Looking out the window today at the snow flying, it’s hard to believe that I got the spring-cleaning bug yesterday. Probably because – hey, the sun was out and I could fling open some windows and let in fresh air. 

Thermometer and weather report be damned! I did the ol’ closet switcheroo too. Bye bye winter, I’ve had it with you! Tomorrow is April and I’ve banned anything plush or warm and wooly. I also cleaned my closet of all my maternity and most of my pre-pregnancy(s) 2005 clothes. (Are ponchos still okay? Nah - didn’t think so.)  So now I have bags and bags to give away, most of my friends are done with babies so what to do? Sure there’s Goodwill, ARC and many a consignment store. I’ll divvy up my bags and send them on their way.

Now there is another option specifically for parents and parents-to-be too. Freepeats.org is coming to the Twin Cities and registration begins April 1.  See press release exerpt below.

Angie Wynne, Atlanta native and author of the popular frugal parenting blog, Baby Cheapskate (babycheapskate.com), recently announced the expansion of Freepeats.org an online forum which allows parents to pick up gently-used baby, kid, and maternity items for free from nearby parents who have finished with them.

“Preparing for a baby’s arrival is expensive,” says Wynne, “and so is
raising one. Common estimates put the cost at $10,000 in the first year alone. And this is at a time when many families are trying to get by on one parent’s income. At the same time, many of the expensive baby items parents spend their money on get used only for a very short time. There’s still plenty of life left in them. If parents can find good-condition second-hand clothing, toys, and gear, they’ll shave hundreds of dollars or more off that $10,000 total. Besides that, we’ll keep usable items out of the landfills.”
 

Minneapolis-area residents who join Freepeats before May 1 will receive a free lifetime membership. After that, there’s be a $4.95 one-time membership fee. Meanwhile, it is Wynne’s hope that residents will get hundreds of dollars’ worth of gently-used baby items for the price of the cost of the gas it takes to go pick them up locally

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