Free clothes!

Baby & child
Feb 162011

I swear it was only yesterday that my little one was wearing 00 clothing but today she’s graduated to size 1. From the generosity of friends & relatives with their “gently worn” donations, her sibling’s hand me downs and a wonderful array of new outfits gifted, Ellie has not been wanting in the clothing department. But now have an overflowing cupboard with too small items and virtually nothing in size 1 (I think one year old clothing doesn’t often survive as it coincides with learning to walk, feeding themselves and other activities that challenge emerging dexterity).

So what to do? Break my experiment buying new clothes and contribute to landfill with the old, or find an alternate means to attain some “new” clothing.

Thankfully the parameters of capitalism have undergone a shift recently providing a number of ways to secure & pass on clothes without a financial transaction.  Here are some new ways to do so.

  • Freecycle – I’ve blogged about this service before – likening it to a secret society.  A fantastic no cost way to offload old clothing.  You do have to be very patient though in terms of securing what you’re after and logged in at precisely the right time something is offered as people snap things up pretty quickly.
  • thredup.com – no I haven’t spelt that incorrectly!  I really like the look of this site – easy to navigate with every conceivable question addressed.  It costs $5 to secure a box of preloved clothes to cover admin costs on the site plus shipping. Similar to Ebay, descriptions reflect brand and appropriate season for the clothes.  The downside – they only service US residents at present.
  • babyswap.net – US site that looks initially promising but I couldn’t find any clothing for swapping once I did a search?  Perhaps it requires registering but as a US site I would have preferred to browse first, see if there was anything interesting before registering as shipping costs might negate the benefit.
  • swapitbaby.com.au - GOLD!!  An Australian clothes swap site utilising a points system – you earn points for items you successfully swap and can redeem those points for clothing.  There is no joining fee.
  • shopandswap4baby.com.au – This Australian site merges a swapping system with discounts off items in their “store” and involves both cash & credit.  There is a $20 joining fee.
  • mumswap.com.au – A barter site that covers services as well as clothing.  I’ve just registered so will be hopefully doing some swapping in the near future.

Are there any methods I’ve missed?  Please feel free to share.

Posted by Lisa at 1:27 pm No Comments »

Only 3mths to her first birthday!

Baby & child, Birthdays
Oct 242010

Oh my goodness!  My baby girl is 9months old.  Hasn’t time flown!

Only 3 more months to her 1st birthday and time to start planning festivities.  Are you crazy I hear you saying?!  You have plenty of time!

Well no, not really.  Between now and then I have the silly season of parties, long summer days, Christmas, my dad’s and hubby’s b’days and planning a return to work.  In addition, I have the rather unique self prescribed position of not being able to buy anything new!  Just a trifle difficult when buying presents and decorating for the party.  I could go all low key, after all she’s only turning 1 and won’t remember, but given that her birthday is smack bang in the middle of summer it provides me the perfect opportunity to not just celebrate her first 365 days but also thank all our family & friends who helped make the first year easier.

My goal, as with Christmas & the other B’day presents, is to give presents ticking the box of either handmade, organic, vintage, fair trade, 2nd hand or ethical.  Ideally I want to minimise any purchasing and try and make as many things as possible.  On top of I want to make all the invitations, party favours and decorations.  I am really looking forward to some creative thinking and keeping an eye out in thrift shops and online for the all the things I will need.  I will definitely be paying a return visit to Reverse Garbage (a store I wrote about in a previous post) to help me in my quest.

I hope years down the track I can show my little one pictures of her very first party and explain to her that mummy didn’t just hire someone to make everything fabulous, I created it all myself!

Following are some creative projects I’m looking forward to accomplishing.

Tissue Paper Pom-Poms – go Martha Stewart!

Pin Wheels – thanks Wikihow

And finally, my mission over the next 3mths is to find a couple of these gorgeous drink dispensers.

Does anyone have any great examples of DIY 1st birthday parties?

Posted by Lisa at 3:37 pm 6 Comments »

School holidays time again

Baby & child, Lifestyle
Sep 302010

It is that time of year again.  School holidays when little E & my relatively peaceful days are interrupted by the boundless energy of my 5 year old who incessantly chats and constantly queries me on “what can we do now”?

Not surprisingly my ability to write in my blog has been severely compromised!  And curtailing my instinct to buy new things to entertain her are sorely tested.

Thankfully so far this week the weather gods have smiled upon us which opens up a whole heap of free outdoor activities – beach, playgrounds, painting outdoors and gardening.  When it is raining, historically we have gone to a big shopping centre to wander about and yes, shop shop shop so fingers crossed for no rain!

Yesterday we headed off to Vaucluse House, a historical house surrounded by large gardens, for a “Kids in the Kitchen” session (part of a school holiday program).  There my 5 year old learnt how to make Damper (a traditional Australian bread usually made in the coals of a campfire), churn butter and make old-fashioned lemonade.  And of course had a merry feast at the conclusion.  She was also given a tour of the recreated Kitchen Garden which gave her an understanding of how our ancestors used to have to live – growing their own fruit and vegetables, eating in season and definitely not wasting anything!  For those interested, butter was actually very easy to make.  Just take a small rubber ball, put in a glass jar with cream and shake vigorously for 10mins, strain and voila you have fresh butter!

Tomorrow we may pop down to Leichhardt Marketplace who will be hosting a “sustainability for kids” type expo.  There are a series of workshops where the kids can learn the importance of being green in a fun relaxed atmosphere, using recycled and sustainable materials to make hats, accessories, lanterns, toys and more! If you’re a local with kids pop down and check it out!

And next week may check out the Sydney Children’s Festival at Carriageworks.  There are so many great activities on, alot with a sustainable bent, that I’m struggling to choose what we should do – jewellery making with natural materials from the bush, scavenger hunt to find objects to make a sculpture, toy rescue involving turning old toys into garden beds and many more.

If you have kids what do you do with them in the holidays?

Posted by Lisa at 11:59 am No Comments »

Sustainable Baby ideas

Baby & child
Sep 122010

Blue skies, a hint of summer in the air.  A perfect day to put little E in a summer dress.  Doesn’t she look cute!

Looking through her bulging cupboard of pretty dresses I was disappointed to realise that there are some that she will never wear as she’s already outgrown them.  When you have a baby (especially a girl) welcoming presents are often in the form of adorable little outfits.  However, those adorable little outfits are generally not the most practical for quick changing, cleaning off poo explosions or vomit nor are they comfortable to sleep in.

I think it is very hard for people to adopt a sustainable mindset when babies are involved as people want to indulge and it is also quite fun to have an excuse to buy beautiful things.  Given that the average cost of fitting out a nursery from scratch (cot, bedding, car seat, pram etc) is around $3000 (and that is buying mid-range products) there is some fairly substantial consumerism going on!  With babies also an incredible drain on energy levels (when in utereo and once born) it is also so easy to take the path of least resistance and buy without consideration of environmental impact.

For me I find it very hard to adopt a sustainable mantra for my little bubba (and for my 5 year old) and it is definitely my weak link in terms of my 365 challenge.

I have put together a short list of some things a parent (parent-to-be) along with friends and family can do or buy to help bring up a baby without costing the earth (environmentally & wallet speaking).

  • Parent (parent-to-be) – don’t buy any rompers/babysuits until the baby is born and you can see what size he/she is and then send hubby out to buy a few (all the same colour for ease of washing) suits in that size.  Hospitals usually provide suits for the babies (and wash them) so you don’t need anything for the hospital.  Don’t worry about anything else in terms of clothing as promise you will get inundated!
  • Friends / family – buy clothing in size 1 to suit the season the baby is born in.  Generally babies wear size 1 clothing at a year old this would work well and ensure that your gift is actually worn
  • Everyone – Keep an eye out on freecycle for free baby items.  Or do a “wanted list” in the hope that someone may be able to help out
  • Parent (parent-to-be) – Buy 2nd hand on Ebay.   Prams & cots in particular are big ticket items that with a bit of hunting you can save significant $ on by buying 2nd hand.
  • Parent (parent-to-be) – OK I haven’t taken the plunge yet (I know, naughty) but consider cloth nappies.  I have been informed that they’ve come a long way since the cloth nappies our parents used for us.  Check out this website for a great range of cloth nappies.    There is an initial outlay cost of around $25-30 per nappy (and you’ll need minimum of 6) but considering a child in disposable nappies will cost $2,500 – $4,000 there is a significant cost saving overall to buying cloth.
  • Friends / family – if you know that someone is going down the cloth route, how about buying 4 weeks of a  nappy wash service and letting the new parent have a lovely month of no washing.  Guaranteed that this gift will be valued more than an outfit.
  • Everyone – buy a handmade or vintage gift from Etsy, an organic blanket from ecochild, an ethically made cuddly from bluecaravan or the plethora of other environmentally friendly baby online stores – support local, handmade and try and avoid the big chains
  • Friends / family – bring fresh, organic, hearty food over to nourish the new mum & dad.   Lots of new parents survive on takeaway, convenience foods as there is so little time for shopping, preparing and eating.  I made an organic beef lasagne packed full of vegetables for friends with a new baby and they said they really appreciated it.
  • Look at the suggested list of new parents products to purchase and halve everything.

Hopefully some of these ideas help …

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Posted by Lisa at 4:39 pm 2 Comments »
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