DIY Disaster!!!

I have been cloth diapering now for over two years. From the start, I used Rockin' Green detergent with great results. Within the last six to eight months, I began making my own laundry detergent for our regular laundry in an attempt to save money. My home made detergent recipe worked beautifully. Recently, I came across a recipe for homemade cloth diaper detergent on Pinterest. I had heard great things about it from people who had regular-type water, so I mixed up a batch since I already had everything on hand from making my own detergent and was running very low in RnG anyway. For about a two weeks, my homemade diaper detergent worked great. I used the same measurements as I had always used with RnG and the same type of wash routine. After a couple weeks, though, I began to notice that the diapers began to still smell after they were "clean". So I tried adding more detergent, and that seemed to do the trick. Then a few washes later, I began to have issues with repelling. So I added another long rinse at the end of my wash. It was beginning to frustrate me. For two years, I hadn't had any issues what so ever with my diapers (while on RnG). So I happened to find a sample of Rockin' Green in my laundry cabinet while organizing last night and used it in yesterday's diaper laundry. And of course, it worked like a charm! So I guess I will be making a trip to my local cloth store or placing an order for some Rockin' Green (in Motley Clean, of course!). I suppose the moral of the story is: if it ain't broke, don't fix it! And from now on, I'll leave the delicate chemistry to the professionals!
Have you ever tried any DIY and had it turn out horribly wrong? I'd love to hear about it!

Flats Challenge: Days 3-7

Okay, so I realize I didn't post every day like I was supposed to, but I am attempting to correct my mistake. Last week was one of the busiest in my life! I babysat as usual, but just had a couple more kids than I normally do. So along with trying to keep up with three other kiddos (besides my own), I was attempting to keep up with hand washing my flats and covers. I must say, it was not easy. I tried to wait until the end of the day to wash, but then I would have to do two loads to handle all the diapers. So then I tried to wash during nap time, but none of the kids is on the same nap schedule, so that was a no-go. So I then tried to practice EC (elimination communication) with Evan. He is partly potty learned during the day, so this wasn't really a great deal more work. EC seemed to be the best possible route I could go having all the kids around the house. It was work in the sense that we spent A LOT of time in the bathroom, but I think it paid off. I ended up not having to use about half the number of diapers I normally would. So I call that a win.
Now on to the hand washing... Hmm... Well, it's not fun (at least for me). I know a lot of other parents doing the challenge found hand washing to be therapeutic in some way. I, however, did not! I am so thankful that I get to go back to my trusty washer! I like knowing that I could do it, though, if I had to. My diapers did get plenty clean and it did use quite a bit less water than a normal wash load, but I still wouldn't trade my washer in! It is just a major pain in the arms. But that being said, if I did have to do it full time, imagine how buff my arms would be!
Even with all the extra work and all my whining, I'm really glad I did the challenge. I like having this type of experience under my belt as an advocate, talking with many people that would be in this situation on a regular basis. Knowing that, if I had to, I could definitely make cloth diapering and hand washing a normal part of my routine. Having this experience will also come in handy if we decide to go camping for more than just a day or two, or take a vacation where there is no laundry facilities available.
I'm really happy that I finished and stuck with it the whole week. But I'm also really happy that it's over and I get to go back to my trusty pockets! I usually stuff them with flats though, just because they get clean faster and easier than thicker inserts.

Flats Challenge Day 2: Supples

I've pretty much done this post already, but some things have changed since the last one. I now have an "official" supply list. The items I'm using during the challenge are as follows (plus total cost for items):

*18 receiving blanket flats --- $3.00 (most were gifted, and the rest I got at a consignment sale on 1/2 price day)

*5 homemade fleece covers --- FREE! (we received the blankets I used to make them as gifts)

*5 gal. bucket --- $3.00

*Plunger --- $2.00

*Dawn dish soap --- $1.00 (found a bottle at an overstock store)

*Hand held shower (diaper sprayer) --- $5.00 (found at a yard sale)

So, as you can see, I decided against the salad spinner. It was still within my budget, but I felt it was not a diapering "necessity" as much as the other items. I also decided not to get the diaper pins. We mostly do the "pad fold" because it's pretty much all I have time for. Evan is so wiggly and hates having his diaper changed, so  I just place the folded flat in the cover and slap it on him. And my hubby doesn't mind helping with changes as long as he can just put it on him like an AI2 and not have to do any crazy folding or anything. So total spent on diapering supplies... DRUM ROLL PLEASE... $14!!!! I must say that I'm pretty happy with myself on this. My goal was to spend less than $20 and I rocked it.


Tomorrow: How I use flats

Flats Challenge Day 1: Why I am participating

Over the course of my two plus years cloth diapering, the question I have gotten most often has to be, "Isn't all that extra laundry hard?" My answer is always the same: "It's really no different than any other load of laundry."
But what about families that don't have regular access to laundry facilities, or those that have to pay per load to wash? How difficult would cloth diaper laundry be for them?
I am from a very rural area in southeast Tennessee. Over 50% of the population is on some kind of assistance or below the poverty line. I personally know quite a few families that struggle day to day to provide for their family's basic needs. It's very sad.
As a cloth diaper advocate partnering with my local birth center, the number one reason I give for cloth diapering is for cost savings over the diapering life of a child. And for many families, this would really help them make ends meet and not have to choose between diapering and feeding their child.
So one of the main reasons I decided to join the Flats Challenge this year is to be able to relate more to the people I advocate to. I want to be able to tell them that you can cloth diaper for little to no cost, using only found items (how I'm doing the challenge), and that hand washing really is doable with little ones running under foot and little time left in the day. I think it will really give me some perspective on what it's really like for some families.
I also want to prove to myself that I can do it. When I first starting using cloth diapers, my husband bet me that I would hate it and wouldn't last a month. You see who won that one! I genuinely love cloth diapering. But would I be willing to stick with it if it came down to me having to hand wash them? We shall see...
Another reason I want to do this is -- and it's kind of off the wall -- my husband is pretty into post-apocalyptic survival. We talk, quite often, about how we would react in different survival situations. We don't have a huge stock pile of food or crazy bomb shelter or anything, but we do have some pretty interesting conversations about what we'd do if life as we know it were to come to an end. That being said, learning to wash laundry, exclusively by hand, would come in very handy if we had no electricity to run a washer and dryer. I know, kind of crazy, but nonetheless, it's a real reason to me :).

Tomorrow: A rundown of my $15 stash. Really, a complete stash for $15!

Fighting the Urge

Lately, I have been majorly fighting the urge to shop for cloth diapers. I am on a self-imposed diaper shopping freeze, because 1) we have plenty of diapers, 2) I'm kind of suffering from lackamoola-itis, & 3) Evan is on the verge of being daytime potty learned -- the last of these reasons probably makes me the most sad.
Knowing that this is probably our last child kind of tugs on my heart a bit. Knowing I'll never breastfeed, wear or cloth diaper another child makes me sad beyond reason. I feel like I should still be able to do all these things! Evan should still be a teeny tiny thing, not this 2.5 year old that now talks in complete sentences and knows how navigate my smartphone and play Angry Birds (sad face). While I am thrilled that both my boys are so independent and capable, I still long for the days when they were content just to lay in my arms and look in my eyes. When all they equated happiness with was a full belly, a dry bottom and a nice snuggle.
But anyway... Back to the point. Even though I am fighting the urge to spend on fluff, I still enjoy window shopping (don't we all?). I was on Etsy today and found some ADORABLE cloth diapers that I am seriously considering breaking down and buying based on cuteness alone!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/99235265/elephant-walk-reusable-one-size-cloth

http://www.etsy.com/listing/94943649/one-size-pocket-diaper-aio-pocket-diaper

http://www.etsy.com/listing/99782483/marvel-comics-one-size-pocket-cloth

SERIOUSLY, someone go buy these before I give in to the temptation!

The Flats Challenge: Day... Zero?

Okay, so technically, the flats challenge started last night/ this morning. But I had to go out of town for the day and didn't have all my supplies ready to go today for Evan's Granny to use. She keeps extra diapers (non-cloth :/ ) at her house, so she just used them today. But he's in a flat tonight and I'm ready to go for the rest of the week. I machine washed my last diapers this evening and so I'll be a day behind every one else taking part of the challenge. I am, however, taking this challenge to the next level (for me, anyway). I keep my 7-month old nephew at least two days a week and this week, I'll have him three. So along with my own two kids, I'll have another little one to tend to while trying to do my part in the challenge. We'll see how it goes... I'm excited/nervous/anxious to see how hard it's going to be to wash diapers by hand and tend to three kids (plus my hubby). Another great thing, they are calling for rain for a good chunk of the week, so my wonderful clothesline may sit empty :( and this will probably make it even harder when it comes to drying since my drying rack is big, but not THAT big. I may end up trying to wash as I go and see if that is more manageable. We'll just have to find out!
Last year, I really enjoyed reading all the blog posts surrounding the flats challenge. Even though I wasn't able to participate last year, it really was a great learning experience. If you feel inclined, head over to Dirty Diaper Laundry and you'll find a blogroll of all the bloggers participating.

Gearing Up for the Challenge

Yesterday marked three weeks until the official start of the Flats & Hand Washing Challenge. As it gets closer, I am getting more and more excited about going old school on the diapering front. And because I am trying to go as cheap as possible, it offers another aspect of the challenge.
As it stands right this moment, my stash is as follows:
* 18 -- receiving blankets. All but seven or eight were left over from Ian and Evan's newborn days and I received them as gifts. The rest, I purchased at a consignment event on half price day. Total cost = $3.00
* 4 -- Homemade fleece covers re-purposed from a of fleece blanket we received as wedding gifts (almost eight years ago). They are no longer suitable to use as blankets because they have gotten pretty tattered and thin from many washings. But I doubled them up and sewed them together and they have made excellent diaper covers. They don't look awesome or anything (because I am far from a grade-A seamstress), but they definitely do the job. I have another blanket that I have yet to cut and sew into covers, so when it's all said and done, I'm hoping to have 8-10 covers. Total cost = FREE!

One of the covers I made.

* 12-15 -- Fleece liners from blanket leftovers. Total cost = FREE!
* 4 -- Diaper pins. I'm going to kick it really old school on the fastening front. Not everyone has access to Snappis and other fasteners, but you can readily find diaper pins at any store. Total cost = $1
* 1-- 5-gallon bucket. I probably could have gotten one for free, but I wasn't sure where to find one, so I broke down and just bought one. Total cost = $3.50 (including lid)
* 1 -- Plunger. I haven't actually bought it yet, but I'm assuming I can find one for less than $5.00. At least, that's the budget I'm giving myself. I have a trip to make to the Goodwill this week, so maybe I'll get lucky.
* 1 -- Travel wetbag. I got it at a seconds sale and it will hold 3-5 diapers. Total cost = $3.00

So, to sum up the total I've spent for the flats challenge... $10.50 - $15.50 (depending on how cheap I can find a plunger).

I'll have to see how the handwashing goes, but I'm going to safely say you can definitely diaper for less than $20!

Diapering on a Dime

For some, cloth diapering is not a choice, but a necessity. Last year, there was a call to action after an article surfaced about low-income families reusing disposable diapers. It broke many hearts, including mine. Kim from Dirty Diaper Laundry challenged the cloth diapering community to only use flats and covers and only hand wash them for a week, to simulate what things can be like for some families. For reasons I can no longer remember, I did not get to participate (but wanted to badly). I did, however, devour all the blog posts surrounding the challenge. I think it opened many eyes to the hardships some families face when raising babies. This year, I fully intend on partaking in the challenge. I'm gearing up, and I just bought my 5-gallon bucket to use as a camp-style washer. But I am trying to take the challenge to another level and will attempt to "diaper on a dime" using as many "found" items as possible. I will see how cheaply one could really get away with being when it comes to diapering.
Using flats doesn't intimidate me, I got into using them after the challenge last year. And now, I love them and use them everyday. The hand washing, however, does. I am a bit nervous about that part. But having seen the challenge last year, I learned a lot by reading the trials and errors of other bloggers. So I think I can handle it. But I will be updating throughout the week of the challenge and letting you all know how it's going. Right now, I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row to be ready. If you're up to it, feel free to jump into the challenge yourself. The challenge runs from May 21-27.

A (forced) Break

I'm going to premise this by saying that the more radical cloth moms are probably not going to like what they're about to read. One of the main reasons most parents choose to cloth diaper is for their children's health. It has become one of mine. But sometimes, disposables are chosen for their health as well. WHAT?! The cloth diaper advocate says that there is a need to use disposable diapers??? Let me explain.
My family lives on pizza and pasta. It's a staple for us. I balance the carbs with loads of veggies and whole wheat pasta and dough. And I love making homemade pizzas and pasta sauce and seeing how many different ways I can be creative with it.  It's cheap and my husband and kiddos love it, so, at least three to four times a week it's my "go to". It also usually means that at least three or four times a week we are eating tomatoes. Well, last week, Evan's body decided to have a reaction. His little heiny was blistered. The normal regiment of using cloth-safe ointments was not working, so I had to break out the Balmex. And because I didn't want to ruin my cloth diapers, I broke into the stash of disposables I had purchased for my husband to use when I go to Florida next week (that's a whole other post in itself). It took four days and a whole pack of disposables for the rash to clear up. So, while I hated the thought of him wearing disposables and throwing money away, it was necessary. And I would do it again in a heart beat. Because, while I am a 100% cloth supporter, I understand that sometimes there is a place for disposables. And for my son's health, this was one of those instances.

A happy medium

When I first suggested to my husband that we should try cloth diapering, his initial response was, "That's fine, but don't expect me to help with the laundry." I promised that he would never have to wash any dirty diapers and, to this day, I have kept that promise. When I brought home prefolds and covers for the first time and showed them how to put them on the baby using a Snappi, he laughed and told me that wasn't going to work for him. So I had to come up with a solution that would allow me to be able to leave the baby at home and would allow my husband the easiest use of cloth possible. Enter the pocket diaper. If you've read any of my previous posts, you will remember that the reason we started using cloth was because we didn't have the money to buy disposables any more. So I started looking on Ebay and different forums to try to find some cheap pocket diapers. I had heard of BumGenius being a pretty good brand, so I tried to find some used and I didn't know enough about them to be sure that I wanted to buy them without seeing them first hand. So I made another trip to my local (but an hour away) cloth diapering store. I walked over to the BumGenius section and looked at one of the 3.0 pockets they had on display. It was almost like a disposable! I could definitely get hubby to use that. But I still couldn't get past the sticker price. As I walked around the store some more, I overheard a customer checking out saying that she had a coupon for a free BumGenius all-in-one. My attention was immediately caught. So I continued to browse while still trying to pay attention to the conversation. Okay, I'll admit it, I was eavesdropping! But I'm so glad I was. When the customer left, I walked up to the counter and asked the clerk what the coupon was about. She told me that certain pregnancy/parenting magazines were running a special so that when you spent $15.95 on any BumGenius products, you got a free all-in-one. Jackpot! So I said I would be back later with a coupon. I rushed to the nearest grocery store and looked through all the pregnancy and parenting magazines until I found one with the coupon. I snatched it up and raced back to the store. I bought my first pocket diaper that day and got a free all-in-one! I was so happy that Derek would finally have no excuses to not want to help with the diapering anymore. When I got home I showed it to him and told him that it would be just like a disposable! He seemed genuinely impressed with the pocket diaper and said he would use it.
And now, as long as I have "easy" diapers ready for him, he doesn't complain about cloth diapers. So if you are having trouble getting your husband or partner to agree to use cloth diapering, investing in a few pocket diapers or all-in-ones might be just the ticket to convince them to jump on the fluff bandwagon. It worked for me!

One thing leads to another

I knew before I ever got married that when I had children, I wanted them to be born naturally with a midwife, outside of a hospital setting. When I was in high school, we had a career day and our local birthing center came to talk about midwifery. I was always fascinated by the whole concept of birth, and for a time, I considered becoming a midwife. Natural birth is something that was always embraced by the women in my family, as most of them delivered their babies at home with the help of a family midwife. So birth was always presented to me as this beautiful experience that shouldn't be dulled or avoided. My husband, Derek, was not so fortunate in this area. My mother-in-law often told me of her horrible births in the hospital and how they were some of the worst experiences in her life. And so this was the way my husband perceived childbirth. Knowing how he saw it, I was concerned that when it came our time to have children, he wouldn't be supportive of my choice to birth at a center with a midwife instead of a hospital with doctors and epidurals. But being the wonderful man he is, he was supportive (the fact that we would save a ton of money by birthing at a center sounded good to him, too). Even though, after Ian was born, he admitted that during the whole pregnancy, he was scared to death of what I would be like during the labor and delivery. He was afraid that at the last minute I would beg for drugs and then regret my whole decision to go the natural route. I guess he knew that normally, I am a bit of a weenie when it comes to pain and don't take it so well. But he hid all his reservations very nicely as I never once thought that he was worried. I had a very uneventful first pregnancy, aside from horrible all-day-long sickness, with no complications whatsoever. I went into labor at 39 weeks, 5 days at 2:00 AM. My husband was a lot calmer than I expected, but it could have been just because I was very calm. We went to my mom's house to labor until it was time to go see the midwife since she lived a mile from the birth center. My water broke at 4:30 and we went to the center at 5:00. My midwife, Jill, was amazing. She sprayed warm water on my back to counteract the back labor I was having and the time just flew by. At 7:45, I started pushing. I wanted to have the baby in the bed, so Derek was behind me, bracing me and cheering me on. At 8:20, Ian was born. Although, at the time, we thought that he was going to be a she because the two ultrasounds we'd had said girl. But he was the best surprise ever. Derek cried and I was just in awe of this beautiful life we had been blessed with.
Evan came like lightning at 41 weeks, 3 days after three hours of labor and two pushes. I couldn't believe how fast he was born. I looked up at my husband and said, "We have two kids!" I laugh when I look back on it, because it was so off-the-wall. But I blame the hormones.
I shared all of that to say this (I know, I beat around the bush long enough): looking back at all the choices I've made in my journey in motherhood, I shouldn't have been surprised by any of my decisions.
Had I not made the decision to give birth naturally, I may have not decided to breastfeed.
Had I not been breastfeeding, I may have not looked into babywearing as a way to breastfeed on the go.
Had I not worn my baby, I probably wouldn't have been introduced to cloth diapers.
Had I not been introduced to cloth... Well, I'm just so very thankful I was. It has been one of the biggest blessings to the health and finances of our family.
So thank you, natural childbirth, for leading me to cloth diapering.

Cloth diapers? Are you crazy!?

If you had asked me two years ago if I would ever consider doing cloth diapers, my answer would have been a firm "no". At that time, all I had ever heard about cloth diapers was that they were AWFUL. My grandmother told me that "in her day" they had to use birdseye flats and pins and rubber pants. She also said that they had to "bleach the crap out of them" and that disposables were the best invention ever (as she saw it). Fast forward nine months and our second son was born. Already on a tight budget with one child, diapers became the biggest drain on our income next to our mortgage. I was having to cut into my allotted grocery budget to afford two sizes of disposable diapers. So I started thinking about ways to cut back on spending. Diapers was the first thing that came to mind, but I didn't know the first thing about where to save money because we were already using the cheapest diapers that we could find. Evan was about four weeks old and I was on a babywearing website trying to figure out how a wrap-style carrier worked (think Moby wrap, but I just went to Wal-Mart and got 7 yds of fabric from the clearance section). In one of the banner ads next to the article I was reading, was an ad for BumGenius diapers. It was dark blue and looked so cute. It immediately grabbed my attention and I clicked on it. To this day, I consider that ad a Godsend. From that one ad, my whole obsession sprang. For the next four weeks, I did nothing but research cloth diapers (except the times I was nursing or cooking or cleaning... :) ). I knew from the diaper websites I had seen that they were pretty pricey and that would be a big obstacle in convincing my husband to use cloth. I gathered all my information and sat him down and presented my arguments for needing to switch (because by this time, it was a NEED and not a want). I told him I knew the initial investment was a bit high, but that I planned on starting with just a dozen prefolds and a couple covers and only for our youngest child. I said I would see how that went and go from there. I figured if I could do prefolds, then I could do any other kind of diapers. And that's what I did. I got a dozen infant prefolds and two Thirsties Duo Wraps. I had to wash every day to keep up with Evan, but by the third day, I knew that I would never go back to disposables. I was hooked. I built my stash little by little, usually buying two to three pocket diapers a months until I had a stash big enough for both the boys.
In the 13 months I have been cloth diapering, I have learned there are so many other benefits to cloth than just financial.  Before we used cloth, Ian kept a constant diaper rash that no amount of diaper rash cream could clear up. I just attributed it to the severe eczema he'd had since he was six months old. TWO days after I started using cloth with Ian, the majority of the diaper rash and most of the eczema on his back and stomach were GONE. I could have cried. I felt like if I had known about cloth when Ian first started having his flare-ups, it would have saved us so much money on doctor visits and prescription medicines that never seemed to work.
After we made the switch, I also noticed that our garbage output significantly decreased (and was significantly less stinky...). With two in disposables, we had at least two bags of just diaper garbage and so that meant extra trips to take it off. But now, we have about one bag a week. I know that's still quite a bit, but I'm a work in progress!
I know when a lot of parents initially decide to use cloth diapers, it is typically for one of three reasons: economic, health, or environmental. But by the time they fall in love, it's for so much more.

A glimpse into my craziness...

In general, I am not a tidy housekeeper. Messes don't really bother me and I am sometimes (okay, most of the time) behind on the dishes. But there is one area in my life that I am completely fastidious about. And that's my cloth diapers. What started a little over a year ago as a way to save money and heal my son's super-sensitive skin, has turned into an obsession. I troll the blogs, vlogs and Facebook pages of my favorite cloth "outlets". I am always changing up my stash and I am neurotic about the organization and storage of my cloth. I have them all stowed neatly by types in their baskets, all within easy reach. At times, this obsession has led to eye rolls from my husband and family, who just can't understand why I would need "just one more" or why I have to "wash" them before I can actually wash them. And it honestly doesn't bother me to wash cloth diapers or deal with the poo, even the times I've gone to visit my dad for the weekend and had to do without my sprayer. Most other cloth-diapering moms will agree that it can easily turn from a necessity to a hobby and then a full-blown obsession. I love cloth so much that I am contemplating the need for a third child just so I can use them again after Evan potty trains... Okay, just kidding about having a baby just to placate my addiction to cloth (mostly, anyway). But part of me is a bit sad knowing that not too far in the future (a mere 18 months) I will no longer have need of my beautiful stash.  And so for this, I may be a little (or a lot) crazy, and that's okay with me. Anyone else want to be crazy, too?