Welcome! I'm a first time mom, busy wife, former model and "mompreneur" forging my way through this crazy maze called life. I share my insights on motherhood, marriage, cooking, and starting/running my clothing swap business called Gumdrop Swap. Who needs sleep? (*Raising my hand)
We've been in our new location for about a month now and starting to feel settled. Thank you to all who supported in some way. Whether a customer, donor to our fundraiser campaign or physically helped move - THANK YOU!
Be sure to visit as soon as possible. We are now at 993 Main St, Suite 1U, Bridgeport, CT 06604. We didn't move far. If you are familiar with our old location we just moved from in side the Arcade Mall to the outside, right across from Jimmy's. Our street location makes it a lot easier to unload and load for swapping. If you haven't checked out our new digs, here are some photos to wet your palette.
Gumdrop Swap will be an exhibitor at this festival for the 3rd year! It takes place at Taylor Farms (near Calf Pasture Beach) in Norwalk, CT on the weekend of September 15-16, 2012. Here are photos from my tent in 2011. People assume Gumdrop Swap Children's and Maternity Boutique only sells used merchandise. That's so not true! We carry lots of new merchandise as well. Plenty of gift options available and I make custom gift baskets.
I will have a booth for this 2 day festival to expose more people to Gumdrop Swap's unique spin on kids & maternity consignment. This unique service keeps the most important "green" (money) in your wallet. It's a FREE EVENT if you are on foot and $5 charge for each car to enter so if you must drive - carpool!
Do you have a business that is eco-friendly or family friendly? I highly recommend you being an exhibitor at this event. The organizers are very accommodating and organized. Live Green Connecticut gets better every year! They have entertainment, a kid's tent, food, discussions and of course a variety of vendors with products and services. Contact Daphne or Scot and make sure you mention Gabby from Gumdrop Swap sent ya!
Even if you can't come but you want to learn more about Connecticut's green movement, get involved or promote yourgreen efforts (no matter where you live) you should to sign up for free at GreenTowns.com. Search by state and city to see what's going on in your area!
Calling all moms! What do you do with all of your kid's art work and school work? Since my daughter started pre-K last fall I am accumulating so many school papers and art projects, doodles, crafts... I could wallpaper her room in the amount of paper I'm saving. Some are masterpieces and others are... well... let's just say I'm saving those because I'm a conservationist. But the inner voice that wants to break the hoarder tendencies that run in my family says, "RECYCLE!" How do you determine what or how much to keep for posterity? I mean, I have to draw the line somewhere, she has another 13 years of school ahead of her. HELP!
Get paid to recycle? Well, kinda. Everyone knows recycling is "good" but how many of us think its easier to trash something instead of finding a recycling bin? Would a monetary reward entice you to make a better effort to recycle everything you can? Recyclebank sure thinks so!
Recyclebank is working towards a world without waste by rewarding people for taking everyday green actions. It’s free to join and as easy as 1, 2, 3. Earn points for taking everyday green actions, redeem them for great rewards, and learn ways to save money and live greener every day!
I am such a fan of this company! And I appreciate their Primary Sponsorship of the FREE community event in my town of Bridgeport, CT on Saturday, May 19, 2012! The 2nd Annual Eco Kid Bash will take place, rain or shine, inside the historic Arcade Mall in downtown Bridgeport at 1001 Main St. Learn about local green efforts like BGreen 2020, the greening of our local public transportation GBT, crafts, seed planting, and more. The event takes place from 1pm-4pm. This event is brought to you by Gumdrop Swap and Pryceless Consulting with the support of the City of Bridgeport and DSSD (Downtown Special Services District). Learn more at http://EcoKidBash.com
Just want to remind everyone that this is where I'll be this weekend. And I am excited to announce that there will be a special guest in my tent! Poor Me Teas' mission is to thoughtfully create herbal blends which inspire inner growth and balance. - To develop quality, flavorful herbal blends with strong organic standards. - To provide an educational website with information on Complementary Medicine methods such as herbology, chakra healing, energy medicine, and color healing. - To form relationships with other agencies who have the shared goal of accelerating the integration of Western and traditional holistic approaches of medicine, giving every individual access to care which incorporates the healing of the mind, body, emotions, and spirit.(click photo below to visit their site!
I will have a booth for this 2 day festival to expose more people to Gumdrop Swap's unique spin on kids clothing consignment. 'Cause its basically recycling your children's wardrobe! And keeps the "green" (money) in your wallet. It's free if you are on foot and $5 charge for each car to enter so if you must drive - carpool! I will be giving away some memberships that day in random drawings. So come visit my booth!
I love this company's mission. Similar to TerraCycle's but reclaiming the hard-to-recycle coated cardboard cartons for juice and milk. If you're looking for an stylish, eco-friendly, and affordable (ONLY $10?) wallet, buy this!
(*copied from Milkmuny's Press Release)
The creative Portland start-up wants to spread awareness about the challenges of carton recyclability, raise funds for struggling non-profits and promote a new kind of ‘trashion’ statement all at once.
More than 510,000 tons of milk and juice cartons are generated every year in the United States, but sadly, less than .05% ever get recycled according to an EPA report of (MSW) Municipal Solid Waste). Paper cartons ARE recyclable, however, “because of the wax lining, are not universally recycled. Each locality is different, depending on their recycling process capability”, says the (NRC) National Recycling Coalition.
That’s what got the Portland based industrial designer, John Schreiber, thinking and how Milkmuny.com was created. The first two initial lines of wallets, in 22 styles (from the reclaimed cartons of recognizable brands of both dairy and juice manufacturers) are available online and at specialty retailers. Milkmuny is already designing other lines of recycled products, as well, to be released by the summer of 09.
“There is considerably talk these days about ‘green’ design but the vast majority of design, both graphic and industrial, is still about promoting consumption”, says John, who is also Milkmuny’s founder and creative principle. “It’s ironic that we continue to dispose of existing products and materials like computers or radios in order to purchase ‘greener’ ones. I wanted to challenge traditional design thinking and create a mass produced product that didn’t expend more energy to create or require more resources to produce but was also aesthetically pleasing and uncompromisingly functional. It’s a amazing idea to think that on one hand; here is this ubiquitous but seemingly inconsequential carton so routinely discarded and yet on the other, something that with a little creativity, has the potential to raise money for schools, be an example of innovation in design and reusability – and even create jobs.
Please go read this simple tutorial on Sophisticate Style's Blog on how to turn your empty cereal box into a mailer. Perfect for mailing your small crafts for you Etsy and craigslist sellers!
Are you part of TerraCycle yet? Why not? It's free and easy to join and you can earn cash for your favorite charity or to support your child's school. From now until May 8th, for every 5 Target plastic bags you (or anyone who is part of your collection team) send to TerraCycle, you will receive a coupon for $1.00 off any Target reusable bag. For program details, click here(PDF).
TerraCycle has teamed up with Target to help save our resources and continue TerraCycle's commitment to the environment by converting plastic shopping bags into reusable bags.
Happy Earth Month!
TerraCycle Brigades Team
*Limit one coupon per household. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Customer Support at customersupport@terracycle.net or call 1.866.967.6776.
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Earth is our home. We grow our food here. Build dwellings and have families. I thank God for our planet. I was bothered by the amount of waste us earthlings produce. I started GumdropSwap as my contribution to conserving and reusing resources. I saw a need and created a solution. You would be amazed at the amount of children's clothing, shoes, books and "stuff" that ends up in our landfills. Just sitting there wasting when someone could be using it. That broke my heart. It wasn't easy to launch a new business. It's such a new way of living, I find myself explaining it over and over. People just aren't used to something "green" and good for you to save you money too. It sounds to good to be true I guess. But it took me over a year to try to solve the problems I saw with existing consignment/resale options. I approached my business model as a customer. People aren't used to that either. Big business tends to forget about customer satisfaction and focus on the bottom line in their financial report. I urge you to make small changes. Recycling more, reusing more and encouraging your children to see value in things by using them in a new way (making a change jar or barrette holder out of an empty food container for instance). My boutique in Bridgeport, CT also serves as a collection point for empty CapriSun juice pouches. TerraCycle turns these and other product waste into new items for sale. Visit their site to see if they collect the wrappers or containers for the snacks your children love. They pay $0.02 for every recycled pouch which gets donated to the charity of your choice. I chose an Elementary School in my home state of Georgia.
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I know, I know. It sounds to good to be true. Most recyclers do it for our planet. But if the greater good of the world isn't motivation enough, maybe your family needs more of an incentive? Or maybe recycling your household waste is part of your routine or even required where you live. If so, kudos to you! My mayor is pushing the "greening" of my Connecticut city, and I applaud his efforts. I recently discovered a company called RecycleBank that rewards you for recycling by working through/with businesses and municipalities (your town or city). I used the contact us link to request that they contact my mayor because I want this in my city! If I understand the program it works like this: The city provides you with a special receptacle to put your recyclable items in. Your RecycleBank cart will be weighed each week upon pick-up. The weight will then be translated to RecycleBank Points. The more you recycle, the more your household can earn. In a few select communities, households earn rewards based on their equal share of the total amount that their entire community recycles. You earn reward points which you can use to shop with thousands of local and national retailers. You can search retailers by your zip code. There are some big names of national chains participating like Whole Foods, Rite Aid, and CVS...
I think this is such a cool program. I will keep everyone updated if I hear from my mayor or we get this implemented in Bridgeport. We already have weekly pickup but why not get rewarded for it and encourage people who aren't voluntarily participating an incentive to join in. I'm curious if anyone's city is already doing this and how they feel about the program? Please comment!
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