Local mom keeps tushees tidy

Kelly Paley cares about babies bottoms.

The Okanagan mother has made it her business to make the bottoms of Kelowna area babies more comfortable and environmentally friendly.

Paley is the owner and sole employee of Tidy Tushees Diaper Service, which provides clean, cloth diapers to area moms. She also cleans the soiled diapers.

“I was looking for something to do after my maternity time was up and this business kinda came to me. My husband and I had decided to do cloth diapers for our son, so this seemed like a good fit,” says Paley who counts her two-year-old son Tyson among her 30 clients.

She says she got the business from another work-at-home mom.

“She was moving away and wanted to sell the business to another work-at-home mom. A month later I was in business and a year later I am hoping to expand.”

Paley says she washes between three and four thousand diapers a month in eco-friendly, high efficiency machines.

“I've been nominated for the Savvy Mom Entrepreneur of the Year Award through the Savvy Mom website and Today's Parent magazine. It's a $15,000 grand prize, which is both cash and services to help the winner take their business to the next level. For me that would would mean being able to expand my business to the entire Okanagan. Right now I can only really take clients who live in Kelowna or West Kelowna.”

She says the deadline for people to vote in the contest is September 13, with the prize being awarded soon after.

“I am really the only cloth diaper delivery service in the Okanagan and I'd love to be able to expand to more areas, to more babies. Right now it's a one-woman show, but I've been getting so much support from my friends and family.”