Moms and Bums sponsors a great Mom to Mom sale here in Brampton, Ontario. Admission proceeds go to Peel Children's Safety Village. The next one is coming up October 9th, 2010 from 9am-1pm at 1305 Williams Pkwy in Brampton, On inside Judith Nyman Secondary School (formerly known as North Peel Secondary) next to Terry Miller Rec Center. This sale features over 150 vendors.Visit the MomSale facebook page for more details!

Want to win a Monkey Doodlez T.A.G. from Moms and Bums?

How to enter: Become a follower of this blog (mandatory to win) then visit Baby's Bottom Line, Natural Parenting Shop or Moms and Bums and tell me what one other item you would purchase and why. (you can tell us one item from each site for 3 separate entries).
Entrance Guidelines

-Please, be sure to leave us a way to contact you. You can be logged into your email account when you post your comment for us to be able to contact you if you win (that is with the option called OpenID). If you have a blog, be sure to be logged into the account linked to your blog for an easier way to contact you.

You can also add your email to your comments (ie. info(at)momsandbums(dot)com).
-This contest runs until Friday October 1st, 2010 @ 11:59pm EST.
-Winners are chosen using random.org, and notified on Saturday October 2nd, winners name will also be posted on Blog and Facebook
-Winners have 7 days from contest end to claim their prize.
-Participation is open to cloth diaper users in CANADA ONLY!
-How to earn extra entries:
* LIKE Canadian Cloth Diaper Stores on Facebook
* LIKE Natural Parenting Shop on Facebook
* LIKE Moms and Bums on Facebook
* LIKE Baby's Bottom Line on Facebook
* LIKE The Mom to Mom Sale on Facebook
* Follow @momsandbums on Twitter
* Follow @ParentingShop on Twitter
* Follow @babysbottomline on Twitter
* Tweet About the Giveaway. Using @ParentingShop, @momsandbums or @babysbottomline in the tweet and link to this Giveaway (You may tweet 2x per day/@ for 1 bonus entry each)
* Tweet about the upcoming Brampton Thanksgiving Mom to Mom sale October 9th, 2010 from 9am-1pm at 1305 Williams Pkwy in Brampton, On
* Advertise our Giveaway in your blog, facebook, forums or website (post with your comment the direct link where you posted about it for 1 bonus entry per posting).
*Advertise the upcoming Brampton Thanksgiving Mom to Mom sale on Oct. 9th in your blog, facebook, forums or website (post with your comment the direct link where you posted about it for 2 bonus entries per posting)

--- You must post a separate comment for each entry and let us know which you've chosen to do in that comment ---

The Lighter Side of Cloth Diapering

For many new parents, the terminology surrounding cloth diapering can be a wee bit confusing. Here at Huckleberry Baby Shop, we aim to help you navigate those early and sometimes confusing days, so let’s clear up some of the possibly confusing terminology. Hopefully you can hear the smile in my voice!

Weight Ranges: (such a 6-12 pounds) refer to the size of the baby wearing the diaper, not to the diaper’s capacity for “extra contents.”

All-in-One: Nope. One of these diapers will not hold all three of your triplets!

Shorties and Longies: For those of you parents of boys who look at this terminology with confusion while wondering which one to buy for you little guy, put your ruler away. Shorties and Longies refer to the leg length on wool or fleece covers.

Stripping: This is not an encouragement for parents of young babies to get naked and create new offspring, rather it refers to a process used to remove detergent residue from diapers.

Wipe: Although most commonly used by new parents as a term to describe their lack of sleep and state of mind, in the diapering world, wipes are used to clean a baby’s bottom.

Diaper Sprayer: Contrary to popular belief, this device works MUCH better if the diaper is removed from your baby before hosing it down!

Diaper Pail: This is not actually a reference to the ghastly white colour a new dad’s face turns when he changes the first few poopy bums.

Doubler: Please do not be frightened to use one. It will not create two babies from the one you have.

Soaker: Yes you will have some of these despite your best diapering attempts!

Wet Bag: Wet bag does not refer to how a new mom feels when she steps out of the shower in those first weeks postpartum.

Changing Pad: In reality, this is a patch of material always too small to protect the changing surface from a baby’s tendency to “spray.”

Inserts: This does not refer to the miscellaneous items you find in your newborn’s pocket diapers when your toddler has gotten hold of them.

Snappi: This definitely does not usually refer to the speed of a new parent’s first diapering attempt.

Pocket: I don’t know about you, but this is a nightmare inducing term. If I ever reached into my “pocket” and found the same contents as in some of my daughters’ diapers, I would run screaming through my backyard!

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!