thredUp for Earth Day with Giveaway

Earth Day is just around the corner and it has me thinking about how my family can be better about the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. There’s a lot of emphasis out there on recycling and, let’s be honest, it’s the easiest one. Just take your plastic water bottles and toss them in the recycle bin instead of the trash and suddenly you are doing wonders for the earth. Don’t get me wrong, recycling is great, but it doesn’t help the earth (or our pocketbooks) nearly as much as reducing and reusing. But sometime (always?) reducing and reusing takes more work or at least more will power. Which is why I love the idea of ThredUp. They take all the work out of passing on gently worn clothes, books or toys.

ThredUp

thredUP.com is where moms like you swap kids clothes toys and books online. Sign up on Earth Day (April 22) to receive a $13.95 swapping credit! Use that money for 90% off your first box of kids clothes, toys or books. Since thredUP is a swapping community, you can also de-clutter by sending a boxes of your kids pre-loved stuff to other moms for free – all without leaving the house. Lighten your family’s eco-thumbprint this earth day without lifting a finger.

How it Works

1. Sign up at thredUp.com (it’s always free to sign up). Sign up on Earth Day (Friday, April 22nd) and get a $13.95 credit, which means your first box will be $2 shipped.
2. Browse the boxes and select one that matches your child for $5 plus shipping. (Total $15.95 which is still great for a box stuffed with clothes.)
3. List a box of clothes, toys or books that you are ready to pass on. When your box gets picked you print the label and the mail carrier picks it up, all at no charge to you.
4. And repeat. (You have to send boxes to keep getting boxes, it’s called thredUp after all.)
5. Military Members have some extra benefits (yest they ship APO/FPO) and you can donate a “pick” to a military family.

What Will I Get?

For your money you’ll get a medium sized priority mail box stuffed full of gently used clothes. The thredUp golden rule is “Send only what you’d be willing to receive.” And they promise that if you, “Send an unacceptable item and you’ll be warned once. Repeat offenders are banned from thredUP. We also conduct random quality assurance checks to ensure all senders are abiding by the Golden thredUP Rule.” So while you can’t be sure that everyone who joins thredUp will be a good person, you can be sure that thredUp will do something about it.

I received my first box last week and I’m so so about it. Everything is fine quality, just not the colors or patterns I might have picked out myself. Admittedly I was trying to get an order off ASAP so I could tell you all about it, so I may not have found the best match to my personal taste. And for $2 or even the full $15.95 I feel I got my money’s worth. I will definitely thredUp again and plan to pass a good amount of our outgrown clothes and toys along in the future.

If you are very into high end, brand name clothing and putting together the perfect outfits, thredUp might not be for you. On the other hand, you can search by brand name and, since there’s no sign up fee, you can always just keep searching until you find the perfect box. Chances are there’s a mama out there with you same taste whose child just grew out of something you’d love.

PRO Memberships

For a $29.99 annual fee thredUp offers PRO Memberships. As a PRO member you get first dibs on new boxes, email notifications of box recommendations, the ability to compare 3 boxes on-line and access to Golden Threds. These Golden Threds are boxes of brand new clothing from a retail sponsor and still only cost $5 plus shipping.

Win! Celebrate Earth Day and thredUp’s 1 Year Anniversary with a giveaway for 10 PRO Memberships ($29.99 value each)!

Also, don’t forget, if you sign up on April 22nd you get a $13.95 credit.

How to Enter: Visit thredUp.com and look around. Let us know what you like about thredUp.

Bonus Entries – valid only after completing the first required entry. Please leave a separate comment for each you do.

• Spring into Spring! Enter the myMonkeymoo giveaway at Baby Loving Mama. Leave a comment to let us know you did.
• Like ThredUp on Facebook.
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• Follow ThredUp AND TheShoppingMama on Twitter. You may tweet every day, just leave a link when you do.
  Celebrate Earth Day with thredUp and enter to win 1 of 10 PRO memberships @TheShoppingMama http://bit.ly/f8tzqD
• Subscribe to The Shopping Mama in email or RSS.
• Sign up for the The Shopping Mama Newsletter.
• Post the Spring into Spring button on your blog.

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Giveaway ends May 4. Open to US residents (or military living overseas) only.

Thanks to thredUp for providing the giveaway prizes.