Cool vintage kid stuff.

My friend Emma has a really, really, really cool vintage shop called Dear Pluto however it doesn't seem as if reproduction has yet hit the first wave of Surry Hills hipsters so unfortunately she doesn't have much vintage kid stuff in her shop.

However, a friend of Emma's put me onto this fairly awesome kid's market where you can buy a bunch of second hand toys, clothes and furniture and stuff.  

The next market in the Sydney area on March 25 at Five Dock, but they happen all the time - here is the info 

Emma's friends advice was:

"As I mentioned to you, its not only clothes and toys being sold there....she'll find everything from prams, to car seats, to rockers and more. The only thing is, she'll need to get there very early (i.e. right on opening) in order to get the good stuff!"

Ok good - so I'll be the size of a massive person by then (the kid is due the week after) so I'll either play it up enormously or send in old m8 to do the dirty work. 

Some very hot tips.

Rachel is one of the smartest people I know. 


Here are some of her pearls of wisdom in response to the email I sent out.

"Oh yes all the stuff kids come with. Its obvious but a lot of parents are dying to get rid of stuff so more you put the word out the more people will come to you. I would say friends and friends of friends is the best source."

Social media is pretty good for talking to friends-of-friends, so try the Facebook for shout-outs. Rachel also recommended som really good websites to help start checking things off the list, here are some of them:

"Gumtree and eBay were good for things like the cot, pram and bjorn" - the downside is that you have to pay, though not a lot for things. But what can get confusing in E-Bay is whether something is new or old, so just double-check closely to see if it's actually second-hand. I haven't bought anything from either of these yet but will keep you posted as to how it all goes. 

"We rented the car pod thing from the hospital" - there's heaps of information about restraints from the Government, and on the whole it looks as though it's pretty easy to hire them as you need them either from the hospital or the council. If you don't have a car (which we don't) and really need one, you can get them as add-ons from hire car companies or request one from a taxi. So don't bother buying one. 

Rachel also said, "People will buy you things. I told them not to but they still do. The best advice I got was be very specific around what you need otherwise you will end up with a bunch of teddies and clothes they never wear. Some things I have found a total god-send and would ask for as pressies. It's probably hard to get these used as the wear and tear on them is pretty heavy.
http://www.lovetodream.com.au/ - brilliant to keep baby swaddled and helps them sleep.
http://www.adenandanais.com/shop/classic.aspx (muslin cloths you can use for all kinds of things)
http://www.babybjorn.com.au/products/bouncers/ (man oh man this is a brilliant chair!)
The pram is also tricky used unless it is hardly used. They really go through a beating and you can end up spending more money on parts.We love our Mountain Buggy. My advice would be to ask for the pram for your grandparents and then get the bassinet fixture second hand (as they are only in that for a few mths).

Some pearlers for sure, though I reckon I will try and investigate the pram thing a bit more. Rachel also offered my a high chair, which though not on my list I reckon will probably be useful. 

First Scores!!!

So last time, I showed you the email I sent around.

It works. Beggars can not only be choosers, but also get more than they bargained for - without having to bargain, or even pay at all. 

Very good. 

This loot is from my friend Justin. He literally had a whole load of toys and clothes that he was ready to give to the Salvos and before he did I took a bagful, and breaking my own rules (the whole, be specific lest you get bags of more stuff rule), I took two of clothes. 

These were the winners. 

As you can see heaps of onesies, cotton singlets and the like. 

And these were the ones that Jimmy's Dad said 'No' to. 

I'm no Victoria Beckham so personally I don't give a rats if my 4 week old kid is wearing Christmas clothes in May and I quite like dinosaurs, but her Dad said that we couldn't keep these ones, especially the 'I'm a Princess' one. 

Fair call. 

So these ones will go onto Swap it Baby. 

The Buy Nothing New Kid Email.

Ok so just in case you were wondering, this is how I've gone about soliciting hand-me-downs from people that I know.

Not many of my close friends have kids, but colleagues have them and I figure that friends-of-friends might be the way to go.

So here is the email I sent around, feel free to steal bits that you find useful.

Hi guys, 

As you most likely probably know (no - I can't blame it on the burgers) there is a small person in my belly who will be coming our sometime in early April. If it has any spunk at all it will be April 1. Feel free to a place bets. 

As you may also, I am particularly adverse to buying new stuff, these are the main reasons:

a) It makes me feel like a dill that someone has emotionally manipulated me into needing to buy something new and coerced me into paying lots of money for it 

b) New things use silly amounts of coal, water and other finite resources to make and use 

c) You never know if new stuff will work

d) I don't have heaps of money and if I did would probably spend it on beer and good times, not things I'd have to look after, clean etc. 

e) I abhor shopping

So you being the fine, sustainability-minded, collaborative consumers and parents that you are,  I thought that you might have or know someone who has some second-hand stuff that you may want to offload, lend or sell to me. 

I don't have heaps of room (the kid's room quite literally is the laundry) so I thought I would make a list of things I think that I actually need:

1. Baby monitor

2. Sheets and stuff

3. Change mat

4. Pram/stroller 

5. Sling/pouch thingy

6. Growsuits & clothes 

7. a capsule for a car 

8. ???

There are probably other things that you in your collective knowledge might suggest, I profess to have absolutely no idea what I am doing so please advise me. 

As recompense I will write about the stuff I get on the blog and hopefully give other people in the same boat an alternative to buying lot's of crap for their kids. I also do solemnly swear to (wash and then) regift anything I get. 

Thanks everyone! 

XO Jess 

Some advice I got was to be specific about what you actually need because a lot of people have a lot of stuff and if they're clever they'll try and give you the whole bag, which then becomes your problem. Point noted. I have been quite specific. 

There have been some very good outcomes already, I'll show you what's happened in the next instalment. 

Swap it Baby

I should have known something like this existed! Thanks

It's kinda like LETS where you swap goods and services for 'Operas' but for kid stuff.

http://swapitbaby.com.au/

A great site, but a little low on stock. 

The Buy Nothing New Kid.

The problem:

The Baby Products industry is going strong and proving to be a ray of sunshine in tough economic times. Over the five years through 2011-12, industry revenue is expected to grow 1.1% per annum  to be worth $4.38 billion. Cashed-up parents have been buying up big for their newborns, with only the best in mind. This attitude, combined with rising birth rates to older parents, has given rise to a new area of growth: high-end baby products (Ibis World Research 2010) 

That's basically $4.38 billion dollars worth of strollers, nappy change tables, toys, clothes, bassinets and other junk that is used at most for 3-6 months.

This junk uses energy, water and finite resources as it is made.  If it 'works' you'll probably need a bunch more coal-fired energy and water to power it and then when the kid is sick of it it will inevitably have to go somewhere.

The waste and energy associated with buying stuff for the kid when it is a baby doesn't take into account the environmental impact of adding another (Westerner) to the earth. This is also a little worrying.

In a study done by Paul Murtaugh & Michael Schlax called "Reproduction and the carbon legacies of individuals" it was found that even if you live a really sustainable life (drive a Prius, use Green Energy, are vegetarian, use energy-saving bulbs etc.) these efforts are effectively useless if you have a kid.

In fact Murtaugh & Schlax also found that the in developed countries, each child adds about 9441 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide to the carbon legacy of an average female currently alive - this is 5.7 times her lifetime emissions.  


The solution?


Well the first option is to sterilise yourself and/or use contraceptions. But if (for whatever reason and seriously probably not a great idea to take sex ed advice from a preggo) this is not an option then raise a kid who will be a decent human being and attempt to fix things.

Apparently this is harder to do than it sounds.

So use the only power that you really have as a parent (until they're old enough to work) - try not to buy the kid anything new. 

For as long as you can get away with it.

I don't know if this is possible, but I'm willing to give it a decent crack.

Will keep you posted.

Save the world, don't have children.

SHIT. 


No longer can I justify my (fairly infrequent, yet still highly GHG intensive) travel, with claims that "Yeah, well I don't have nor do I intend to have kids so I can fly now and again".

There is a person being cooked in my belly. She'll be out soon.

Technically, I guess that now makes me a 'Mummy Blogger' which make my face involuntarily grimace and gives me a vague panicky feeling. So you would be doing me a favour by promising to make loud terrible comments if it gets too 'Mumsy'.

Anyway.

Just for shits and giggles, and with the optimism of a person who's still technically childless,  I have decided not to buy my kid anything new.

Partly because of the environment, partly because I don't have much money and mostly as a massive 'Fuck You' to every since company and piece of media that has been bombarding and manipulating me into thinking that I need to buy all this junk new.

I'll use this blog to let you know if it's possible, beg occasionally or whinge.

I'm writing the rules over the next couple of days, if you have suggestions then please leave them below.

Promise not to get emo.

Bloody hippies.

New Year's Resolution

Me likey likey le bikey bikey.

Too many bloody blogs to update and not enough time!

So the bestest thing that I have seen for a little while is the beautiful little tumblr number called "Rides a Bike" ridesabike.tumblr.com - it's a winning formula of glamorous old movie stars on gorgeous old bikes.

No-one is wearing a helmet, and there are tandems, fixies, low-riders, baskets and even cowboys on bikes.

Favourites are Francoise Hardy riding a bike (the socks), Eartha Kitt riding a bike (she's a mega babe), and Ray Watson and Anthony Perkins playing bike polo (hipster value). 


Enjoy!

So last week...But whose idea was blowing deniers up?

Not sure if this is a culture thing gone wrong, or just poor taste but in retrospect graphically blowing people-up for being climate deniers was probably not such a great move.

I totally agree that this video is totally crass - but then again at the same time it does tap into this dark frustration-induced fantasy that I think lurks just under the surface of every activist.

I would never actually commit violence against another person, but sometimes I bloody do wish I could flick a switch an obliterate the greedy, selfish, unimaginative coal bosses and self-interested dills that keep us in this perpetual state of decline.

The ad rouses some really taboo and uncomfortable ethical questions, like: Is it worse to let people die a very slow and painful death due to climate change-induced famine? If you could get rid of a handful of deniers to save the majority of the world's population, would you? Is allowing temperatures to rise (and consequent evacuations of entire islands) another form of genocide or cultural imperialism?

I don't know.

And I don't like the ad. But I'm grateful that it makes us ask some really interesting questions.

http://www.greenwisebusiness.co.uk/news/businesses-distance-themselves-from-1010-campaign-over-tasteless-film-1841.aspx

Imagine what's in this Garage

So the project I'm most excited about at the moment is The Garage Sale Trail which I'm working on with my good mates Daz, Benny & AV.

As well as being an awesome sustainability initiative, there's something slightly voyeuristic about rummaging through other people's stuff. I like looking interesting things and imagining who bought them, where they were made, how they were loved and where they'll fit into my life.

With my eye on the Garage Sale Trail, I've found myself stopping in the street taking photos of hoards of junk lying on nature strips, eyeing-off garages - like the one above, and seriously considering whether one day Malls will become redundant ( hope so!).

So  I'm hoping that this project will shift culture toward an anti-new style movement.

Hmmnnnnn....

Dear Pluto...An ode to slow fashion.

So Dear Pluto,

I would like to thank you for your rummaging, picking, and preening through cast-offs to give me some lovely old things to look at and choose.

Because it makes me sad that so much new 'stuff' is created every day, especially when there are so many old things that are just as fine and already proven to withstand the test of time.

I'm bored of the hurried, stock-standard, one-size-fits-all, kiddie-hurting fashion and fickle trends - I'm over the 'same'.

So, Dear Pluto. I'm really looking to coming and checking you out at your new home on Wilshire St, and hope to see all my friends there too.

www.dearpluto.com

It's been awhile

Yes, yes it has. Quite possibly the most intense three weeks of my life! But why bamaboozle with all at once? Instead keep checking-in and I'll drip feed you the best of what's been going on bit-by-bit.

But firstly, 'Collaborative Consumption, The Story of Stuff and the responsibility of waste now seems to be back in vogue and doing the social media rounds.

Yet decision makers seem to be doing diddly squat about it (If I'm wrong please, please shoot me back an example). Mac are a big offender but by no means the worst, for me the problem is much closer to home - the cafe next door still insist on serving my vege lasagne and salad in polystyrene.

We're working on it.

In the meantime, here's a little treat from Leyla. Beautful to look at, but would love to see a little more instruction on what the bloody hell we're meant to do about it. How do I make sure my phone and 'stuff' in general can be re-used.

Visualising the BP Oil Spill

This is R I D I C U L O U S!!! It's only after actually being able to see you realise how epically huge this thing is! http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/

Who needs the unions, we got facebook.

 Unions are not only powerful but incredibly useful right? Wrong.

While some glorify and romanticise the woebegone days of the MUA, it's likely that if  you belong to Gen Y unions are little more than a quaint idea. Having worked in random cafes and restaurants on and off since I was 16 (I'm now 26), I've had my fair share of crappy experiences, the unions may have been able to help, but info seems hard to access, expensive and complicated. In a perfect world, these are some of my union fantasies:

 1. You boss cops a feel when you're behind the bar trying to dry glasses - you tell the union, they give your boss a ball-numbing wedgy and find you a new job.

2. You haven't been paid for three weeks, you send a txty to your union they come straight over, walk up to the till, take out your cash and stamp on your bosses foot on the way out.

3. You're getting paid cash ($7 per hour) to supplement your meagre Centrelink income, the union is ok with this and haggles the price up to a whole $10! Not only that, but they do all of your Centrelink paperwork and make you a coffee while you wait.

It's likely that unions will never turn these fantasies into reality, but it begs a bigger question - are unions even relevant to young people?

Taking matters into their own hands, Gen Y are using social media to look after eachother and dob in crappy bosses.

This here Facebook Group,  the Bad Boss Blacklist: Sydney Casual Worker Information Sharing List is well overdue and something that unions would be wise to support.

Basically, you join and get to dob-in all of the crappy bosses. Already Cinque Cafe and Wheat Cafe, the Randwick stables have had a bad wrap as have Crazy Horse - naming and shaming not only warns of where not to work, but also lets people know which businesses pay casual workers decent wages, and who don't giving them the change to boycott should they care to.

Complaints on the Bad Boss list range from pure racism, unfair cash rates and huge staff turnover to advice on what casual workers should ask before accepting a job. Though the group not without its problems (potential libel, further bullying, privacy etc.), the use of social media to protect young people from exploitation is not only relevant but entirely overdue.

So perhaps its time for unions to enter the brave new world of social media and reclaim their relevancy?

The Garage Sale Trail

According to the holy scriptures of the ABS, Australians generate 3.2 million tonnes of solid waste which is 1,629 kilograms of waste per person - that's a lot of junk in mother nature's trunk!

So give the fine lady a hand by not buying new crap and instead picking-up some pre-loved bargains garage sale style.

As part of the Bondi Sizzle Community Festival my good buddy Ben is curating a suburb-wide garage sale called the Garage Sale Trail.

If you (or one of your mates) lives in Bondi, be one of the first 50 to register your sale and get yourself a little bag of goodies. The garage sale with the best name, spunkiest looking host, or coolest outfit will be judged by a celebrity panel and get even better prizes.

Not everyone can live in Bondi, but you can head on over to pick-up some goodies. Think bikes, surfboards, clothes, books, music and mucho mas stuff left over from flighty backpackers and the razzledazzlerati! A map of the sales will be releasesed a few days before the sale on Sunday May 9.

Get along!

Violence + Education = Violucation = The most awesomest thing ever

The Internet is more awesome than Life. 

K-Fed is more less awesome than RPatz.

How odd. 

Are you surprised by any?http://www.mostawesomestthingever.com/

Cute design, lovely narrative and great tool.

Check out the site http://www.behindthestuff.com/ it reminds me a lot of 'The Story of Stuff' in the way it develops a narrative surrounding modes of production but has a slightly more factual and simplistic.

I can't find out much about Jessica Benhar or why she has decided to make the site but it's quite glorious nonetheless.

Not even remotely green - but who cares? Awesome.

Designers (almost) pull their head outta their...

In jest, in jest. Designers are glorious, even more so when their heads are thinking about other peoples' arses.

I'm talking about the PeePoople. Seriously. According to their site, 6.2 billion people don't have access to sanitation, it's a huge issue in developing countries where this gadget is a lifesaver.

So how does it work?

Well you peepoo into a bag, close the bag and bury it. The bag biodegrades and it's contents turn into fertiliser. You can use it chamberpot, or just straight into the bag. It doesn't require water for sanitation - which is all very well and good.

So....Closer to home. I'm thinking this will revolutionise festivals, bush walks, and when you housemate spends too long in the bathroom and you're busting for your morning 'rush'.

The possibilities for the peepoople are as endless as the poo, wee and bottom jokes (that I am desperately trying show restraint with).

So thank you whoever designed this, I can only imagine the product testing and research phases (sorry).

Oh, oh and let's not forget the 'Go-Girl' my first favourite wee invention, for women who "Don't take life sitting down"