Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

My Very Favorite Products of 2012

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I have had so much fun over the past few months highlighting my favorite products of 2010 and 2011. And now I come to my favorite products of 2012! This list was the most difficult of them all to create. After initially going through all my posts I had 42 products that made me squeal with delight. Sheesh! I painstakingly narrowed it down to 16 products that I want to give one more shout out to as we close our 2012 year.

Do keep in mind that any positive review on my site is completely honest. What you see below is the cream of the crop for my family. These are the products that have surprised us the most, given the most delight, and enjoy the most use. They are in no particular order.

1. Everyday Minerals. This mineral makeup company has generous sizes of product, outstanding prices, beautiful colors, and coverage to match premium brands.

2.  Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler. While it is petite, it is the perfect fit for our small kitchen. Keeps our recyclables out of sight. Lots of love for this product!

3. Jahgoo Infant Bath. Another great space saver for those of you with babies 0-6 months. Layah recently outgrew it. We all were quite sad about that!

4. Attribute Apples. I continue to be amazed at how frequently Darah requests to play with this game. She loves sorting them by size, color and other attributes.

5. LifeLock. This service has helped keep identity theft at bay and also kept me alert to other potential threats, such as registered sex offenders in my neighborhood. I’ve been so pleased with the service provided and absolutely believe that it is worth the cost and then some.

6. Vanessa Gade Jewelry. This designer has a true gift. My necklace from her collection is one of my most beloved material possessions.

7. Pork. Yes, as in the other white meat. I had the opportunity to try out several different cuts of pork this year. We weren’t pork eaters before that time, but now we are. It’s delicious and surprisingly versatile!

8. Bobble Water Pitcher. I have purchased replacement filters for my Bobble since reviewing it because we use it multiple times, every single day. It has a permanent home in our fridge!

9. Ruggable Rug. I can’t say enough what a genius idea a washable rug is. The white shag run we own has been washed several times and still looks absolutely fantastic.

10. Beaba Babypote. This nifty container gives me the opportunity make squeeze pouches for my girls. It saves me a ton of money!

11. Shower Hug. This is the item that pregnant women and brand new moms have no idea they need until they try it. It is bliss!

12. First Years Feeding Chair. We ditched our old high chair that was twice as expensive and took up twice as much room. This chair rocks!

13. Dexas Ice Cube Trays. These bad boys make the biggest ice cubes ever, and they are super space efficient in the freezer. I use them daily!

14. Swaddlebees Simplex One Size Diaper. I’ve seen some amazing diapers, but this one takes the cake. It’s the whole package, folks.

15. Hot Dots. These flash cards are fantastic for learning and independent play. They travel well, too! I’ve bought several more packs and even bought some as gifts.

16. Olay Products. I have been extremely impressed with how well everything I’ve tried from this company works. My skin looks great!

There’s my list! Did you have any standout favorite products you used for the first time in 2012? I’d love to hear about them!

Space Saving Device: Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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We are currently in the process of moving from one house in our beloved neighborhood to another. We are excited to be getting about 150 more square feet of living space, and an additional bedroom for our second daughter (who will be here in just a few weeks!). The house, overall, is just great.

Except for the kitchen. We are remodeling it so that we can make the most of the space. The TEENY TINY SPACE. Oh heavens it is a small kitchen! This wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t cook so much. Tim comes home for lunch every day, and we rarely eat out, so we seriously use it 3 meals a day, 7 days a week.

As we have been working on the remodeling plan, it has been of the essence that every single square foot of this room be used very well. We are working hard to maximize the space. Some elements of this include good design. Other elements include good organizational products.

Which is why we have turned to Rubbermaid to help us keep our recycling area functioning well in this new space. In our old kitchen we had the floor space to simply put a bin our for recycling to go in. It wasn’t pretty (in fact, I really hated how it made the room look so, well, TRASHY). But it worked. In this new kitchen, there is absolutely no room for that; we needed a different plan, and we weren’t interested in simply ceasing to recycle. No way! The blessing in disguise of our situation is that I realized our recycling was going to have to be hidden, somehow. It would be tricky to figure out, but it sure would look a lot better!

Rubbermaid has just introduced a new product called the Hidden Recycler, and it is absolutely perfect to meet our needs.

This will easily be tucked away under one of our cabinets, and is the size of 5 gallons. It is large enough to hold 1 gallon jugs! When it gets full, just pick it up by its convenient handle and take it out to your outdoor recycling bin. Easy! The bag itself has a leak-proof liner and is washable. The bag is also made of soft material, so if it needs to squish up a bit against other items in your cabinet, that’s no problem.

I think this is a spectacular product, especially for those of us with limited space in the kitchen, or who simply want our recycling to be kept out of sight! It retails for just $15.99. You can purchase it at Rubbermaid.com or at Meijer stores across the nation.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler!

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