I'm in desperate need of your opinion, faithful reader and friend. Please comment on one or all of the following.
I.
For a baby gift, I got a cute matching set of 5 onesies (packaged together) and 5 swaddle blankets (packaged together). The onesies were 3-6-month size, so they sat unopened, while we ripped into the swaddle blankets and used them constantly for Wesley's first four months.
Well, now we're well into his 3-6 months of life, in fact Wesley is almost 6 months old, and the onesies are still unopened. Reasons include 1) we have a ton of clothes, 2) the onesies are short-sleeved, meaning that if I open them, I'd make the boy wear a long-sleeved onesie underneath anyway, and 3) I can't be 100% sure they still fit. They are Target's Circo brand, and Wesley still fits 2 or 3 newborn-sized Circo onesies, but I consider it a risk.
So do I open them and use them (if only for a little bit)? Do I sell them? Do I regift them?
Please consider that I love little sets of stuff. So the fact the onesies match the swaddle blankets makes me so happy. But we rarely use the blankets anymore. Do I open them anyway, just because? And wipe the dust off the swaddle blankets and use them too? Or do I regift the onesies and give the used swaddle blankets as a hand-me-down so the next person has the cute matching set? Do I sell the onesies on eBay since they are more valuable unused "in the wrapper" ?
II.
I love the newspaper. Ever since majoring in communications at BYU and being forced to read the newspaper for a Comms 101 class, I have enjoyed the paper. I like the news in print. I wrote for the BYU newspaper and seeing my name on a byline for news article was so exciting. I love knowing the current events. I don't read every word, but I glance over almost all of the sections, and I feel like I learn a lot.
That being said, I'm a mom now. I don't have time for it. Newspapers sit unread around the house until I get the gusto to just recycle them. Sometimes I'm up at night, reading the day's paper just because I feel like I should, but I should totally be in bed. I can get news digitally (as my husband does), and the cost of the newspaper has dramatically increased. What used to cost $44 dollars (for 3 months), now costs $58. The Seattle Times doesn't even cut you a break if you prepay for a year. So I have no incentive to pay ahead or anything.
So, do I unsubscribe? Newspapers are hemorrhaging money, and losing a valuable customer like myself won't help them any. But all these factors are just against me reading the paper. Even though I love it.
III.
Wesley is in dire need of a dresser. We have limited space, so I want what is interestingly called a "lingerie chest," a tall skinny dresser. And I want one to match his cherry/espresso/dark brown crib furniture. But, I can only find ones on eBay or Craigslist in white, oak, dark oak, or black. Even a search for "cherry" returns dressers made of cherry wood, not a cherry finish.
So, should I buy a white one and paint it? Should I buy an unfinished one from somewhere and stain it? How tough is it to paint a dresser anyway? Should I give up and just get another color? Should I keep looking and not sell out for the unperfect dresser?
I mean, the kid is 6 months old and we're keeping his clothes in plastic storage containers under his crib. He needs an upgrade.
So, what would you do?
8 comments:
Michaels has a tall skinny unpainted dresser. It isn't hard to stain a dresser. You should check it out. Another place to look for a cheap dresser would be some place like Goodwill. My mom is an expert at this! I swear she can take the grossest dirtiest bookshelf and turn it into something really beautiful. I hope this helps!
Hmmm.
1. I love the Circo onesies - and I don't have problem (as you know) laying onesies one on top of the other. BUT if you think you already have plenty of clothes, I vote that you regift the onesies (or sell them) without doing anything with the blankets.
2. HA! You know we have a Newspaper Problem, because whenever you come over here you find our newspaper still sitting in the driveway. At this point, we get the paper for the coupons, that's it. Chip worked a deal with the paper people that we're paying less for the daily paper than we would if we just got it on Sunday. Doesn't make sense to me, but we NEED those coupons. If they raise the price on us, I'm going to cancel the paper and just get it at the grocery store on Saturdays. For the COUPONS. I say to cancel it.
3. If you want to match the crib, don't paint a dresser, stain one. And Heidi's right: it's totally easy. You can buy an unfinished dresser (or buy a used one that you'll have to strip and THAT'S a pain). Talk to me if you have questions. I've totally done this before and it takes some time, but it's totally worth it.
Well, since you asked what I would do and not what the best thing to do would be....I'll give you two answers :-)
I would 1. regift the onesies (and definitely not hand down the matching blankets. Preserving the illusion that no one regifts is more important than preserving the matching set. As you have found, you didn't even use them as a matching set in the first place.) 2. Cancel the paper (unless you decide to join the coupon lifestyle) 3. compromise on the color of the dresser (if I bought an unpainted dresser it would remain unpainted for my lifetime).
But I can see that it might be good to 1. sell the onesies on ebay (if you can get more for them than you would spend on a shower gift or if you have no showers coming up but are fairly certain you can get a good quick price on ebay) 2. cancel the newspaper (sorry, my need to not have newspaper piling up in my house kills any love I might have for reading the paper) 3. buy an unfinished dresser and do it yourself. I'm told it isn't difficult.
i would keep the onesies. if only because you might have another kid, and if you love them anyway, they don't take up much space and you could use them later. if you find some way to regift them and you feel good about it, then do that. i have regifted quite a few things that it turned out i didn't use. and it turns out my friends needed those things. regifting is a wonderful thing to do in my opinion.
i'd cancel the newspaper. you can always get it again later if you feel like you'd like to.
and i'd get an unfinished one and find a good friend who knows about these things to stain it for you. if you know how to do it, it's not that hard. but depending on what kind of stain, it could get messed up and you'd end up sanding it and doing it over again.
1. Regift and don't sweat it.
2. Cancel the paper. It is my opinion that the newspaper industry needs to find a way to evolve with the times, and if they are drowning because people aren't buying print anymore, they need to find a new niche.
3. Have you tried Ikea? I know that in the malm set (we happen to have it, that's why I know) they make a tall skinny 5 drawer dresser and I'm pretty sure it comes in a dark brown or a blackish color. Presumably he'll use this for a while, and Ikea is pretty cheap, so why not start fresh?
On the dresser, if you really want th cherry, buy one unfinished. You don't want to have to deal with sanding down a finished one and then re-doing it. We've bought a lot of unfinished furniture, and we really like it. You can tend to get higher quality stuff, too, because you pay for good oak wood instead of fancy finish work.
Here's my opinion: I. Regift it. II. Ditch the paper and read it on-line, it's free free free! III. By an unfinished one and stain it. Go to HomeDepot and you can take home color samples to make sure the stain matches your crib perfectly. It's pretty easy to do.
You can read the newspaper on line.... if you miss a day then you just read the current one for the day. We only take the paper on Sundays but I don't know if that will continue. I would regift the onsies as everyone that has a new baby could use them. I have painted and stained furniture. If you redo one that is already painted it is a little more work but not too bad. I have a lingerie chest and it seems like it was more expensive than a dresser. Chester drawers are using tall and a little wider than the Lingerie Chest. Black can work well with cherrywood color and they do have a stain that is cherrywood but it usually isn't the same as furniture you buy. What about cute shelves with his folded clothes on the,m?
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