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Stay-at-home success story – Momufactured Design of Helena

Like many young mothers, Heidi Clark of Helena faced a dilemma: return to the work force after having children, or be a stay-at-home mom and try to get along on just her husband’s income.

By JOHN HARRINGTON – Business Editor Helena IR

Putting parenting ahead of her profession, Clark, 27, formerly the health information officer for Intermountain Children’s Home, decided to stay home three years ago after her second child was born.

It was tight on just her husband’s income, but Clark never doubted the decision. But she did begin looking for ways to bring in a few extra dollars.

Slowly, she started building a business from scratch. What started a few years ago as a small enterprise selling cloth diapers to acquaintances she met through Internet interest groups has grown into Momufactured Design, http://www.momufactured.com a home-based operation featuring diapers and accessories, car-seat covers, baby slings and homemade laundry and hand soaps.

When she can’t keep up with the demand for diapers on her own, Clark sells Fuzzi Bunz, a brand of cloth diaper manufactured by a small business in Louisiana.

Locally, she debuted her products with a booth at the downtown farmer’s market this summer, and sets up at the occasional craft show. She also makes appearances at baby showers, showing off her diapers to expectant moms and their friends and families.

Finding time to sew her diapers and make her soaps is a challenge.

"I do what I can during the evenings after the kids go to bed, or during nap times," she said.

It’s not overly lucrative — especially if she breaks the labor out to an hourly wage — but the money does make a difference.

"A lot of what it does is let us do the extras," she said. "The kids wanted swimming lessons, so this helps pay for those. Before Christmas it gives us some extra to buy gifts, and it supports my sewing habit."

And beyond the extra income, Clark gets the satisfaction of selling to other young mothers a lifestyle she believes in. In her sales flyers, she peddles the environmental benefits of cloth diapering and the advantages of using handcrafted soaps. She also offers advice to moms looking for a way to stay home with their youngsters.

"It’s not easy," she said. "We don’t drive new cars, we don’t go out to eat much. But we made a conscious decision that I would stay home, so this is the way we do it."

As for the potential growth of Momufactured Designs, Clark has mixed feelings. Like anyone, she could use the extra income, and she would relish the chance to share her child-rearing philosophy with more young families. But more sales would mean more time spent sewing, and subsequently less time with her own offspring.

"If I grow much bigger than I am now I would have to find someone to contract sew for me," she said. "It’s a balancing act to try to not take time away from my family, because the reason I stayed home in the first place was to stay with my children. But I’m doing something I enjoy, and telling other parents how to cloth diaper and how to stay home with their kids if they’d like."

Heidi Clark can be reached at 441-1001 [email protected] , and her products can be seen on the Web at http://www.momufactured.com.

John Harrington can be reached at 447-4080 or [email protected].

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2003/11/17/business/e01111603_01.txt

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