Deceptive Marketing - No Sugar Added

It really gets me upset the way corporations purposely mislead the public to sell their products.  I discussed one example a while back in my post about Disney Princesses and Marvel Superhero children's multivitamins. The was a specific example, but with this article I wanted to discuss a form of misleading marketing that is more wide-spread: The use of "No Sugar Added." or "Sugar Free" on product labels. With so much of the public trying to maintain healthy lifestyles, companies have tried to alter or re-market their products as healthy while giving people the flavor (i.e. sweetness) they secretly crave. It's all about sales, baby. And while supply meeting demand is a good thing in theory, when you add unscrupulousness corporations into the mix, you end up with deceptively marketed products. That is why so many products you find labeled as "no sugar added" contains one of the following sugar substitutes: 

• Aspartame - Equal or NutraSweet
• Acesulfame K, also known as acesulfame potassium - Sunett and Sweet One.
• Sugar alcohols - sorbitol, xylitol or maltitol
• Saccharin  - Sweet'N Low
• Sucralose  - Splenda
• Neotame

(You don't see Stevia in many products right now, but as it gains popularity I'm sure you will).

I am not about to start debating with you about whether these items are good, bad or the devil incarnate. Conspiracy theories abound, and no one really trusts what the FDA says so getting to the truth of the matter is nearly impossible. What I will say is that, as a parent, I try to avoid giving my children unnatural (i.e. chemically produced) products, and it irritates the hell out of me when companies deceptively market products such as these to kids. I cannot tell you how many people I know who have gotten fooled by this marketing, and even though so many of us do know what's happening, no one seems to want to call the corporations out for it. Why? Because of the ingredients list on the back of the package, but most of us don't have the time to check the packaging of everything we eat, and the corporations know it.  That's where I come in. :)

For the sake of journalism, I took a walk around my local grocery store and photographed some examples to illustrate my point. Yes, I looked like a fool and people stared. That's how committed I am, or should be committed... whatever.

So here goes...

Sugar Free Jello Pudding - Contains xylitol,  acesulfame potassium, and sucralose

Del Monte  - Mandarin Oranges (No sugar added) - Contains sorbitol,  acesulfame potassium, and sucralose

Del Monte - No Sugar Added Sliced Pears  - Contains acesulfame potassium, and sucralose

Nesquick -  Chocolate (No sugar added) - Contains acesulfame potassium, and sucralose

 Sugar Free Syrups - Mrs. Butterworths - Contains neotame,  acesulfame potassium, and aspartame

 

So kids, the moral of our story is... CHECK THE LABELS!

Always, always, always check the labels of the products you buy. It's a pain in the neck, but totally worth it in the long run. I hope some of you have found this helpful. If you know anyone who might benefit from this information, please pass it along.  Thanks!

Tell me what you think or add to the discussion in the comments section below.

Getting Organized - Children's Toys

I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!

So as I might have mentioned once or twice before, I'm a slob. And not a happy one either. I hate my house being such a disorganized mess. It drives me crazy! I said I was going to take this summer to get my act together now that I wasn't working and had more time. Didn't happen. I got sidetracked will a million other things and quit before I even got started. But on my trip a few weeks ago to visit family in Miami, I had an inspiration... my sister in law. She has two kids, two jobs, and the nicest most organized home I've ever seen. No, she did not clean it up for our visit. She actually keeps it that way ALL OF THE TIME!

She admitted to me that she was a bit OCD, but unfortunately for me, that is one disease that isn't contagious so almost immediately after our arrival back in town, my house returned to its usual trashed-like state. I wanted to pull my hair out! Luckily, I had the image of my sweet sister in my mind reminding me that it is possible. My house can be clean. So now, I am a woman on a mission, and unlike my mission to lose weight this is a real mission that I will complete or die trying. (Okay. Maybe that was a bit overdramatic). I will organize my house! Who's with me?

First off, the one part of the house, I started, but never got around to finishing... the playroom.

This playroom actually started out as a home preschool that I ran for a couple years. I closed it this spring, and turned it into my kids playroom. I have a few things in here that I think were pretty cool ideas that I'd like to share.

First off, is the reading area. As you might have noticed, this "couch" is actually a toddler bed, purchased at a garage sale. I got the mattress on craigslist. I'm not typically a fan of used mattresses, but they aren't sleeping on it so I'm not so worried. It's really nice because I can cover it with a mattress pad and sheet, and wash them easily when they get dirty. Underneath the couch are book bins - labeled with pictures so my daughter knows where the books go. I'd prefer a bookcase, but simply didn't have the space for it.

Next you'll see my block area. It's actually a really old entertainment center, but works great for the blocks. Old entertainment centers are wonderful for storing kids toys. They are sturdy and have deep shelves which are usually a good fit for plastic bins. They are also low to the ground and don't pose a tipping hazard. Best of all, since no one uses big heavy TV's anymore, you can often find these for really cheap at garage sales or goodwill.

 









Beside the blocks is our easel. I purchased it for $35.00 at A.C. Moore with a half off coupon. Moving on...





On the opposite end of the room I have a ridiculous amount of dress up clothes (remember, I ran a preschool).  To avoid having to drill hooks into the wall, I just used Command wall hangers to hang the clothes on and a crate to hold the larger items in. I also have a three drawer bin, to hold all of the little things like tiaras and dress-up shoes.

 

Our art table was, if I do say so myself, as stroke or genius or maybe just common sense. Either way, it's awesome! All I did was take a wooden kitchen table I purchased on Craigslist and have the legs cut down at Home Depot (for free :) ).

Above the table, I placed thin rectangles of cork board along the wall to hang the children's art from.

Last but not least, is my wall of cubbies. I already had the wooden cases from my school, as well as a few of the boxes. Then I spent the next couple of weeks hoarding A.C. Moore coupons (see a trend here) and purchasing them one at a time to save money. I even went so far as to have my 6 year old buy a few with coupons so I wouldn't have to make multiple trips. (Hey, it says one coupon per customer. There were no stipulations about the customer's age). The challenge with these cubbies is that they are, obviously, not transparent so the kids can't see what's in them, and labels don't stick well to the canvas coverings. My solution was to make labels and hang them from the box handles with tiny climbing hooks. I got them two for a dollar at Walmart.

How do I make labels? Well, I'm so glad you asked. This is what I do:

I make them in word.

First I choose a simple font, like Veranda or Times, and make a list of all the descriptions I want to use to label my bins. These are going to be different for everyone depending on your child's interests, but just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here are the ones I made: Art, Coloring books, Play dough, Horses, Action Figures, Barbies, Cars, Stamps, Dress-up, Instruments, Books, Legos, Animals and Dolls. Next, I googled images to match my descriptions, and saved the pictures I liked into their own file. (You can just use clip art, but I've found much nicer images through Google). Then, I divided my document into two columns (to save paper) and inserted the pictures beneath the descriptions.  I then printed, cut and laminated all of my labels. I have have a lamination machine, but you can get yours laminated at any copy store.

Depending on the size of your bins and the kinds of bins you use, these labels will need to be printed differently. If you're using typical plastic bins, you can just size your labels to fit, print, cut and laminate them before taping them to your bins. If you have canvas bins like mine, you will want to leave extra space at the top of each label. Once you print them, you will need to cut the labels out leaving that extra room at the top for you to punch a hole into. After you laminate and cut out the final labels, you can punch that same hole again, thread the clamps through them, and hang them on their corresponding bins. Here's how one of my final ones looked.

It was a little time consuming, but I think it will totally be worth it in the long run.  At least the kids can't claim they don't know where things go anymore, which I hope will reduce the amount of junk they leave strewn all over the house. Best of all, their playroom looks super cute!

If you have any questions or ideas to share, please leave me a message in the comments below. I will do my best to address them as quickly as possible.

Saving Money on Kids Clothes - Consignment Sales

It's my favorite time of the year!

No, It's not Christmas. It's consignment sales time.  I'm not talking about the consignment stores that are open year round, I'm talking about consignment sales. These are mega sales held twice a year (fall and spring) at convention centers, fairgrounds  and other large venues. And they are awesome for cheap (or broke) parents like me.

 I discovered consignment sales a few years ago when we were having serious money problems. I didn't consign that first time, but I still got a bunch of great clothes for my son that lasted the entire season. Since then, I've gotten more and more into these sales: consigning, volunteering, advertizing. - anything that will get me in the doors sooner. (Most sales are on a system that you get to shop earlier depending on your level of involvement, but more on that later).


Now my cheap butt can dress my children in Gymboree and Gap instead of Faded Glory and George. My kids look good, I save money. It's a win-win.... mostly. But as with anything, there are benefits and drawbacks. You have to decide if it's worth it to you.

Here are some of the benefits of consignment sales vs. traditional consignment stores:

• The selection is better - There are more clothes to choose from, and the quality is often better.
• The prices are better. I can usually get t-shirts from one to four dollars at a sale as opposed to five to ten dollars at a consignment store.
• You can earn more money as a consignor - often as much as 65% of your sales.

Some of the drawbacks of consignment sales are:

• Consigning is hard work - You have to hang, tag and price every single piece of clothing. It is very labor intensive. Whereas a consignment store will do the work for you.
• If you don't get there for the early days of a sale, the selection gets pretty poor, especially for boys.
• The effort of searching through dozens upon dozens of racks to clothe your child for an entire season can be pretty exhausting.
• You have to guess what your child's size will be for the next 6 months This can be tricky especially for babies and toddlers. (I usually just buy large - better too big than too small)

Despite the downsides, consignment sales are a great option for families looking to save money on children's clothing. Not only will you be getting outrageous prices on quality children's clothes, but you'll be making money to help pay for them.  For instance, last spring I made about $200.00 consigning and spent $225.00 shopping. This included all of my kids summer clothes plus a few toys and a pair of orange crocks for my daughter. Is this typical? I don't know. It depends on how much you have to sell and how crazy you go shopping. I go pretty crazy, but my kids also get a lot of nice stuff from their grandparents that I can later consign, so that helps.

So now that you know the pros and cons to consignment sales, the question is, are you crazy enough to do it? If you're reading this blog, I suspect that you probably are. If so, Consignment Mommies is a good place to start. It is a web site with a database you can search by state and zip code to find sales in your area.

 Once you've chosen a sale, you will need to find out their particular rules about consigning and volunteering. Like I said, in my experience the more involved you are with the sale, the earlier you get to shop. (For example: if you volunteer 4 hours you might get in on the first Saturday of the sale. If you volunteer 8 hours, you might get in on that Friday.) But this is not a hard and fast rule. Every sale is different.

Shopping consignment sales is an art. It takes a certain kind of know-how and stamina to make it through one. I've been doing this twice a year for the past four years, and have made every mistake in the book so here are some tips to help you through that first sale.

Tips for new consignment sale shoppers:

• Unless it is stated that carts of some kind will be provided, take something to carry your stuff in. Remember that you're shopping for an entire season and will be carrying a lot. A child's wagon or a laundry basket with a bungee cord attached (so you can drag it) work well.
• Don't bring the kids. Let me repeat... don't bring the kids! You will lose your mind. I took my 18 month old daughter one year so my husband could watch the Miami game. Never again! She was miserable and crying half the time, and the only thing I could do to entertain her was count to 20 over and over for THREE HOURS! (She was into counting) It was awful, and I came home with a lot of stuff I didn't need because I was running behind, and didn't have time to sort through the clothes. Which brings me to my next tip.
• Grab now, sort later. There are too many clothes to choose from, and you will find yourself grabbing every cute thing on the shelf. That's fine. What you need to do is, once you are finished searching, find a spot to sit down and sort through the clothes. I usually decide ahead of time how many of a particular item I will be getting (i.e. 7 pairs of shorts, 10 shirts, etc) and use that as a jumping off point. Go through your clothes, choosing the cutest and best priced ones until you meet your desired number and PUT THE REST BACK.
• Know your brands. It matters. Faded glory makes some cute clothes, but they are also Walmart's brand and poorly made. Not to say you can't purchase them, but the price needs to reflect the quality of the merchandise.
• Allow yourself a splurge or two on items you really like, but beware of over pricing. The prices at these sales are set by the consignors and can vary greatly.When looking through your items, try to gauge what the average prices are and go from there. For example, I can expect a pair of girls jeans to go for between $3.00 and $5.00 depending on the brand and condition. If a pair of jeans is $5.00, they better be really nice. If they're more, I simple don't get them.
• Shop the boys clothes first. I don't know if it's because mom's buy more for their daughters, or because boys just damage their clothes more, but the pickings are always slimmer in the boys section.
• Thoroughly check clothes for stains or rips. Unfortunately, not all consignors are honest. Why someone would want to cheat me for a $2.00 shirt is beyond me, but they do. 
• Look at the knees of jeans. Those are always the first thing to go. If they look a little light and worn, do not buy them.
• If you're buying toys or baby items, you have to be especially cautious. Check the item thoroughly for any issues. Try things out and make sure they have all of the pieces. Sometimes consignors lie and sometimes they just miss things, but there is no return policy so if you pay $20.00 for a high chair that's missing the straps, you're stuck. (Of course you can often order replacement parts from the company, but don't count on it).
• Be wary of certain items like cribs and car seats. I believe that these sorts of things need to be purchased new because of the safety hazards that might arise, but that just isn't feasible for everyone. Cribs are recalled a lot and you want to make sure you're getting something safe. You will also want to make sure it is put together correctly. Some searching on the net should turn up an owners manual. Car seats are even sketchier. It could have been recalled, in a accident, or past the expiration date (Oh yes they do expire). One way to minimize risk is to look at the manufacturers date. If the seat is over six years old, it's expired. Don't buy it. Also, pull back the cover and inspect the safety foam - most car seats come with safety foam these days. Look to see if it looks at all damaged or compressed. Also inspect the straps for wear, and check the base for cracks or other signs of damage. This isn't a fool proof system or anything, but it should help minimize your chances of getting a car seat that's been in an accident.

I hope you've found this information helpful. If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section and I will answer them as soon as possible. If you have any tips or consignment information you'd like to share, please post them as well.

Happy Shopping!

 

Advice from an Imperfect Mom - The Hug Out

 

Okay, I’m just going to say it… My kids annoy the living $%@! out of me on a regular basis. Just what annoys me can vary from day to day, hour to hour, moment to moment, but lately the overriding issue has been bickering. It is non-stop! All I hear all-day, every day are cries of “Mommy, he did this,” and “Mommy, she did that,” with screams of “STOP IT!” and crying fits smattered into the mix, just to keep things interesting. Now as a mother who is trying to work from home, this tends to make it a tiny bit hard to concentrate.  My solution? Yelling.  I find myself yelling so much at times, I wonder if I’ve forgotten how to talk. I truly understand my mother now. She had three of us. The fact that we all survived and are more or less untraumatized is a testament to her power of restraint, but I digress… 

Recently, my mother in law gave me a piece of advice, as to something she did with her kids, that I found so amusing I actually gave it a try. I have dubbed it the Hug Out. It works just like a timeout, except the children are forced to sit and hug each other for a pre-determined amount of time. Sounds crazy right! That’s what I like about it. 

Now I’ve only tried this with the kids a couple times, but I’ve threatened it a ton. I tell the kids that if they won’t love each other, I’ll make them love each other – to which, of course, they laugh at me.  But I got the last laugh when I made them sit for 3 minutes and hug. Actually, we all laughed out a**es off, but they’re still young. They still like each other for the most part. What really gives me a charge is thinking about how they’ll react to this as teens – oh yes! It will be done. 

Will this force feeding love actually work to make them closer, more loving siblings? I don’t know, but if nothing else, it provides me with a bit of entertainment and what mom can’t use more of that?