If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I’m not fond of toxic chemicals in our house or yard. We grow all of our veggies using organic methods, clean the house with baking soda and vinegar, and avoid food additives like preservatives and food colorings. So it should come as no surprise that we don’t want our son wearing pajamas treated with flame retardant chemicals.
I know other parents who feel the same way, and their solution has been to go out and buy new cotton pajamas that say “wear snug f’itting – not flame resistant” on the tag. I have found a few pairs of these at thrift stores, and our son has been wearing them this summer. But he’s starting to outgrow them now, and winter is coming. I know that I could go back to the thrift stores and search through the pajamas to find more that aren’t treated with flame retardants. But I’m trying to avoid shopping in general – we already have too much stuff, and I don’t want to add anything else. I’ve been sorting through our stuff and weeding out clutter, and it feels great. We live ten miles from the thrift stores now, as opposed to where we used to live, which was half a mile from two great thrift stores. This is great for my efforts to save money, get by with less, and avoid consumerism in all its forms – including buying used stuff that we really don’t need.
So our son is now wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts to bed. We have several that will fit him all winter. They were hand me downs and items that I purchased at thrift stores before we moved, and they make perfect pajamas. I pair them with warm socks, and he’s all set for the night. Thrift stores are frugal, but making do with what we already have is even more frugal, and it serves a secondary purpose of keeping the clutter in our house to a minimum.
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