Sell Used Cloth Diapers and Find Even More Brands!

If you love cloth diapers a little too much, you might have created a stash that you really don't use. Maybe you tried a whole bunch of different brands and styles at first but stuck to one or two types of diapers in the end. Perhaps you prepared for your newborn with a slew of diapers and your baby grew out of them quickly.

Now you can sell your pre-loved cloth diapers at Green Baby, and it's as easy as bringing in a bag full of diapers.

What does this mean if you want to sell your diapers?
Leave your diapers with Liz, and she'll take a look at them. She will call you within five days, at which time you can come back in to sign the consignment agreement, or you can sign it ahead of time and the diapers will go out for sale.

How much will you get for your gently used diapers?
Green Baby Diaper Service matches the price of Cotton Babies' used diaper buyback. You can even get 10 percent more if you take the payment in store credit as opposed to cash. But Green Baby will take more than just Cotton Babies brand diapers. Whatever you have, bring it in. The diapers are flying off the shelf.

When will you get paid?
You will be paid after the end of every yearly quarter. Remember, if you choose store credit instead of cash, you'll get 10% more money for your used cloth diapers. You can use your store credit for anything in the store or for the service itself.

What does the cloth diaper consignment mean if you want to buy diapers?
Green Baby Diaper Service now has a rotating selection of tons of different cloth diaper brands like Kissaluvs, Fuzzibunz, Little Beetle covers, gDiaper covers, and lots of fitted diapers. Green Baby's cloth diaper consignment gives you a chance to experiment with diapers that you might not have otherwise tried, and you don't have to break the bank. Now you can support a local business but still get the selection that you can find all over the internet.

Bring in your pre-loved cloth diapers, or check back often to see what's on the consignment table. By its very nature, the stock rotates, so you will always find something new. The selection is not limited to diapers alone. You can find wet bags and inserts too. Below is a glimpse of the diaper consignment table. It's pretty sweet:

Poop? What Poop?

About a month and a half ago, I started using Osocozy Bioliners for the first time. I was a little reluctant at first, to be honest. I was already having quite a time dealing with cloth diapering a squirmy baby. The prefold, cover, snappi, and wipe were almost too much to handle as Little M escaped from under my feet. (Yes, I have to pin him down with my feet as I change his diaper sometimes). The thought of adding something else to the mix kind of freaked me out.

But Little M was also eating solid foods. A lot of them. And you know what that means. Either a sprayer, a spatula, or a lot of stink in you diaper pail. One of the great parts about doing the cloth diaper service is that I could just throw the poopy diaper into the diaper pail without even trying to remove the poop. But that led to some big stink issues. And every once in a while--when I went out, for example--I would use my old pocket diapers. If Little M pooped on those, it was a big mess and a hassle to wash myself.

So I started using the liners. I hated them at first, and now I can't live without them. Why?

• Poop sticks to them, so you can just drop them in the toilet, turd and all, and your diaper stays relatively clean. Yes, there is one more step, but I lay my prefolds into my covers and line it with the Bioliner, so everything is ready to go at diaper changing time. 
• I also change diapers on the bathroom floor (I gave up the diaper changing table months ago), so the toilet and diaper pail are right there. 
• When I go out, I can flush the poop, and I have much less of a mess to deal with when I get home.
• My diaper pail doesn't reek by the end of the week when it's time to bring my diapers in to the diaper service. 
• Here's the best part: If your baby gets diaper rash, you can slather it with diaper cream. 

You might wonder if Osocozy Bioliners counteract the purpose of cloth diapers. After all, you're creating a little more waste to go through the sewage system. But Bioliners biodegrade quickly. According to Osocozy, it takes a Bioliner six days to decompose in a sewage treatment system. It doesn't go into a landfill, and it certainly doesn't create the amount of waste that using disposables does.

If your baby has transitioned to solids or gets diaper rash often, think about trying out Bioliners before you think about switching to disposables. They definitely take away some of the "ick" factor when caregivers are changing cloth diapers, too. At $7 for 100 Bioliners, it's worth a try.

New Year Survey

It's a new year, and the ladies at Green Baby are so appreciative of and grateful for the community that has arisen surrounding Green Baby. And in order to make sure they are providing what you, the community, needs, we have put together a short survey. We want Green Baby Diaper Service to become the place where you can really find what you're looking for in Wilmington, whether it has to do with diapers, babies, gifts, support, parenting--or whatever else you can think of.

So now we're handing the microphone to you. What do you want to see more of at Green Baby Diaper Service? (Make sure you scroll down to view all the questions.)

Thank you! We love our customers, and we love your input!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Cloth Diapering Support Group

Like anything in life, if you don't know what you're doing, you're not likely to continue. And if what you see on TV or hear from your loved ones puts you down, makes you feel like you're complicating your life, or makes you feel like the minority, you're also likely to move to something where you have more support.

This happens when it comes to baby sleep habits, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, and disciplining your child. How many times did you have a well-meaning friend or relative tell you that their baby slept through the night after three evenings of bawling his or her eyes out? Then, as you sat and rocked your baby to sleep for the umpteenth time, lay him down in his crib, and walk away only to hear him start crying again, did you picture just how easy your life could be if you only let him cry himself to sleep?

When you were breastfeeding, did your mother-in-law tell you that a little formula wouldn't hurt and would help your baby sleep through the night? Did your friends urge you to give your baby a bottle because you needed a girl's night out? Did your husband encourage you to use the free formula sample from the hospital so you could get a good night's sleep?

Or maybe you were adamant about not saying "no" too much as your baby grew into a toddler, but your mother told you that she said "no" plenty of times, and you turned out fine.You are against spanking, but your friend tells you that a little pop on the hand is what every little kid needs when they misbehave. Your preschool teacher makes you feel as though your son's separation anxiety is a discipline problem.

When it comes to parenting advice, sometimes a little bug in your ear can make you change your whole tune, whether you meant for it to happen or not. The devil on your shoulder is pretty persuasive. If everyone you know thinks you're crazy for nursing your baby to sleep every night, it's not hard to just try letting your baby cry it out one night. If you have a sample of formula lying around, it's easy to fall back on that when breastfeeding gets tough. If you're encouraged to use a less-than-gentle form of discipline on your child, you might end up following that advice, especially when you're frustrated and short on patience.

Cloth diapering is very much the same. Maybe you have your routine down pat, but your husband has no idea how to get a prefold onto your squirmy baby without pinching himself with the snappi. You go to visit a friend who thinks cloth diapering is dirty, and she isn't too keen on you using her washing machine to clean your diapers. You keep a stash of disposables in the house for when your mother-in-law watches your baby, because you feel guilty asking her to learn how to use cloth diapers and watch your child.

And if you keep the disposables in your house, chances are, you'll use them. You'll tell yourself, "just for emergencies." And then that pack runs out, and you cringe at shelling out more money for more disposables, but you buy yourself another "emergency pack." And before you know it, you're using fewer and fewer cloth diapers and wasting money on disposables (not to mention adding significantly to your household waste, filling up landfills, and supporting not-so-environmentally friendly manufacturing processes).

It's just like the mom whose free sample pack of formula sabotaged her breastfeeding relationship. The lack of support combined with the general consensus that everyone is doing it a different way than you are can make you join the pack and drop your way of doing things, no matter how adamant you were about doing things your way at the beginning.

Green Baby Diaper Service doesn't only sell and wash diapers; it's also a place where you can get support for any of your cloth diapering challenges. Just when you feel like you've tried everything and are exhausted from lack of sleep, tired of holding down a squirmy baby with your feet, and confused about how to handle your baby's diaper rash, Liz will come up with a new piece of advice you've never heard before. Or another customer in the store will share her story, giving you new ideas about how to manage your cloth diapering needs.

We have also started a cloth diapering support group on Facebook. If you would like to join, friend Liz (Elizabeth Soffera) or Gaby (Gaby Merediz) on Facebook, then send one of us a message letting us know you would like to join the group. It's a closed group, so no one outside the group can see your posts, and although it doesn't have to stay local to Wilmington cloth diapering mamas, many of the group members are right here in town. It's an easy place to post a question, a tip, or talk about a new style of diaper you've come across that you would like to be able to buy locally. Feel free to chat about anything. Hopefully it will help us all push through hurdles and find out things we never knew about cloth diapering.

Cloth Diapering is the Easy Part About Having a Baby

Get the chance to win 12 bumGenius All-in-Ones by leaving a comment below the post! Scroll to the end of the post for details.

If you did any kind of research before you had your baby, you probably decided long before your baby was born where the baby was going to sleep, what brand of car seat to buy, what outfit you and your baby would wear home from the hospital, and whether you were going to breastfeed or give your baby formula.

But when it came to diapering, were you overwhelmed? Do you remember all the choices that were available and how impossible it was to remember the difference between a pocket and prefold, all-in-one or all-in-two? If you ended up cloth diapering, now you probably spout out terms like that just as easily as you say slice of pizza or cup of coffee.

You were probably also overwhelmed by the thought of having a newborn in the days and weeks before your due date. What would you do all day with a helpless infant in your arms? Would you bond with the baby? Would the baby cry all the time? And now, looking back at those early days, you remember some challenges, but you wonder why you worried so much.

Change is overwhelming. It's hard to wrap your mind around a completely new experience like having a baby or cloth diapering. When you only have a few options to choose from (bed, crib, or cosleeper; breast milk or formula), it's easier to make a decision than when you have a multitude of options (prefold, pocket, cover, hook and loop, snaps, snappi, microfiber, organic, etc.)

So when it comes to cloth diapering, the thought of the unknown can make you shut down. When faced with a tough decision, it's easy to decide to do what's familiar.

Let me tell you, the process of cloth diapering is much easier than making a decision to cloth diaper. In other words, it's the decision that's hard. But putting on a cloth diaper, taking it off, and tossing it in the diaper pail--that's just as easy as using a disposable. By the time you've reached that point, the hard part is over.

So how do you get over the hurdle and decide whether cloth diapering is for you?

• Get information from a good resource -There are thousands of cloth diaper resources out there. Forums where cloth diaper addicts (yes, once you start it's hard to stop) discuss everything from cute colors to stain removal can be helpful, but everyone has an opinion, and they may contradict one another, leaving you just as overwhelmed as you were when you started.
  
  Stop into Green Baby and ask Liz any question in the book--I can assure you she can help you out with any cloth diapering challenge you have!
  
  If you're looking for an online resource, my favorite is Cotton Babies. It's a little more streamlined. It has several different styles of diapers to choose from--just enough to give you a wide range of options when it comes to style and price, but it doesn't leave you feeling like a kid in a candy store. Cotton Babies also has a comprehensive How-To page where you can easily look up the answers to any question you may have.

• Borrow a stash - Do you have friends who have used cloth diapers? Ask them if you can borrow some of their stash. Try out different styles and types of diapers. Get firsthand experience with them. Once you've seen how simple the process is, become addicted to the adorable prints and colors, and witnessed how cloth holds in poop explosions like nothing else, you'll be donating your disposables and starting your own stash. Because I started my own stash this way, now I've become a pro at using all kinds of cloth diapers. Give me a prefold and a snappi and I'm good to go, but I prefer to leave all-in-ones when I'm leaving my babies with Big T or a babysitter. I loved Fuzzi Bunz for the adjustable leg elastic when my newborn was having breastfed-blow-outs. I have a stash of one-size pocket diapers that I could quickly adjust to put on Baby T or snap to a smaller size when diapering Little M.

Once you've started cloth diapering, it's hard to go back to disposables. Many people start in an effort to help the environment and reduce their level of household waste. By the time their kids are out of diapers, though, they will likely tell you that they cloth diapered because it was cheaper and easier than disposables.

Look ma--no pants! (See how cute cloth diapers can be?)

Easier?
Yes! 
 I can't tell you the number of times I've had to change Little M's entire outfit because he leaked while wearing a disposable. In fact, that's one of the main reasons I started cloth diapering him so early. He hated getting his clothes changed, so blowouts were a miserable experience for both of us. When I go out, whether I'm traveling by airplane or just going to the store, I know I'm not going to have a mishap if I throw a cloth diaper on him. If I'm using disposables, I feel like I'm playing Russian roulette.

Cheaper?
Yes!
I still have to send the kids to daycare wearing disposables, so I have to buy a box periodically. I can't tell you how much I cringe when I have to pay money for disposables, knowing that I'm basically investing in crap--something I'm just going to throw away. If you wash your own diapers, you may spend extra money on your water bill, but you're saving money by avoiding weekly diaper runs. If you use a diaper service, you may be spending money weekly, but at least you're saving on the cost of buying disposables, gas, and laundering your baby's clothes every time there is a "pooplosion." And you have all the cute covers to sell when your baby has begun to use the potty. (Not to mention the tons--yes, literally tons--of diapers you are saving from ending up in a landfill over the course of your child's diaper "career.")

Still undecided? That's because change is hard. It's a new year. Take the plunge into cloth diapering. Once you try it, you'll be hooked. The hard part is making the decision. The easy part is doing the cloth diapering. Yes, there are some challenges. But isn't showering, doing laundry and vacuuming challenging once you have a newborn? Isn't washing every outfit that's on the receiving end of a disposable "pooplosion" challenging? Parenting has its fair share of challenges, yet we love it. Cloth diapering is much easier than parenting!

Little M wearing cute wool soakers

I received no compensation for this post, but I have entered it in a contest at http://jenniferlabit.com/2011/12/12/all-i-want-for-christmas-is-to-tell-the-world-about-cloth-diapers/. You can be a part of the contest, too! Leave a comment below this blog post telling me why you think cloth diapering is so much cheaper and easier than using disposables. If this post is chosen as the winner, one commenter will win 12 bumGenius one-size cloth diapers!

Wrapping Paper Christmas Tree Tutorial (12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts)

Do you ever cringe at all of the wrapping paper you throw out on Christmas? One way to be a little greener next time you wrap a gift is to use your child's artwork, paper grocery bags, or dish towels and yarn to wrap presents.

But since we all pull out the gift wrap sometimes, how can we reuse it to make something cute? Go pull some out of your recycling bin and make this adorable wrapping paper Christmas tree to use as a decoration next year.

Gift bags, tissue paper, and wrapping paper from the presents we opened

Cut a block of styrofoam from one of the gifts you received (You can also stack up cardboard and tie it together).

Stick a bamboo skewer (the kind you use to make shish kabob) into the foam block.

Start cutting squares of gift wrap and thread it onto the skewer. Begin with small squares, and push them all the way to the end. You can put a few of the same size squares together, but slowly graduate them by cutting larger and larger squares and threading them on.

Alternating between using tissue paper and gift wrap makes your tree fluffier. Once you have filled up about 2/3 of the length of the bamboo skewer, stick it into the foam block. Wrap some tissue paper around the block and secure it with ribbon. (I used the handle of one of the gift bags). Crumple some more tissue paper and add it to the top of the tree. Voila! This is a fun one for the kids, too!

Do you recycle your wrapping paper? Do you put them in the recycling bin or use them to create a fun craft? Share what you do in the comments below!

Check out some of the other 12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts:

December 14:  Felt Owl Ornaments	December 15: Burlap Ruffled Tree Skirt	December 16: Easy Advent Calendars
December 17: Quick Gift Tags from Kids' Artwork	December 18: Homemade Holiday Banner	December 19: Torn Paper Snowman
December 20: Book Paper Christmas Tree	December 21: Tin Can Luminaries	December 24: A Sleigh and 8 Tiny Reindeer

You can also find more cute crafts at:

Tin Can Luminaries (12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts)

I have to tell you a secret: I don't love doing crafts. I love the idea of doing crafts, but I wish I had an assistant to do the dirty work for me sometimes. Don't get me wrong--there are certain things I love to do, like work with fabric and paint. But when it comes to other media, I get less than excited.

But I was inspired by my DelMonte organic tomato cans. They are copper on the inside, and they are really pretty, so I decided to try my hand at some tin can luminaries. They sounded pretty easy: just tap some holes into a tin can with a nail.

Not so much, Martha Stewart.

First of all, this is what you'll need (empty food cans, a hammer, and a nail):

Then, all you need to do is hammer a design into the can with the nail. It's not as easy as you would think. You need about 5 hands. I tried it like this:

That didn't work. So I decided to put the can in my vise. The reason I hadn't done that yet is because this is what my vise looks like. Try to find it.

It was much easier to do in the vice. But since the can is flexible, I rested it on top of the vise or it would have fallen through every time I hammered it. I set the vise just narrower than the can. It didn't take long to quickly hammer out a star design.

Done!

The can on the left has a lot more holes, and it also has a real tea
light in it. The ones on the right have a battery-operated one,
which is not as bright.

Check out some of the other 12 Days of Green Christmas Crafts:

December 14:  Felt Owl Ornaments	December 15: Burlap Ruffled Tree Skirt	December 16: Easy Advent Calendars
December 17: Quick Gift Tags from Kids' Artwork	December 18: Homemade Holiday Banner	December 19: Torn Paper Snowman
December 20: Book Paper Christmas Tree