Use This As That

by Katie Saltz

You can easily spend a fortune on baby items, but why bother when simple substitutions are right under your nose? Save all those baby store gift cards for diapers and wipes- and use what you already have on hand for the little things. Here are a few of my personal “use this as that” items:

A colander as a bath toy holder. Instead of a cloth basket with suction cups, a simple spaghetti strainer works the same wonders. The water drains out completely and it can be dropped in the dishwasher as needed.

• Chux pads from the hospital as disposable changing pads. The hospital will provide you with Chux pads to sit on after giving birth. Their absorbent abilities are perfect for diaper changes and can fold up and fit into a diaper bag easily. Stuff a few extras in your bag before you head home with your baby.

Cloth diapers as burp clothes. Cloth diapers are soft, easy to wash and cheap. Now that my daughter is older and no longers spits up at every meal, I use them to dust the furniture.

• Ice cube trays for milk storage. I would freeze breast milk into what we called “boob cubes,” for when you just needed an extra ounce or two. Ice cube trays also work for freezing pureed baby food.

Blankets as wall hangings. We received more baby blankets as gifts then we could have ever used. Take   your favorites, the prettiest, or those with similar themes, use some dowels and sewing tape and you have your nursery walls decorated in loving style.

• Diaper boxes to store clothes. You will have plenty of empty diaper boxes lying around, and tons of too-tiny clothes to pack up before you know it. Use duct tape to reinforce the creases of the jumbo diaper boxes and a marker to label the clothing size.