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Birth & Parenting News: Getting Green Baby Gear on a Thrift Store Budget
Guest Blogger: Laura K. Cowan, founder of 29Diapers.com and author of Ecofrugal Baby: How To Save 70% Off Baby’s First Year
As if learning how to give birth to a baby, care for her and rearrange your life around her weren’t enough to stress you out as an expecting parent, you also have to figure out how to afford her! And many new parents today are also concerned about leaving a healthy planet behind for their children. How do you raise a child in a green household when you’re stretching every dollar to be a stay-at-home parent or pay for daycare?
Great news! Several key green parenting choices are not only better for your baby and the planet, they’re also better for your wallet than the mainstream alternatives! This means that for once, there is an easy choice for parents who want to be green.
Cloth Diapers: Modern cloth diapers are made of high-tech fabrics, fasten with Velcro or snaps, and are easy to clean by just throwing a waterproof bag of them in the washer and dryer twice a week. They’re better for your baby than disposables, which contain chemicals such as dioxin and SAP (which have been associated with endocrine disruption and cancer); they keep one ton of trash per year per kid out of landfills; and they will save you up to $1,000 per year per kid over disposables!
Breastfeeding: Breastmilk has been shown to do everything from kill cancer cells (!) to give adolescents stronger leg muscles than their formula-fed friends. And the financial benefits of breastfeeding also last a lifetime: formula costs $1,200-$1,500 per year per kid. Put that in a college fund and you’ve already saved 15% of the money needed to send your baby to a public university! And since as few as 11% of U.S. moms currently breastfeed, just think of all those formula containers that could be kept out of the landfill by more moms breastfeeding.
Free Baby Gear: The Internet offers new ways for parents to find green and high-quality baby gear for huge discounts or completely for free! Whether it’s through Freecycle groups, blog giveaways, flash sale sites that offer one-day deals of 50% off popular baby items, or online promo codes you can combine with Facebook fan coupons and clearance sales at your local baby boutique, there are dozens of ways to find baby gear at anywhere from 50-100% off.
Laura K. Cowan is a local blogger and the author of Ecofrugal Baby: How To Save 70% Off Baby’s First Year. Her blog, 29Diapers.com, offers a complete explanation of cloth diapers and hosts frequent giveaways. She will be hosting a free talk and book signing at the Ypsilanti District Library on Wed. January 19th at 7 pm, and a class ($30) at Whole Foods on Washtenaw Ave. on Sat. January 22nd. For more information, call (734) 834-2401 or email laurakcowan@gmail.com.