Kelly's Closet Featured in Raising Maine's "Mom Q&A" Feature

Our founder, Kelly Wels, was featured in an awesome article about cloth diapering in Raising Maine magazine.

In the article, Kelly talks about how she never intended to turn her shop into a cloth diapering boutique, but fate led her down that path 10 years ago! Here's a sampling of some of the items Kelly discussed with Raising Maine contributor, Patricia McCarthy. Be sure to check out the full article online.

RAISING MAINE: How is it that you're doing something you once would have mocked?
WELS: In 2001, I was a stay-at-home mom with two kids, and I wanted to bring in some grocery money. I had an idea to sell high-end baby clothing online. I just kind of knew that the Internet was going to be the wave of the future. So I bought a (domain name) site: kellyscloset.com. I brought in some product, got the website going, and tried to sell it. For three or four months, nothing happened. I think I had one sale. Then a couple of women emailed me, asking if I'd carry a line of cloth diapers. I rolled my eyes and thought, 'You've got to be kidding me.' But, I did it, and within three days, all the diapers sold. So my next thought was, 'Hmm, maybe I'm onto something.' And this business kind of exploded from there. It was a real niche kind of thing, partly because there's no cloth diaper store you can go to.

RAISING MAINE: Had you ever tried cloth diapers before getting involved with this?
WELS: With my first child, I had all the intentions of using cloth diapers. My first husband grew up in a very natural way, with a very holistic lifestyle. And I'd have to say he was more into this than me. But I decided to give it a try. I used the really old-fashioned kind for two days and thought it was a nightmare. So it scared me off and we used disposables.

RAISING MAINE: What do your kids think about your job?
WELS: They think Mommy works too hard. I feel bad about this, but I'm doing much better than I used to. And I do feel like I'm teaching them to have a strong work ethic.

Read more at RaisingMaine.com

Kelly's Closet Featured in Raising Maine's "Mom Q&A" Feature

Read the full story here...

What's Old is New for Parents Looking to Save Money

Because raising a child in tough economic times can be expensive and financially challenging, many families are looking for ways to reduce their spending without having to sacrifice their family's well-being. This has resulted in a slew of families getting creative by making old items new again.

Shanaka Brown's family is one of many that is looking to save money by repurposing and reusing items from around the house.

Brown, a stay-at-home mom, says she believes the consumer-oriented society has prevailed for too long and has to stop. "I think a lot of people are doing things to change the spending mindset. Even if people just take baby steps in changing the way they do things, added up it all can make a huge difference in the long run."

Brown says that her family is doing a lot of unique things to save money these days.

"For one, I cloth diaper my children which I figured has saved us a ton of money and cuts back on our curbside trash," she says. Brown also says she regularly participates in clothing, toy and book swaps with the more than 60 moms in her playgroup, makes her own cleaning concoctions, and religiously uses refillable water bottles. After all, tap water is free.

"I also repurpose leftovers to make new meals and look for other uses for things in the kitchen such reusing empty food storage containers. Even my husband reuses milk and juice jugs in the basement to organize his stuff," she says.

Kelly Wels, the owner of Kellys Closet, a cloth diapering boutique that offers modern cloth diapering selections like FuzziBunz, bumGenius and Happy Heinys, has seen a huge rise in the number of families using washable and reusable cloth diapers. "I think that families are looking for ways they can save and cloth diapers are a surprisingly easy and sensible solution these days. Families can save thousands of dollars over the course of a few years by cloth diapering their baby," she says.

Kira Williams, a physician from California, says that even though she and her husband have stable jobs, they are still mindful of their expenditures.

"Cloth diapering has definitely saved us money. Even with the extra money we spend on the water bill, we're saving more than what we would have spent on disposable diapers. That said, while the cost savings are important, I am even more concerned with minimizing waste and streamlining our lives. I feel that so many of us have become obsessed with spending more and having more and it clearly hasn't made us better individuals nor a better society. I want to teach my daughter to be happy with less and to treasure the simple things in life," she says.

Williams says she prefers reusing items and says she was lucky to have inherited many maternity and baby clothes, as well as a lot of baby gear, all which she plans to pass along to others someday. She also makes her own baby food and saves the plastic souvenir cups she gets at NFL games, which have become one of her daughter's favorite stacking and nesting toys.

Texas stay-at-home mom, Amy Scott, is also one of those moms getting creative by repurposing items that she might have once considered throwing out. For example, Scott says she keeps a small bowl on the dining table where her family puts leftover sauce packets from take-out restaurants. "We'll never have to buy hot sauce or soy sauce again," she jokes.

Scott also says she and her husband repurposed old nightstands that were dangerously close to being tossed. When her daughter was born, they realized they needed extra storage space. "One of our old nightstands became a feeding station to store formula, bibs, burp clothes, etc., and the other went by my back door to store mail as to not clutter my kitchen counter," she says.

Wels adds that, with a little thought and effort, moms can save a lot of money by finding new ways to use old things.

"Think of all the new disposable products on the market that are touted as convenience items like disposable swim diapers, bibs and placemats. I don't understand how it's easier to keep buying new things only to end up throwing them away and buying more. If more people took a little extra time to wash items that we normally throw out, we can rack up a lot of savings and be much kinder to Mother Earth," says Wels. "Perhaps this tumultuous economy is just the excuse families need to spend less, reuse more and overall lessen their waste."

Brown agrees, "New is not always better or necessary. Reusing not only helps our environment but also my pocketbook because I don't have to spend money buying things over and over again. Being a family of four on one income was difficult at first, but now I feel that we are making it work."

By Jenny L.

What's Old is New for Parents Looking to Save Money

Read the full story here...

New Moms Find that Being Green Won't Break the Bank

When Robin Tobin gave birth to a bouncing baby boy last year, she made two life-changing decisions: One, she would become a stay-at-home mom, reducing her family's income by half, and two, her family would strive to be more green.

Tobin, like others, is part of a trend of new families that are tightening their belts without disparaging the planet in the process.

"New moms want to do what's right for their babies without sacrificing Mother Earth or their family's finances. That's why it's important for new parents to find ways to be green without breaking the family budget," says Kelly Wels, the founder of Kellys Closet, an Internet baby boutique specializing in eco-friendly products and cloth diapers.

Tobin says she uses the bumGenius brand cloth diapers on her baby because it was important to her to find a system that was good for her baby and for the planet. "While the money-saving factor wasn't our motivating factor at first, we have to admit that we were quite excited when we hit the break-even point after our son turned about 7 months."

Wels says that Tobin, like other new moms, is part of a growing number of families who are saying "no" to disposable diapers, which are known to create the third most landfill waste in the U.S., and saying "yes" to more eco-friendly options.

"Cloth diapering isn't hard to do with all the modern brands on the market. Over time, more moms have come to realize that they can not only save thousands of dollars using cloth diapers but also that they can deter thousands of pounds of landfill waste. Now that speaks volumes to a belt-tightening family," says Wels.

While most parents think reducing diaper waste is the main way they can be green and save money, there are many other ways eco-conscious moms are saving money and the planet.

Melissa Rapp, who is raising two kids under the age of 5, says that buying gently used items and reusing the old stuff she has is her main motto these days.

"I find myself looking on Craigslist more often for children's items that I might have gone to the store to purchase. I find that these items are less expensive and that it's more environmentally friendly to reuse items than to buy new," she says.

Rapp also says that while she only serves organic meats, vegetables and fruits in her home, which are notoriously more expensive, she rarely pays full price. "I won't buy organic items until they go on sale at the grocery store and then I stock-up. I also, on occasion, buy frozen organic fruits and vegetables because those tend to be less costly."

Rapp also says that being green has always been important to her and she loves the fact that some "green" things are free.

"The city where I live just implemented a program to encourage more recycling by supplementing the cost of a large trashcan-sized recycle bin. We purchased one, as our recycle pile is much larger than our trash pile each week and it doesn't cost us anything to recycle more," she says.

While many moms are looking for ways to save money and still be green, Tobin acknowledges that even some of the more expensive eco-friendly items are not off the table, such as BPA-free bottles for her baby. "I'm happy to spend a little more for my baby's health and safety. While money is on everyone's mind these days, and we are no different, we have always tried to live below our means," she says. "That said, we are also doing our best to balance our own need for convenience with the well-being of our baby and planet."

- By Jenny L.

New Moms Find that Being Green Won't Break the Bank

Read the full story here...

Spreading the Cloth Diapering WORD!

Fond are the memories I have of carting off one of my prized belongings with me to kindergarten for “show and tell.” Not much has changed since then! Every two weeks I pack two big bags full of cloth diapers (all in one’s, pocket diapers, one size diapers, fitted diapers, prefolds, flats, diaper covers, fasteners, liners, wipes, wet bags, etc…) essentially a *sample* of my stash and bring them with me for the San Diego Real Diaper Circle meetings.

Real Diaper Circles, a part of the Real Diaper Association, are local groups organized to provide cloth diapering support and advocacy on a local level. The Real Diaper Association itself is a “collective non-profit organization in which parents and small businesses take the lead in creating a cultural shift to increase the use of simple, reusable cloth diapers. We connect current cloth diapering parents to the long history of cloth diapering. Cloth diapers are real diapers. The Association organizes local advocates and activists for cloth diapers through a member-supported resource center which plans campaigns, trains organizers, distributes educational information, supports local groups, and connects users to the U.S. Cloth Diaper industry. Local Real Diaper Circles reach users face-to-face with knowledge and tools to make cloth diapering accessible and acceptable to U.S. parents, who have the power to change the world one baby at a time.”

My cloth diaper passion is very real and I thoroughly enjoy sharing my love and experience with others! We all gather and talk about all about the fluffy stuff! We share tips, tricks, recommendations – as well as troubleshoot problems such as fit, leaking, laundering, etc… oftentimes we will have an expecting mom join the meeting- which is great because I know people feel more confident about cloth diapering when there is a support system in place to rely on (much like nursing mothers have the support of La Leche League).

Most appreciative are the mamas to be able to see and feel the diapers hands-on… and oftentimes I like to highlight the pros and cons of each diaper while sharing my personal favorites and making recommendations for others based on their individual situations. The Kiwi Pie fitteds have received a lot of love from my local group! I’m also personally willing to loan my diapers out to test/try – as many of you know there’s nothing more frustrating than ordering a bunch of diapers only to discover they just don’t work for your little one!

It was through this wonderful group where I learned how to use diaper pins (thanks Arynne for showing me how) – because when I tried to figure it out on my own I couldn’t get the pins through the prefolds and I thought I had a defective set of pins … turned out I needed to lubricate the pins first. DUH! Since then, I’m a pinning queen!

In addition to our regular bi-monthly meetings we try to participate in events where cloth diaper advocacy would be ideal. For instance, for the second year in a row our group participated in the annual San Diego EarthFair celebration; the largest Earth Day fair in the world. More than 70,000 people gather for the event; complete with a children’s parade, artwork, entertainment, and more than 400 exhibits!

Thanks to the hard work of a number of volunteers, our fantastic Diaper Circle Leader Heather, and the support of our local and online cloth diaper businesses (including Kelly’s Closet) our booth was a great success! Some parents were even willing to participate into changing their little one into a cloth diaper right on the spot!

Cloth diapering communities all over the world are steadily growing online; however we could use a bit more effort and advocacy in our local communities! The more parents are informed about their diapering options, the better prepared they will be to make a decision instead of believe that there is only one way to diaper a baby.

Why not consider starting your own Diaper Circle? Contact the Real Diaper Association as a resource for getting started with your local cloth diaper advocacy! Make some new friends all while spreading your cloth diaper love! After all, don’t we all wish there were more fluffy bums in the world?

Kelly’s Closet is also a proud business member of the Real Diaper Association!

Kelly’s Closet also offers an affiliate program where you can earn 5% commission on every sale you refer to Kelly’s Closet. Click here for more details.

References: Real Diaper Association Mission Statement

Spreading the Cloth Diapering WORD!

Read the full story here...

Kelly's Closet & bumGenius Review/Giveaway

Take a look at Barefoot Mommies to read what they are saying about us!!! They are also hosting a giveaway from Kelly's Closet for TWO bumGenius ... Im sure you guys would love to take a look at it.

Click here to view the post.

Kelly's Closet & bumGenius Review/Giveaway

Read the full story here...