Growing with our Kids!

A lot of you have been with me from the beginning and I have watched your kids grow and seen a bunch of you pop out a few more!  Since most of our kids (mine included) are growing out of the sizes offered by the KCTP, we are going to transition out of the baby clothes and into the big kid stuff!

Here is how it is going to work.  Over the course of this year I will stop TAKING IN the smaller sizes but I will still have them for TRADING OUT/SALE.  Once I make enough room, I will start taking in the larger sizes.  Depending on how much room is available will determine what size I will be able to go up to.  My hope is to go up to size 12 or 14.

So here is the schedule for this operation!

• April/May - The last two months to bring in Sizes Preemie, NB, 0-3m and 3m.
• June/July - The last two months to bring in Sizes 3-6m and 6m.
• August/September - The last two months to bring in Sizes 6-9m, 6-12m and 9m.

By the end of 2013, I hope to have completely transitioned to trading in and out Sizes 12m-14youth.

If you have clothing in the larger sizes that you would like to DONATE to the KCTP, I will take them at any time, but if you would like to redeem them for points, please hang on to them until I make more room!

I know that this is a big change, but I think it's time for the post to match the needs of its traders (you!) and grow up as well!  It's been a great 5 years so far, let's keep it going! If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email to michele.evans@wavecable.com .

Thanks for your continued support and Happy Trading!
~Michele

Say good bye to the Onesies!

It is official, we are done with the Onesies!!!  Don't get me wrong, I love them just as much as the next mom, but they were getting out of control!

The good news is, now I have more room for more clothes! Yay!

I will take a onesie IF and ONLY IF it is part of an outfit.  But don't worry, if you happen to bring one in, I will not send you packing out the door, I'll just put it back in your bag for you to take home :)...

Thanks for trading!
~Michele

Growing Up and out of Onesies!!

So here is the short and skinny on the onesie issue....

 

They come in, but they never leave!!!

So because of the enormous amount of onesies that I have collected over the years, I have decided that we will no longer be taking onesies UNLESS they are part of an outfit (top and bottom).  I will still take rompers, but the onesies have made it to the banned list! :)

Also, just as a heads up, we will be changing things up this year and I am looking for ways to expand our sizes to start trading clothes that are larger than 5T.  This may mean that we will stop taking infant clothing (NB-9m) but I haven't decided just yet.

As always, keep booking your appointments through the booking site at www.kctp.genbook.com and thanks for trading!
~Michele

New Hours

So once again, I have taken on way too much!  I now have two kids instead of one and I'm also going back to school full time!  With all this going on, I still want to make time for all my loyal traders out there, so I have two trades each day, Monday - Thursday at 1:00pm and 1:30pm.  You can still book your appointment online at www.kctp.genbook.com and you can book up to 14 days in advance!  They go fast, so be sure to check back everyday for the next opening!

Thanks so much for your continueing support and Happy Trading!

Cancellation Policy

From now on if you are a No show/No call to your scheduled appointment:

• For first time traders that don't show up and don't notify me that they will not be making their appointment, they will not be allowed to rebook and their chance at enjoying the benefits of the post are gone. 
• For existing account traders, if you have "trades" on the books from when you purchased multiple trades, you will be deducted one trade.  If you have only credit on the books, you will be deducted 50 points from your account.  Once your account balance reaches zero, you will no longer be welcomed back to the post.

Help!!

I started the KCTP as a way to give back to my community and bring families together to help each other.  And over the past year we have done exactly that.  Growing from a handful of donations to a 200 square foot shed that is overflowing with great clothes and hundreds of happy traders making their way to Port Orchard every afternoon.

It was never intended to be this big money maker, because if it could be, then someone would have done it already!  I want to keep the service open to anyone and keep it affordable, but so many people are now taking advantage of this service and are about to ruin it for everyone.

Every week, I have a handful of traders book appointments and not show up at all.  They don't call or email, they just don't show up.  I have tried the new online booking system that sends email reminders of their appointment along with my cell phone number that they can call to cancel if need be.  I've given people chances and heard every story in the book as to why they couldn't make it or call me for days.  But this has to stop.

Every time someone blows off their appointment, we all lose out.  The trader that really wanted that time slot and the fact that there went another $5 that could have gone to paying off the $4,000.00 shed that was built to help all of you.  Not to mention the fact that I work full time and commute two hours a day, then come home and spend another hour out in the shed waiting for traders that never show up, missing out on spending the small amount of time I have with my family.  But what do they care, they just see a service that they can take advantage of and that the nice lady behind the counter will let it go once again.  Well, not any more!

This is a service for our community, but it can no longer be for anyone.  This will be a service for those that respect it, respect the other traders and respect me.  I will not tolerate no shows anymore.  If you were to not show up to a date or a job interview, do you honestly think that would be okay and that you would be welcomed back next time?  In order to keep the trading post going and to keep me from throwing in the towel and saying to heck with all of it, I need to do some thinking and I need your advice.

Here are some options/ideas that I'm putting out there.  I may implement none or all of them, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter.

1. No shows/No calls.  For first time traders that don't show up and don't notify me that they will not be making their appointment, they will not be allowed to rebook and their chance at enjoying the benefits of the post are gone.  For existing account traders, if you have "trades" on the books from when you purchased multiple trades, you will be deducted one trade.  If you have only credit on the books, you will be deducted 50 points from your account.  Once your account balance reaches zero, you will no longer be welcomed back to the post.
2. Prepaying for trades.  I'm going to be playing around with this one and see if I can link Pay Pal to the booking website so that in order to book an appointment, you must prepay for that appointment online.  The cost of the trade would go up to $7/trade in order to cover the Pay Pal fees.  But I think that if people were to prepay for their session, they will be motivated to actually show up.  If they needed to reschedule, the payment would just be applied to their rescheduled appointment.
3. Raising the trading fee.  I could just go ahead and raise the trading fee in order to make up for the loss incurred by the no shows.  I'm not sure how much it would need to be increased to, but I need to be able to make the monthly payments on the shed, or I will be forced to shut down the post.  I would hate to do this, because it would be like punishing those that follow the rules, but it seems like the threat of not being able to trade here is not enough to keep the doors open.

I open the floor to you.  I started this by asking all of you for help over a year ago, to bring this idea to life and to make it worth it to all of us.  With your continued help and support, we've been able to keep this running and reach out to more and more parents and caregivers all over Washington and other states as well!  I realize now, that I cannot do this on my own and I need your help again.  Let me know what you think or if you have any other ideas that may solve this problem.  I really want to hear from all of you!

First Time Moms - You gals have to read this!

At some point all mothers are "First Time Moms" and with that title comes a lot of uncertainty, but one thing is for sure, we want the absolute best for our new baby!  I was there just three and a half years ago and I bought EVERYTHING new!  I just couldn't stomach the thought of putting something used on my little angel.  I went shopping like crazy and normally, I hate spending money, but I made sure that I had everything on that list I found (online of course) of all the items you will absolutely need once the baby arrives.  And it came without saying that it all had to match....the car seat, the stroller, the diaper bag, the mini diaper bag and the portable crib! 

Looking back, I wished I would have gone about it differently!

While some items I agree you should purchase new, such as car seats and bottles, other things such as clothing and bedding, you should look into getting second hand.  Here's why...

1. Babies grow fast!  Infants grow at such an alarming rate that you may not have enough time to get them into all of those cute outfits before they're on to the next size.  Some babies are even born too big to fit into newborn sizes (great! there goes that whole drawer of clothes!)  From running the trading post, I have seen so many newborn outfits come in that are brand stinking new, still on the original hangers and with the tags still on them!  Most moms say that even if you were to put a new outfit on your baby every 4 hours, you still won't be able to get through all the clothes you will accumulate for your first born.

Solution: Go crazy!  Buy all the cute outfits you want, but get them at the Trading Post.  Spend just a fraction of what you would at the mall and get it all.  That way, when your baby has outgrown them just as fast as we said they would, you won't feel sick knowing that you spend $40 on something that was only worn once!  You just take those clothes that you got such an incredible deal on back to the KCTP and trade them in for bigger ones!

2. You won't know until you know.  When I was a First Time Mom (FTM) I had no idea what I would need, so I "Googled" it!  I found list after list posted by the baby stores of must have items and I fell for it.  But the bottom line is you don't really know what you'll need until you need it. 
I bought a ton of these zipper pajamas because I thought I would need them.  I found out quick that I hated them because it was too difficult to change a diaper in the middle of the night with one of those blasted zipper pjs on!!!  So they never got used and that money went down the drain.

Solution:  Get a little bit of everything!  At the mall, a lot of the clothes are sold in packs, so you may be stuck with multiple items of something that doesn't make your life easier.  At the Trading Post, you can get a little something of everything.  Try it out, if it works great, come back and get more!  If not, no big deal, just bring it back and get something else. 

3. Babies are expensive!  There are things that I agree you should never buy used, such as diapers, food and car seats.  So why not save money where you can by spending less on clothing!  By getting all of your baby's clothes at the trading post, you will now be able to afford diapers and baby food without having to give up cable TV and your cell phone!  By saving where you can and where it makes sense, it will make the financial burden of a new family member less noticeable and result in a much happier home.

Solution: The Kids Clothing Trading Post has an amazing variety of infant clothing.  All of the items are in excellent condition and so very affordable.  I cannot stress to you how much money you'll be able to save if you just take advantage of the post!  My favorite thing new moms say when they shop at the post is "Urgh, I just paid full price for this at the store!!"  That's when I tell them, "I hope you saved the receipt and you can take it back!" 

So to all of my FTMs out there that are maybe just a wee bit curious on what the Kids Clothing Trading Post could offer you, just take a chance and come check it out.  If it's not for you, no worries there's no cost if you don't like it.  But I'm pretty sure that you'll find something that will tickle your fancy and you'll feel really good about saving money!

From one mom to another, this is a really good idea and I'm not just saying that because it's my idea! 
~Michele