Winner of Giveaway #1: Plum Organics

EcoMom.com Plum Organics Giveaway

5.31.10- 

The Winner is Whit L. Congrats. You won $20 in FREE Plum or Revolution Baby/Toddler Food. Out of the two people whom filled out the form. Being my first giveaway, I hope more of you take part in the next one!  But thanks to the 2 beautiful ladies who took the time to fill out the 4 questions!! I hope it was fun. 

Click here to learn more about Plum Organics and Revolution Food.

Enjoy your Plum Organics!!!

The Helpful Sister

Bumkins Diaper covers on Sale

Bumkins Diaper Covers on Sale!

Check out info on my "Current Hells Bells Sales" page here for more info.

Ideas for baby boy parties. You will be covered.....

One of my favorite sites has a great post about ideas for baby boy parties. Use it all, bits, or get your creative juices flowing. So cute and practical!!!

Here is the link on Cool Mom Picks! Click HERE

New Affiliate: Diapers.com Free Shipping on any order over $49 ALWAYS

If you know me or you are my delivery truck driver, you know I love love love Diapers.com. This is why I have added them to "sister approved" affiliates. You can know click on the banner (to the left) and it will take you directly to Diapers.com. Plus, this mom gets a cool % on anything that is purchased. Try it out and you will be hooked. 

You can get ANYTHING for baby there. I have checked and most of their prices are right on with Baby R Us, Target or cheaper. I have found  Amazon sometimes beats their price but you also have to wait longer for shipping with Amazon. I love Diapers.com. Forward onto any Mom or Dad. Once you have placed a few orders, it automatically generates you past products so you do not have to search the next time. I get my order placed within seconds.

FYI: Sometimes I even get delivery NEXT DAY! It is so great. No driving to get stuff and they have great sales. Check back often, because I will be posting when they happen!

Cheers to easy and fast shopping!! 

The Helpful Sister

NEW Article of Interest: Taking Care of You & Baby!

Click Here http://thehelpfulsister.blogspot.com/p/articles-of-interest.html

The Green Nursery Website and Store! Recommended

There are so many baby, kid, family etc. sites out there who are getting in on the movement to lesson the waste put on this earth while providing items for babies and families that are great quality, cute and affordable at the same time. Here is a website you should check out. The Green Nursery Why?  

• Organic Materials are used
• Products are fair-trade or USA made
• Products are CPSIA certified to be lead-free
• All Feeding products are BPA Free
• All Toys are non-toxic 

All great reasons. They also have a store called Barefoot-Eco & Barefoot Kids 615 W. Kirkwood Ave. Bloomington, IN 4740, so forward onto any of your friends who live near by.

They are also giving away $50 on Facebook, The Green Nursery. You enter by becoming a Fan and then recommending your friends. Simple for a chance to win $50. You can also find them as one of my favorites pages on The Helpful Sister, on Facebook. Good luck.

Have cloth Diapers or want a chance to get some Free?

One of the best ways to start or increase your stash is to enter into giveaways. They are fun to enter. Some of the links have you become fans on facebook, or sign up for their newsletter. You can always "unlike" or unsubscribe, but you have a great chance or winning some Free.

The Cloth Diaper Blog has a list of current Cloth Diaper giveaways. Click HERE to see the complete list with links to enter. Some are ending tomorrow.  PS. You might have to scroll down a little to find the post.

The Helpful Sister

Off Topic Deal Page added

Every time I find a good deal on Amazon or elsewhere,  that might not be related to babies and mommas,  I will be posting on the "Off Topic Deal" page.

Check it out, top right of the blog, under the header.
Forward onto friends.
No searching needed by you.
Just click, browse, and shop.
Deal, deals and more deals.
Check the page out every week.

PS. If you find a deal email me at helpfulsister@yahoo.com and I will post it!

What's New on The Helpful Sister

I have added a new Hells Bells Sale, check it out. Plus, I posted my first article of interest. Check out both on their respectable pages.

Remember if you have questions feel free to email me helpfulsister@yahoo.com or post on my facebook page, The Helpful Sister.
Still working on the graphics so sorry for the plain page.

Diaper Junction: Feed Your Stash Fridays Giveaway! Win GroVia Diapers

You can enter 12 different ways at here. 

Check out what GroVia is all about here

I use the Hybrid style diapers from GroVia and I love them. The All-in-Ones are pretty neat as well. 

Company is based out of Montana!!  

Winner is announced on Thursday May 27th!  

Enter Helpful Sister Giveaway

Find all the details on the "giveaway #1" page. Enter before Monday May 31st!
Make sure you fill out the form to enter, Look for "here is how you enter" section.

FYI, I don't get get paid for the reviews I do. They are honest and all me! Read more on my disclosure page.

Let them know....

How many of you have children with teachers who are retiring? The school year is almost over so get something for those teachers who are taking their chalk and apple home with them for the last time. Check out the web site Cool Mom Picks for some very unique retirement gifts. Teachers do so much for our children, don't they?  Click on this link which will take you to Cool Mom Picks and their picks for unique gifts. Happy Shopping. Unique Gifts: Teacher Retirement

The Green Nursery Deal 20% Off

Great web site and a great deal!!! Follow them on Facebook, too!

The Green Nursery Tuesday's 'Deal of the Day' - Get 20% Off all Wet Bags and Pail Liners! Use coupon code 'dirty-diapers' at checkout! http://www.thegreennursery.com

 

Know anyone in Michigan?

I wish I knew someone in Michigan, specificially Ferndale, Michigan. There is a store called No Pins Required (http://www.nopinsrequired.com) that if I lived there or knew of someone there I would recommend them to drop in.

I recently placed an online order of GroBaby, new name is GroVia (http://www.gro-via.com) Biosoaker pads from No Pins Required. First off the web store front is adorable and easy to locate what you need. Secondly, they offered great customer service. How many of you are finding customer service to be less and less these days? The web site made it easy to order, I got a cute little note saying the product was shipped and the delivery was right on time. Plus, inside the box, which had old newspapers for filler!!! I got a personalized, hand written note saying thank you, here is a sample to try and please shop with us again!

This is hard to find these days. Will I shop with them again? Of course. Do I recommend you check out their website? Of course! Should you tell anyone who lives near or around Ferndale Michigan to stop in and see what they are all about? .....of course.

No Pins Required is Helpful Sister approved!

Happy shopping!

Helpful Sister,

Linda

Cloth vs. Disposable

What to do? When you think of "cloth" diapers do you think folding up rectangle pieces of cotton and pinning our baby in the middle of night? Do you think $$$$ and lots of it? Do you think I would rather just use disposable and once you put them in the trash never think of them again? 

I have put some thought into this. So much so that my 10 month old just starting using "cloth" diapers. My thoughts were of the money I had to invest to get the diapers I wanted but also I guess I was OK with the fact that the current disposables diapers take 100's of years to biodegrade. I guess I was OK with that since once I put them in the diaper bin, I did not have to think about what they were doing to the environment.

Well now I am thinking. Why? Because these days "cloth" diapers have come a long way! There are many sources for you to look at to make up your own mind. I just read a great article out of Mothering Magazine (May/June) issue which goes through the different kinds of cloth diapers. The diapers I have come to love are called "hybrid" cloth diapers and the maker is GroVia (http://www.gro-via.com). These diapers are so great because they grow with the baby. You buy their cute little shells and you can do 3 things. Purchase their soaker pad (snaps in shells), biosoaker (diaper like, sticks in shells) or get both. I have found so far I like the biosoakers since I just peal and stick in the shell. They are easy to use and cute to show off. Plus, I have found I wash my shells about every 3 days. Not because a blow out or they got peed on but just to keep them clean. Not much laundry for these cloth diapers.

What about leaks? What about the cost? What about the landfills? 

Well my 10 month old boy has been using these diapers for 2 weeks with a total of 2 leaks. I personally think it was because we, the parents,  put it on wrong.  This little man is a mover when changing!!!

As for the cost, I have spent very little, about $100. How? Because GroVia used to be named GroBaby and the GroBaby brand is on sale, so I have got some amazing deals from other online stores like http://www.thenaturalbabyco.com, http://www.nopinsrequired.com, http://www.thegreennursery.com and http://www.amazon.com. Plus since our baby was born we have invested over $700 in diapers which are made with gels which could cause rashes plus stay in landfills for 100's of years!!!

The investment is well worth it. The diapers are well made and the quality is just perfect for little buns. Don't forget that that the biosoakers take around 90-100 days to decompose!!! DAYS!!!! You can even flush them or use them as part of your compost. What a great way to do your part and help make sure this Earth is going to be around for your kids or the kids you know. Check out GroVia and learn for yourself. 

Also, I will be posting other reviews on other diapers later on. 

So to cloth or not to cloth?

The Helpful Sister,

Linda

The Start of Something....

Thoughts become things, don't they? My thoughts have now created this blog called The Helpful Sister. After about 3 years of wondering what to do with my "spare" time, I have decided to start to do something for other moms, kids, babies, aunts, grandparents, friends!!! This blog is for you. 

Come here every week, yes every week. There will be reviews of products that I have used, my friends have used, sales that are happening NOW, or coming, sites to check out, products to check out and much more.

Why so many links like to Amazon, Franklin Goose? These sites I approve of. You click here and it takes you to the site, no having to type or save the link. Go ahead use the technology and try new and different things. Expansion is good, idling is not. Click, click, click!!!

Action! Save this as a bookmark, send on to friends, family, co-workers. This blog will be something I am sure you will get something out of. Send me requests of products to look into, or to find. I love looking up unique things that maybe you would not find at Baby-r-Us, Target, etc. 

This is my passion and it is to help you find, search and locate cool things that will help you, your baby, your friend who is expecting, your niece, your granddaughter. Whomever. 

Help is on the way and it will be glorious!!

The Helpful Sister,

Linda