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Odorless Diaper Disposal…Does it really exist?! (GIVEAWAY!)

March 26, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 83 Comments

by Alanna Peters

I received a complimentary Whisper Diaper Pail to test. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own!

When I had my second baby I didn’t even give a thought to dirty diaper disposal. I figured we’d use the diaper pail we used with our first daughter. The problem presented itself when we realized that her diaper pail was still in full use with overnight training pants. (And boy, is it stinky!) We quickly realized we’d need another solution for the little one. We tried a wet bag hung over the door but it wasn’t so hot at hiding odors.

And then we got the Whisper Diaper Pail. Ta-da!!! No more stink.

The Whisper Diaper Pail just launched last November, and is a little different from most other diaper pails out there. Most of them rely on liner bags or air fresheners to cover up the smell. The Whisper pail features ODOGard Spray Technology, which doesn’t mask odors, but actually eliminates them! That’s a pretty steep claim to make, so I had to give it a try for myself.

Here’s what I discovered: it works! The first week we used it we had a LOT of poopy diapers. I did notice just a hint of that sour newborn poo smell, but it wasn’t bad at all, especially compared to the other two diaper solutions we had been using. And the best part? When I went to change out the liner bag I didn’t smell a THING. Crazy! Usually it’s like opening Pandora’s box whenever it’s time to change the diaper pail bag. Since that first week the number of poopy diapers has decreased a bit, and so has that hint of odor. I seriously NEVER smell the diaper pail in the nursery! Pretty awesome.

The Whisper is:

Odor-Free – thanks to the ODOGard spray!

Hands-Free – a foot pedal easily lifts the spring-loaded lid

Worry-Free – the ODOGard spray is safe for people and pets, and the child-proof safety lock keeps the pail secure for those with curious little ones!

There are a few things that I think could be improved on the Whisper Diaper Pail. There is no handle for carrying the pail. I’ve always carried our other pail out to the garage before emptying it so that the stink wouldn’t fill up the house. With the Whisper the stink isn’t much of an issue, but it would still be more convenient to easily be able to move the pail. The way we have our nursery set up, the diaper pail is blocking a cabinet door so I frequently have to pick it up and move it. I’d be very excited to see some kind of carrying handle added to the Whisper! The other thing that I found to be a little awkward with emptying the pail is that there is no handle of any sort on the inner can. It’s pretty difficult to pull it out to take out the full liner bag, especially because it’s quite damp from all the ODOGard spray. It’s just the slightest bit icky to touch that moisture, even though I know it’s just the spray.

The only other issue I have with the pail is totally user error. You are supposed to press the spray button twice – before you open the pail, and again after you close it. (The first spray keeps down any odors contained inside, and the second spray keeps new odors from filling the room.) I find it hard to remember to push the spray button both times, if at all! I’ve actually not had any issues with forgetting though. If I have a very stinky poopy diaper I’m pretty good about remembering to press the spray button. And if I do forget to press it, the odor really hasn’t been an issue at all.

The Whisper pail comes with a child-proof safety lock and a one-year warranty. And, best of all, moms can use standard seven or eight-gallon plastic trash bags inside the diaper pail for easy, “hands-off” diaper disposal. I didn’t have any of these bags on hand but I do have a huge box of 13-gallon bags, so I’ve been using those. They work perfectly! I just tuck any excess bag at the top into the convenient little slots at the top of the inner can. The pail holds quite a few diapers – my baby is still having very frequent diaper changes and we have to empty the pail approximately every 4 days or so.

So while there are a couple things that I think could be improved on the Whisper Diaper Pail, overall I am very impressed. I would highly recommend it if you are looking for a diaper pail solution!

Want to try it for yourself? The Whisper Diaper Pail retails for about $79.99, and is currently available on Amazon.com for $64.99. (Why not add it to your Amazon Baby Registry?) Two packs of Whisper® Refill Spray Cans are also available for purchase on Amazon for $14.99. (Each spray can averages about 200 diapers with normal use.)

Want to stay in touch with Whisper?

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Win it! One lucky winner will receive a Whisper Diaper Pail of their own.
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Bring the Library Home: Bookboard Subscription GIVEWAWAY!!!

March 25, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 7 Comments

I am a member of Bookboard’s Blog Ambassador program. I am compensated, from time to time, with free products and monetary payments. Any views expressed in this post are completely my own.

I’ve been talking about the awesomeness that is Bookboard for a good long while, now. Bookboard is an online digital library subscription service: basically, it puts a library of children’s books at your fingertips, right on your iPad. Bookboard even has its own librarian on staff, always looking out for new titles to add to the collection.

With our Bookboard membership, we have access to new reading material every day, and the more we read, the more great books we unlock. I have personally witnessed how this keeps kids motivated and interested in reading more. They become little book monsters, fed by pages! 🙂

photo credit: demandaj via photopin cc
photo credit: atmtx via photopin cc

And the cost? Well the free trial is, you know, FREE. And then the subscription service costs $4.99/month, which is slightly less than what we typically rack up in late fees every time we visit the local library. If you are more organized than me and tend to get your books back on time, the fee is still well worth it, in my opinion, simply for the variety and ease of use. And if you already have a book monster at home, you don’t have to check out the maximum number of books every time you go to the library, as Bookboard will be a fantastic supplement.

You can read all the details on how to get started with a free trial to Bookboard. But for today, let’s make one of you a winner!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a 1 year subscription to Bookboard! If you love what you see and sign up for a subscription and then win this contest, you will be refunded!

Mandatory entry: sign up for the free trial at Bookboard (remember, they DON’T take your credit card information, so there is NO RISK with the free trial. It is really and truly FREE!). Select and read one book and leave the name of the title in the comments section, along with the email address you used for the free trial. You must have an iPad with iOS5 or higher for Bookboard to work.

The contest will run until 11:59 pm am on April 8th when a winner will be selected using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please. Stuff Parents Need is not responsible for prize fulfillment.

Preventing Flat Head Syndrome with The Tortle!

March 13, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 1 Comment

by Alanna Peters

A complimentary Tortle beanie was provided to me for review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Are you familiar with Plagiocephaly and Torticollis? They are also known as Flat Head Syndrome. I was surprised to learn that more than a million babies are diagnosed with this condition each year, and that is in the U.S. alone! Plagiocephaly is the flattening of a baby’s skull and Torticollis is a condition when a baby has unbalanced neck muscles. I have noticed more and more babies wearing corrective helmets lately, and now I am beginning to understand why. Every baby is at risk of developing Flat Head Syndrome due to their lack of movement. While lying on the back is the safest position for a baby, it can also lead to flattening of the head. Tummy time is a great way to reposition baby’s head but if your baby is like mine, lying on the stomach is not always the most pleasant position for more than a few minutes at a time!

Thanks to Tortle, there is now another great way to prevent Flat Head Syndrome. The Tortle is an FDA cleared knit beanie that gently positions baby’s head to one side or the other while lying down or sitting. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all babies under 6 months have their heads frequently repositioned, and the Tortle is a great way to do so. Simply place the Tortle beanie on baby’s head with the support roll behind his or her ear. After each feeding, rotate the roll to the other side of the head. You can find out more about the Tortle in this video.

I’m excited to tell you that the Tortle is now available for purchase at Babies R Us and BuyBuy BABY Stores, and online at Target.com. Target.com will carry three Tortle designs; Blue Elephant, Pink Flowers and Solid White. The Tortle beanies are available in medium and large sizes at a suggested retail price of $19.99. Through this new, easy availability, Tortle will have an opportunity to further increase awareness of Flat Head Syndrome and the ease in which it can be prevented or treated!

I gave the Tortle a try and it’s quite easy to use. I did feel like it was a little tight to put on even though my newborn’s head is tiny. I had a hard time getting it all the way down over her ears. I don’t think it was really much harder to put on than a normal beanie though. One downside I found is that the Tortle is not for use overnight. I wear my baby so often that overnight is really the only time she’s lying down! I’m sure that will change as she gets a bit older though. The biggest challenge for me is simply remembering to put it on. (Hello, Mommy Brain!) I definitely feel like it’s worth using though – I’d SO much rather prevent Flat Head Syndrome than treat it!

Want to stay in touch with Tortle? Follow Tortle and creator Dr. Scott on social media at the links below:

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Preschool Geometry Lessons Through Play (Giveaway!)

March 12, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 44 Comments

We just started playing with a new game sent by Learning Resources called Shapes Don’t Bug Me. It is some serious hands-on geometry fun, designed with pre-K children in mind. As it turns out, my 22-month-0ld also loves to play with the shapes included in the kit, which makes this an activity that the girls will happily do together.

Cue the angels! Cooperative play is happening thanks to geometry!!!

Does it maybe seem a tad overzealous of me to have geometry based learning activities for a kid who can’t yet write her entire name? I can totally see that perspective. But one thing we have learned since putting Darah into Montessori school is that kids’ brains are incredible machines, and they are rapidly mapping information that they will be able to pull from down the road. Any time I can find very tangible ways to help kids grasp what might be thought of as abstract concepts (like math), I leap at the chance to try it out.

By playing with trapezoids and hexagons and quarter circles, my kids are getting a very tactile experience with objects and really learning about them and how they interface with other objects to create shapes. Their muscle memory is being developed as they work with the shapes, and by the time they are learning things like the Pythagorean Theorem in middle school, they will have developed a great level of comfort with shapes and angles that will serve them well!

I’d love to hear if you have any activities that are geometry-based that your kids like to do!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win Shapes Don’t Bug Me, courtesy of Learning Resources.

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

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Domino Sugar Provides a Frenzy-Free Morning (Giveaway!)

March 11, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 134 Comments

Special thanks to Domino Sugar and Mom It Forward Blogger Network for partnering with me on this compensated post. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own, as always.

I often tell potential blog partners that if they have a product that will save busy parents time, money, or both, then I want to hear about it. brought me a “sweet” little life hack by way of their new products, and I can’t wait to show them to you! Check out two ways that Domino Sugar is saving my family precious time in the morning.

Brown Sugar Bagels in a Flash

I’ve been eating bagels with cream cheese and brown sugar on top since college, when a friend of mine suggested it as a great topping option. I’ve never looked back, and now it is Darah’s favorite way to have her bagels. My brown sugar, however, is in a container that we keep tucked away in the pantry. It is still being stored as if it is a seldom-used ingredient, when it fact, we use it quite frequently during breakfast.

Check out Domino’s new flip-top feature, which is available for white or brown sugar. This makes it a breeze to grab the brown sugar and quickly pour it as we are serving up bagels for everyone in the house on a busy school day morning. I love it!!!

Cold and Sweet Coffee in Seconds

If you’ve spent any amount of time on my site, then you know that I simply adore my iced coffee. I like it sweet, too, and I’ve learned how to make iced coffee VERY quickly using my Keurig and my reusable K-cup (saves me a FORTUNE, by the way!). But since my drink is pretty much cold from the start, I pay the price with my sugar, which takes more time to dissolve than it would if I had made the drink hot.

In the same convenient container type that my Domino Brown Sugar now comes in, I’ve also got Domino Quick Dissolve Superfine Sugar, and it does exactly what it claims to do: dissolve fast! I knew it wouldn’t show up well in my coffee, so I took a picture of Domino Quick Dissolve Sugar just after pouring it into a glass of cold water. It was almost dissolved by the time I grabbed my camera to take the photo.

The same was true when I made my (second) coffee this morning: it was pretty much all gone by the time I snapped the photo! If you drink iced tea, lemonade, or any other beverage that could use a little sweetening, this is a must-have product!

These new products from Domino Sugar retail for $2.75 and certainly shave a few seconds off our morning routine, as well as keep our products in containers that help keep messes off the floor. I’ll take all the help I can get, and I’m sure many of you feel the same way! You can keep up with the latest promotions (and coupon offerings!) by following Domino Sugar on Facebook and .

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a coupon to try Domino Pourable Sugar for free!

To enter: leave your email address in the comment section of the blog post AND tell me your favorite sweetened drink!

The contest will run until 11:59pm am on March 18th when a winner will be selected using Rafflecopter. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please. Stuff Parents Need is not responsible for prize fulfillment.

Putting Easter Candy to Work as a Centerpiece (Giveaway!)

March 4, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 107 Comments

I received product from HERSHEY’S and a stipend from Global Influence for this post. All thoughts and opinions listed here are my own, as always.

I don’t know about you, but my 4-year-old started asking for us to decorate for Easter the day after Valentine’s Day. I gently reminded her that she was forgetting St. Patrick’s Day, and all things green and gold. That appeased her until last week, when she INSISTED that we start putting some bunnies out on display.

For some moms, the thought of decorating for each season puts a twinkle in their eyes, and a spring in their step. Crafts and all things creative all their element.

Not so for me. I never really decorated much for any season except for Christmas before I had kids, but seeing how excited they get about putting out knick knacks leaves me feeling as though I should be doing SOMETHING. But after just 5 minutes on Pinterest searching for Easter crafts, I start to feel overwhelmed and WAY out of my comfort zone.

But you know what? It really doesn’t have to be that way! HERSHEY’S recently sent me some of their Easter candy options, and it occurred to me that I could do some very practical decorating, by making use of some of the candy I would be buying, anyway for Easter baskets. Instead of spending a ton of money on craft supplies that might or might not get used, and that will definitely cause me stress and anxiety, I could just buy candy. Buying in a bulk is a great way to make your dollars stretch even further.

Sounds like a plan!

So here’s how I created a cute centerpiece just by using the candy I would have already purchased, plus $3 in other supplies. I went to the Dollar Tree and spent $2 on 2 bags of the grass that looks more like paper than plastic. I only had to buy 2 bags because each bag came with 3 different colors, and I only wanted to use green. So if you’d like to use more than 1 color, you’ll probably only need 1 bag. I also spent $1 on a bunny figurine to stick in the middle of the display. And I had a pretty wooden bowl on hand, already. You could use any sort of tray to make this display, or you could even create it on a mantel or shelf without a container.

All of the candy you see came from bags that I would have purchased anyway for filling Easter baskets. This idea can put some of it to use ahead of time, and the candy you don’t use for the display can just get tucked away in your closet until the Easter bunny needs it!

After I placed the grass in the container, I added JOLLY RANCHER Hard Candy lollipops. They have a bag with an Easter theme, and I picked out the Easter egg designs to go in the back.

Then I placed the CADBURY Mini Eggs along the front, as well as a Cadbury Egg, as if it were hidden in the grass.

I took the larger WHOPPERS ROBIN EGGS and put one on each side of the display, made to look like little bird nests. So cute!

Finally, I sprinkled some HERSHEY’S KISSES Milk Chocolates around the area where the bunny was doing his watering. I thought it was cute to make it look like he was growing an Easter candy garden.

So there you have it: a very affordable, very resourceful Easter decoration idea that even the craft-challenged can create! This is also a fun one to have the kids help with; they can create whatever type of “candy garden” they want!

And I certainly can’t say that I’m dreading when the time comes to “clean up” and “put away” this display. I just hope it makes it to Easter! The kids will actually withhold from eating it; it’s me I’m worried about!

Win it!: I’m excited to be giving away an assortment of HERSHEY’S candy products, like what you see featured above!

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.
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How to Organize and Store Wrapping Paper (Giveaway!)

February 25, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 76 Comments

I don’t know what the gift wrap situation is in your house, but my husband is NOT a fan of having tons and tons of rolls. In fact, he has told me that he would be perfectly happy using up an entire roll before ever buying another one.

I’m not a fan of the art of gift wrapping (I wrap presents like a 5 year old…no, seriously). But I DO appreciate having a little variety in my wrapping paper choices (or, let’s be real, my gift bag choices). So we compromise, and I only purchase 2 or 3 rolls every year to replace the ones that get used up. I show EPIC restraint during the after Christmas sales, let me tell you!

Even so, over the years all of our gift wrap supplies have grown a bit, and take up 2 boxes that slide under the bed instead of just 1. Basically, it’s a mess, and for the size house we have (under 1400 square feet) wrapping paper is taking up too much precious real estate.

The folks at Wrap iT recently asked me to try out their product designed to organize gift wrap. When it came in the mail, I set it out next to all of our supplies and thought, “Um, I don’t think so!”

So I got the storage bag, which is designed to go under your bed, or even hang up in the closet if you like. Even though I noted all the pockets and storage areas, I still wasn’t convinced that it was going to hold everything.

So then I started finding homes for everything, and little by little, my big pile of wrapping paper supplies started to dwindle.

I kept the birthday wrapping paper on one side, and the Christmas wrap on the other. The inside of the Wrap iT also had space for tape and ribbons.

The outside of the Wrap iT had a lot of pockets, and that’s where I put my boxes, tissue paper, gift bags, gift tags, scissors, markers and bows.

Yes, indeed, the Wrap iT held that entire pile of stuff. And now the space we have devoted to storing gift wrap supplies is cut in half, and instead of having to drag out two boxes any time we want to wrap something, we only have to reach for one thing.

I’ve seen it with my own two eyes, friends, the Wrap iT works! If you want to see for yourself how Wrap iT works (in 100 seconds!) check out this video.

Save 25%

I’ve got a coupon code just for my readers so that you can keep the cost down if you’d like to have Wrap iT in your home! Use code SPNRocks25 at checkout and the price goes down from $59.97 to $44.97. This would be an AWESOME gift for a college grad, newlywed, or anyone who is just looking to get more organized. We love our Wrap iT and we’ll never go back to boxes under the bed!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is also going to WIN a Deluxe Wrap iT! If you purchase the product using the coupon code and then go on to win the giveaway, your purchase will be refunded! 🙂
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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Tropical Relief from the Winter Blues from Del Monte (Giveaway!)

February 14, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 185 Comments

The Del Monte products, information, gift pack, and gift card have been provided by Del Monte. But all thoughts and opinions are my own, as always!

I know that not everyone in the entire country has snow piled up in their yard, but a good chunk of us do, myself included. We got 5 inches here in Chattanooga, an amount that is pretty debilitating to a city in the South. We’ve had snow quite a few times this winter, and let me tell you, the novelty of it has worn off. I’m OVER IT. And I can only imagine how those of you who got 12-18 inches (or more!) this week feel about it.

My kids have been stuck in the house quite a bit this week (we don’t own snow suits, so trips outside to play in the snow don’t last very long). I’ve blown through a lot of our stockpiled craft projects and coloring books and every imaginary game I can think of. My kids knew I was running out of ideas, so Darah suggested that we “play in the pantry.” Which really just means, “Let’s EAT ALL THE THINGS!”

Del Monte To the Rescue

Fortunately, there actually was something tucked away that brightened all of our spirits: a taste of the tropics from ! We’ve really enjoyed the Mango Pineapple Fruit Cup Snacks. I usually have these on hand for road trips, or for occasions when Darah begs to have a “packed lunch” like the kids who get to stay past noon at her school (true story…she feels deprived for not having her food presented to her in a lunch box). But if ever there was a time when we needed something tropical, it was this week!

And when the snow does finally thaw and we get to head back out into civilization, I’ve got my purse stocked with Del Mont Fruit Burst Squeezers. It never fails that my kids tell me they are hungry as soon as we back out of our driveway, and I’m guessing some of you out there have the same experience with your kiddos. Have you seen the on the shelves? I found some at my local Walmart.

I like that both of these Del Monte products leave High Fructose Corn Syrup out of their recipes. They are a very easy way for me to get a serving of fruit in my kids’ tummies, and the girls think of them as special treats. Win/win!

And speaking of winning….

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win 2 Del Monte VIP coupons for free products, as well as a $25 Walmart gift card!

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

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Food Lion Coupon Portal and Giveaways, Galore!

February 11, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 94 Comments

Attention Food Lion shoppers! I’ve got some exciting news about some new developments happening on the Food Lion website that are designed to help you get your grocery store shopping done faster AND save you some money.

Let me introduce you to the MVP Coupon Hub. This site allows you to do several very cool things. First and foremost, you can load coupons directly to your MVP card, and then print the list of coupons you loaded for easy reference in the store.

Second, you can also easily build a list from the Food Lion weekly flyer. As you browse it online, just click on anything you’d like to buy, and it adds it to a list for you! I found this to be a much faster way of shopping the sales than going through the flyer myself and circling everything, as I always seem to miss something that way.

Finally, you can also print some printable coupons right from the store website. No need to go all over the internet hunting them down!

I received a gift card from Food Lion so that I could experience the MVP Coupon Hub for myself. I used to be pretty good at clipping coupons, but after my second child was born, it became increasingly difficult to find the time to match up sales with coupons, go out and buy Sunday papers so I could clip them, and also print the ones offered online. I became overwhelmed and just gave up.

Through the MVP Coupon Hub at Food Lion, I was able to take care of everything with a few simple clicks. I loved having coupons go straight onto my card, and my very favorite thing was being able to pick out what I wanted from their sales online and then just print my list. The truth of saving money at the grocery store is that you will save the most just by shopping the sales. Yes, coupons can absolutely save you more, but if you want to get the biggest return on your time investment, you simply need to shop the sales. Food Lion has made that VERY easy, and as a busy working mom, I very much appreciate that.

food lion coupon portal shopping

Once I saved cards to my MVP card, shopped the sale flyer, and found a few coupons I wanted to print, I gathered my lists and headed to the store.

I went through the stores and scooped up deal after deal, just following along with my lists. Gala apples on sale? Don’t mind if I do!

My MVP coupons were also fun to use, as they made some products that weren’t already on sale feel like they WERE on sale, just for me! And they sometimes made name brands cost less than the store brands (for example: I had a .75 coupon for Philadelphia cream cheese). Score!

I also just happened to notice a fair number of closeout stickers throughout the store. That doesn’t have anything to do with the coupon portal, but it is something to keep your eyes peeled for, as that is another EASY way to save some money on groceries.

At the end of my shopping trip, I found out that I saved $38, and I only spent a few extra minutes getting my lists together. That’s a powerful testimony to the power of the Food Lion coupon portal, I have to say!

Try the Coupon Portal and WIN!!!

Every week until March 4, Food Lion will select 8 lMVP Coupon Hub users each week to win a $25 Food Lion gift card (the funds will be loaded directly to your MVP card…so easy!). At the end of the Save to Win sweepstakes, one grand prize winner will win $1,000 loaded to their MVP card!!!!! To enter that giveaway, all you need to do is load at least one coupon to your MVP card. It’s just that simple!

Win it!: I get to host my own giveaway, too! FOUR Stuff Parents Need readers will each win a $25 Food Lion gift card!

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

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