Baby Buy Sell Swap

Been a bit slack with posts at the moment because Abel's teething troubles have gone from bad to worse and has been a bit difficult to live with, I've been up several times a night etc. so have been really tired. Not to mention a bit blank minded with what to actually blog about.

Recently I've had an internal conflict between making money and sticking it to the man with regard to second hand baby clothes. As Abel is now 4 and a half months a rather large pile of baby clothes which no longer fit him has been inevitably mounting. I'm faced with two options:

Option 1: Ebay single items off making a profit but in the long run will be more time consuming, more effort and Ebay grows ever more powerful in their bid (lol) to take over the world.

Option 2: Stick it to the Ebay man by offering the clothes in sized bundles on Facebook local buy, sell, swap groups ultimately less effort and less money but I gain a wholesome glow.

So what should I do? Answers on a postcard ...or just below.  

Teething Trouble

Happy Valentine's day to you all! Abel made his dad and nanny a card at baby group yesterday - a mass of PVA glue, glitter and feathers piled on red card!

Last Saturday as my mum was holding Abel whilst he was crying, I was sat opposite and noticed two bottom front teeth! I was amazed as they were massive! Taking a picture of them though is difficult so I've included a stock picture of what they kinda look like.

He also has his third set of vaccinations on Wednesday which has made him an unhappy chappy. It's back to being up three times a night but my body is now past caring, I've learnt to live without a full night's sleep. It, like a lot of things, is just part of the baby deal.

In the mean time I'm keeping my beady eye on a blog called Free Our Kids a blog in which a mum pledges to spend as little as possible on her two children. Her rule for the year is that she will only make 12 purchases for the whole year (one per month) not only that but 6 of these 12 purchases have to be second hand from a charity shop or swap direct with another family (in other words not from Ebay) this is to cut the middle man out and ensure all the money goes into a deserving pocket.

I'm intrigued. After browsing her posts I've already learned how to make my own dummy clip using a hair clip and ribbon as shown:

 

#diybaby could catch on!

Real Nappy Week

Okay I know I said I was going to be blogging more but that was before my computer once again broke down. Boooo! So after no blogging for a while I decided to take over the other computer in the house for a bit whilst I had some spare time (Abel is currently sleeping).

Right now it's Real Nappy Week meaning just about every brand and online outlet of real/cloth nappies are having daily competitions which seem to be fueled by www.reusablenappyassociation.com and www.goreal.org.uk

Some of you may remember when I was pregnant I was weighing up the pros and cons of real nappies vs disposable a few months back on this blog. Nearly four months of nappy changing adventures later I have now fallen into a pretty regular routine with it which is to only use disposables when out and about and one for night time. I've done some number crunching and this, in the long run, means I'll be saving a bare minimum of £200 from birth to potty and that really is the bare minimum. This includes the energy bills, the various deals around for both disposable and washable nappies - everything.

I know some people would argue that the extra effort you have to put in to washing the nappies would surely not be worth it but I'm honestly not washing all that much. I do maybe four baby clothes and muslin loads a week. I have ten Bambooty Easy Dry all in ones which are the closest to convenience you can get in the real nappy world which last him a day. So I do the last nappy change before bed and then they all go in the wash then the dryer and are ready for morning. I'm going to have to extend my nappy stash for spring/summer when I intend to use the washing line to dry them - thus saving even more money!

I know some people would also argue that using reusable nappies is no different to using disposable in the long run for the environment and so has no real benefit. I would question this research. Proctor and Gamble are the international, big-dog, multi-million company behind Pampers and a whole range of other house hold products. Reusable nappies have really started to take off over the past few years and I'd wager that they are ploughing funds into any report that claims that disposable nappies are just as ethical and environmentally sound as real cloth nappies. Let's not forget also that for the past four years a report continues to reveal Proctor and Gamble (specifically Pampers) are in the top 50 UK least ethical brands which include research on carbon emissions, child labour, corporate corruption, environmental impact, ethical accreditation, fair and unfair trade, human rights abuse, nuclear power, political donations, rainforest timber and third world debt.

I leave you with Abel in his Bambooty: