Lets Talk About Cloth Diapers! :)

Recently I've talked to several different people about cloth diapers, so I thought I'd turn those thoughts and explanations about how I cloth diaper into a post. :)

Now, here is a disclaimer to start off with- I'm not a diehard.  I don't cloth diaper at night, because I *hate* waking up snuggled next to my baby... in a puddle.  I also generally don't cloth diaper on Sundays because we're away from home for most of the day, and because that makes it more of a day of rest for me.

However, I do usually cloth diaper at home, and this is how I do it...

My Fuzzi Bunz are what I grab first out of the diaper drawer.  I have 6 smalls (which Nathan outgrew before 6 months, but Miriam is still fitting into at 9 months), 12 sage mediums (which fit both my 9 month old and my 22 month old), and 6-10 large sized Fuzzi Bunz.

I think this is a pretty nice stash, but I only had to purchase the mediums, and we got a pretty good deal on Ebay.  The others were handmedowns from another mom (a huge blessing! Thanks Mrs. B!) and had already been through several kiddos.  I do not think that some of the larges will make it through another little one without having new elastic put in, but I may decide that is worth the investment as that would be less expensive than purchasing new.  On the other hand, Fuzzi Bunz now come in one size that has adjustable elastic so it can grow with the baby.  That would be nice so I may try out a few of those when these large ones finally kick the bucket.

Sometimes I run out of Fuzzi Bunz that fit Miriam before the dirty diapers are washed and dry again.  When that happens, I use prefolds with a Snappi , which I love.  So much easier than pins, and faster, too.   I started out using pins and plastic pants, and honestly I don't like either.  I much prefer the Snappi and my two Thirsties covers.  Thirsties are much easier when you have a dirty diaper, since plastic pants have to be pulled off, and Thirsties are really adjustable, which I like. Also, they have leg gussets, which REALLY cuts down on leaks! I have the medium size, and I think it will last Miriam for several more months.  They are a lot cheaper than Fuzzi Bunz, for sure, and if I had known how easy to use they were, especially with the Snappi, I might have just purchased them instead.  Plus, they're cute! :)  I have the sky blue pictured here, and a lovely aqua as well (decided against girly colors so whenever #3 comes along I won't need to purchase more, either way)...

As far as washing, it is really simple.  I'll shake dirty toddler diapers out into the toilet, but baby diapers and wet diapers just go straight into a dry pail.  When I'm ready to wash, I shake the liners out of the diapers, and fold the velcro over on the Thirsties.  Then I run a cold rinse, and a warm or hot wash with either soap nuts (not the best deal on them, but if you want to try them out the little starter pack is a low investment way to do it) or laundry detergent (usually this or this) if I'm out of soap nuts, as I am right now.  Sometimes if some of the diapers have been sitting a little too long, or were especially dirty, I'll run two cold rinses and then a warm wash, or a cold rinse/cold wash/warm wash.  Then I hang the outside part of the Fuzzi Bunz, and the Thirsties covers, either outside on the clothesline, or inside on a line I strung across our utility room.  I throw the prefolds and the inserts in the dryer, usually, unless it is a very sunshiny day in which case they do dry fairly quickly on the line.

Nathan, being adorable in the medium sage Fuzzibunz, last summer :)

So... any questions?  If you cloth diaper, what are your favorite diapers?  Did you start out using them or did you change to them?

What size shoe do YOU wear?

Do you wear a size 6 shoe? I wish I did! I think these shoes look really cute, but unfortunately shopping online clearance (these are at J.C. Penney's) does have its drawbacks... you can't always get what you want (in your size)... I'll keep looking. :-)

Amazon's Baby/Child clearance

New clothes from The Children's Place for $0.99? I was delighted to find this post from Family Hack in which they gave links to Amazon's clearance for babies and children by percentage! You can also sort the pages further into different retailers, which I liked because I'm partial to the style of The Children's Place and could just browse their clearance.

Here is the 90% off page, and here is the 80% off page.

The 90% off page included deals like this cute fleece pullover, only in size 18mos, originally 12.50, now only 99 cents.

This polo is also 99 cents!














So cute- I was very tempted, but we have an abundance of good quality hand me downs, so I've resisted... so far. :-) We haven't purchased most of Nathan or Miriam's clothing, since we have so many generous families with older kids, but I'm definitely bookmarking these pages, since even with great hand me downs there are always gaps- and this is so much cheaper than the consignment store. Plus this is a great resource for nice baby gifts!

DIY Coasters

I'm mostly just filing this here to make sure that I don't loose it, but doesn't this look really fun and classy? I never would've thought of making coasters with tiles and napkins, and I love how these only need a few supplies to make something with a lot of 'pop'!

I'll definitely be keeping my eyes open now for decorative napkins that would look good with my living room!

How to sew baby shoes...

Doesn't this look fun? I'm just posting it as a way of filing it away for myself, so I don't loose it in the myriads of bookmarks I have. I think these would look so cute in a dark chocolate corduroy, and I bet it wouldn't be too hard to add some details that would make them look more like "real" shoes!

Christmas decorating!

Meredith at Like Merchant Ships posted recently on decorating with what you have, and posted a lovely photo of her aunt's mantle, which was decorated beautifully and had glass cylinders with oranges and cryptomeria. When I read her post, I was amused by the similarities between her aunt's mantle and my piano top decorations! (Which aren't done, I'm going to decorate the wreath still, and add a table runner... and see what else ends up there!)

I had the cranberries already (I brought them home in a vase with flowers that had been a table decoration at a wedding reception we attended), and the way-too-tall-for-almost-anything candle, and the vase...
Of course, it looks better with the candle lit, at night, but my attempts to get a picture of it in that lighting were less than successful. :-)

Here is the recipe I use to make liquid laundry soap. I was going through so much that I decided that it would be worth the effort to make my own. Also if I run out I just make more instead of it being an emergency shopping trip! The friends who gave me this recipe thought it worked better than store-bought, and I completely agree. The load of Micah's work clothes that I tested it on came out cleaner than usual! The people who gave me the recipe calculated that it was about 2 cents per load of laundry. My washing soda was three dollars cheaper than theirs was, but I'm not motivated enough to do the math. ;-)

Liquid Laundry Soap
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup washing soda (or sodium carbonate)
1 cup soap flakes or a grated bar soap
2 gallons water
20 drops essential oil (optional- I didn't have any)

Combine Borax, washing soda, and most of the water. Boil soap flakes in remaining water, and add to first mixture. The soap will help gel the mixture. If your water is hard, add more washing soda. This recipe makes about 2 gallons, so have some jugs ready before you start!

Use about 1/2 cup of laundry soap per load.

If you have trouble finding the washing soda/sodium carbonate, as I did, check the pool section, where you might find it intended for use as a pH balancer. This is fine as long as it is only sodium carbonate. (I couldn't find washing soda at my Walmart, but my small local grocery had some.)

An alternate recipe I make just for our cloth diapers is 1C Borax, 1C Washing soda, and 1C Oxyclean (4 tablespoons for a medium load). I use this instead because I was told that the bar soap in the other recipe could make my diapers retain odor and repel water! This recipe has been working very well, and I like the fact that there aren't any scents or unknown ingredients going on a tender baby bottom!

My friend Anna also posted today about making laundry soap! She makes her own powdered version, which is very similar to my liquid recipe. She points out that it takes up less storage space, so if you're interested in making your own and that is a factor, you should definitely head over there!