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 Know any new parents out there? Got extra baby stuff lying around? Make a care package for your favorite expectant mom or dad. They’ll thank you in the months to come and it won’t cost you a dime.
Sure, you can peddle your wares at the local resale shop, always a nice way to make ice-cream money on a hot day and a trick that I’ve been known to use. That being said, the generosity component of giving it away to someone in need might rock your world a little more than participating in a little capitalism, as financially rewarding as that may be.
Oftentimes, I find that the folks in need are those living next store who shop at the same grocery store as you, who pay their taxes just the same and are perhaps behind on a car payment because the combination of the diaper service and daycare is taking precedence.
I know my husband and I took a hit, financially speaking, and every donation—from old baby clothes to the much-needed swing that allowed me to put a load of laundry in between performances of the Mama Variety Show starring yours truly—made a huge difference.
As a self-identified “green mama,” I have no interest in presenting the world’s most fashionable baby to all society. I have an interest in promoting ideas and concepts that are sustainable and useful. As a result, my son sleeps in pastel colored sleep sacks with little flowers on them. He doesn’t seem to be troubled by this so far, and the twin girls who donated their bed clothes to him sure get a kick out of it as they’re five now and the whole gender identity thing is starting to click for them.
My son is most comfortable in a onesie with bare legs and feet anyway. He’s such an active guy that we have no need for walkers and bouncy chairs and all that other crap that the entire baby-making industry builds itself around. Give us a blanket and a clean floor and we’ll go to town on it. We’re saving our money for his college education.
We’re also compiling stuff weekly to pass on to our friend at the local coffee shop who’s expecting her first. We’re hoping it’s a boy for her sake and if it’s a girl, maybe she’ll have a thick skin and not mind all the sports-minded paraphernalia. If it’s a girl, she’ll luck out in the sleep-sack department courtesy of the Nelson twins.
Updated 7/11/10; originally posted 5/23/09.
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