Sunday, July 11, 2010

Tip Time: Future Kiddos!

Since my camera is on a little break and I have a few minutes downtime, I just wanted to put out a few little tips!

A couple people have asked about storing things for Baby #2. Here are my thoughts... and do with them what you will... ultimately, this is your challenge! Do what is right for you!

- Baby clothes: They seem to get mystery stains after staying in storage for extended amounts of time. Items that were freshly washed, folded and put into plastic totes in the garage are opened up to have breastmilk/formula stains down the front and have yellowed. Yes, often a quick wash in Tide will brighten those babies up... but sometimes, it just won't. So, look through things NOW! Anything stained, torn, stretched, or faded won't look any better on Baby #2. Just pack it up now!

I will add, however, that if money is tight and you REALLY want to hold on to things... pick the best that you have to save. Then, take advantage of a program like www.thredup.com, which allows you just pay shipping for clothing for kids! Yes, the items are gently used, but this is a great way to donate items that you have on hand to others! And it's lots of fun... email me for an invite to receive a free month of Pro Membership!

- Gear, Furniture, "Big Stuff": ABSOLUTELY SAVE! Especially if it's in good condition! I cleaned all the toys for my exersaucer, put them into a giant ziplock storage bag and put them all together on a shelf in the garage. It saved me $79 when it came time to use it for Baby #2. However, he hated it and I never really used it. But you know what... it didn't really matter because those big items rarely lose value over short periods of time! You can still get great value at a garage sale, Craigslist, or your local kids consignment shop!

Be sure that everything is in good condition BEFORE you store it! It makes it worlds easier to pull out things that are ready to use!

-Bottles, Pacifiers, Teethers, etc: Don't bother saving these unless you use expensive or glass bottles. If you really want to save them, be sure to trash all the nipples, pacifiers and rubber/silicone teethers and replace those for safety's sake!

-Diapers: ANY UNOPENED DIAPERS!! Save Them!!! Opened ones, however, creep me out when saving. I worry about bugs and other germs. I would rather donate those to a mom in need of them now. But that's just me. :o)

Do you have any pointers for anyone saving items for future kiddos?

5 comments:

  1. Great tips! A tip for storing clothes in the garage- use cardboard boxes. Plastic has chemicals that cause the yellowing you mentioned.

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  2. By total coincidence, I sorted through some baby clothes today and posted about it on my blog:

    http://theazkahles.blogspot.com/2010/07/baby-clothes.html

    I then saw your post here, so I responded there. Take a look!

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  3. I am so bad about this because I have clothes saved for when my kids turn 6! (that is 3 years away) At first I just kept everything but I found out quickly that it was too much so now I only save the best of the best. I have everything saved in empty diaper boxes. I went out and got some of those Space Bags to try to save even more room but was not impressed. They really can't fit as much as you see on TV and if you put in too much the bag won't lay that flat. We even had 2 bags break after we sealed them. Plus they don't stack that nicely.

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  4. I have a tip about items that use batteries...take them out before storing!! We've been given a few things which have had the batteries left in (for possibly a couple years). Yuck! Nobody likes to clean up corroded batteries. :)

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  5. Great point about those corroded batteries! Not only are the not fun to clean up (and kind of dangerous!), they can damage the toy and make it not functional... totally ruining the reason you saved it in the first place!

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