Since I’m no longer fixated on diaper rash and baby sleep,  I’ve had to find a new obsession. Enter Yerdle.

I am completely addicted to Yerdle and probably need an intervention. Yerdle is a free app that lets you trade your clutter for other people’s clutter and just pay shipping for what you buy. Except, if you’re strategic about it, the clutter you order won’t be clutter anymore; it will be jeans that actually fit or the next size up of baby clothes or a frame for the Mother’s Day photo you printed.

We have a bit of a hoarding problem here. The guest room is overrun with all the junk that used to be in the nursery, furniture items from around the apartment that we’ve had to remove to allow Bea more exploration space, clothing that I can’t consign, and countless half-finished projects.

Complicating matters, six of Erik’s family members will be visiting in June, and I’d like the guest room to be presentable. Actually, I don’t want to set the bar too high. I’d just like the bed in the guest room to be accessible.

The room looked like this once upon a time.

We took a wrong turn somewhere because I have no idea how we wound up with so much STUFF! We don’t buy anything; things just seem to accumulate in the corners and spontaneously expand.

So, I’ve been hard at work trying to unload some extra weight on craigslist and, when that doesn’t work, on Yerdle. I have “sold” items on Yerdle within hours after they have spent months  sitting on craigslist with no takers! Half-used nail polishes, broken computer chargers, an extra fancy wine corkscrew, some lightly-used baby items, and more. In return, I now have a number of adorable clothing items for Bea that probably won’t fit her until she is three :-).

I think I love Yerdle so much because I am generally cautious with my money (to put it nicely!). The bulk of my own wardrobe consists of hand-me-downs from my sister and friends, and nearly all our furniture has been collected free from stoops somewhere between Brooklyn and Gloucester.

We have been very lucky to receive enough hand-me-down, thrifted, and borrowed baby clothes from friends and family (thanks to Erin, Kristin, Maria, Lexi and Diane, Rachael, Wife, my mom, Hana, Caitlyn, and more!) that we have not needed to buy any ourselves.

I actually prefer the hand-me-downs to new clothes. Babies spend so little time in each size of clothing (unless we’re talking about my baby who was wearing three-month onesies until seven months!), so I would rather reuse than contribute to more waste and more spending.

(Baby rocking free consignment bicycle socks, gingham ruffle hand-me-down pedal pushers, hand-blockprinted onesie by my friend Lindsay, and her own teatime pinky finger)

Plus, I love that Beatrice’s ragtag wardrobe includes boy clothes, current clothes, clothes from 2009, and clothes from 1982.

Bea has a unique fashion sense for sure.

Anywayyyyy, Yerdle is probably the only shopping spree I will ever go on in my life, and I love it. The downside is shipping. Shipping usually costs $4-6 per package, depending on the weight and size. For that reason, I try to buy a few things at a time from the same person so that I only need to pay shipping once.

Who doesn’t love getting mail? Especially when it looks like this!

I can’t wait until she fits into those sneakers. Actually, I can. She is growing too fast!

As a bonus, if you sign up for Yerdle through this link, you’ll get 35 Yerdle dollars (I’ll get 10!). And then you will be hooked. Like me.

Yerdle did not pay me to write this post (although maybe they should have). I am obsessed all on my own.