7 Ways to Repurpose Old Baby Items
Waste not, want not!
Just because your children are getting older doesn’t mean you have to toss out all those useful (and expensive!) baby items. An important part of living a healthy lifestyle means reducing your impact on the environment by limiting the number of new items you purchase. If it can safely be reused, you should find a way. Here are ways you can reuse old baby items.
1. Baby wipes container becomes an organizer.
Those plastic containers you’re always throwing out make perfect organizer boxes for all your little items, like makeup, hair accessories, art supplies, writing implements, sewing materials, and other odds and ends. Label their contents with a heavy marker and stack them easily in a closet or drawer.
2. Baby food jars become… baby food jars!
At some point you’ll buy those tiny baby food jars from the supermarket. If you ever make your own baby food, these jars (properly cleaned and sanitized, of course) are perfect containers. After pureeing your baby’s homemade food, refill the jars and store them in your refrigerator.
Baby food jars are also handy for spices and paints.
2. A baby’s crib becomes a toddler’s bed.
You can remove the front piece of the crib entirely or cut it down the middle (leaving room for your toddler to get in and out of the crib, but enough “fencing” to keep him or her from rolling out). This is a great way to transition your child into a big kid’s bed. They’ll adjust to a space they can get in and out of on their own, but it still feels familiar.
Click here for a detailed guide.
3. A changing table becomes a serving cart.
This will require some woodworking skills, but nothing you can’t learn on YouTube. By installing a heavy-duty set of wheels to one side of the piece, your multi-shelved changing table is the perfect way to serve food and drinks to your guests outdoors, or at a dinner party where there isn’t room to stock the table.
Click here for a detailed guide.
4. Baby socks become dusting rags.
Truthfully, you can turn any old piece of clothing into a rag, but baby socks are handy because you can slip them over your fingers or hands to quickly dust difficult areas, like bookcases full of items or the tops of cabinets. Once finished dusting, throw them in the wash with everything else.
5. The crib becomes a toddler’s desk.
By entirely removing the front section of the crib and mattress, you can create a toddler-height desk that’s perfect for arts and crafts, coloring and playing with table-top toys. Hang crafting equipment along the bars at the back and sides of the crib. Place one or two child-sized chairs in front of the desk. You could paint the surface of the desk a new color or let your kids draw whatever they like.
Click here for a detailed guide.
6. Send your baby clothes to a different family.
There’s never a reason to discard children’s clothing. Kids grow so quickly that buying everything new would put a tremendous burden on any family. Rather than throw away your child’s old clothes, bag them up and store them for your next child, or offer them to a family with new children of their own.
7. A diaper pail becomes a compost bin.
The diaper pail’s biggest benefit is that it contains odors. You can turn your old pail into a compost collector. Store organic and biodegradable materials within as part of your “go green” lifestyle.
Written by Holly MacLean from Wee Urban
As a new mom, Holly was driven to start Wee Urban™ to offer the modern family a unique and fresh collection of eco-friendly baby gear and accessories that goes beyond the conventional and explores the exceptional! Tired of traditional pinks and blues and cute motifs, we offer sophisticated designs, “conscious” organic alternatives, practical functionality and superior quality. Using our custom certified organic cotton blends, low-impact dyes, and other trendsetting fabrics, we hope to inspire families to be make better choices and of course- do it all in urban style!
Beyond our organic cotton and azo-free dyes, Wee Urban uses 100% post-consumer packaging and tags for our Wee Dreams™ Sleep Bags. Our distinctive screen-printing is done with 100% eco-inks and are all phthalate free.
We also recycle our remnants and donate as much as possible to local elementary schools to help with arts and crafts programs.
For more information, visit wwww.weeurban.com
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