Iggle me, piggle me, Zwaggle me too

The Parent Bloggers Network, on behalf of a kid-stuff-swapping site called Zwaggle, is asking how we share, save, and simplify.

I'll tell you the one gear-acquiring tip I wish I'd learned earlier on in my parental career: On bigger-ticket items, go gender-neutral! It was during my 2nd pregnancy, when I bought my daughter a snowsuit and boots, that the light bulb went off: What if this baby is a boy? I better get a hand-me-down that'll work! Sure enough, kid #2 was of the XY variety, and he's been wearing that blue and green snowsuit (with the turquoise boots--it's quite fetching) all winter long. Same when it came time to buy that first two-wheeler. We picked out an orange-and-black Winnie the Pooh model--no pink and purple sparkles allowed.

We've also been lucky enough to borrow quite a bit of the space-sucking baby gear. We have a niece who's just 15 months older than our daughter, so we got her infant car seat, exersaucer, and swing, then returned it all when we were done. By the time our son came along, we'd moved too far away from our niece to reacquire her stuff, but a kind friend offered us most of the same items from her own stash. We still have a lot of it (juuuuust in case) but once I've gotten over that "maybe baby" urge, I'll be happy to pay it all forward.

Or ... there are those who'd remind me that as soon as I pass it along, whammo I'll be knocked up.

Hmmm. Zwaggle, here I come!