Who Wouldn't Want to Save this Kind of Money?

Today I saved money. Today I recycled. Today I saved the world.

I went shopping today at the thrift store two blocks away with $4 in my pocket determined to find some new books for my baby girl. I figured I might come home with maybe 2 or 3 new books, but instead I got 7! 7 new awesome books! And guess how much I paid? $3.50! I feel like I've won the lottery. After coming home and wiping them down with vinegar and water I tallied up the total cost of each book new and realized that if I had bought all these books brand new I would have paid $59.07! I saved myself $55.57! WOW. 

Now I will concede that some of the books look like they've been around the block a bit, but lets be honest, don't all brand new things given to a baby look like they've seen better days after a week in their wet drooly mouths?

So there you have it folks. Go to your local thrift stores and score a major deal. Also, donate to your local thrift stores so that others can use the awesome things you don't need anymore. You can even do one better and donate to thrift stores for a cause. The store I bought these books at not only recycles peoples goods back in the community at an incredible price, but a huge portion of all their income goes to stopping world hunger. So don't dump your stuff at Value Village where they'll mark up the prices so high you could spend a dollar more and get it new, but research the other thrift stores in your area and not only donate, but spend your money there too.

Some tips for finding books you can use/want:

• Do your research. Peruse Amazon.com for books in the age group you're looking for and read reviews. I searched for "books for babies" and found the books that most peoples kids loved were the "Bright Baby" books made by Priddy Books, so I kept my eyes open for those. I also learned that books that had textures were very popular, so I looked for those too. 
• Buy what your kid likes. I took my baby girl with me and we read several books in the store so that I could see which ones sparked her interest and which would be a waste of time. There we some that I thought would be great, but she didn't give two hoots about and didn't even bother looking at the pages as I flipped through.
• Think about the books you loved as a kid. I personally couldn't get enough of the Arthur series, or the Berenstain Bears series, so I kept my eye out for those too. 
• Just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's worthwhile. There were several books that were in great condition, but I wasn't sold on the message they were selling, so I didn't bother even considering purchasing those. 
• Go the the library and try out books for free. You can then see which books your child is drawn to. Make a list of the books they liked and keep it in your purse, that way when you do go shopping you can just reference your list and see if you can find something that works!

Making Flash Cards or a Book for Baby

This project is actually super easy and only takes a few supplies and your baby will love it!
What you need:

• Paper, preferably cardstock, colored or white
• Magazines, parenting or baby magazines will have the best stuff
• Glue stick
• Contact paper (can be found at Wal-mart)
• Scissors
• Hole puncher (optional)
• Metal ring for documents (optional)

1.) Look through the magazines and clip out pictures of babies, toys, food, or numbers and letters, whatever you want the theme of the cards to be. Think colorful and appealing to look at!

2.) Next cut your paper so you know what size to trim your magazine images down to. I chose to cut my 8.5x11 size paper into 4 equal rectangles, you can do whatever size you like.

3.) Trim your magazine images and glue them onto the cards. Make sure to put them on the front and back of the cards. Also don't use too much glue as the purpose is simply to get the image stuck to the paper, not every edge has to be glued down.

Front

Back

4.) Take images and lay them out onto the contact paper to see how much contact paper you should cut off the roll. Then count the number of squares one row of cards takes up and cut more strips of contact paper so that you  have enough contact paper cut to cover both the front and back of the cards. I found it was easier to peel one big strip of contact paper and lay all the cards on top of the sticky side, then do one row at a time covering the other side. Just be sure to cover the entire card and have some bleed over on the edges so that you can trim around the cards and get a nice seal.

5.) Once all the cards are covered in contact paper cut around them and trim the edges so they all look uniform. You can then choose to either hole punch each of them in the corner and put them on a ring, or you can leave them as is.

Trimmed cards

Finished cards, no hole punch

Hole punched book

Hole punched book

Tips for Flying with a Baby

My husband and I have flown with our baby girl twice now since she's been born and have discovered that there are some things you can do to make your trip a bit easier and more enjoyable for everyone. Below is the best I've got!

● When buying a ticket make sure you check the option that you’re bringing an infant under two, then you don't have to deal with having to get that info printed on your boarding pass at the airport. If there is no option for that online, then tell the person when checking your luggage at the airport, they can do it for you right there.

● Plan your trip around the time of day that is best for your baby. I knew my baby would sleep in my arms great so I planned our flights during her nap times.

● Pay the extra money to choose your own seats.

● Check in online, this saves TONS of time.

● Check your car seat with your luggage; it's not worth lugging through the airport.

● Before going through security ask the check in clerk if any of the security line ups has a "family lane" most airports do, apparently, and you get to go straight to the front of the line.

● You can bring baby food on the plane; just make sure everything is in a plastic bag per the regulations and that you take it out of your diaper bag when going through the scanner. It may get checked out, (they swab it for drugs)but you won't notice any delay because they do it while your putting your clothes and shoes back on and dealing with putting your baby back in their stroller or carrier.

● Opt to be patted down rather than going through the x-ray machine. Apparently after going through more than 24 times your DNA starts to break down. I wouldn't risk it if you want more kids :)

● Strollers, car seats and diaper bags do not count as personal items or checked luggage. They are free-bies.

● Take as little personal stuff on the plane as you can manage, you'll be surprised how much stuff it feels like you have.

● Get to the airport earlier than you think you'll need, maybe even eat a meal there so everyone is nourished and ready to go.

● Bring toys that baby hasn't seen in awhile or are new to keep their interest.

● Find a quiet corner and let your baby crawl around/move around before boarding so they don't feel cooped up for too long.

● Ask to be allowed to pre-board. Not all airlines automatically offer this anymore, we had to ask.

● Nurse, bottle feed, or give a pacifier during take off and landing.

● Know how your car seat works and practice installing it if you're concerned. The better you know the car seat the easier it is to quickly install into another car.

● If the airline loses your car seat they will give you a new one to use until they find yours. If they can't find yours they will reimburse you for a new one you buy. (this happened to us, it was stressful because I didn't know they had extras on hand, and they did get ours back to us the next day)

● Traveling with a partner is SO much easier than alone. Just have a game plan and be willing to help each other out. It's really not that stressful if you have plenty of time and can keep calm. Be organized and ready for challenges. Also remember that the people who work at the airport are just people, if they ask you to do something understand that they are just doing their job and trying to make it through the day. If someone is rude, cut them some slack, you'd be rude too if you had to deal with herds of dumb people all day.

The death of a dream, birth of a life.

Well, as no one knows since no one reads this, my Etsy shop has died. Actually it died a long time ago, but I still have this blog, and I thought, "hey, I could still use that blog to post the ideas I have for the things I make for my baby girl and people would love it!" So that is what I'm going to do. No longer will I try and sell, but instead I will post my best ideas and the things I've learned during this journey of motherhood.