Posts Tagged ‘Recycle’

“Should I switch to cloth?” This question often sets in a couple of months after baby is born.  In the beginning, many parents use the small arsenal of disposable diapers they received as shower gifts, welcome baby gifts and from the hospital.  Once this supply dwindles down and parents are faced with the expensive reality of diaper changes, they often start to investigate cloth diapers.

What they often find is a bit of sticker shock. Instead of a quarter each, many quality diapers can cost upwards of $20. It doesn’t seem possible to save money with them, so families often bite the bullet and continue to purchase disposable diapers.

A closer look shows that while cloth diapers do cost more upfront, over time the savings are huge.  Many parents with babies spend about $40 a month on disposable diapers, and that is a conservative amount. Over 2 ½ years, the cost of using disposables runs about $1200. The price tag goes up for more expensive diapers or if the child potty-trains later. With another child, the buying simply starts again.

A look at the cost of cloth shows the true savings.  Using more expensive pocket diapers in three sizes (small, medium and large) costs about $1200. While this seems very close to the cost of disposables, consider that these diapers can be used for more than one child. Often, children are able to wear size medium until they train, bringing the overall cost down even more.

For bigger cost saving opportunities, prefolds and covers can cost less than $250 from birth to potty training. When using this system on more than one child, the savings are huge. One size diapers cost about $400 and can be used for most children from 10-30 pounds. Size estimates vary by brand.

With potential savings of $900-$2150, cloth diapers can make a lot of sense (and cents!).  In order to keep the savings large, it’s important to take care of cloth diapers. The better the care, the longer they’ll last. Here are some tips for getting the most out of cloth:

• Use the dryer sparingly.  Anything that has elastic is better off on a drying rack. Occasional low heat is fine, but elastic lasts longer out of the dryer.  For prefolds and inserts, the dryer isn’t going to do much to hurt them.
• Snaps last longer than Velcro.
• Sized diapers often last longer than one-size diapers. Since sized diapers are used for several months at a time, it’s easier to use them through multiple children. One-size diapers on the other hand, may go through several hundred uses over the course of one child’s diapering years. It’s possible to use them through more than one child, but expect to replace some as time goes on.

• Consider prefolds. Using prefolds at least part-time helps keep costs down. Without  elastic, Velcro and snaps, it’s easy for prefold diapers to last through multiple children.

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Michelle Rivenburg is a mom of two (cloth diapered) girls. She owns Snooty Booty Diapers and writes at Cloth Diapers Made Simple.

Brick Red, Blue and White Sweater

Look in the back of your dresser or closet… no, not to your stained jeans you like to wear around the house but never in public… past those, to the old sweaters and scarves your great aunt and grandmother like to pick out for you, especially at holidays.

Our Etsy shop was created to help us display some items that we have Repurposed and created from items donated to the store that we just couldn’t resell in “as-is” condition.

Velour Like Pink/Orange Sweater

We have a lot of these Sweaters and other items that people just don’t want, they aren’t anything we believe will sell, so what to do with them? We hate just throwing ANYTHING out, so what is there to do with these things people just don’t want?!?!

We are picking some of the best looking materials, unraveling the sweater/scarf/etc. And reselling the yarn!

The photos in this blog entry display some of our yarns in their “original to us” state, as hideous sweaters no one will buy.

Handmade Genuine Maine Sea Glass Pendant

We are expanding our reach! We started out just selling clothing, shoes and accessories, over our first year in business we did very well with that and now, into our second year we have expanded to include books and miscellaneous housewares.

Through Donations we have received a LOT of items, many we could use, and unfortunately many, many more that we didn’t feel we could. A lot of these items were either given away or regretfully became trash or recycling.

Arrowhead Style Polished Stone Pendant

Recently we have begun collecting bits and pieces of these items that we can not sell “as is” to be Re-used and Re-purposed in the form of Jewelry or to embellish other items to create one of a kind, unique pieces!

These items will be available for purchase in our Brooks, Maine store as well as on our site http://twicelovedboutique.com and in our Etsy shop at http://twicelovedboutique.etsy.com

According to NowPublic.com the top 10 New Years Resolutions for 2009 are:

* Make more time for family and friends
* Quit smoking
* Start exercising
* Go back to school / take a class
* Get out of debt
* Advance in your career, make more money
* Get into philanthropy and community involvement
* Quit drinking
* Lose weight
* Get out of a bad relationship / find true love

How can we, here at Twice Loved Boutique help?

1. Make more time for family and friends – Bring them in to Twice Loved Boutique with you! Shopping with a friend is always loads more fun, sharing ideas, picking outfits together, it’s guaranteed to be a blast!

2. Quit Smoking – Twice Loved Boutique is a No Smoking facility! The more time you spend in places where you aren’t allowed to smoke, the less you will smoke!

3. Start Exercising – Well, our store may not be huge, but walking around all those clothing racks a few times can give you a little bit of a workout, and if you are local you can walk TO the store!

4. Go Back To School/Take a Class – Going back to school can be expensive on its own, not to mention you may need a new wardrobe in order to do that. At Twice Loved Boutique you can save money for your classes while getting that new wardrobe!

5. Get Out Of Debt – I know how hard that can be, especially if you have kids who are outgrowing their clothes constantly and you have to dip into your bill money to buy new clothes all the time… Here at Twice Loved Boutique you can find amazing deals on name brand, hardly worn clothing for your kids, without breaking the bank!

6. Advance In Your Career/Make More Money – A penny saved is a penny earned! Here at Twice Loved Boutique you can save/earn a lot of pennies on every piece you purchase, and you can even find some great outfits to help you look more professional (Fake it until you Make it!)

7. Get into philanthropy and community involvement – By purchasing from local businesses such as Twice Loved Boutique, you are keeping money closer to home and helping the local economy to build itself back up! Here at Twice Loved Boutique we try to do business locally whenever possible!

8. Quit drinking – There are many reasons that people drink, and here at Twice Loved Boutique we can help you deal with a few of those! A new outfit can help boost self esteem, a new skin care/makeup routine (from our WONDERFUL line of Mineralicious Mineral Makeup) is guaranteed to help improve your mood, and can even change the moods of those around you!

9. Lose Weight – Again, if you’re local, walk in to the store and take a few laps around our clothing racks, you may even find that to DIE for outfit you just cant wait to wear to the gym!

10. Get out of a bad relationship / find true love – Been there myself, and nothing can boost your self esteem enough to get out of a bad relationship than feeling really good about yourself! A new look can help achieve that! And when you are truly happy with yourself, other happy people will be attracted to you!

Best of luck and here’s hoping 2009 is better than 2008!
Happy New Year from Twice Loved Boutique!