Cloth Wipes & Snack Bag from Boutique Little People (via Eco Fab Mama)

Those of you following this blog know that I like to feature Canadian made products and especially those made by small businesses or WAHMs.  Eoc Fab Mama is a lovely online store that brings quality WAHM-made products together and makes them available for sale to lucky customers like us.  They are "dedicated to eco-friendly/family friendly products" and so they sell a lot of items related to cloth diapering, cloth alternatives to disposable items, and handmade soaps/cleaners.

 I've recently had the opportunity to discover and appreciate the generously sized 2 layer flannel wipes lovingly made by Boutique Little People (http://www.ecofabmama.com/catalog/m-boutique-little-people-6-1.html) and available for purchase from Eco Fab Mama (http://www.ecofabmama.com/catalog/baby-wipes-36-1.html). I received a set of 5 wipes, in adorable girly prints, that have stood up well to multiple uses & launderings. As I mentioned, they are a good size (8"x8") and are made of a quality thick flannel that does a fantastic job of cleaning up messes and keeping your hands clean. The wipes are well made, the layers of flannel are equal sized and the colour co-ordinated wide serged edges are properly stitched and finished.  Some other suggested uses for these wipes from the Eco Fab Mama website are:

• Baby Wipes
• Cloth Tissues
• Wash Cloths
• Dish Cloths
• Un-paper Towels
• Napkins

I will often take a clean cloth wipe or two, wet it at home, and put it in a small wetbag to take along in case of hands/faces needing wiping while out and about (such as when I think that a chocolate coated granola bar is a suitable car back-seat snack for a 4 year old...)  Beats having to pull out the Wet Ones with their smelly scents and bitter residue they leave on your fingers!
 

In the envelope I received from Eco Fab Mama, I also found a special treat in the form of a Boutique Little People fold & go sandwich bag (http://www.ecofabmama.com/catalog/sandwich-bags-and-wraps/boutique-little-people-purple-stripes-fold-n-go-sandwich-bag-258.html).  Made of 100% cotton fabric, and available in a bunch of cute patterns, it is a simple solution to the problem of how to package a snack for on-the-go consumption without being left with a bunch of trash when the snack is eaten. While it does not have a waterproof liner or a fastened closure (it folds over, much like a simple sandwich bag does), it certainly does the trick when it comes to holding a bunch of freshly rinsed grapes, a simple sandwich, or some cheese slices & crackers.  I really liked the other suggested uses for these reusable bags on Eco Fab Mama's website:

• Snack Bag
• Toy Pouch
• Tooth Fairy pouch
• Gadget case
• Tub toy holder
• CD Sleeve
• Pen/crayon holder
• Craft holder
• Gift bag
• Halloween Treats
• Wet Bag
• Party Favors

The flannel wipes, snack bags, and many other quality WAHM-made products (such as wool dryer balls, soap, cloth wipes solution, laundry supplies, hats, gloves, and much more) can be browsed and ordered from http://www.ecofabmama.com/.  They ship to Canada and the US, and offer free shipping for orders over $125.

*Disclaimer:  Geekmommy Reviews was given free of charge the product(s) to review in exchange for featuring this product on http://www.geekmommyreviews.com.  Any opinions or statements given above come only from Geekmommy Reviews and were not influenced in any way by the product vendor.

Handy Mommy - Washing Machine Troubles

As far as appliances go, is there anything more important to a cloth diapering mommy than her washing machine?  I mean, if the dryer goes, you can always hang things up on a clothesline/over the shower rod.  And if the stove stops working, well that's just an excuse to get takeout or submit yourself to the madness of taking two young children to a restaurant.  But if the washing machine goes on the fritz, well, that's a problem.  And that's exactly what happened in my house a couple of weeks ago.  I dropped in a load of towels & bedsheets, and as soon as the washer had filled up and started agitating, it was making a funny noise.  You know the kind of noise that's too loud to ignore... and when you hear it, you know it's bad news.

So I do what anyone in my position would do, I run over and check to see how bad things are. Did the laundry room flood?  Is there smoke coming out of the back of the machine?  In both cases, the answer was no (thank goodness!).  But when I lifted the lid, the agitator wasn't moving.  Well, the motor was turning and I could hear it was trying to move, but it was just sort of bumping back and forth about 1/4" in each direction.  And most of that I think was because of the clothes mashing against it.  (Why yes, I do tend to overfill my top-load washer...)

New ones installed, grubby worn
down ones shown on the right.

After the initial panic (it's diaper wash day!  It's Sunday!  I did NOT budget to have to buy a new washing machine this year!) I decided to call my dad.  After all, he had fixed his fair share of washing machines in his life, I can still remember helping him take some of them apart in his workshop.  There was no answer  so I left a message, then took matters into my own hands.  You know the saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it?  Well, turns out the opposite is usually also true.  If it's already broken, what's the harm in trying to fix it?  Worst case, it'll still be broken when you're done.  (Obviously this does not apply when the item in question is still under warranty.)  So I find a YouTube clip on how to take apart a washing machine and I go to town.  Get the metal cover off, remove the control board, look at the guts.  Nothing is revealed, I don't know if I was maybe expecting the broken part to be waving a little flag, or what.  But it seemed that I'd have to dig deeper.  I ended up finding a handy website that gave some troubleshooting tips.  Agitator not moving?  Yep, that's us!  Turns out the likely culprits were four tiny bits of plastic called clutch dogs (or agitator dogs). 

Their job is to let the top half of the agitator spin freely in one direction, and to interlock with a gear wheel to prevent it from spinning in the other direction.  The effect is that the bottom half of the agitator moves your laundry around and the top half pushes the top laundry down into the water, effectively making sure everything is moving and getting as clean as possible.

After I followed the video showing how to disassemble the agitator, then coming to grips with the fact that I did not own a proper length ratchet extension...I managed to hack a solution with a socket screwdriver and a pair of adjustable pliers.  I then pulled the two agitator halves apart, and could see these little plastic pieces were completely worn down.  I dare say they did hold up quite well considering the 9 years of abuse they had suffered in my frequently overloaded washing machine!  Now that I knew what the problem was (and more importantly, that using the machine would not likely result in water leakage), I reassembled everything and threw in a load of diapers.  They weren't going to get AS clean as they might in a properly working washer, but at least I wasn't going to have to buy a pack of disposables to tide me over.  The next day I packed the kids in the car and headed to the local Sears parts centre (I did call ahead to make sure they had the part) and $30 later (I picked up new inlet hoses as well, since apparently you're supposed to replace those suckers every 5 years...) I had everything I needed in hand.  A few more minutes at home taking the agitator apart again, replacing the worn out dogs with fresh ones, and re-assembling everything, Handy Mommy was ready to do another couple of loads of laundry.  And that made me happy, because no matter how much I dislike always having a mountain of laundry to fold, it would be worse to have that mountain of laundry on the dirty pile!

Bummas "The Wild Ones" Cloth Wipes Review & GIVEAWAY!

There has been an evolution of wipes in our household.  When my son was born, we used disposable diapers, and disposable wipes.  Once he grew big enough to fit into the Kushies AIOs we had at the time, we switched to cloth diapers, and homemade disposable wipes (paper towel & homemade mix of distilled water, lotion, and baby wash).  We soon got tired of the inevitable crisis whenever we ran out of homemade wipes, because the middle of a baby poop emergency is totally not the time to start making a new batch of wipes.  Plus, with the money we were saving on diapers, I figured that having to buy wipes every now and then was not the end of the world.  So we went back to disposable wipes.  It drove me bananas every time I opened the washing machine and found little specks of disposable wipes all over the diapers in the wash.  I mean, it's so easy and second nature to roll up the dirty diaper, stuffing the wipes inside.  Plus, the garbage can got kind of nasty where it was full of used wipes that were not contained by disposable diapers.  I thought there had to be a better way, but honestly it never occurred to me that CLOTH WIPES were the answer.

Thankfully this time around, I had the brilliant realization that cloth wipes were a much more reasonable solution.  You have to wash the diapers anyways, and instinctively, you put the dirty wipes in the diapers, so why not cloth wipes?  They go in with the regular diaper loads of laundry, and don't require any special treatment.  There are several options for when you use them - the easiest is to run them under the tap when you need them.  For the upcoming winter, I have opted to dampen them in advance and store in a wipes warmer.  Others use a wipes solution in a spray bottle and spray it on baby or wipe at change time.  The wipes I have been using are basic handmade squares of double layered flannel serged together.  I made them from a stack of old receiving blankets I had kicking around in the baby-stuff-I-saved-for-our-second bin.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to receive a package of Bummas in the mail to test out for this blog.  They have been #1 in my rotation since I got them.  Made of a single layer of cotton velour fabric, they are velvety soft on one side, and terry-cloth textured on the other side.  This makes them perfect to clean up big messes and small ones.  I was surprised at the size of them, 5" x 7", which I thought would be too small to do the job well.  However, they seem to be just right.  They basically cover my palm & fingers, so I can use them terry side out for bigger messes, and do a final cleanup by folding in half and using the soft velour side to get any remaining mess.  I wet them before use, and wring them out, so they are damp but not dripping wet.  So, I don't have any issues with moisture on baby's bum before applying her diaper.  However, Bummas wipes are also excellent for drying off baby's bum if you had to use wetter wipes to get things clean.  I agree with one of the cute sayings on their eco-friendly minimal packaging that states: "After the wipe and before the dipe, use a soft kiss of cloth to dry bums off."  I also got a kick out of some of the other rhymes on there, such as "Avert the squirt", since, according to their website, one Bummas wipe can absorb an entire pee - this would have been great when my boy was in diapers...

The wipes have held up very well, going through my usual diaper laundry routine of soak/wash/rinse/rinse and line dry (or occasionally in the dryer) without any ill effects.  They have not shrunk or frayed AT ALL, which I'm impressed with because I am ALWAYS re-edging my homemade wipes because the corner where the serged edges meet is always fraying on those.  Bummas wipes are also great to use as facecloths, cleaning up after mealtime, or wiping a runny nose.  They also say on their packaging that they could be used as burp cloths, but I don't think that would work well for my little one because when she spits up, it tends to be an epic affair that goes from my shoulder to my elbow (and often ends up splatting on my hips, thighs, or calves, depending on how I'm standing or sitting).  So for now, I'll stick to burping with a receiving blanket.  If your little one doesn't spit up much though, using a Bummas for a burp cloth would definitely cut down on the bulk of cloth you would need to carry around with you in your diaper bag.

Bummas wipes come in 4 adorable colour combinations - the fabric is white cotton-woven terry velour, and the serged edges are done using bright beautiful colours.  They used to have different colour fabrics and different coloured edges but it seems they are phasing this out on their site.  They now have a "The Boys" set which is edged in shades of blue and green, a "The Girls" set that is edged in shades of pink and purple, a "The Calm Ones" set edged in shades of orange, brown, and green, and finally the "The Wild Ones" edged in ten different random shades of every colour under the rainbow.  They are sold in sets of 10, and each set sells for $16.99.  They ship worldwide, and accept paypal, so if you're reading this, you can buy them!  Check out www.bummas.com for more pictures and information on their wipes.

Great news!  Bummas has agreed to sponsor a giveaway right here on Geekmommy Reviews, with the prize being your very own 10 pack of Bummas wipes!  To enter, you must visit the Bummas page on Facebook and "Like" them, then comment back here that you did so.  Be sure to include your name on Facebook and your email address in your comment so that I can contact you when you win!

You can earn up to 3 extra entries by:

1. Liking "Geekmommy Reviews" on Facebook and telling me you did this in the comments (be sure to let me know your name on Facebook)
2. Following @geekmommyreview on Twitter and tweeting about this giveaway (be sure to link to the tweet in the comments)
3. Following this blog on Google Friend Connect and telling me you did this in the comments

Winner will be drawn on Friday October 7th, 2011 using Random.org.  Your odds of winning obviously depend on number of entries received.

*Disclaimer:  Geekmommy Reviews was given free of charge the product(s) to review in exchange for featuring this product on http://www.geekmommyreviews.com.  Any opinions or statements given above come only from Geekmommy Reviews and were not influenced in any way by the product vendor.

The Laundry Tarts

What's powdery, white, made in Canada, smells delicious, and got the funky smell right out of my daughter's cloth diapers?   It's a magnificent new all-natural laundry detergent from The Laundry Tarts.  With delicious flavours scents such as Key Lime Pie, Black Forest Cake, and Oatmeal Almond, it's hard to believe you're not supposed to just spoon this stuff into a bowl for dessert.  I received two sample bags of The Laundry Tarts detergent from Monkey Doodlez, one Key Lime Pie, one Pina Colada (thank you!).  The first thing I noticed when I opened the shipping envelope was the lovely scent wafting up to meet my nose.  I'm not talking about anything strong or overpowering, rather, it was more of a subtle scent, clean and fresh, but not artificial or perfumey.  That's probably because the entire bag of laundry detergent contains only natural ingredients - there is nothing artificial about it.  The entire product line of detergent, stain remover, and shaker is (to quote their website) "hypoallergenic, 100% vegan and free of phosphates, EDTA, pthalates, parabens, SLS, SLES, nitrates, sulphites and chlorine".  Try saying that five times fast!  The ingredient list is shorter than you could even imagine, consisting mainly of baking soda, soda wash, powdered hydrogen peroxide, and sea salt.  Throw in some rosemary extract, saponified canola & coconut oils, and essential oils (for fragrance), and you've got yourself a bag of detergent.  It's safe for your clothes, your skin, and the environment.

I was at first skeptical about using this detergent with my daughter's cloth diapers.  As you can read in previous posts, I launder her pocket diapers & liners every 3 days, using EcoNuts, cold soak, hot wash, and double cold rinse, then I hang them to dry.  They have always come out clean, but often they smell a little funky.  On occasion, I can chalk this up to FORGETTING to toss in the bag of EcoNuts after the soak cycle (shame on me!), other times I have blamed my timing - I tend to do the soak/wash/rinse before bed, and the 2nd rinse the next morning, before hanging them out.  I figured that leaving them in the washer overnight is what caused them to sometimes pick up a funky smell.  However, it seems I might be wrong about that - after checking on The Laundry Tarts' website to make certain the detergent is safe for cloth diapers (it totally is), I followed the same process (using 3 tablespoons for my old school top loading washer) and found that the entire load of diapers smelled really fresh and clean the next morning when I was hanging them out.  Note that they did NOT smell of fragrance, artificial perfumes, or funk.  They just smelled clean.  After hanging them out to dry, I took them in and thought they looked even whiter than usual, and they were SO FREAKING SOFT - perhaps the sea salt in the detergent helped with that?  I continued to use the diapers on my daughter and there were no unusual effects, rashes, etc, that sometimes happen when switching detergents.  I'm sure she'll be thrilled when she grows up that I used her as a diaper detergent guinea pig.

I also tried using the detergent with a load of dark laundry, to make sure it rinsed clean (it did, even with a very full load of laundry, a cold wash cycle, and only a single rinse).  It even worked on my delicates and hand-wash items.  Which I wash in my machine on the delicate cycle, because honestly, is a mom supposed to have time to hand wash anything??  After washing a load of towels & facecloths with The Laundry Tarts detergent, I did one of those goofy comparisons like they used to do in fabric softener commercials... I stacked up 5 baby facecloths that were previously laundered (probably with EcoNuts), and 5 that were laundered using The Laundry Tarts, and sure enough, the stack laundered with The Laundry Tarts was taller.  I probably should have taken a photo (oops) but didn't think of it.  You'll just have to take my word for it.

Now taller stacks of facecloths are not usually a reason for me to choose one detergent over another.  But I have to say that the ability of The Laundry Tarts to brighten my diaper laundry, rinse out clean, and leave them smelling fresh instead of funky, is enough to make me want to buy a big ol' bag of this stuff. I will probably re-purpose an old measuring cup to work as a scoop for the detergent, because as of right now, it does not come with its own measuring scoop.  They recommend using 2-4 tbsp per load (half that for HE machines) so you do need to be able to get the right amount out of the bag and into your machine.  I just used one of my kitchen tablespoons for testing the samples, but when it becomes a permanent fixture in my laundry room, I would want a dedicated scoop.

If you love the fact that The Laundry Tarts detergent is all-natural, made in Canada, and (most importantly) great at getting your laundry clean, then you should also know that they have generously offered a discount code for15% off all Laundry Tarts products (detergent, samples, stain sticks and shaker bon bons) at www.monkeydoodlez.com and participating retailers.  To take advantage of this offer be sure to enter the code "geekmommy15" (without the quotes) when you are going through the checkout process.  Note that they've indicated that their shipping quotes are not working quite right on the Monkey Doodlez site, so please disregard the shipping quotes from the site and they will provide you with a correct total in an invoice prior to processing payment.  This discount expires in 7 days (so by September 20th!) so hurry if you are interested!  I know I'll be ordering some!

*Disclaimer:  Geekmommy Reviews was given free of charge two small samples of the product(s) to review in exchange for featuring this product on http://www.geekmommyreviews.com.  Any opinions or statements given above come only from Geekmommy Reviews and were not influenced in any way by the product vendor.

Cloth By Tel - OS Pocket Diapers Review & GIVEAWAY

For a quick rundown of my cloth diapering past, check out the first post in this series here.  As you know by now, I've chosen to go with OS Pocket diapers with snap closures.  That's OS for One Size (fits 7lb to 35lb, supposedly, using a series of snaps to adjust the length/rise of the diaper) and Pocket meaning they have a pocket between the outer layer and the inner layer, into which the absorbent liner(s) is placed.  The snap closures allow the diaper to be fastened over and over, securely each time (as opposed to a hook & loop closure which can get less "sticky" as time goes by and threads/lint clog up the hooks).

Smallest rise setting

I purchased a number of generic brand OS Pocket diapers from a local retailer, Cloth By Tel, and have happily been using them for over 5 months now.  They come in regular (smooth fabric) or Minkee (soft/fuzzy) outside layers, in solid colours or various patterns.  I think the Minkee cow and zebra prints are just the sweetest!  The inside liner fabric is a fluffy fleece that helps wick away moisture from baby's delicate skin, and presumably the fluffy factor also helps remove solids from the diaper (we're still 100% on breastmilk here so have not had to deal with "real" poo yet).  The diapers have a generous sized opening in the back for stuffing the liner(s) in, and a fleece flap that folds over the liner to keep the microfiber off baby's skin.  Each diaper purchased includes a single liner, and Cloth By Tel also sells extra liners if you want some for overnights.

Spotless, after 5 months of use.  Elastics all in great shape

Thus far, the diapers have held up well to being used in regular rotation, washing every three days, and line drying the pockets.  I do occasionally throw the liners in the dryer, especially on rainy days, and they don't seem to be any worse for the wear.  The construction seems to be pretty uniform, the tabs each have two snaps, the front of the diapers have 10 snaps in a row so you can really customize the fit, and the rise adjustment has three levels for different size babies.  My baby girl started wearing these as soon as her umbilical cord stump fell off, around 8-9lbs.  She is now a robust 17lb 15oz at 5 months old, and so I've got the diapers at the largest rise setting already.  I am curious to see how the diapers will continue to fit as she gets older, but I do remember with my son that as his shape changed over the months, I had to adjust his diapers differently to get a good fit, so I imagine these will be similar.

10 snaps across the top of the diaper

There are sturdy elastics sewn in at the back of the diaper (to keep runny messes in), as well as in the leg openings (ditto).  They are very stretchy and as they are sewn inside the diaper, no elastic marks are left on my baby's legs.  I was concerned that the thick fleece inside would be too warm in the summertime, but it did not seem to be bothersome to my daughter at all, and she did not seem too warm in her diaper as compared to the rest of her body.  We have had very few diaper rashes, sometimes just a touch of redness, which went away after a bit of "air time".  On the odd occasion that we've wanted to use diaper cream, we stuck with Skinfix, and made sure to use a diaper liner (as is recommended for all balms with cloth diapers).  We have not had to do anything special with the diaper cleaning process, the initial prep wash was super easy with just a squirt of dish detergent and a double rinse.  Even after 5 months of continuous use, they are all still stain free and smell fresh and clean with our current routine:
-dry pail with pail liner for 3 days max
-cold 20 minute soak
-hot 10 minute wash with EcoNuts laundry soap
-2x cold rinse
-line dry/sun when possible, else line dry covers indoors and machine dry liners

Largest rise setting

I've talked enough about the diapers, but I do definitely need to mention Cloth By Tel's fantastic prices and deals - the diapers run from $8 for the regular/print/Minkee ones, to $10 for ones with bamboo inserts.  She also sells leg warmers, swim diapers, wet bags, wipes, bio-liners, and extra liners/soakers.  Cloth By Tel is on Facebook, and frequently has great sales/package deals to help you get the best bang for your cloth diapering buck.  Shipping charges are very reasonable, and she ships the diapers quickly, so you get them without much of a wait.  Go check out her selection over at http://www.clothbytel.com!

Cloth By Tel has generously sponsored a giveaway of ONE regular in-stock OS Pocket Diaper to one of my lucky readers (*Canada and US only for this giveaway*).  This contest will be open until Friday, September 23rd.  To enter, please visit http://www.clothbytel.com and leave a comment below saying which product is your favourite.

Plus earn up to 4 extra entries by:

1. Liking "Geekmommy Reviews" on Facebook and telling me you did this in the comments (be sure to let me know your name on Facebook)
2. Liking "Cloth By Tel" on Facebook and telling me you did this in the comments (be sure to let me know your name on Facebook)
3. Following @geekmommyreview AND @clothbytel on Twitter and tweeting about this giveaway (be sure to link to the tweet in the comments)
4. Following this blog on Google Friend Connect and telling me you did this in the comments

Winner will be drawn on Friday September 23rd, 2011 using Random.org.  Your odds of winning obviously depend on number of entries received.

Cloth Diapering - It's All About Choices

As I might have already mentioned, I cloth diaper my baby.  I do it mostly because I'm cheap, and I just can't imagine spending money every week on diapers to throw away.  Of course, it doesn't hurt that it saves a ton of waste from polluting our landfills, and that cloth diapers come in so many adorable prints and colours!  Plus, with all the easy to use cloth diaper styles that exist nowadays, it's no problem at all to get other caregivers on board.

When my son was a baby, cloth diapering wasn't really a "thing", I didn't know anyone else that was doing it (at least not til after I started), and I didn't do it all the time.  I bought disposables to use for naptimes, overnights, shopping trips, family visits, and so on.  We used a mix of Kushies AIO cloth diapers (all-in-ones), Kushies fitted diapers plus waterproof covers, and other generic brand fitteds that required covers.  I didn't dislike the process, but there were definitely things that bothered me, such as:

1) The Kushies AIO's I used took FOREVER to dry (even in the dryer, I had to run them through two cycles to get them dry)

2) After many cycles in the dryer, the Kushies AIO's started to leak, it seems the heat from the dryer cracked the waterproof exterior fabric

3) The hook & loop closures got gummed up with fuzzies and threads in the wash/dry cycle and were less & less sticky as time went by

4) Although you are supposed to be able to reuse the waterproof covers several times before having to wash them, I found they got smelly and had to wash them more often than not, so I needed more of them

5)  Being oblivious to the concept of a diaper sprayer, I was at a loss as to what to do with the poo... I ended up using popsicle sticks to scrape it into the toilet, which was effective but then at the end of the day I'm stuck holding some sh*t on a stick (pardon my french)...

Despite all of this, I was really happy to have made the decision to cloth diaper my son.  So, this time around when we found out we were expecting a new baby, I was excited to check out the new options in cloth diapering.  The local industry had certainly come a long way since the last time I was buying diapers - there were multiple cloth diaper stores within driving distance from my house.  I sold all of my old Kushies and paraphernalia, and decided to start fresh.

This time, I educated myself about my options.  I got a larger diaper pail so I could do diaper laundry every 3 days.  I got 2 Planet Wise pail liners so I wouldn't have to rinse the pail.  I invested in 37 one size pocket diapers (OS pockets) of various brands, and a number of extra liners for overnights.  I bought and hooked up a BumGenius diaper sprayer, and got a number of rolls of diaper liners to use on days where some bum balm/cream is required.  I bought a number of wetbags to allow cloth diapering on the go, and I made my own diaper wipes out of some old receiving blankets I had retired.

I'm proud to say that my daughter has been in cloth diapers since her umbilical cord fell off, and I haven't once missed disposables or regretted my decision to go 100% cloth.  I'm so pleased with how cloth diapering is going this time around that I am going to start a series of reviews on my blog in the month of September so I can share some of my favourite items & lessons learned with all of you.  There will even be some great giveaways, so be sure to enter for your chance to win!

Review: Planet Wise Diaper Pail Liners

If you cloth diaper, you know that one of the most important things is having a good diaper pail to store the soiled diapers until wash day.  I have two pails, a small one for my main floor laundry room (for diaper changes that take place in the living room), and a large one in the nursery, for all the rest.  The main floor one is one of those round ones with a lid that you can buy at Sears.  The one in my nursery was a shower gift from my girlfriends and is a really awesome large square one with a lid that you can secure, as well as a replaceable charcoal/carbon filter to keep diaper smells in the diaper pail.  I can pretty easily rinse out the small pail and lid in the laundry tub when it gets dirty, however, the large pail is a bit unwieldy.  Plus, who wants to carry a large pail to the washing machine every three days, wrestle it into position, and take the chance of poopy diapers falling beside the machine instead of into it?  Not to mention what you mamas with front loaders must do!  At least gravity helps with the top loader...

The solution is to have a pail liner.  A pail liner is like a giant wet bag with an elastic or drawstring top, it fits into your pail and over the rim, so that you throw dirty diapers into it.  Then on wash day, you just grab the liner and empty it into the washing machine, then put the liner in the washing machine too.  I have two Planet Wise pail liners so that there's always a clean one available.  They are the perfect size to fit most large diaper pails, and though I haven't' tried it, I think they would also be useful to line a smaller pail, there would just be more bunched up bag fabric at the bottom of the pail in that case.  These liners are made out of the same waterproof PUL material as portable wet bags and the outside layer of many pocket diapers.  It seems to be extra sturdy, not thin or weak at all.  It doesn't wick moisture and seems to be "smell proof" as well.  The elastic is very stretchy and adjusts to a snug fit around the rim of the large diaper pail.  The bag is strong enough to hold 3 days worth of soiled diapers when you carry it to your washer.  I find it does sometimes contain a bit of water after the last spin cycle, because it is waterproof, some of the water that gets in it during wash/rinse, doesn't always escape during the spin cycle.  So I make sure it's the last thing I take out of the washing machine so that I don't spill any water on the diapers that have been spun dry.

The Planet Wise pail liner comes in a ton of different solid colours so you will have no problem finding one or two that match your tastes.  They are not overly expensive at $16.50 retail on their website (and occasionally on sale for less at various online retailers - I think I paid $14.50 each at Bootyful Baby Boutique during one of their sales).  You can read more about Planet Wise products on their website at http://www.planetwiseinc.com/ and browse the pail liner colour selection here: http://www.planetwiseinc.com/Planet_Wise_Diaper_Pail_Liner_38_cat.html.

Review: Eco Nuts Natural Laundry Detergent

In this day and age, people are becoming more and more aware about the chemicals that surround us, and the effects they can & do have on our health and comfort.  Although our family is blessed with good health and no known chemical sensitivities/allergies, I do try to choose products with minimal impact on our health and on the cleanliness of our environment (most of the time...).  I first tried Eco Nuts Natural Laundry Soap last year, when I purchased a couple of boxes on Baby Half Off (http://www.babyhalfoff.com).  I was skeptical about how they would work, given that they are just little shriveled up brown things, but they do work, and they work at least as well as any of the laundry detergents I'd been using before.  They are great for cloth diapers, but I use them for all of our laundry needs.

They go in your wash, 5 nuts to a bag (bags are included in the boxes of nuts), and the bag lasts 5-10 washes, depending on your water & whether you're washing in hot or cold.  I let the bags dry between uses, which seems to make them last longer, and also makes it easier to tell when the nuts are "used up" they get brittle when they are ready to be replaced.  The bag of Eco Nuts Natural Laundry Detergent stays in for the wash & rinse cycle, does not leave any residue on your laundry, and has no fragrance.  The clean clothes have a slight odor of vinegar when wet, but no smell at all once they are dry.  I thought it was kind of strange that you could wash the clothes in cold water, rinse in cold water, leaving the bag of Eco Nuts in for both cycles, and still have the clothes end up clean without residue, but it works great, and the hint of saponin (active "ingredient" of the soap nuts) acts as a fabric softener when you put clothes in the dryer, so they come out extra fluffy.

Once the Eco Nuts are "used up", they are in fact not useless - I haven't tried it yet, but apparently you can make hand soap or natural cleaners from them by soaking them in hot water.  Or, if you're like me, you can put them in the compost.  No mess and no plastic bottles to throw out when you've used them up - Eco Nuts come in simple biodegradable packaging.  Since they are all natural, they are perfectly safe for septic systems too.  Oh - and the price is right - less than $0.10 per load!

I should probably include a link!  Check out Eco Nuts Natural Laundry Detergent and other eco cleaning products here at http://www.econutssoap.com/

EDIT:  A few people have expressed concern because their children have nut allergies, and would they also be allergic to Eco Nuts?  Eco Nuts on their Facebook page answered this way: "Eco Nuts are actually a fruit and not a nut and are used successfully by many people with severe nut allergies. Eco Nuts are in the lychee/horse chestnut/maple family, so if your child has any reactions to any products from those trees, do a patch test, first."

Review: Buncha Farmers Stain Remover

I picked up one of these stain remover sticks at a local natural parenting store, hoping it would help out in the laundry room and not leave me resorting to the awful smelling stain removal spray that literally burns my nostrils (goodness knows what it's doing to our clothes or skin).

Buncha Farmers stain remover comes in a 60 gram stick, about 1 inch by 1 inch by 4 inches long, and sort of resembles a long thin bar of soap.  (According to their website it is, in fact, soap, "enhanced with Borax to soften the water and aid the cleaning process").  It has a clean smell which I assume comes from the Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil in the ingredient list.  It has just 8 all-natural ingredients, one of which is water, and is advertised as being 100% biodegradable.  This is a good thing as we are on a septic system and I don't like to put anything down the drain that I wouldn't want to end up in my soil!

To use it, the instructions state "Wet Stick! Rub directly on stain."  I find that wetting the garment/stained area is more effective, as the stick lathers up nicely when there's a good bit of water involved.  Simply wetting the stick doesn't seem to be quite enough to get the soap to rub into the garment, so what I usually do is hold the stained garment under the water flow in the washing machine as it fills up, then I place the garment on the dryer and give the stain a rub with the stick til it lathers up.  Then I toss the garment into the wash.

I haven't had too many stains to deal with since I bought it, but so far it's done a good job on tomato based sauce messes, Crystal Light spills, mashed blueberries, and ground-in dirt.  I will definitely continue to use this stick as my first line of defense against stubborn stains.

If you want to check it out, you can buy it locally at Nurtured (http://www.nurtured.ca) on Robie Street in Halifax or at  BLISS (http://www.facebook.com/pages/BLISS-Natural-Parenting-Resource-Centre-Every-Baby-Deserves-Breastmilk/) for about $3.  Buy it on Amazon here: Stain Remover Stick (60g) Buncha Farmers Brand: Buncha Farmers, or you can have a look at the product website at http://www.bunchafarmers.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=6 for more information.