Cloth Diaper Trial 1

Yesterday I made my first cloth diaper!  I found this super easy pattern and went for it!  I had some extra flannel fabric laying around and some elastic.  This diaper was so easy to make, I didn't do any snaps or aplix on it though.  You are supposed to pin it shut, which makes me slightly nervous, but I think it will work ok.  I did try it on Baby Z but I realized that the elastic was not tight enough around the legs.  The elastic I was using was kinda old and maybe not as stretchy as it should be. So hopefully I will be able to get some more flannel and elastic to make another one soon.  For the next one I am going to try putting some aplix (which is a type of "velcro" used quite often for diapers). 

I found this pattern on http://handmadebyrita.blogspot.com/.  Its a free downloadable pattern that you print off and can use.  She has other patterns as well.  Ones to make cloth trainers, which I will be using in the future!!  Its amazing to me what you can find when you do a Google search!  I found TONS of free patterns for cloth diapers and they are all super easy and affordable to make, especially if you have "some" sewing knowledge.  Someone with a basic knowledge of a sewing machine can easily make their own cloth diapers.  My advice would be to look into any of these patterns and give them a try before spending $200 + on cloth diapers!  Its totally worth it!!  I was very fortunate and found my cloth diapers at a garage sale for really cheap.  It was a true blessing that God directed me to that garage sale, and I found them. 

 

1 Corinthians 13

Recently I was really encouraged by a blog post from Hearts At Home speaker Jill Savage.  She wrote a post that was 1 Corinthians 13 for Moms (the Love Chapter in the Bible).  This came from her blog and I am going to share it here:

1 Corinthians 13 for Moms:

I can read bedtime stories till the cow jumps over the moon and sing "Ten Little Monkeys" until I want to call the doctor-but if I don't have love, I'm as annoying as a ringing phone.

I can chase a naked toddler through the house while cooking dinner and listening to voice mail, I can fix the best cookies and Kool-Aid in the neighborhood, and I can tell a sick child's temperature with one touch of my finger, but if I don't have love, I am nothing.

Love is patient while watching and praying by the font window when it's 30 minutes past curfew.

Love is kinds when my teen says "I hate you!"

It does not envy the neighbors' swimming pool or their brand new mini van, but trusts the Lord to provide every need.

Love does not brag when other parents share their disappointments and insecurities, and love rejoices when other families succeed.

It doesn't boast, even when I've multi-tasked all day long and my husband can't do more than one thing at a time.

Love is not rude when my spouse innocently asks, "What have you done today?"

It does not immediately seek after glory when we see talent in our children, but encourages them to get training and make wise choices.

It is not easily angered, even when my 15 year old acts like the world revolves around her.

It does not delight in evil (is not self-righteous) when I remind my 17 year old that he's going 83 in a 55-mph zone, but rejoices in the truth.

Love does not give up hope.

It always protects our children's self-esteem and spirit, even while doling out discipline.

It always trusts God to protect our children when we cannot.  It always perseveres, through blue nail polish, burps and other bodily functions, rolled eyes and crossed arms, messy rooms and sleep overs.

Love never fails.

But where there are memories of thousands of diaper changes and painful labor(s), they will fade away.

Where there is talking back, it will (eventually) cease. (Please, Lord?)

Where these is a teenager who thinks she knows everything, there will one day be an adult who knows you did your best.

For we know we fail our children, and we pray they don't end up in therapy, but when we get to heaven, our imperfect parenting will disappear.  (Thank you, God!)

When we were children, we needed a parent to love and protect us.  Now that we're parents ourselves, we have a heavenly Father who adores, shelters us and holds us when we need to cry.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love But the greatest of these is love.

~Author Unknown

I just thought this was so great to hear the practical side of never failing love!  Knowing that I will fail as a parent but I have a Heavenly Father who will NEVER fail me or my children and ALWAYS loves me and my children!!  Thank you Jesus for your unfailing love!!

Philippians 4:13, 19

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.  And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 139:5

You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

Update..

Today I am going to update on the use of the homemade detergent venture we have been on at my house.  So far we have tried the laundry detergent, cloth diaper detergent, and the dishwasher detergent.  All of them have worked wonderful!!

The laundry detergent on our clothes is great!  They came out clean and smelling fresh.  The cloth diaper detergent (which essentially is the laundry detergent), works awesome!  The diapers are smelling good and looking good!  I also think it does a better job than the stuff I regularly use, which is like $15.

The dishwasher detergent we have only used once, but it did a fantastic job!!  We have a new-ish dishwasher, its about 3 years old.  We made sure to fill the rinse agent with vinegar, so our dishes were sparkling clean!

I am so excited about how much this will be saving us!  I am not very good with math or numbers so I am going to just make an estimate on the cost savings here.  For our laundry detergent we usually buy the cheap stuff anyway, which is about $8.00 for a 160 loads so that comes out to about $.20/load, so not too bad.  For my cloth diaper detergent that I bought it was about $15 for about 75 loads, so that comes out to about $.5/load, once again not too bad.  For the dishwasher detergent its about $6.00 for 40 loads so that comes out to $.6/load.  Once again not that bad.  Total cost per month for all of these items is about $15 or $180/year, because we only buy the cloth diaper detergent once every other month and same with the dishwasher detergent.

BUT in contrast for the homemade detergents I spent a total of $8.69 so about $9 with tax.  Because the recipes only call for 1 or 2 cups of each, I will not need to repurchase these for quite a while.  The only item I will need to purchase more often is the Fels Naptha soap which is only $.97.  So to divide this up over a year I am estimating the cost to be only about $20/year, I am guessing that I will only buy the items 2 times a year (maybe 3).  Even buying the major items which are about $6 total three times a year that is only $18 a year!!

Ok so now lets do the major math.... $180 or $20!!  Lets choose!!   I am so excited about these numbers!!

Having done the research about the laundry and dish detergents it got me thinking about other ways I could save tons of money.  I came to the conclusion that I could save money by making my own baby wipes!  So that led me to some great recipes for wipes solutions.  This is what I came up with:

Basic Wipes Solution:

1/2 cup baby oil

1/2 cup baby wash

2 cups water

So there are two different ways to do homemade wipes, you can either place the wipes in a container and pour the solution over them.  Or you can also put the solution in a spray bottle and then wet the wipes with warm water before using them and then spray the solution on the wipes.  I think I am going to use the spray bottle method, because if you pour it over the wipes you will need to change them out every day to avoid mildew.

Below are the steps I took in making my own cloth wipes.

Supplies:  Towel, Ruler, Scissors

Cut into 8 x 12 rectangles

Put machine on zig zag sticth

Zig Zag stitch along outside edge

 

Finished product!

 I am a decent sewer so this was not too far fetched for me.  Even if you are not a proficient sewer these would be a great first project because its just straight stitching and super easy!!  I found a great idea, to use an old t-shirt and a receiving blanket.  You cut each into an 8 x8 square (which is a standard size to fit into a wipes container), you can also do an 8x 12 for bigger, messier jobs.  I am also going to use some flannel to make some wipes, because that is what I have laying around.  I was also given an idea to use an old bath towel.  For all of these I will be doing a zig zag stitch around the edges and tadaa, wipes!! 

Sorry this post got a little lengthy, but I think I shared some great info!!  I am so excited about these new ways to save money and I wanted to share them!

**Recent Update- As of January 17, 2012
This post has been featured here on Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways!  Come check them out!**

What to do when it rains...

So today started a LONG weekend for us.  Big E is off of school today, tomorrow and Monday.  Of course today its windy, cold and rainy!  So what to do with two active, crazy boys on a windy, cold, and rainy day...watch Star Wars movies!  But when mom can't take any more Star Wars, then what do we do?  We break out the games!  My kids are not really big board game kids, but we try!  We did play a rousing game of Slap Jack, but I couldn't really remember all of the rules so we just made some up!  Then I found a puzzle of the United States, that we hadn't done in a long time.  Big E loves to do puzzles, but Little N gets bored easily and finds them difficult.  So while Big E and I worked on the puzzle Little N decided to get the cards out again and play with them.  So wonderful!  When we had finished the puzzle of the United States, we talked about our state, the state we will be visiting for Thanksgiving and then the state that their Nana and Papa live.  That was a great geography lesson.  Even Little N got interested in it.  He was very excited to see where Nana and Papa live on the map.  It was also really fun to talk about the states that we will be driving through to see our cousins (my brother and his family).

Last night we were cleaning out some drawers and found some Highlights magazines.  These are the Highlights that talk about the United States.  There is one book for each state and we have about half of the states at this point (maybe more).  So we decided to take with us on our trip some of the ones of the states that we will be driving through.  I think this will be lots of fun for Big E, to be able to check out some of the facts about these states while we are driving through them. 

Over the past few days I have been doing some research on homemade laundry detergent.  In hopes to save us some much needed cash!  I was amazed at how much information I have found, and how cheap those ingredients are!  I went to Wal-Mart today and spent a little less than $8 and got everything I needed to make my own laundry detergent, cloth diaper detergent, and dishwasher detergent. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to find what I needed at Wal-Mart but I found everything in the same isle and right by each other!!  Score!!   I just did laundry yesterday, so I didn't have any of our clothes to wash, but I did have some cloth diapers to wash.  So ran some through using the homemade detergent.  They seem to have come out clean and smelling fresh!   Now we just have to see if they irritate our skin or if they are ok!  So below I have included the recipes for the detergents that I found, I will also include the links to the websites that I found them at.

Laundry Detergent:
2 Cups Fels Naptha Soap (finely grated, you could also try Ivory)
1 Cup Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda
1 Cup Borax

Mix well with a spoon and store in an air tight container.
Use 2 Tbs. per load

Cloth Diaper Detergent:
Same recipe as above
1 Tbs. per load for a light load
2 Tbs. per load for a heavily soiled load

Dishwasher Detergent: I found two different recipes for this one, but I am just trying one this time.
Recipe #1
1 cup Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda
1 cup Borax

Recipe #2
1 Cup Baking Soda
1 Cup Borax

For the recipes above mix thoroughly and store in a plastic container, use approximately 2 Tbs. per load. Use vinegar in the rinse compartment as a rinse agent to help prevent residue.  You also need to be sure to use the vinegar for every load of dishes.

A tip they gave on the website was to add a few drops of liquid dishwashing soap to the powder compartment when you add the powder.  They also suggested cutting back the amount of soap used, if you are using 2 Tbs., try using 1-1 1/2 Tbs per load. 

**Disclosure-I have only tried the laundry soap on my cloth diapers, I have not tried the dishwasher detergent or the laundry soap on our clothes.  Please do your own research and know that it will take a lot of trial and error to find the right combination for you and your type of water.**

UPDATE: (September 2012)
I have recently stopped using the dishwasher detergent because it left quite a funny taste on our dishes, so I didn't think that was  good thing!

I have also switched to a different laundry soap, this recipe is easier than the other one and makes more.  I am only making it once every month and a half instead of every week or so.  Here is the recipe (which is not my own, but I can't remember where I found it!)

Cloth Diaper/ Clothes Laundry Soap

1 55 oz. box of Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda
1/2 cup Mule Team Borax
2 Cups Oxygen Cleaner- Sun is recommended
1/2 cup Simple Green
1/2 cup Calgon Water Softening Powder (I have never been able to find the powder, so I use the liquid and it works just fine)

Dump all ingredients in to a bucket (I use a 5 gallon one) and mix together with your hands (I use a big wooden spoon). You need to let it air dry for about a half hour and come back to stir it and loosen up any clumps that might have formed.  I then let it dry a bit more for about another 15-30 minutes and stir again.  After it is dry and few clumps are left I pour into an air tight container and store in my laundry area.   Use 1 1/2 tablespoons for diapers, 2-3 tablespoons for clothes.

November...REALLY!!!???

Here we are at the beginning of November... REALLY!!!  I can not believe that the last 2 months have gone by so fast!  I have an almost 3 month old and I feel like it was just yesterday that he was born.  Baby Z has grown so much and is changing everyday.  He gives us smiles all the time and he loves his big-est brother tons!  Every time Big E comes near, Baby Z gets a huge smile on his face.  Baby Z's newest game is sticking his tongue out at us, he thinks its the best game ever!!

Big E has lost two teeth now and loves first grade!  He is learning so much!  We got his report card the other day and I was so proud of him.  He got all 3's and 4's (which are basically A's and B's), there was one "needs improvement", can you guess what that was?!  Writting neatly!  Apparently he rushes and doesn't take his time to print neatly.  Go figure!!  They gave us a scale of reading, so we could know where he falls in his reading ability.  We knew he was a good reader but we didn't realize how good!  He is about at a 2nd grade level for his reading!  We are so proud of him!  He loves to learn and read new things!!

Little N has not been faring so well these past few weeks.  The new baby was really cramping his style.  In the past few days though he has gotten a lot better.  We have had to make lots of new adjustments to the way things are done.  Daddy has been more intentional at spending quality time with each of the bigger boys every night, but more with Little N.  I think Little N was feeling really trapped in the middle.  This has given us great improvements and has helped me out during the day.  I have also been able to just "let go" of the pressure of housework so that I can spend time playing with him.  My house has suffered but things get done, its just not done as neatly and at the time I would like it to be done.  BUT I have been given some awesome advice from some "seasoned" moms, they have told me that my kids will not remember whether their house was clean but they will remember whether their mom or dad spent time with them!

In a few short weeks we will be taking a family trip.  This is very nerve racking for me!  Its the first time we have taken the bigger kids any farther than a 3 hour drivve from our house.  Its going to be about a 15 hour (technically) but probably more like 17 or 18 hour drive.  We will be doing most of our traveling while the kids are sleeping over night (hopefully!).  We are also hoping Baby Z is sleeping through the night by then, he does really well now.  We do not have to feed him in the middle of the night so that might help.  We are so excited to take this trip though, we will be going to visit my oldest brother and his family.  This will be the first time we have seen them in over 2 years.  They also just had a new baby that is 5 weeks younger than our Baby Z.  So this is going to be a great time of family and cousins getting to know each other!  What better way to spend the holiday than with family!!