The final day of the Flats Challenge

Today marks the final day for the week long Flats and Handwashing Challenge. My Baby Girl has been in cloth diapers full time for a week and I couldn't be happier! I have hand washed diapers for a week, and I couldn't be happier! I now have more tools to help mommas who could really benefit from using cloth but are too scared for one reason or another. I couldn't be happier! I have loved taking this challenge.
Today I did a load of diapers knowing full well that I will be doing another one tomorrow after the Memorial Day parade that my home town hosts each year. It is going to be pretty hot again and sunny so my diapers can have fun blowing in the breeze.

I am so happy that I have been asked on multiple occasions how this challenge is going for me. I know that my friends that read this blog are really interested in how this all goes. I could have people reading who have never thought of cloth, but taking this Challenge and writing so much about it, has peaked interest.
I know this may not convert anyone on its own, but from what I have learned this week, I KNOW anyone could cloth diaper. You don't need much money (I used old t-shirts cut into squares as some of my flats). You don't need a washing machine. If you have will to save some money and be kinder to the tush of your child, you can do this. I washed diapers in my camp style washer when the kids were asleep. I washed when the whole house was alseep. But, I have also washed when the kids were awake. One day BG sat in her bouncy seat while LJ helped his mommy wash sister's diapers. He loved it and I didn't have to work my arms quite as much. I loved that he was always concerned when I said he shouldn't touch the water because it was very hot. He was scared that the diapers would be hot when I put them on sister.

While, I know that I can go back to using whatever diaper I want and using my washing machine and dryer tomorrow morning, I have found that it isn't holding as big of a draw as I thought it might.
Flats have been pretty easy to use and really hold up well. The hand washing of the diapers helps keep my arm muscles toned. :) Drying my diapers outside is something I like to do this time of year anyway. Sun is an awesome tool for diapers! I had one or two flats that were stained pretty decent from some pretty messy diapers. I hung them out to dry after washing them this afternoon and the sun has taken those stains right out of the diapers.
I am so glad that Kim thought of this in response to the news of moms reusing disposable diapers. I am thankful that Diaper Junction provided me with a dozen flats to use for this challenge. I am happy to have such a great husband who was on board for this and kids that made it pretty easy for me to do this as well (though BG is getting super wiggly during changes now). Thanks to my readers for putting up with these posts too. I hope that these have maybe helped even just one person feel that cloth diapering (and using flats even) is not nearly as bad or difficult as they thought it would be.

Did you take the Challenge? How did the week go for you?
If you don't use cloth, is there something holding you back? Do you have questions or would like to see how things work more?
I love talking cloth! Feel free to ask me!





Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

FlatsChallenge - Days 3 & 4 & 5

Well, I am happy to say that we have not had any leaks these past three nights! I am so happy about that. A lot of moms are bringing up chapped hands and needing moisturizer. I am feeling very lucky to not be needing any of that. I think part of it may be that I have been able to space my washings to every two days or so. Also, I really do not get my hands in the water. The only time my hands hit wet, I am wringing out diapers. Yes, that does get to my hands, but they recover quickly. This is why I am loving my camp style washer as much as I am. I don't have to get my hands dirty.

I am still really glad that I got myself to do this Challenge. I have been wanting to use cloth on BG since she was born and this was the push I needed. I know that I can, now. I don't think I would have been quite as eager to do that challenge if it weren't for the generosity of Diaper Junction either. They were so nice as to give 30 bloggers a dozen flats each and I happen to be one of those bloggers. I love the flats I was sent. They really take a beating, but stand up to it all!
I do love seeing her in fluff that I created too. Okay, so the flats that I "made" were just pieces I cut from shirts and didn't do any sewing, but I am the one that got them into their current state. And you just have to love not using disposables! I have not had to buy any disposable diapers for my baby girl and we still have plenty to fit her until 15 pounds (give or take since she is skinny like her brother). I like the thought of not having to buy diapers. LOVE IT!

During the day, our diapering has been pretty uneventful. I have been trying a few new folds that seem to be helping with containing her poo as well. The one that I am really keen on really isn't a new fold, but a different way of doing the origami fold to help contain the poo. I found this in a post from a guest blogger on the Kellywels.com site. She has coined it the butterfly fold and it is the origami fold but you fold up the wings a bit more before putting the flat on the baby. The link above takes you to the full tutorial.
I am also trying out the "Diaperbag" fold. This is one that I first found on DDL's blog and she has linked back to the original tutorial where she found it. This fold does allow for a lot of layers where you may need it (I think it may be better for boys) and it folds up nicely for the diaper bag. That is where it got its name.
I have remained partial to the origami fold and I just fold it more like the butterfly fold in case she makes a mess of it. I believe that it may be my go to fold for the time to come as well because it just works for us.


For those who are wondering what I am talking about when I talk about the "Challenge," well, Kim of Dirty Diaper Laundry has challenged herself and any who want to join her to cloth diaper their children full time for one week (Monday to Monday) with flat diapers and to wash by hand and air dry. You can find more information about the "Flats and Handwashing Challenge" on her site. 

For now, I am going to leave you with the linky to check out the other bloggers who are taking the challenge. I am off to wash some diapers!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. 

Diapering for the cost of covers - Tutorial

Yes, I think I have found a way to use cloth diapers full time on a child and only pay the cost for a few good covers. If you are lucky you might not even have to pay for those (Freecycle.org is a great place to start).

How can you cloth diaper full time without paying anything? Easy. Do you have old t-shirts that you no longer wear, but don't want to throw away as they still have some kind of use left in them? If you are like many people, you do. If you don't have enough, you can always ask family and friends for their shirts.

How does a t-shirt = a diaper? Let me show you!

Start with a t-shirt (the larger the baby the larger the shirt)

I can use youth mediums and larges on my newborn

If there is a picture, put it facing down 

(you will want the blank area towards baby)

Fold the shirt into thirds

Fold down the top so the sleeves are folded in half

Fold up the bottom of the shirt to length

I make the top of the shirt and bottom meet when folding in prep and then just fold to the correct rise when putting the diaper on baby.

A shirt diaper all folded and ready for the next change!

It really isn't difficult to do and I just fasten them with a snappi if I really want to, but I have found that as long as the cover fits well, you don't have to fasten it (at least not on an infant). 

In no time at all you can go from

to .

Now all you need are some covers from stores like KellysCloset or DiaperJunction and you are set for diapering full time! Buying one size covers makes it even cheaper.
I have been blessed by a lady that I met through Freecycle that has given me her unwanted shirts to the tune of over 250 shirts and counting! Not only can I diaper my little girl, I can offer "diapers" to friends and family that also want to use cloth, but cannot afford the cost of modern cloth diapers upfront. I also still have more than enough left over for sewing projects for my business.

What ways have you found to diaper on a tight budget?

Until next time... Happy Diapering!

Note: This post contains some affiliate links.

Let the Challenge Begin! Days 1 & 2

 

Yesterday was the 23rd of May. That means that the Flats and Handwashing Challenge has begun. For our house that meant it started at 12:47 Monday morning. That is when BG woke up for a diaper change and some food. I had my handy bag of goodies next to my bed, so I would be ready for the first diaper change of the day. I knew that until midnight I could use whatever I wanted, but after midnight I wanted it to be flats and all flats until midnight on the 30th.

Since I have 24 flats, I have come to realize I can get two days worth of diapering out of them.  I have put all of my covers and flats into one basket that stays in the pac-n-play so that I reach for them and only them. They are the closest in reach so it makes it easier. All of my other diapers are in a pile or covered by other things so that I am not tempted to pull one out. This is also for Hubby's sake. :)

How did day one go? It went pretty well! Hubby even changed a diaper. I was so proud of him. :) He is not big on the flats. Like many cloth dads, he prefers the ones that are closest to disposable. Then he feels like he can't mess it up. He told me that he probably messed it up or did it wrong, but I reassured him I figured he did just fine. (When I changed her early this morning, he had done just fine with putting on a origami folded flat diaper)

Today we are down another cover as she had quite the messy diaper this morning already. I do have three diaper covers that are still clean. It seems that whenever she makes a messy diaper, it gets on the cover. That is a part of this challenge that I am still trying to tweak.
I washed my diapers earlier today and now they are outside trying to get some good ol' sun. I am hoping that not only does the flat sun out nicely, but I am hoping the one cover she absolutely made a mess of, suns out nicely as well.

So, that about sums up how we having been doing with the Flats and Handwashing Challenge.


I want to thank Diaper Junction (affiliate link) again for providing a dozen flats for this challenge.

What does my Cloth stash look like now?

There have been a few posts in the past where I have shown my cloth stash in its current form. I haven't done this in quite some time and not in entirety of my newborn stash. Since I am now using cloth almost full time with LG (Little girl, which is Baby C's new moniker).

I am not even sure exactly how many of what I have anymore, but I am okay with that. For the most part I am pretty happy with our stash. One thing I know for sure is that this is not the stash I thought I would have when I started this over a year and a half ago. Right now, this is what works nicely for my newborn. At the same time I am already finding it more difficult to do prefolds and flats with LG as she is wiggling and worming her way around so much more. I can't believe she is over 3 months already! (that is a different post altogether)

So, I took some picture of my stash. I actually have three as I had nice clean diapers, some freshly cleaned and hanging to dry and then there are my wipes in yet another area. Three pictures needed to try to cover one stash of cloth diapers. Oh my! Let's begin...

This picture shows a little over half of my stash. The diapers in the front middle are the ones I made for her that she has outgrown. The right has the stuffings. The green basket thing has my prefolds (most of which I made). I also have two stacks of shirts that are folded for diapering. This also shows the underpants I have for LJ and the covers for those if we were cloth trainers and leave the house. Next to my Knickernappies diaper in the front to the left are some of my flats all folded and ready to be put on LG with a cover. The red cover is the one that I made for her. I love it!

I do love the sight of fresh diaper laundry hanging on the line. And after some of these flats being hung out, I am a new believer in the power of the sun for bleaching. As you can see, most of my pockets were in this load of laundry. I was very happy to use them again after using mostly flats while out of town.

You know, if you are going to use cloth diapers, cloth wipes just make so much sense. And you know what? I find myself wanting to reach for cloth more and more when it comes to cleaning off hands that get dirty, wiping runny noses, and so much more. When you start using cloth, you find yourself wanting to use more and more of it!

Lastly, I wanted to show what all of those diapers look like when I get a chance to put them away all nice and neat like.

That's right. I use the main part of my pac-n-play to hold my diapers, seeing as I always use the changing pad on it to change her diaper. It made sense.





What does your cloth stash look like? Do you have just diapers, or do you also have a stash of kitchen cloth? Bathroom cloth? How much have you made the switch?





Until next time... Happy days using cloth!

Only a few days left until "The Challenge"

There are only a few days left until the Flats and Handwashing Challenge begins. Until Kim posted about there only being 6 days left (posted a few days ago), it had not even dawned on me that we were getting so close to this.
How am I preparing for this great challenge? Well, my plan is this:

Supplies: I received a dozen flat diapers from Diaper Junction. I know this will not be enough for the challenge so I found ways to get more flats. Well, I made or re-purposed them. 

The line farthest to the left are the Diaper Junction flats. Next I have an old infant towel in with my line of receiving blankets that will now be flat diapers. Next, I have made six flat diapers from three XL t-shirts. These are slightly smaller than the store bought flats, but they should still work nicely. Hey, I have more than enough shirts to try this out. :) 
I will be using 5 of my most reliable covers for this challenge. Two are Happy Flute, one is Mommy made (red), and I have two Mother-Ease covers. The Mother-ease are actually two different ones. I have an older hook and look cover and a new one with snaps that I got to buy when we visited family in Canada over the summer. I also have two snappis but I don't always use them with my flats. 


Washing: I have 24 flats now. This should be enough for at least two days worth of diapering. I know right now that I may not always be able to wash each night, so I may have to do some washing in the morning which means I need enough to have a days worth drying and still be able to diaper BG. I do hope to wash each night though and hang the diapers up on our indoor line (on our screened in porch). 
Attack: I will be doing my wash in the camp style washer as it is just easier to do in my eyes. I am able to agitate the diapers to where I feel they are getting clean. I just can't do that in the tub. 


Mentally: I have practiced with flats now for some time. I have already tried out my camp washer. I know I am fairly prepared for this challenge. I am trying to keep my eyes focused on why I am doing this. I know that there are those who are just trying to make it to the next pay check and even that is already spent.  I am very blessed to be able to stay at home while Hubby goes to work and supports us. I want this to be about seeing how well someone who does not have ready access to a washer and dryer could live with using cloth diapers. I must say though that I have enjoyed using my flats so far. They are easier to use than I thought. I do know however that I will be the one doing all of the changes. :)


After the Challenge: I have a feeling I will be holding on to my flats for a while as I do like them. They have their place in my rotation. When I am done diapering, they will probably end up being given to a mommy in need or a cheap diapering solution or maybe go with other parts of my stash to be sold. I know that there are some organizations out there that are looking for cloth diapers as donations that they then pass on to new moms and those in need. 

Below is the Linky of those who will be taking the Flats Challenge with me. 

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.  

Floss Easily with BrytonPick

I don't know about you, but I don't floss much, especially when I am out of the house. Really, I hate to floss and Hubby is even worse. If I get something stuck between my teeth when we are out to dinner, I am out of luck until we get home or if I can manage to wiggle it out. Now, we have a new nifty little tool for our arsenal of products to help keep our mouths clean and healty. There is a great new product out called the BrytonPick.

I love this pick! The tips of the Brytonpick are made from thin stainless steel. They fit easily between my teeth helping me get out any little bits of stuff that gets caught in there. Each Brytonpick comes in a carry case that fits perfectly in to a credit card slot in your wallet. Then, as long as you have your wallet, you have a way to floss after each meal or snack. The stainless steel is very easy to clean and if need be, you can just wipe it clean and put it away for the next time you need it. 
It is easiest to clean your front teeth. The others can get a little tricky at times, but I was still able to use it for most of the spaces between my teeth.  
Do you have braces or invisalign? You can still use BrytonPick! I think that is awesome. It can be pretty hard (at least I figure it would be, though I have never had braces) to clean between your teeth when you have braces. Now, with BrytonPick, even those with braces can easily floss whenever they need to.

I do think this is a pretty neat little item. I always hated having to deal with floss string and now I don't have to if I don't want to. Each BrytonPick can be used for up to 30 days, so I can just keep using it all month. Good perk if you ask me. 
Brytonpick can be purchased online at amazon.com and other online retailers.





I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com created by WebBizIdeas.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure. This post may also contain affiliate links.

FlatsChallenge Precursor!

This past week I had a small glimpse in to what my life will be like the week of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge. I packed up the kiddos and headed north to Bloomsburg where Hubby was staying for work. I had decided that this would be a great time to try out my Camp Style washer and we went with cloth for the trip. I left the house with maybe 4 disposables total in my diaper bag and we came home with two of those.

 What I packed

We all stayed in the hotel from Wednesday to Sunday. Knowing that I was going to be handwashing the diapers, I took mostly flats and covers with the exception of my Rumparooz diaper and my one Rocky Mountain diaper. I figured I would probably end up using these during the nights. I also had on hand a bunch of my boosters just in case. Oh and as a side note, I packed all of my diapers and boosters in my washer. The only thing that didn't go in there was my case of cloth wipes and the solution. See, more than one use for a camp washer! It was perfect.

 Camp Washer parts before it was a washer

So, how did we do?
Well, I did learn one (and a half) lesson(s). I needed to do my diaper laundry at night before bed and the half lesson was that drying diapers in your hotel bathroom takes WAY longer than it would at my house. I ended up using the hotel's dryer each time I washed my diapers because I didn't quite have enough at day's end and we were going and going and going until the bitter end each night, so I wouldn't do the wash. Since the diapers took longer to dry in the room, I would practically run out of diapers before my wash had dried completely, leading me to take damp diapers and covers to the dryer on site. I hated to do it, but I needed my diapers!
I also learned another useful tidbit for my little girl. I so like the flats, but when we are at home and not doing the challenge, they will be mixed with our other diapers. Almost every messy diaper leaked on to the cover (not on to clothes). I have not had a blowout with cloth luckily. Also, it seems that stay-dry liners are a better thing for my girl. For most of our trip Baby C was red in the creases where leg meets diaper area. Hubby though maybe it was the yeast returning, but I thought maybe not (also I just did not have any barriers to put in my diapers to keep them safe from the medication). When we left to come home, I put Baby C in a disposable and she ended up with two or three 'sposies in a row and the rash was almost gone. I put her back in cloth with stay-dry inners, and she was fine. I think the flats keeping the moisture so close to her skin gave her the rash. It is a lesson learned. I am also thinking that I may just make a few stay-dry liners to put in her diapers when I use flats or prefolds. Easy fix really.
I think the time going with cloth diapers full time and using a camp style washer for it went pretty well. I do love having my snappi to use on the flats to help keep them in place, but I have found that I don't always have to use it. Sometimes I just put the cover on and things went just fine.
Was I happy to get home to my regular washer? You bet!
Am I excited for the Challenge coming up? You bet!

My last question is...
How many of my readers are participating in the #FlatsChallenge?

Until next time... Happy Diapering!

What does my Cloth stash look like now?

There have been a few posts in the past where I have shown my cloth stash in its current form. I haven't done this in quite some time and not in entirety of my newborn stash. Since I am now using cloth almost full time with BG (Baby girl, which is Baby C's new moniker).
I am not even sure exactly how many of what I have anymore, but I am okay with that. For the most part I am pretty happy with our stash. One thing I know for sure is that this is not the stash I thought I would have when I started this over a year and a half ago. Right now, this is what works nicely for my newborn. At the same time I am already finding it more difficult to do prefolds and flats with BG as she is wiggling and worming her way around so much more. I can't believe she is over 3 months already! (that is a different post altogether)
So, I took some picture of my stash. I actually have three as I had nice clean diapers, some freshly cleaned and hanging to dry and then there are my wipes in yet another area. Three pictures needed to try to cover one stash of cloth diapers. Oh my! Let's begin...

This picture shows a little over half of my stash. The diapers in the front middle are the ones I made for her that she has outgrown. The right has the stuffings. The green basket thing has my prefolds (most of which I made). I also have two stacks of shirts that are folded for diapering. This also shows the underpants I have for LJ and the covers for those if we wear cloth trainers and leave the house. Next to my Knickernappies diaper in the front to the left are some of my flats all folded and ready to be put on BG with a cover. The red cover is the one that I made for her. I love it!

I do love the sight of fresh diaper laundry hanging on the line. And after some of these flats being hung out, I am a new believer in the power of the sun for bleaching. As you can see, most of my pockets were in this load of laundry. I was very happy to use them again after using mostly flats while out of town.

You know, if you are going to use cloth diapers, cloth wipes just make so much sense. And you know what? I find myself wanting to reach for cloth more and more when it comes to cleaning off hands that get dirty, wiping runny noses, and so much more. When you start using cloth, you find yourself wanting to use more and more of it!
Lastly, I wanted to show what all of those diapers look like when I get a chance to put them away all nice and neat like.

That's right. I use the main part of my pac-n-play to hold my diapers, seeing as I always use the changing pad on it to change her diaper. It made sense.


What does your cloth stash look like? Do you have just diapers, or do you also have a stash of kitchen cloth? Bathroom cloth? How much have you made the switch?


Until next time... Happy days using cloth!

Bloggy Break

Yes, that is right. I am going to be taking a short blogging break. First, we are going to travel a few hours away to visit Hubby while he has to be out of town for work. Also, my laptop took a tumble and is not up to par. We believe there is a problem with the hard drive itself (ie the arm hit the drive when it fell) and so it will probably have to be taken somewhere to be fixed. My laptop is my lifeline really. I have most of my business stuff on it, but also my pictures and most things I would use for posts and things like that. My desktop just does not have the pictures and such. So, I will not be posting much at all. I will try to use Hubby's computer while out of town to work on a few reviews I will hope to post soon.
I may be around once in a while, but until my laptop can be fixed, it will not be too often that I post. I hope things will be fixed very soon. I tend to be lost without my laptop. :)

Until next time... Happy Living!