Delia's

The clothing choices that are available to young tween and teen girls today makes me both happy and fearful at the same time.

On one hand, it makes me happy that Mar-Mar is still way too young for me to argue with her about what I will and will not allow her to wear.  While on the other hand, it makes me fear for what the future holds when she does get to be that age.

I can't help but notice that a lot of tweens and teens are dressing themselves to portray a much older persona.  At times, they dress themselves to look older than myself, and the taste of clothing choices...we'll just say that teen clothing options these days leaves little to the imagination.

It is the downfall of tween and teen girl clothing that makes me like Delia*s so much.  The majority of their clothing options tend to fall on the spectrum of keeping a young girl looking exactly like she should...young and like a child, not a grown woman exposing more skin than necessary.

As I progress through the years as a mother to a young girl, I will most definitely be keeping an eye on Delia*s as they are clearly one of few companies that truly understand a parents worst clothing nightmare when it comes to their young girls.

Shutterfly

I take a lot of pictures.  And being that everything in this day is digital, that also means that I download a ton of pictures on to my computer.  This also makes me terrified that I could lose all those precious memories with a virus or other computer crash.

To circumvent this fear of losing all those memories, I not only have my folders upon folders upon folders of pictures on my computer, but I also have them backed up onto flash drives.  Another avenue that I take to protect my pictures, I have a shutterfly account.

I LOVE Shutterfly.  Not only for the mere fact that it holds my precious memories of C-Man and Mar-Mar, but I can also order hard copies of those prints, make books, collages, and share my pictures.  What's more, from time to time they send you special promo codes.

I once got a free photo book of C-Man for his 1st year with a promo code. I paid for the shipping only, and got a beautiful book that I was able to construct with my favorite pictures of his first year.

I love this tool as an extra backup for my pictures.  While it's not as convenient as going to Wal-Mart or Walgreen's to pick up your prints, I still prefer Shutterfly.  If I don't have the time to run out of the house to make errand runs to either Wal-Mart or Walgreen's, I can count on Shutterfly to ship me those oh so precious memories.

Shutterfly gets an A+ from this Momster.

Totsy

Who has heard of Totsy?  Well, it's one of those sites that I love.  It is a lot like Zulily in that they are boutique type shops that offer a set number of outfits, products, etc.

This is the breakdown of how it works.  The company Totsy, essentially, agrees with these companies to order a certain number of a product in exchange for a deep discount.  This is where you see the percentages off, sometimes 15% and going up to the 80% they advertise.

The deal is, they only offer these products for a certain amount of time, usually for 3 days.  So, when you see something you like, you can't just dwell on it and wait.  You usually have to snatch it right up.

The difference that I've seen between Zulily and Totsy is that Zulily immediately charges your card.  That can be great, especially if you have a habit of overspending on cute little outfits for your munchkin.  Totsy, on the other hand, stores your order until they place the order.  Once they receive the products from the manufacturers, they bill you and ship out your items as agreed upon.

Another thing I like about these sites, other than the deals that you can get, Totsy gives you a $15 credit to your account for each person who signs up under your account and makes their first purchase.  So, essentially, not only are you a customer, but you are in a way, an affiliate of sorts.  The only difference between a normal affiliate and this is that you get the $15 once, whereas a normal affiliate, every order that is placed through a link dedicated to them gets a percentage.

My one bad thing I don't like about either Zulily or Totsy...shipping/delivery time.  Doesn't matter which one you decide to go with, they both have the slowest shipping time from order until it gets to your door.  I chalk this up to the fact that when they do the sales, they don't actually have the product on hand.  They have to wait for these items to be shipped to them before they can process your order and ship your items to you as well.

My final review on Totsy, as long as you aren't trying to purchase a last minute dress, present, or outfit, this is perfect for cute little outfits and gifts.  They also have some cute items for mom and kitchen as well.