OK, I’ve explained before how Shannon, over at Rocks in My Dryer, does her fabulous Works for Me Wednesday tips… Well, the first one each month has a theme. This month’s theme is “Brand Loyalty.” She wants to know what specific brands we’ll go out of our way to get. Here are my top three, as a mom of four little ones:

1. Carter’s brand clothing
Sure, you may have to pay a bit more for this, but there’s a reason that their slogan is “If only they could stay little until their Carter’s wore out.” (Or something like that…) I love to load up on anything Carter’s, especially on sale or, better yet, at garage sales. They simply don’t wear out. My mom bought our first son a royal blue knit sleeper with ducks all over it right after he was born. All four of my kids have worn it, and it still looks flawless. No pilling, no fading, no stretching… They’re the best! (And look at the adorable lavender sleeper Evan received when she was born!)

2. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers
I have written before about a mother’s need to buy these in bulk and to always, always have these on hand. These things rock. I have no idea how they work, but they removed permanent marker off of wooden furniture. They clean a bathtub with ease. They clean grout better than anything else I’ve found. (Do not use them on children, though!) Must have… Must have lots.

3. Huggies diapers
I’ve done lots of research on diapers. Seriously. When our first child was born, we did cloth diapers for a bit and then priced every brand of disposable diapers I could find at four local stores. I priced per diaper, then proceeded to test them by using them. Let me just say, you pretty much get what you pay for. The generic ones yielded much more laundry for me because there was a LOT more leaks and, well, general oozing. (Sorry!) Huggies have the great elastic across the top of the back. That has been the biggest problem area for each of my kids. Sam’s Club sells these in bulk and they practically cost the same as what laundry cost me to do when I was using leaky cloth diapers. Honestly.

Also, a side note: In my opinion, Pampers aren’t the greatest… though they should be for their price. They cost more than Huggies, but do not have that great elastic in back. Plus, they smell funny when wet. Huggies are all we buy. They’re worth every cent.

UPDATED TO ADD:
OK, I know my link from the Rocks in My Dryer site says
I had 3 tips, but I thought of a few more. Here they are:

4. Ziploc gallon-sized freezer bags
I will go to the ends of the earth for these little puppies. The do not leak. Ever. I’ve used them for freezing soups, for storing shampoo bottles when traveling, and most importantly, for morning sickness. I don’t mean to be gross, but when I’m pregnant, I get sick a lot. Nearly every day for nine months. Since I can’t avoid traveling altogether, I keep extra Ziploc freezer bags in the door of our van. I’ve used them many times and they always keep all the, er, um, “yuckies” contained until we reach a suitable trash can. I’ve even written Ziploc to thank them. Without these, I wouldn’t be able to leave my house when I’m pregnant… which seems to be more often than not.

5. Hanes
I’ve previously posted about this, so I’ll just give you the link here.

 Any good tips on brands we should know about? What can’t you live without?

My crazy husband wants me to add that we only buy Bell Helicopters… Or Robinsons. but since we don’t actually own a helicopter, ignore him. He’s only dreaming.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 at 10:03 pm and is filed under Domestic Engineering, WFMW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.