>This is the best diaper giveaway I’ve ever seen! Diaper Junction is giving $300 worth of cloth diaper products. The winner gets to choose! That is enough $ to be able to CD full time!
Go enter! Go go go!
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>The best piece of advice I could give for getting started with cloth is to go with the flow.
People who know me well know how unlike me that really is. I wish I were easygoing, but I’m just not. I have to have everything planned, figured out, all scenarios worked through in my head. It’s only been in recent years that I’ve accepted that I’m wound a little bit tightly and that’s OK.
When I thought about starting cloth, I wanted to know exactly what brand to buy, how many, and how often I would wash. I wanted to wash, dry, stuff, fold and put away. I wanted to have some upstairs and some downstairs. A pail up and a pail down. Everything neat and in order. I wanted a stash in the diaper bag at all times. Now, I just grab a couple as we’re leaving, depending on how long we’ll be gone, and go with it. I needed to know exactly what my washing routine would be. Now, I vary it based on whether they are wet or dirty, how many there are, whether they’re stinky and so forth.
As I’ve been trying new things, my initial intent was to figure out what brand I wanted to stock up on. I’ve managed to loosen up and take a different approach. Instead, I am just trying new things and figuring out what I like best. If there’s something I really like, I will choose that brand if I have a few bucks to spend on diapers, or if there’s a really good sale. If it’s not my favorite, it will be at the bottom of the pile, in essence a “laundry day” diaper.
While I was expecting my first child, I was worrying about the teenage years, college and weddings. So when I was thinking about cloth diapering, I was worrying about solid foods and potty training. I’m working on a post about solid foods and cloth diapers now, but again, right now I am just doing what works for us.
We’re actually using our laundry room as a “diaper pail” right now, either throwing the diapers directly into the washer, or putting them in the utility sink if I am doing other laundry. If we change one upstairs (usually just one or two a day up there) we just carry it down. Definitely NOT what my little organized mind wants, but it’s working for us!
I am really proud of myself for being able to stick with what works for us right now & not worrying too much about tomorrow.
>I had noticed that some of my diapers, specifically the BumGenius, had a stinky smell to them. It seems that “microfiber stink” is fairly common, but the stink I was experiencing wasn’t an ammonia or urine smell, it’s more of a musty, wet towel smell.
Enter Biokleen Bac Out Stain & Odor eliminator.
I had read up on it online and found it at my local organic market. It was $7.99 plus tax for a 32 oz concentrated bottle. The same size bottle without the sprayer was $1.00 less.
Here is the info as listed on the container:
Bac-Out Stain & Odor Eliminator
with Live Enzyme Cultures:
It seems everyone has a Bac-Out story. Bac-Out’s live enzyme-producing cultures attack pet, food and beverage stains, organic waste, and odors until they are gone, digesting them back to nature, safely and naturally. Bac-Out is safe to use around children and pets, even birds.
• Lime Peel Extract cleaning power
• Destroys the toughest odors so they are gone for good
• Excellent for mold and mildew
• Preferred by commercial carpet cleaners nationwide
It seemed a little spendy, but it is a concentrated bottle and it foams when you spray it. I wish I could capture that in a photo, but I haven’t been able to. I figured if it saved my inserts from stink, it would be well worth it, being cheaper than new inserts!
I sprayed each diaper and insert quite liberally and used a good bit of the bottle.
I didn’t initially realize that I was supposed to soak the diapers after spraying, I washed them right away. The spray smelled wonderful, a fresh, lime scent, and left the diapers simply smelling clean.
I even sprayed the washing machine itself, hoping it might help with some of the mustiness I’ve noticed.
I’ve got my shower curtain liner soaking now, and I hear it is great for pet odors. I had used Odo Ban for pet odors in the past, but I’m not a big fan of the eucalyptus scent.
I have to wait & see if it does the trick on the diapers!
Edit August 2010: As of today, the only thing I’ve found that truly takes the ammonia smell out of my microfiber inserts is a dab of bleach.
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>I did some looking and found that Diaper Junction had the Lil Monsters Rumparooz diaper I wanted. Even better, they had it in the velcro closure, it was $4.50 cheaper and shipping was only $2.05! I also signed up for their newsletter and got an additional 10% off, yay! I had some $ in my paypal account to pay for it.
I went ahead and ordered the Rumparooz with snaps in kangaroo print, along with the Planet Wise wet bags I wanted from Kelly’s closet.
I found an authorized retailer on Ebay who is selling the Planet Wise wipe pouch I wanted. Normal price and free shipping. I’m “watching” it and I really want to buy it before I can’t find it anywhere!
I’m excited since I will have a total of 15 diapers (if I’m counting correctly) which means I will only have to wash once per day! The wet bags etc should make things a bit neater & simpler now as well!
>One of the moms from one of my cloth diaper groups owns lil’ outlaws. She makes/sells diaper safe laundry detergent, cloth wipe solution concentrate, cloth safe diaper cream and more.
She honored my special request and packed my order with smaller portions of five different scents of detergent! I chose baby bee, butt naked, baby powder fresh, laundromat and midsummer’s night.
My order got here today and the package made my house deliciously smelly before I’d even opened it. The scents all smell great, though they are very strong smelling in their bags. They smell heavenly in the washer & after washing though (the smell makes my whole laundry room smell great). I got the normal strength scent but she also offers heavy, extra heavy, light & extra light. I’ve had a bit of a headache this evening from all the new smells, but from my experience with the last bag, the scent will mellow a bit after the bag has been open a while. I actually suggest that if you “stock up” when you order, store the bags in a closet or drawer that needs some freshening, the bag will do duty as an air freshener until you’re ready to use it!
I used the butt naked on diapers tonight, it is fruity & clean smelling. I don’t know what it reminds me of.
She recommends 1/2-1T for a load in an HE washer. I washed my hubby’s coats in the midsummer’s night & used more than I needed to make them smell extra good. There is no soap or suds so there’s no risk to your laundry or your washer by using more! It smells just like the Yankee Candle scent.
The last detergent I bought (Giggles, smells just like Johnson’s buddies body wash) is actually only maybe half finished and I’ve been using it for about 6 weeks. I just couldn’t resist some new scents! I also would like to switch over to using lil’ outlaws on ALL of my laundry. I want to see how it does, but I think it would be much better for our clothes, our skin, our washer and our septic system than the sudsy, chemical laden, gummy liquid kind!
The scent on clothing is very faint after washing/drying (we have soft water AND a water softener) but to me that is good, since you can enjoy the scent you like without worrying about smelling like you bathed in muffins, hee. I did notice that some scents are stronger than others.
When I put a more in with my hubby’s coats though, the smell was noticeable & wonderful, though everything gets clean with much less. If you want the smell to stick around more, choose heavy or extra heavy scent. I would, but I don’t know if my nose could take the initial smelliness!**
I’m already making my list of scents for my next order. Lemon, Amazing Grace, Rice Flower & Shea and Winter Candy Apple. This yummy detergent sure makes laundry more enjoyable! Once I find a favorite scent, I plan to figure out what strength works best for that particular scent and stick with it. However, the scents are so tempting, I probably will keep wanting to try them all!!
I still really want to try her wipes solution, rump rub and pail pardner. I’m not sure what the pail pardner comes packaged in. I guess you could put it in a baby powder shaker? I could definitely see that turning into a giant mess with little ones around though! I do think I’ll wait until I find a favorite scent before I order that, although I will probably end up choosing baby powder for upstairs and lemon or midsummer’s night for downstairs!
P.S. Jacklen also offers Gift Certificates! If you are having buildup, repelling or stink issues, or if you have sensitivity issues and have tried other “green” or “homemade” products, to no avail, please give lil’ outlaws a try! You won’t regret it!!
Edit August 2010: This stopped working for me for some reason, I don’t know if the makeup of my water changed or what!
Maria wants to live in a world where cloth diapers are the norm and moms can make parenting choices without judgement. When she’s not chasing her 18, 14 and 11-year old kids around, you might find her checking out the latest gadgets, organizing something (again) or exercising in the fresh air. 
