Organic Kids' Clothing for Cheaper

My first conscious consumer post for your pleasure:

Lately, I have been reading a lot about how cotton is grown and manufactured. I have learned that it is not a very pretty picture. It is the most pesticide-drenched crop out there, and it has all kinds of bad environmental impacts. I am not an expert on the subject, but all you have to do is google "why organic cotton" or something like that and you will get tons of sites that explain all about it. I will link a few at the end of this post. So anyways, reading about all of this makes me think twice about buying non-organic cotton. It is somewhat unavoidable due to the cost of organic cotton products being way more expensive, but I would like to add a few organic pieces to my wardrobe once in a while, in hopes of one day having a good majority.

It takes some searching to find fashionable organic clothes for adults, but one thing is for sure, there is no shortage of adorable organic cotton, bamboo, and even soy children's clothing. Of course, a lot of it is prohibitively expensive, but one thing I have discovered is that you just need to keep your eyes peeled, and things inevitably go on sale, especially when they are off-season. Even on sale, some of these clothes are still a bit pricey, but it is certainly better than full price, and most of them are so simple that they will go with almost anything, so you get a lot of wear for your buck (until the kid grows up a size of course). After reading, "The fact that babies are smaller means they absorb more pesticides per pound of body weight than adults. The bottom line is toxins stay in their systems longer and can have more impact than fully developed adults" (wikipedia: organic baby products) it sounds worth some extra money.

Kicky Pants is a company that sells baby and toddler clothes made of organic bamboo, which is a fabric with amazing temperature regulation qualities, and is incredibly soft. I went to their site and lo and behold, they have a bunch of off-season stuff on sale 50% off right now! Check it out!!

Another one of my favorite organic cotton retailers is one I have mentioned before. Happy Green Bee has sales sometimes, but one thing that is awesome is that they have a factory store on their website which has small amounts of items for very cheap which are changing all the time. We are talking numbers like 80% off.

Shipping is reasonable on both sites.

I will update more sales like this as I see them.

Links:

Wikipedia about organic cotton: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_cotton

Facts about cotton: http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=11

"Why Organic Cotton is Better: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/Organic-Cotton-Benefits.aspx

Of course, these sites are going to be biased, but the facts are generally the same on any site I've seen. As always, don't trust someone else, do your own research.

bloggin'

I want to take a minute to write on a couple of things that are semi-related to this blog's topic:

A couple of my unofficial resolutions this year are to be a more conscious consumer and to be more environmentally friendly in my daily life...

I find that it is often hard to balance being frugal with these aforementioned goals. Yeah, sometimes you can find a deal on an organic food or whatnot, but it is not usually often enough to make buying organic/fair trade/etc. a viable option for day-to-day purchases. So I frequently end up in a situation where I have to choose between my money and my conscience. This is never fun. So I am hoping to make it a goal of mine these year to explore the line between the worlds of having MORE crap vs. having QUALITY crap. The way I see it (sometimes) is I could go to Old Navy and spend $100 and get like 10 things (this is with combining sales/clearance and coupons of course), or I could buy from either a local business (i.e. Park + Vine) or an online shop that sells items which take into account environmental sustainability, working conditions, potentially harmful chemical use, activism, philanthropy, etc, etc. and only get a few things for that same $100; and leave without a guilty conscience. You may be wondering if I really, truly do deal with a moral dilemma or remorse after buying stuff from big chains, or am I just saying that to make myself sound good. I am here to tell you that I sincerely do have constant inner turmoil over purchase decisions I make on a daily basis. Of course I know that I can never be perfect and only buy things which do not harm anyone (or the planet) in any way at all, but I do think I can make an effort to be a little better and just a little more thoughtful about where and how I spend my valuable consumer dollars. I know I can make my conscience happier if I can just get over my wanting more more more and learn to appreciate the value of only having SOME, some really fantastic things which I bought after much forethought about the ethical issues surrounding said things.

Anyways, this is turning into a rant, but my point is that I want to try to be a more conscious consumer w/o putting my family into the poorhouse, and therefore, my couponing ways will need to be re-evaluated to some extent. Will I still be looking for bargains? Of course. But I will be looking for bargains in a different way, taking into account more criteria than before. Is that pair of Target shoes I bought off the clearance rack really a bargain if you can't stop thinking about the poverty-stricken sweat-shop workers (possibly children) who toiled away at every stitch, or the environmental impact of the rubber on the soles, or the chemicals being leached by the "imitation upper" or whatever.... I just don't know anymore...

Does this mean I will never buy anything from Target again. Most likely not. But I will be thinking twice before I do it. Do I really NEED this? Is there a better option out there? Will it be that much more expensive? Is it worth it? ETC>

So I'm thinking I will start making posts about the things I buy here and there and try to sort through the decision process for particular purchases. This is more for me than anything, but hopefully it will be interesting to someone else out there as well. But no biggie, I don't think much of anyone reads this blog anyways ;D

But if anyone is out there, you are welcome to follow along on my journey to more conscious consumerism.

And I will still post some deals too, don't worry.

(Sorry if this post is disjointed, I am sleep-deprived and feeling it at the moment)

Cheap baby food and snacks!

Amazon now has baby food and snacks on subscribe and save. The prices are already good on these items, but now you can save 15% more if you subscribe to have it delivered every x amount of months. And you can go in and end your subscription at any time, even after your first order. Plus they usually send you an email before your next shipment to make sure you still want it and then you can either unsubscribe or change the shipment date if you want to.

I found Earth's Best Crunchin' Crackers on there for about $13 for 6 boxes. These are usually $3.99 a box at Kroger, and you rarely find coupons for them. That makes them about $2.16 ea. on Amazon. That's a good deal, especially for organic! I also found Earth's Best apple juice boxes 44 count which came out to be about .5 per box. I usually by Junior Juice by Hansen's juice boxes at Kroger which run .25 per box, so Amazon is a much better deal!

The only problem with ordering these things on Amazon is that you have to order in bulk, the amount depends on how many are packaged together, so like I said 6 boxes of crackers, or 44 juice boxes, so it is only a good deal to buy it if you know you will for sure use them all. But I don't see my lil' one not eating crackers and drinking apple juice anytime soon.

Also myfrugaladventures has the scoop on how to get Amazon Prime for 3 months for $1 right now! That means free 2-day shipping in all Amazon orders!!

PS I want to add that you can find great deals for all kinds of things with subscribe and save on Amazon, but I am featuring baby food because it is a newly added product to the program.

Old Navy Deal

If you buy something at Old Navy right now they will give you a coupon to use for 20% off gift cards from Dec. 18 to Dec. 24. My genius idea is to go buy something really cheap, like a clearance item, to get the coupon. Then go back and buy a gift certificate with the coupon (you can use it for up to $300 in gcs). So there you are saving 20% right off the bat. Then use the gift card later tobuy merchandise and ALSO use a coupon at that time (they release Qs all the time on their website and sometimes in ads in newspapers). I find 20% and 30% off Qs all the time. So, in theory, if you could find a 30% coupon to use later, you could end up saving 50% (the original 20% + the 30% Q) on future merchandise.

If you are a frequent Old Navy shopper, this is totally worth it! Since gift cards don't expire soon like coupons do, you can hold on to it as long as you need to in order to maximize your deal. Maybe you could even use it to buy school clothes for your kids this coming fall.

Hello, Adult Freebie!

ALREADY OUT OF STOCK!!!!

Grab on to your girdles ladies and gents b/c I have just come across a fantastic freebie that is sure to knock your socks off (and your boots together!)

This "adult accessories" website, Tickle, is giving away free $25 gift certificates right now. This means free or close to free naughty swag! They also carry aromatherapy candles and stuff for you prudes out there ;D

The gift certificate code will be emailed to you so you can use it right away!

Cheap Robeez!

Robeez has holiday shoes on sale for $12.99 with free shipping right now (while supplies last!) That's a great deal on some normally very expensive baby shoes. I can attest to the quality of these shoes. Penny wore hers out all over Europe when she was learning how to walk. They are so great for early walkers because they can feel the ground really well in these soft shoes.

Delicious Coupon!

I am working on my grocery list right now and searching for Qs to match things I need and want. I came across a good one that I want to share. I recently tried Seeds of Change's Tikka Masala simmer sauce, and let me tell you, it was fan-frickin-tastic. My grandma and husband agreed too! You just simmer 1 lb. of your favorite protein (I used chicken) in the sauce for 10 minutes and voila, you have an amazing Indian dinner that people will give you many compliments on, thinking you did more than just open a jar.

The jars run $3.99 at Kroger, which I really don't think is bad for something that makes a whole meal and super easy. It is also organic, so that factors in to the price. I found that they have a coupon on their site for $1 off any Seeds of Change item. Snap it up, you won't regret it!