Stuff Parents Need - Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Remote Control Storage: A Pretty, Simple Solution

July 30, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 2 Comments

There are so many things in my house that don’t really have a proper home. And that’s the chief reason why it is constantly cluttered!

I can’t fix that problem all in one shot, but I can try to tackle bits and pieces of it here and there, chipping away at the disorganization and producing just a little bit of order. Every little bit helps, right?

A Pretty Remote Control Storage Option

Today I’m showing the the simple solution I found for all those remote controls that were laying around our living room (and even venturing into our dining room and kitchen!).

I repurposed a square vase that I’ve had for a few years. It actually held these flowers. I held on to it because of its more unusual shape. I just had a feeling it would come in handy some day.

That vase has finally found its purpose in my home. It now holds all our remote controls!

What I love about this storage solution is that it keeps the remotes upright, so they take up less space on the console. I also love that it is a clear storage container, which adds to the overall un-cluttered feel.

Do you need a remote control storage solution? I think you’ll be pleased with something similar to what I found! Start looking in thrift shops for something similar, or you can find a square vase here.

This post contains an affiliate link. I’d earn approximately 6 cents if you bought the vase, so as you can imagine, that’s not the driving force behind the post! 🙂

Guest Post: Tips for a Boy’s Bedroom Makeover

July 29, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Since I only have girls, I thought it might be fun to bring in a guest post that highlights tips for re-decorating a boy’s room! Enjoy!
Keeping the Child’s Choice in Mind
A child’s room is a reflection of their likes and interests and is their little piece of personal space. A bedroom makeover can be an exciting time for any child but it is important to note that when deciding on a bedroom make over for boys, listen to what they want. If they do not have an idea in mind try a theme for younger boys, like space or animals. The transition from toddler to young boy may seem abrupt and they may start to want a “big kid” room. For older boys it may be better to go with a certain colour scheme rather than a juvenile theme. Make a list with the child of what they would want and how you can work together to get it done.

Picking a Theme
Young toddlers and kids will love a themed bedroom that is fun and reflects their interests. If their favorite activity is going to the beach, an ocean theme would work well. For kids that love animals try a zoo theme. Kids older than 6 may not want a themed room as it would seem too “babyish” for them. However, a room for a boy can have a theme without being childish. For example, if their hobbies include baseball, try adding décor that reflects that interest. Use a baseball wallpaper border or paint baseball designs on the walls. Paint a giant scoreboard on the wall and use chalkboard paint for the score spaces. For a sophisticated and simple boy’s room, stick to only a few colour choices. Use accents of colour around the room and hang prints and artwork as well as family photos. Chalkboard paint works well for younger children and can be a fun way for him to write on the walls with no mess! Painting a mural on the wall is a great way to bond and have fun while decorating the room. Draw out the picture first in pencil before laying the paintbrush to the wall.

Choosing the Right Colour:
Choosing the right colour can be a daunting task. After all, there are thousands and thousands of colours out there. When painting a boy’s room, the first thing to take into consideration is their favorite colour. Stay away from colours that are too bold. While bold colours are lively and give a room a new energy, they can also be detrimental for sleeping or relaxing. Try choosing one bold colour with a few, understated accent colours like orange with brown and white accents. Yellow and orange are not assigned to any gender so they are perfect for boys of all ages. Neutral colours are great too because you can add a splash of colour. For example, paint the walls a light beige but add a red accent wall or paint the furniture bright blue.

The Bottom Line:
Choosing to redo a boy’s bedroom can be a great family activity. The new bedroom should reflect the personality and interests of the child. Make sure you listen to the child’s ideas and come up with a game plan together. For inspiration, look online at home decorating blogs and for a furniture website visit here. Many room makeovers can be done for very little money if you reuse things from around the house.

Disclosure: Special thanks to Shop4Furniture.net and Lisa Jolan for sponsoring this post.

Earth’s Best Organic Formula: GIVEAWAY!!!

July 27, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 41 Comments

When Darah and I were having trouble with breastfeeding, starting when she was about 6 months old, I really panicked. I didn’t know anything about formula other than the fact that I didn’t want to give it to her.

But if you’ve ever seen your baby be hungry and seen your body fail to produce what is needed, you quickly get over yourself and figure out what your options are to feed your baby. So I started doing some research online on different formula types and makers to determine what would be the safest choice for Darah.

We had already introduced solid foods at that point and I was feeding Darah exclusively organic products, such as Earth’s Best organic rice cereal. I was interested in finding some organic formula for Darah, as well. Earth’s Best was the only company I could find at that time that was offering such a thing. It wasn’t offered for sale at any grocery store near me, so I had to order the product online. I would actually order it from Diapers.com by the case, and by ordering in bulk, the price per can dropped significantly so that it didn’t cost much more than name brand traditional formulas. I used the product in the red can, seen in the photo below.

So why go organic for formula? The dairy ingredients found in Earth’s Best organic formulas come from cows that have not been treated with growth hormones, steroids, and antibiotics. The other ingredients are also organic, meaning that they were produced with pesticides and made without genetically engineered organisms. These things were important to me, since I was already working to avoid these pesticides and GMOs in her solid foods. It gave me a lot of peace of mind to know that I wasn’t introducing her to those elements through her formula, either.

Earth’s Best has introduced a new organic product for parents who might have a fussy baby. It’s called Earth’s Best Organic Sensitivity Infant Formula, and it is the first FDA approved infant organic formula that has lower lactose levels to help ease fussiness and gas.

If you are concerned about introducing harmful pesticides to your infant, but need to use formula for whatever variety of reasons, I highly recommend that you try out Earth’s Best. And if your baby has sensitivities, Earth’s Best now has an option for you, too!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a can of Earth’s Best Organic Sensitivity Formula!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Disclosure: I am a blog ambassador for Earth’s Best, and as such, I have received complimentary products as a thank you for my time. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

A Little Vacation

July 26, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 2 Comments

Hello fabulous bloggy friends! Did you know that Stuff Parents Need is not simply a one-woman show? Oh no, I have an assistant named Alanna (though I often refer to her as “Queen of Awesome”). She is the driving force behind all the fun giveaway promotions. So if you’ve found Stuff Parents Need thanks to an intriguing tweet, facebook post, or giveaway submission on a contest site, you have Alanna to thank for that!

Alanna is also the magical fairy on the blog who picks our winners. Well, technically Rafflecopter picks them, but then she makes sure that the selected entrant followed all the rules and passes along contact information to me, so that I can tell that person that s/he is a winner!

Alanna is taking a much-needed vacation with her family through the end of next week, and that means that drawing contest winners will be put on hold until she returns. It will be such a fun day when she returns, because we’ll be handing out prizes left and right! So if there’s a giveaway ending soon here that you are holding your breath to see if you won, well, don’t hold your breath (10 days is WAY too long for that!), but do know that we’ll be drawing winners right around August 6th!

In the mean time, I’ll still be bringing you plenty of fun content, and of course, giveaways!

So Many AWESOME Discounts from Educational Insights and a GIVEAWAY!!!

July 26, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 53 Comments

Educational Insights has got to be one of the very best online destinations for educational materials that kids will really love.

I’ve mentioned before Hot Dots and how much Darah enjoys playing with them. Thanks to these cards, she is learning logic, patterns, sequencing, letter recognition (uppercase and lowercase) and basic science. I’m so excited that there are so many different types of Hot Dots cards for her to use as she gets older and is ready for more complex concepts. We recently snagged some cards that I’m going to keep in our game closet for about 6 more months before trying them out with her. I haven’t even told her about them, because I know she’d want to give them a whirl right away if she saw them! But since she is still working on mastering her sets that are already open, I think we should just stick with those, for now.

Educational Insights has a really impressive selection of Hot Dots cards, and I very highly recommend them for kids. We have certainly enjoyed the Hot Dots, Jr. sets, and look forward to continuing to use the Hot Dots sets as she grows. And before you know it, Layah will be using them, too!

I also want to point out that Educational Insights has a Pinterest page, and it is loaded with great ideas for kids educational activities. In the future, they are going to be holding Pinterest exclusive giveaways, so be sure to follow them there so you don’t miss out!

But wait, there’s more! You can earn $10 off an EducationalInsights.com purchase just be filling out a SUPER short (4 questions!) suvey here: http://www.educationalinsights.com/category/id/119977.do

May I suggest what you put this fabulous credit towards? Some Hot Dots! Now through August 11th, you get a free Hot Dots pen with the purchase of two card sets! That’s an $11 value! Enter code HOTPEN at checkout!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win the Hot Dots pen as well as two card sets of your choice!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Kindle Fire and Two Diamond Candles GIVEAWAY!!!!

July 25, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 48 Comments

Bay Area Mommy is celebrating her first blogiversary with a giveaway for a Kindle Fire (or $200 Amazon gift card) and two Diamond Candles.

Kindle Fire is open worldwide but the 2 Diamond Candles are only open to folks in the US only since the company doesn’t ship outside the US.

The giveaway runs from July 25, 12:01am EST to August 15, 11:59pm EST. I want to see a Stuff Parents Need reader win! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: This blog is not responsible for prize shipment.

Milk Nursingwear Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

July 24, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 85 Comments

I’m not one of those “on the go” moms who runs errands every single day with baby in tow. I actually plan rather strategically so that I can do most of my shopping and other outside-the-house tasks done either by myself, or just with Darah while Tim stays with Layah. I’m not afraid to go out with her; I just know the tasks will be completed much faster without a baby.

But there are times when I simply need to be out for a long time, and my entire family is with me. For example, when we went to Atlanta for a mini-vacation a few weeks ago, we had several things we wanted to do during the day before heading to the hotel (a trip to Ikea, which I’ll blog about later, a trip to Trader Joe’s, and a trip to the Varsity for some dinner). I wasn’t going to let the fact that I needed to breastfeed Layah multiple times during that trip spoil it for me.

All I needed to do was dress appropriately so that nursing her would not be too difficult. Milk Nursingwear had the perfect top for me to wear during our marathon day, and I have to say, it made breastfeeding a breeze. It also made me feel stylish, which is a HUGE accomplishment for nursingwear.

Here I am at the Varsity enjoying my meal. Layah enjoyed her meal afterwards! Ha!

To get a better idea of what the shirt looks like and how it works for nursing, here’s a image from the Milk website:

The cowl neck nursing shirt is really soft, and I love the color. I wore this all day, and probably fed Layah 4 times while wearing it. I was never uncomfortable and never had a hard time feeding her on account of my wardrobe. It was really quite refreshing! At home I just wear whatever, and often have to completely remove my top to feed the baby. That’s fine if I’m in my own house, but it actually gets kind of old. I’ve started wearing this shirt at home for convenience sake, and if I’m out with the baby, I almost certainly am wearing this. It’s my favorite nursing shirt!

Milk Nursingwear has the best selection of affordable and fashionable nursing clothing I have ever found. The company is also founded by a mother of four. Elisa knows first hand how important it is to have modern styles that support breastfeeding. She’s done a wonderful job with her company, I think!

I also want to point out the sale section of the site. That’s a great place to find a bargain!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a $35 gift certificate to Milk Nursingwear!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

My Favorite Gift Registry for My Children: College Registry Review

July 24, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 3 Comments

My mother loves to buy gifts for her grandkids (what grandmother doesn’t?!). I know that part of the fun of being a grandparent is having the opportunity to spoil your grandbabies with fun little gifts and trinkets “just because.”

The gifts my mom buys are often fun, but I can’t help but feel overwhelmed by them at times. Like most American children, my kids have already accumulated WAY too much stuff, and at such a young age! Most of the time my mom doesn’t ask me what Darah needs, but on those occasions when she does ask, I always have the same answer: “We’d love a contribution to her college savings account.”

My mom finds this to be an extremely boring gift, and I can totally understand that perspective. But on the other hand, it is one of the most valuable gifts you can give to a child. Darah isn’t going to remember the ruffly dress someone spent $50 on at a boutique store when she was 2, but she will always remember and value her college education. Plus, that $50, if put into a college savings account when she is 2 years old, can easily grow to become over $130 by the time she is 18 (with a conservative interest growth each year).

This past Christmas, my mom reluctantly gave us what we asked for in the form of a check, and I was SO appreciative. But guess what? It took me about 2 months to remember to transfer the money from our checking account, where I deposited it, into her college savings account. I could have easily completely forgotten.

That’s the trouble with being given cash or checks for future savings. It’s so easy for it to just be forgotten about and used up for other purposes.

That’s why I’m really intrigued by a new free online service called College Registry. It allows parents to set up college savings goals for their kids and gives family and friends the ability to see the progress being made toward those goals, as well as to make contributions toward those goals. The money given comes to the parents via payapl, and from there can easily be transferred into the college savings account you already have established. It’s easy for the money to find its intended home and it is easy for those who contribute to see how they have helped!

College registry has a savings calculator to help parents figure out how much they are currently saving, and how much of a gap exists between what they are able to set aside and what they realistically need to be able to cover future college expenses. I do wish that the site had a more sophisticated savings chart, and that it more clearly showed goals for the year as well as goals to be reached by the expected college enrollment year. Hopefully they will work to improve this section of the site in the near future.

While I don’t think your College Registry information should be emailed to people along with birthday invitations, I do think it is a wonderful resource to have for those family members and friends who really want to help out with this endeavor. It also gives folks some peace of mind that if they give you some money for your child, they know it is going to a really great cause.

As an aunt of lots and lots of kids, I know I would love making contributions like these for my nieces and my nephew; it’s cool to know that my gift will grow and be worth even more by the time it is needed! It will also bring me a lot of joy to know that I played a role, however large or small, in providing their college funding.

College Registry is the first type of social college savings program I have ever seen, and I think it is an excellent idea. Signing up takes just a few seconds and help makes the task of saving for college that much easier. Go check it out!

This post brought to you by College Savings. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Who Needs $500 Paypal Cash?! Enter NOW!!!

July 23, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 2 Comments

Welcome to the Summertime CASH Giveaway BASH hosted by MamaNYC! I’m part of a great group of bloggers bringing you a HUGE CASH prize giveaway! This event runs from AJuly 23-August 12, 2012 and is open to residents WORLDWIDE! Keep reading below to find out how to enter this giveaway!

One lucky winner is going to receive. . .

$500.00 PayPal CASH!

Please enter using the Rafflecopter widget below in order to enter this giveaway. Open to residents WORLDWIDE; 18+. Winner must have a PayPal account in order to claim this cash prize.

All entries are optional… but the more entries you complete — the higher your chances will be to win this prize! This giveaway will end on August 12, 2012 @ 11:59pm EST. Winner will have 48 hours to confirm winnings or the prize will be forfeited and a new winner will be selected.

Please note that you only need to enter this giveaway ONE time since we are all using the SAME Rafflecopter widget code. Look for the Summertime CASH Giveaway BASH button if you are unsure.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: This giveaway is a self-sponsored group collaborative effort in order to provide a cash prize. Each participant has provided funds in order to present this giveaway. This event is in no way sponsored or affiliated with any company or other individual(s) other than those included within the Rafflecopter widget.