Bartering

I planned on posting about our beautifully planted square foot garden, but it didn't happen today. Once again our garden plans were spoiled by rain. And it figures that we are expecting our first week of sunshine this spring, the same week we have to spend in the hospital. Oh well.

As my cloth diapering experience continues, I have decided to slowly switch to Bum Genius (out of St. Louis) pocket diapers. The prefolds and Snappi (as I demonstrated a little over a week ago) routine wasn't bad, but it was not realistic for middle of the night diaper changes or on the go, so I started buying pocket diaper to supplement and they are way easier for us. I don't have near enough to use those exclusively, but as I am continuing to sell clothes on eBay, I am buying a few here and there. By the end of summer we should have enough to only use pocket diapers (without spending any out of pocket $!) which will be easier for everyone.

Outside of eBay, I am looking into bartering. Diaper Swappers has message boards dedicated to moms looking to trade all sorts of things, including clothes, movies, home-made items, and of course cloth diapers. It is so exciting to think of trading to get rid of stuff we don't need in exchange for what we do, without buying or selling at all. I have yet to seal the deal on my first transaction, but I've got a couple of ideas floating around and I'll be sure to post my first successful barter. If I can find the things I want then between that and eBay I hope to spend almost no money on extra (fun) shopping this summer.

Now that my couponing phase is pretty much over (we're fully stocked in all applicable areas for now), this is another great frugal way to get rid of clothes and other things we don't need in exchange for stuff we do!

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Today Ben wore an outfit my mom MADE back in '86 for my little brother. It's adorable and almost makes me want to learn to sew. Almost.