DIY Compost Bin

I haven't been blogging much lately, but I actually have a good reason! I am having a lot of pregnancy problems (again) and have been pretty limited on what I can do. I haven't been doing a lot of projects lately, but this one is pretty fun! Maybe I just say that because I'm not really the one who did it. We had some extra dirt and no where to put it, so my husband decided to build a compost bin. My husband works a lot but has taken up woodworking a little bit in his spare time (something that his dad does too.) I wasn't able to find very good plans for building a compost bin, so we guessed. I don't recommend trying to do math in your head at 8AM, we ended up forgetting something and having to go back to the lumber yard. 

The Materials: 

• Chicken wire, 12 feet (3 feet high) and we had extra so 10 feet would be enough
• 2x4 - 32 feet (10, 10 and 12 feet, I don't recommend getting 12 feet unless you have a very large vehicle, we had to tie ours down.)
• 1x4 - 20 feet (10 and 10)

Total Cost: Around $40. This could be cheaper if you could find a discount lumber yard, or use scraps. He had just used most of his scraps to build a shelf for our laundry room, so we had to go out and buy new materials. $40 is still a good price. We bought a $50 plastic compost bin at Sam's Club a few years ago and it fell apart in a few months. This will last a lot longer. 

 

I should have taken more "in progress" shots, but I wasn't feeling well and he got a lot done in a short amount of time.

 

Almost finished.

 

 Close up

 

This is where we decided to put it. As you can probably see, our yard is on a VERY steep incline. This was the only place other than the backyard (which would be very inconvenient from the kitchen) to put it. 

 

It might look a little unstable but it actually isn't at all. 

It only took a couple of hours and it turned out pretty nice. Now I just have to remember to stop throwing the compostable things away. :) 

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Easy DIY Disinfecting Cleaner

I haven't posted anything like this in a while. Here is a recipe for a very easy DIY disinfectant cleaner. Only two ingredients! All that you need is regular white vinegar and orange peels. Put the peels in a container with the vinegar and let it "infuse" for a while. I used a mason jar because I think they are pretty, but you could always just put the peels directly into a spray bottle with the vinegar. Use this spray anywhere, especially in the kitchen. The orange peels give it a nice smell, and vinegar is one of the best cleaners out there, enjoy!

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The Many Uses of Baking Soda

I have been cleaning with natural products for quite some time now. Baking soda is one of my
favorite products for natural cleaning because it is cheap and it works great! I love baking soda for cleaning, but is is also a great bath and body product! I have a large box sitting in my bathroom, and I have been using it a lot. Before you get completely weirded out, just keep reading! It really works. 

Baking soda as a face wash:
I have been using baking soda, a little water, and some coconut oil to wash my face. The coconut oil removes makeup, and the baking soda is an excellent cleanser for the skin. You really do not have to use baking soda every day. Sometimes I just remove eye makeup with coconut oil and wash my face with water. The baking soda makes your skin feel extra clean and smooth.

Baking soda as a toothpaste:
You can use baking soda as a toothpaste! I ran out of my Tom's of Maine, so I have been using baking soda for toothpaste. Just make a paste with water and brush. It's really simple. Your teeth feel really clean, and it helps make them brighter. You can also use hydrogen peroxide mixed with baking soda. My mouth is really sensitive right now (pregnancy) so I am not currently using the peroxide. If you can use it, it will whiten your teeth! If I want some minty-freshness, I just use my Tom's of Maine mouthwash. 

Baking soda as a shampoo:
Is this advice getting weirder? YES. Use baking soda to wash your hair. Use just enough water to make a paste, scrub into your hair, rinse. It's easy, it works, your hair is clean. I have been doing this and my hair doesn't feel any weirder or more disgusting than when I used regular shampoo and conditioner. Oh, and it's CHEAPER!! You can get a big box of baking soda for less than $2. I use apple cider vinegar to rinse my hair after, and it feels great. he vinegar smell goes away within a couple of minutes. I don't really know why I would go back to using normal shampoo and conditioner, this works just as well!

I have heard that you can make deodorant out of baking soda. I haven't done that yet. I am pretty happy with my Tom's deodorant. If you think these ideas seem crazy, just try them! If it doesn't work for you, you aren't losing anything. I was very skeptical about using baking soda as a "shampoo" but now that I have used it, I love it! If you have any "strange" uses for baking soda, leave a comment and let me know what you use it for!

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Make Your Own Laundry Detergent - Part 2!

Back in 2010, Meagan wrote this post about making your own laundry soap. It was fairly popular, and we have sent several people to the post to check out how we make our laundry detergent. I made the liquid version once and I liked it but didn't love it. Meagan uses the powder version, and she swears by it. While I liked the liquid version, I wasn't completely comfortable having a large bucket of laundry soap on my laundry room floor. I used a lid, but it still didn't feel completely safe. I usually stock up on detergent during sales, but I had recently ran out and decided to make my own again. I found another variation on the homemade laundry soap recipe. It uses the same ingredients in similar quantities, but has a very different texture!

Ingredients:
4 cups of water
1 bar of Fels-Naptha
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of Washing soda

Note: you should be able to find all of these ingredients at any Wal-Mart, Target, or Grocery Store. Fels-Naptha is about $1 per bar. Borax and Washing soda are $2-$4 for fairly large boxes. They should last a while!

Materials:
2 quart sized mason jars
Medium-large sauce pan
Blender
Grater or food processor

Directions:
Grate the bar of Fels-Naptha. If you have a food processor, this should be easy. If you don't, use a hand grater. It's really a pain, but it works. I don't have a food processor so that is what I had to do. Now put four cups of water into a medium or larger sauce pan and bring to a boil. While waiting for the water to boil, mix the Borax and Washing Soda together thoroughly. Slowly add grated soap to the pan, it should look like this:

   
Turn the heat down to medium. Now you are going to stir. You will be stirring for a while, so I suggest you find something else to occupy yourself. I used Pinterest on my phone. You will need to stir until the soap dissolves. Don't skip this step. You will regret it. Don't ask me how I know. It is not "good enough" until all of the soap is dissolved, this took me about fifteen minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the dry mixture until it no longer feels grainy. This should take about five minutes. BONUS: Your house will smell really clean, and your pans will BE really clean. I use stainless pans and this one is sparkly now. 

 

Borax and Washing Soda

Now you will want to carefully pour your mixture into two mason jars. They will be about half full (or half empty, hahaha..) Add water to the jars until they are nearly full, leave about 1/2 in. Seal the jars and shake them, and then turn them upside down. Now leave them on the counter (upside down) for about a few hours. I left mine for four hours. The mixture will separate. Sorry I don't have a picture of that, my camera died. Open the jars VERY carefully, the top layer will be liquid and it can make a mess. Again, don't ask me how I know. I would put a towel (or prefold diaper) under the jars when you open them. Pour the contents of one jar into the blender. You may need a spoon to get the stuff at the bottom. Blend until you get a whipped consistency. It took less than a minute in my Cuisinart blender. Carefully pour back into the jar, and repeat with the other jar, You're done!

Finished Product

Use 1 TBSP per load of laundry. It is safe for top loaders, front loaders, and YES, it is safe on cloth diapers! I didn't want to post anything until I had actually used it. I have washed both blankets/towels and diapers with this today, and it works great! This recipe will make two full jars and only using one tablespoon per load, they should last a while! The entire recipe cost less than $2 to make I didn't count the entire cost of Borax or Washing soda since 1) I already had them and 2) I didn't use all of it! I love this recipe because it is less messy than powder, but safer and less of a hassle than liquid. I am posting a video below to exactly what it looks like. Let me know if you make this and how it turns out! Make sure to clean your blender and pan right away to avoid any big messes later! What other home products do you make yourself? We'd love to hear about them in the comments!

 
NOTE: This is NOT my original recipe! I found a few different sites that had tweaked the original recipe and kind of combined them.

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DIY: How to make a Valentine's Day wreath

I saw this post on Pinterest about how to make a Valentine's day wreath. Now I will warn you that I didn't follow the tutorial, just kind of winged it, but I will give you the original site just at the end of the post, in case you are a rules following kind of person. :)

Materials needed:

Foam wreath form (OR.. do what I did, use pipe insulation. It costs $3 for 4, vs. $4 for 1)
Yarn 
Felt pieces ($.23 at Walmart, you will need 2-3)
Ribbon


How to make it:

Wrap wreath form or pipe insulation in yarn. If you are using the pipe insulation it is easier to wrap before you make it into a circle. Pipe insulation can be found at Wal-Mart in the area where are all weatherizing stuff is, or you should be able to find single pieces at Home Depot or Lowes. I have three extras, so I plan to make wreaths for Easter, Halloween, and Christmas too. Now, cut the hearts out of the felt pieces. I didn't use a pattern. I used a little bit of mod podge to help the felt stick to the yarn. A word of advice.. if you have a hot glue gun, use it. :) I used duct tape and mod podge in several places where it would have been better to use a hot glue gun, I need to buy one. Use some of the leftover yarn to make kind of an argyle shape over the hearts. Secure the end pieces with a hot glue gun (or tie them down.) Hang with a ribbon and you are done! I should have made a prettier bow, but I was feeling pretty sick by the time I was finished.

This would be a really good craft for kids too, especially older kids! My total cost was around $10, but I had to buy the yarn (and the only grey yarn they had was HUGE) and felt pieces. If you have felt scraps or yarn laying around your house, it would be very inexpensive. I hope you enjoy making this!



 

This is the link to the post that was on Pinterest.

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Huggies Slip-Ons $3.99 at Walgreens (starting 8/12)

There is a great deal starting tomorrow (Sunday, 8/12) at Walgreens on Huggies Slip-on diapers. I love using cloth diapers to save money, but I still use disposables at night. I think a good price for a pack of diapers is around $5, so $3.99 isn't bad! Here is how this deal works:

First you'll need to buy a paper for the $1.50/Huggies Diapers coupon. Unless you have a Huggies coupon from the littler mailers they send out (I don't.) In the August 2012 coupon book at Walgreens there is a $4 off Slip-ons Walgreens coupon. With a sale price of $9.49 and using the two coupons, the diapers come out at $3.99 per pack! I will be buying a pack tomorrow if I can hunt down a paper and find Walgreens (I know there are three here, which I'm totally excited about.) There's also a deal on a large pack of wipes, final price is $3.49 after a .50 manufacturers coupon (in the paper) and a $2 coupon from the August booklet. If you're fairly new to using coupons, YES, you can use both coupons because one is a store coupon and one is a manufacturers coupon.

Here are a couple of other deals that I think are worth checking out tomorrow at Walgreens:

Renew Life Omega Smart Super Krill (fish oil) $10, with a $10 register reward. I use this fish oil and recommend it.

Palmolive Dish Soap $.94 (minus manufacture coupon of .25 if  you buy a newspaper) so total $.69

Let me know what deals you get at Walgreens this week!

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Fuzzibunz One-size Cloth Diaper Review

Hey guys! It's Amy and I'm finally back. A few of my cloth diapering posts were some of the most popular posts on the blog so far, so I have decided to make Friday's "Cloth Diaper Friday!" Basically I will either share some info on cloth diapering, do a cloth diaper review, or MAYBE even finish my eight weeks to a cloth diaper stash posts! Would anyone be interested in seeing that finished? If you have no idea what I am talking about, start here. The posts were pretty popular and I'd like to finish them if there is any interest. 

Anyway, I'll kick off the first "Cloth Diapering Friday" post with a review for Fuzzibunz one-size diapers. You can buy these directly from Fuzzibunz or almost any site that sells cloth diapers. I got mine on Amazon. I own three of these diapers in Apple Green, Crushed Berries and Grape. The colors are really great! I got mine really cheap (Amazon coupons back in 2011) and I wish I would have gotten more! Fuzzibunz is probably my favorite one size pocket diaper, or at least tied for first with Happy Heiny one size pockets. 

What makes Fuzzibunz different from many other one-size diapers is  the unique adjustable elastic. Most OS (one-size) diapers have a snapping front. Because of Fuzzibunz patented adjustable elastic, FB OS diapers tend to be "trimmer" (less bulky) than most OS diapers. They also come with extra elastic, although I've never had to use mine. I found that the adjustable elastic fit smaller babies better than my other OS diapers. The picture on the right is Mikaela in Crushed Berries around three weeks old (yes, she was fat.) Most of her other OS diapers didn't fit until a few weeks later. The Fuzzibunz one-size diaper only has a snap option, so if you prefer aplix they may not be for you. I think that aplix is easier, but snaps hold up better. Diapers with snaps look "new" much longer and possibly have a higher selling value because of that. 

So overall I definitely recommend the Fuzzibunz one-size diaper. I've only had ONE problem. My Apple Green diaper has had about four snaps fall off, and my Crushed Berries diaper has a loose snap. I have never had any problems with my other snapping diapers (Bumgenius, Flip, Sunbaby, etc.) so I'm not sure if I just got a bad batch or if this is common for Fuzzibunz. I have not contacted Fuzzibunz because it had been about a year since I bought the diapers, and I did not think they would be covered. So the Fuzzibunz one-size diaper gets a 9/10 from me. Other than possible faulty snaps (which is an easy fix) these diapers are trim, have a great fit, hold up well, and are very cute! 
 

 
Note: This is my personal opinion about my use with these diapers, I have not been compensated by Fuzzibunz in any way! I bought these diapers at full price, with coupons, and this is just my personal opinion!

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Cloth Diapers too expensive? Try Sunbaby Diapers!

one of my favorite prints

Are you interested in cloth diapers but it seems like the initial price is too expensive? Maybe you use cloth diapers yourself but have a hard time talking friends into giving them a try because of the initial cost. Well I have found a solution! The answer is Sunbaby Diapers. These are one-size pocket diapers, similar to Fuzzibunz or Happy Heiny's, but much, much less expensive. If you can't justify spending $20 on a diaper, Sunbaby diapers only cost FOUR or FIVE dollars each. Now the downside to this price is you have to buy in bulk. The sunbaby website sells these diapers in sets of 6, 12, or 24. They are sold with or without inserts. If you'd like to try Sunbaby diapers before jumping in and buying a whole set, try eBay or Facebook. Sunbaby diapers has a fanpage on Facebook (search for "I love Sunbaby Diapers") as well as a Sunbaby buy/sell/trade baby and a Sunbaby auction page. Buying just one diaper will cost a little more (solid colors or common prints sell for about $7 shipped) but it would be a great way to try these diapers before committing to use them.

You may wonder if this price is just too good to be true. I've bought other "cheap" diapers before and I have been very disappointed. I have been using these myself for a couple of months and I have to say that I LOVE them. They are similar quality to the more expensive diapers and they fit really well. They also have super cute prints, if that is important to you. The cute prints sometimes sell out fast on the website, so if there is a particular print that you want you may need to try to buy/sell/trade or auction groups. One downside to the diapers is the website, the quality of the site is poor and it only lists currently available diapers. However the Facebook fan page has pictures of all of the prints as well as general information on the diapers. Now these diapers are made in China. I like to buy American made products when I can, but if you are on a budget these diapers are a wonderful price. One downsize (for some) is that these diapers only come with a snap closure. Snaps can be difficult to get used to if you are switching from disposables. I preferred aplix closure until I realized that snaps are so much easier to wash. Diapers with snap closures can just be thrown in the washer and show so much less wear than diapers with aplix (velcro) closures. If you have a baby who knows how to escape their diapers (thankfully I haven't ever had this problem) snaps would be a great solution. My husband used to prefer diapers with aplix but he has no problems with the snaps now. If he came around to snaps I am sure anyone could. I have not tried these diapers out on a tiny baby but I would imagine that they would fit from about ten pounds or so. Most one-size diapers do not fit tiny babies until their thighs have some chunk to them. Overall I can't recommend these diapers enough. They are cheap, cute, and good quality!

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Money Savings Websites

I hope that you have our site bookmarked for money saving tips. One day I would like to have lots of content on things like cloth diapering or couponing but our lives have been hectic lately and neither of us has been able to update as much as we'd like. There are lots of sites out there that have been around for a long time or update several times a day. These are some of my favorite sites to visit for tips or various things, I hope you enjoy them!

All You Coupons & Freebies

This part of All You's website has coupons (some exclusive!) and a daily freebie. Sometimes the freebies are really good. Some freebies will arrive with coupons too.

Little People Wealth 

This is one of my favorite sites for money saving tips. I love her realistic guides to couponing (for those of us who aren't so "extreme") and simple money saving solutions. She also posts CVS and Walgreens match-ups almost weekly.

The Krazy Coupon Lady

This is one of the best sites for all things coupons. They have multiple posts per day and sometimes post about things other than couponing (like saving on vacations.) Also check out the "Brag Lounge" to see what kind of deals others have been getting and maybe check if your stores have the same deals!

Coupon Mom

I hate how this site is set up (too many ads) but I love the drugstore deals section which is updated weekly. This section has match-ups for sales and coupons at many stores. You may have a couple for a freebie or cheap item and not even know it! Use this site to check.

We Use Coupons

Another helpful coupon site with links to the best printables and guides for various stores.

Sunday Coupon Preview

Want to know what coupons will be in this Sunday's paper? This site will tell you ahead of time.

I Heart the Mart

If you live in a rural area (like I do) Wal-Mart may be the only store that is nearby. If I didn't drive for work I would rarely be able to go to Walgreens, CVS or Target without going out of my way. Unfortunately Wal-Mart is not the best place to coupon (in most cases.) This site is run by a man, which I think is cool, and it's all about couponing at Wal-Mart!

So those are some of my favorite places to visit for coupon and money saving tips, what are your favorite money-saving websites?

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Saving Money on Disposable Diapers

While I LOVE my cloth diapers, I realize they aren't for everyone. I have said before that I believe more people would use cloth diapers if they just gave them a chance. That being said I realize that there are lots and lots of people who will never touch a cloth diaper, and that's okay! Some moms cloth diaper smaller babies and switch to disposables when the poop gets really stinky (and who can blame them?) Fortunately for those who use disposables there are plenty of ways to save. Since I started "couponing" and realized the deals that are out there I have wanted to kick myself lots of times for paying full price for certain items. Diapers are one of these items. There are a few easy ways to save on disposables, here are some of them:

Amazon:
Amazon.com usually has pretty decent deals on diapers. The prices can vary so try to keep track of what you pay to know whether or not you are getting a good deal. If you subscribe to Amazon Mom (free!) you will save 15%. Sign up for subsribe and save (also free!) and you will save another 15%. That 30% is almost always cheaper than the prices you would find at stores like Wal-Mart or Target. I normally use Amazon.com to buy pull-ups for my son since he is almost potty trained but grew out of his cloth. You can cancel subscribe and save as soon as you order, or set the ordering times really far apart so that you can change sizes or brands if you need to. You can't use coupons on Amazon but they do sometimes have sales. If you need diapers fast and can't find other good deals Amazon is a good choice because of free two day shipping with Amazon mom.


Coupons:
Pampers and Huggies both have newspaper coupons fairly frequently. Other brands will occasionally have coupons as well. Huggies and Pampers both have mailing lists that send out coupons every now and then. These coupons typically range from $1.50 to $3.00 off one pack of diapers. $1.50 off a pack of $10 diapers may not seem like much, but every little bit helps. Combine coupons with sales for maximum savings.

Drugstore deals:
Stores like Walgreens or CVS often have sales on diapers that include Register Rewards or Extra Bucks. If you shop at these stores anyway and roll you RRs or EBs following these sales can save a lot of money! An example of this at Walgreens would be a sale price of $8.99 plus receive a $2 Register Reward. If you combine this with a $2 off coupon it would be like paying $4.99, which is about half of the regular price. If you don't typically shop at drugstores this may not be the best deal because you may forget or no know how to use the register reward or extra buck.

Clearance deals:
Lots of stores will put their diapers on clearance from time to time for various reasons such as the diapers being repackaged or discontinued. These prices are often half of the regular price or even less! Combined with coupons this can make diapers very, very cheap!

Stockpiling: Find a GREAT deal on diapers? Stock up!! If you can get diapers for $3 or $4 or less for a jumbo pack (and it does happen more often than you'd think!) buy some for a few months! Find a great deal on diapers that are a size or two up? Buy them anyway, kids grow fast! The same applies for wipes, since there are great deals on wipes all the time.

As you can see there are plenty of ways to buy diapers without paying retail prices. All of these deals can apply to disposable wipes as well. Diapers are one of the most expensive baby items but by following these simple tips it is very easy to save!

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If You Love Swagbucks...

If your a fan of Swagbucks, then you're going to love MyPoints! At MyPoints you can earn points for doing the things you already do, like; shopping, reading emails, playing games, searching the web, taking surveys, and more! Now, I know that Swagbucks addicts are probably thinking How can I join MyPoints and do these things, when I already do all of this with Swagbucks? I totally understand what you mean. But, the good thing about MyPoints is that A) They have certain websites for you to shop at that Swagbucks doesn't offer, and B) You can receive 3-10 emails from them every day and simply view the website in the email for points. I've only been viewing the websites for about a week and I already have over 900 points! They will also send you survey invitations if you choose, and even if you don't qualify, they'll still give you 10 points for non-qualification. So, technically you can continue to do all of the things you do with Swagbucks (searching the web, taking the polls, etc) and still earn points at MyPoints.

You can redeem your points in their rewards section for almost any gift card imaginable! Even some that Swagbucks doesn't offer like Wal-Mart! You can even redeem your points for gas cards, airline miles, and hotel discounts. So go ahead and join MyPoints and start
earning some points! You'll be happy you did!

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Cheap Huggies wipes at Walgreens

Huggies wipes are $2.49 at Walgreens this week. There is also a $1 off Huggies wipes coupon in the July coupon booklet. You will find this booklet at the front of the store near the weekly ad. There was a $.50 off Huggies manufactures coupon in the paper a while back or if you are on Huggies mailing list they sent a coupon for $.75 off wipes (with a couple of coupons for diapers as well.) With these manufactures coupons you could get the wipes for either $.75 or $1 since Walgreens allows you to stack on manufactures coupon with one Walgreens coupon. I normally use cloth wipes at home but I do use disposables for going out and I prefer Huggies (unscented) to most others.

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Eight Weeks to a Cloth Diapering Stash at $20 per week - Week Three

First make sure to check out week 1 and week 2 so that you know what is going on! I am showing you how it is possible to cloth diaper using only the money you would usually spend on disposables. There are many ways to do this and I will show you some examples!

Week three:

Week three will be fairly easy. The first thing you will want to do is buy some wet bags. Wet bags are great for when you go out with your diapers. They also work for baby clothes that have gotten dirty or other things. This two pack from Kushies sells on Amazon for about $11. Make sure you are signed up for Amazon mom (it's free!) for 2 day free shipping. These wet bags work great, I have four of them myself. However they are not "large" even though they say they are. Each one will hold 5-6 diapers or 3-4 bigger diapers. They do work great for diaper bags even with the drawstring closure. You can also use them at home since you will be washing every day for a while. Use the remaining $9 to buy one or two more diapers. Again try eBay, cottonbabies clearance (free shipping) or diapperswappers. Check out week 2 for recommendations on brands and what to look for on eBay or diapperswappers.

Continue using your "flats" and covers when you need to and using your pockets or AIOs for outings and at night. If you need a little extra absorbency (especially at night) there are lots of things you can use. T-shirt material can be folded into a pocket or just stuck inside of a cover for extra absorbency.  By now you should be getting the hang of what works for you and what you like and what you don't. Stick with it, sometimes cloth diapering is hard at first but once you figure it all out you will probably before it to disposables (I know I do anyway!)

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Eight Weeks to a Cloth Diapering Stash at $20 per week - Week Two

My apologies that it took so long for me to get around to week two, I've been pretty busy lately! If you missed week one make sure to check it out and keep an eye out for the next 6 installments! This isn't an exact guide, it is just to show people that cloth diapering CAN be affordable. I just want to show everyone that it is possible to build a cloth diaper stash simply by using the money that would have been spent on disposables.

Kawaii diaper

So it's a new week and you have the $20 to spend that you normally would be spending on disposables (remember we are estimating.) Maybe you're sick of using your receiving blanket "flats" or maybe you actually liked them. Either way you will be buying some "fancy" diapers this week. I laugh when people refer to pockets or AIOs (all in ones) as "fancy" because they are actually really simple! If you've ever seen pocket diapers from brands like Happy Heinys you may wonder how you could possibly afford them. Happy Heinys are GREAT diapers (I have several.) I normally would recommend a brand like them or Thirsties because they are made in the US. However there are cheaper diapers to be found. You will have several options this week as far as which pocket diapers to buy, you will end up with at least two diapers but hopefully three or four.

Option one: Sunbaby Diapers on eBay. Do a search for Sunbaby diapers and lots of listings will come up. These are primarily sold on eBay and they are NEW. These diapers are made in China but they are a very good diaper for the price. You should be able to get three of these with your $20. If you find some that are pre-owned you may be able to get four.

Option two: Kawaii diapers. You should be able to get 2-4 Kawaii diapers for this price. Another "made in China" diaper but also good for the price. Like Sunbaby they are one-size pockets meaning they will fit your baby as long as it is under 35 pounds. Kawaii diapers have a website or you can check out option three.

Option three: Diapperswappers will have pre-owned and new diapers including Kawaii and Sunbaby in their FSOT (for sale or trade) forums. As I have mentioned before there can be a LOT of drama on this message board but it is still very good for buying or selling diapers. You should easily be able to get 3 diapers if not 4 for your $20 if you buy pre-owned. Scan the "Pockets" section for Kawaii and Sunbaby. You should also be on the look out for older style Fuzzibunz or bumGenius diapers as they often sell pretty cheap. While you are there you should definitely check out the FFS section (free for shipping.) Some of the FFS diapers are in rough shape but sometimes you'll be able to find some really nice diapers and you only have to pay shipping. Also check out the "Lottos" which are found as a subforum in the FFS forum. Many sellers who offer FFS lottos want them to go to those who truly need them, so if this applies to you definitely check it out.

Option four: Check out cottonbabies.com clearance. They often have AIOs or pockets for about $10. You would only be able to get two, but the shipping is free and these are new diapers (sometimes seconds.)

Once you have your diapers you can use them for going out. 2-4 should be plenty for an outing that lasts several hours. Continue to use your covers/"flats" at home. Next week you will be getting more pockets and soon after you will be getting a wetbag and other supplies that you need. Continue to wash with regular detergent and don't forget to skip softeners/bleach/dryer sheets. If you have questions regarding this post or anything related to cloth diapering send us an e-mail or comment here, we'd be happy to help!

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A Simple Way to Store Your Breast Milk

Don't you hate when you bag up breast milk and put it in the freezer? Next thing you know, you have clumpy, awkward bags taking over your freezer. Well, I stumbled upon a great tutorial last week, for breast milk storage. This is an awesome idea. You can watch the full version, or click on the top right corner after pressing play, to watch the shorter version. The materials needed are listed after the video.

Materials Needed:

• Breast milk storage bags 
• A standard sized gift bag
• A pair of scissors
• Scotch tape

Thanks to the greenlitebites's Channel for sharing this awesome video!

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Eight Weeks to a Cloth Diapering Stash at $20 Per Week - Week One

When I was pregnant with my son I was interested in cloth diapering. I asked around on a message board where I knew that a few moms used cloth diapers. I remember someone mentioning bumGenius and I checked out the diapers. I remember thinking that there was no way I could buy 12 or more diapers like that up front. I knew that cloth diapering would save money in the long run, but I didn't have money like that to start.

"cute" diaper: Fuzzibunz onesize

There are essentially two kinds of people who cloth diaper. Those who have money and those who don't. In case you're wondering, I fall more into the second group. Some moms cloth diaper to save money and some do it for environmental or health reasons. Cloth diapers are also really cute! I have talked about how to save on cloth diapers before, but I wanted to do something different. I wanted to show you how to start cloth diapering by spending no more than you would normally spend on disposables. Most of the examples I will give you will be without using sales or coupons. If you find coupons or good sales, the price could be even cheaper. The first week or two might suck, but it would be worth it in the end. I will post what to do week by week for 8 weeks (the posts won't be a week apart though,) by 8 weeks you will have a decent diaper stash and can start spending that diaper money on other things (or buying more cloth diapers, if you need them.) My hope is that this little "project" will help someone be able to cloth diaper who didn't otherwise think that  they could afford it.

For the purpose of this "experiment" I am going to say that $20 per week is spent on disposable diapers. That is how much you would spend if you bought one big package of disposables a week. I know that I used more than one package a week when my son was a newborn, so your actual cost may be slightly more or less. I do NOT recommend using the cheap Gerber prefolds/covers that they sell at Wal-Mart or Target. Those prefolds are junk and don't work in diapers very well. If you happen to have $50 to spend upfront, I recommend this kit. It contains 12 prefold diapers, 3 covers and a wetbag. Use it for the first week instead of what I recommend, if you only have $20, read on:


Week One:

receiving blanket folded into quarters

The very first thing you should do (if you haven't already) is sign up for Swag bucks. My guide to Swagbucks can be found here. It may take a while to earn the swag bucks but it is totally worth it. Once you earn 450 you can trade them in for a $5 Amazon gift card. Amazon has lots of cloth diapers and free shipping with Amazon mom. By the end of the 8 weeks you should have at least one or two gift cards.
Almost all moms have some receiving blankets. I am assuming that you have at least 4. You will need at least 12 for the first week. If you have more, great! If not, head out to a thrift store or kids consignment store. I've seen them at both for $.25 each. Buy 8 so that you have a dozen. This should last for a day, more is better so if you had more to begin with you're doing good. Cost: $2.00 Now head over to cottonbabies.com and buy two Econobum one-size covers. I snagged a Flip cover on cottonbabies for $9 (normally $14) once so check clearance first just to make sure there are no cheaper covers on sale. There are many covers out there but this is one of the cheapest places that has free shipping. Total cost: $20. If you have a few extra bucks throw in a snappi with your order for $3.95. If not, find some diaper pins somewhere for the first week. My mom still has the pins she used with MY diapers 24 years ago, she uses them to pin socks together. If you prefer to shop on Amazon (free and faster shipping with Amazon mom) try this Kushies cover. It is "two sized" so you might get a better fit. If you just don't have the money to spend on the cover and wait for it to arrive, pick up a couple pairs of the icky plastic pants from Wal-Mart or Target. These are pretty much the worst of the worst when it comes to cloth diapering, but they'll work in a pinch. These are super cheap so if you buy them, buy more receiving blankets so that you can go longer without washing.

What about wipes?
I didn't factor the cost of wipes into this experiment so I am assuming you have some already. I used disposable wipes with my cloth diapers for about a year before making the switch to cloth wipes. If you do want to use cloth wipes baby wash cloths, pieces of flannel or cut up receiving blankets work well. Stuff the pieces into a disposable wipes container with water and a tiny bit of baby soap.

Now you have your diapers, what do you do?

Mikaela in a receiving blanket "diaper"

We are going to use the receiving blankets like a flat diaper. There are many ways to fold flat diapers but for those who are new (or those, like me, who are lazy) to cloth diapering might find these folds intimidating. Instead fold the diaper into quarters (shown above) and use it like a prefold. Check out this site for different folds, it's an older site but I think she does a good job explaining. I prefer the newspaper fold, for a small baby, if your baby is larger you can simply tri-fold and stick it in the cover. I am certainly not the best at folding prefolds or flats so if I can do it, you can do it! This may not look perfect but it held up great under a cover.

Washing Diapers - How to:
I have posted before about laundry issues with cloth diapering. I realize that many people don't have the extra money to spend for a cloth diaper specific detergent, so for this week just use what you have. Make sure that you do not use fabric softeners, bleach, or dryer sheets. These are all bad for your diapers. Simply wash the diapers with about 1/4 of the amount of recommended detergent. Many people have had luck washing their diapers in Tide. When I first started cloth diapering I just used regular detergent (eco-friendly brand from Sams club) and it worked fine. Line drying will prevent stains (you may not care about them on the blankets but you will later with "real" diapers and it saves money. Always line dry your diapers covers or dry them on very low heat, otherwise they can get ruined.

What about being out of the house?
Use the diapers as usual when you are out of the house. If you have extra disposables from last week you can use those, otherwise use the blankets/covers. Use a plastic bag to put the dirty diapers in. In a couple of weeks you will be buying a wetbag but for now just use the plastic bag. Make sure it has no holes in it or double up.

Other cheap cloth diapering ideas:
Check out diaperswappers for pre-owned diapers. After you sign up make sure to check the FFS (free for shipping) category. This stuff goes fast but a lot of times they have FFS lottos that you can sign up for, many of them are only for those who truly need diapers. There is a LOT of drama on this site and if you want to avoid that stick with the FSOT (for sale or trade) part only.
The Cloth Diapering Foundation does diaper grants to those who really need them. I don't know much about it, but check it out. :)
Make your own! There are lots of sites with diaper patterns if you are crafty enough.

So there you have week one. I just want to show how it's possible to cloth diaper on very little money. Next week (like I said before, I'm not actually posting these a week apart, they're just examples) you will be buying "fancier" pocket diapers.

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My experience with making laundry soap

Since Meagan posted about making laundry soap I had been wanting to try it. I was just waiting to run out of my regular laundry detergent (All Free&Clear) so that I could use the container for storing my homemade soap. Although the original "recipe" calls for using Fels-Naptha soap I heard that it can be harsh on babies skin. My babies do have sensitive skin so I wanted to be careful. I read that a lot of people use a bar of Dr. Bronners soap so I decided to try that. I used a $5 gift card purchased with Swagbucks and bought the bar of soap (it was about $4.) The washing soda and borax were things that I already had, I bought them at a local grocery store. I had also previously bought some bars of Fels-Naptha. I did use some of the bar of Fels-Naptha (just a little) and the entire bar of Dr. Bronners. I followed the directions exactly and everything seemed fine. I decided to try to liquid version (Meagan uses the powder) because it lasts longer. Everything went fine making the soap until the end. You are supposed to put it in a 5 gallon bucket to "thicken" overnight. Well, it didn't thicken. It also didn't "gel" when I put it in the old  detergent container. I'm not sure why, because I followed the "recipe" exactly. I know others who have used Dr. Bronners without having this problem, so I don't think it's the soap. I used it today to wash a load on laundry and they are clean, so I guess that's what matters! I recommend that anyone tries this, whether you use the liquid or powder recipe it will save a lot of money on laundry detergent.

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Wal-Mart deals

If you live near a Wal-Mart (and it's pretty safe to say that most people do) you should definitely check your Wal-Mart to see if they have any baby deals going on right now. The Wal-Mart closest to me rarely has super cheap sales (the kind outside the store) but I found one in Springfield last week. We were in Springfield for my husbands doctor appointment and happened to run by Wal-Mart, outside the store there were racks of baby clothes for $1! They also had a few other items but mostly smaller (girly!) baby clothes. Here is what I got:

 

Most of these were for Mikaela, although there are some boy onesies there for our pregnant cousin too. I didn't need any clothes for Mikaela now, so I bought some for next summer, and even a few for the NEXT summer! They were very cute clothes too, and at that price you really can't go wrong. It's hard to buy cheaper clothes even at yard sales or consignment stores.

 

I also got these, the hoodie and long sleeved shirt were for me and the jacket was for my mom. Also just $1 each! I had meant to go to Walgreens and use some coupons for a few things but they were out (end of the week) of most of there sale items. The Wal-Mart deals definitely made up for that. I am attempting to use coupons combined with store sales for bigger savings. I'm not much of a "couponer" but I am hoping to learn. If you are interested in doing this, check out this site. It has links to all the bigger stores as well as which coupons to use for maximum savings. It also has links to grocery store deals in your state. Check it out!

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Redbox Summer Fun and Games

For people like me that don't have Netflix and live in a pretty built up city, Redbox is a great choice for movie rentals. We have at least four locations within 2 miles of our house, so it's very convenient for us. Even though the DVD one night rental fee is only $1 and the Blu-Ray one night rental fee is only $1.50, there are more ways to get free rentals. I'm signed up for Redbox Emails and The Redbox Text Club. At least once a week I get a promotional code emailed or text messaged to me. So, we normally get at least one free movie rental a week.

Last week I rented Gnomeo & Juliet and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs for the boys. I did watch Gnomeo & Juliet with them however, and it was really cute. Anyway, because I rented two DVD's in one night, I received an email with a promotional code in it for a free rental. In this email it mentioned their most recent promotion- Redbox Summer Fun and Games. If you rent any two movies at the same time between now and Sunday, June 12th, you'll get a free one night DVD rental. Be sure to enter your email address at checkout, so they can email you your promo code.

Redbox is also giving away $10,000 to two lucky winners! You can enter up to 3 times per day. Ways to enter are; renting a movie, reserving a movie at a Redbox online, signing up for the email list, or by texting SUMMER to 727272 (only two messages per week).

Wednesday Discounts on Family Fun:
Redbox is also offering Wednesday discounts on family fun online. Every Wednesday from June 22 to July 27, reserve a family-friendly DVD, Blu-ray, or video game online & Redbox will take 50¢ off the first night's rental fee of that item at checkout! Discount applies to select titles and games only that are reserved online between 12:00am and 11:59pm CT on Wednesdays from 6/22/11 to 7/27/11.

The titles that qualify for Wednesday Family Fun Discounts:
DVD
Blu-Ray
Video Game

Take time inside (away from the heat), to settle down on the couch and watch a great movie with your family this summer!

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Video: How to Make Homemade Facial Scrubs

I was watching some videos on Swagbucks today to try and get a few more SB's for Luke's birthday presents, and I found a great one! This is Jeannie Mai (host of Style Network's "How Do I Look?") showing us how to whip up three facial scrubs. Whether you have oily skin, sensitive skin, or dry skin; these are all super simple to make. I'm going to be trying one this weekend!

How to Make Homemade Facial Scrubs

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