Tip 11: Internet family groups near your place

As I started this blog, I did not speak about a lot of preparations for childbirth, getting the necessary baby items and a host of many preparations pre-birth as I blogged a little late and was also too busy to think about blogging. I will hopefully blog about these items come my next child, God willing. I however find very helpful to get resources for preparing for childbirth and caring for babies by being listed on a yahoogroup or other discussion groups that are located near to where you live. Usually mummy would prefer to read a book or just head out to the shopping complex or search items on yahoo auction to purchase them. But, nowadays, the internet has made it a lot easier to reuse hand me downs that are reasonably usable and in fact, some are still downright new by those who take effort to care of their items. And in return, you can pass it forward by donating your used and new items to another person out there who would be clueless on what items to get for their newborn baby. You actually get more ideas by getting hand me downs than to go to a large shopping complex where the items are all packaged without a way to try the items and a person to show you how to use them.

I find many developed countries have a more open attitude towards passing things down on the internet instead of storing them in the store room. Also in Japan, space is more limited and people move houses a lot in central Tokyo which gives me good opportunity to scout for very new items. That being said, be warned that you may be wasting your time if those items are personal items and does not match the preferences of mummy. But, no harm trying and meeting another mummy and daddy who would be more than glad to speak with you and share some tips that may prove useful. We are living such busy lifestyles nowadays that the only way to connect with people is either to buy, sell and get free items off the internet and collect them, or to crash a car at the street (hence the movie "Crash"). But, we surely can do better when we share more and invest trust in people, even on the internet (with a pinch of wisdom).

Below are some websites

http://www.craigslist.org/ (Is divided by locations all over the world)
http://www.facebook.com/ (Is divided by networks all over the world)
http://www.tokyowithkids.com/discussions/messages/3/3.html (only Tokyo)
http://www.tokyonoticeboard.co.jp/ (only Tokyo)
http://metropolis.co.jp/classifieds/biz.asp?action=home&pid=0 (only Japan)
http://www.gaijinpot.com/classifieds/ (only Japan)