GroVia Cloth Wipes Review & Giveaway (CLOSED 8/31)

Aug 24,2010 / By Maria / 17 Comments

GroVia cloth wipes come in white only, and a 12-pack sells for $10.95 (MSRP.) At less than 92 cents per wipe, I figured they were worth a try! P.S. Stay tuned for another cloth wipe review/giveaway on September 6th, as well as a post on The Village of Moms about using cloth wipes!

The wipes are 100% cotton and measure 8×8, which is perfect for folding and putting in a wipes case or warmer.

They are 2 layers thick, soft and squishy. They have held up to use wonderfully, but I was definitely disappointed initially, after the first washing.

There are two rows of stitching around the border of the wipes, and the inner row came loose in most of the wipes. I don’t know if they are purposely designed this way? I suppose it’s possible.

It’s very hard to see since they’re white on white, but the stitching seems very sloppy and overlapped. Really though, at less than a buck a wipe, I didn’t really expect any better. The ugly stitching doesn’t affect the wipes, they are holding up to use, washing and drying great. I don’t even notice the stitching as I’m wiping my son’s tush (ha ha.)

I also ended up with quite a few pulled threads within the wipes, which was entirely my fault. The tag was sewn into the wipes (can’t stand that on clothing too!) and I yanked it instead of cutting. Oops!

The wipes still measure about 8×8 after washing on hot and drying on high.

They’re nice and fluffy stacked up!

They stack nicely with my other wipes too! I’ve been using them for a few weeks now and they’ve worked great and washed up nicely with no stains!

I have another set of 12 wipes, new in their package for one winner!

Here’s how to enter: All entries go in the form below. Entries left in the comments won’t be counted. This is new and if the majority of users don’t like it, we’ll go back to the old way. I like the form, because it’s easy and fast, especially with multiple entry methods. Your email addresses are kept more private, since only I will see them, and I do not share them with anyone.

Mandatory entry: Enter your name and email address in the form and submit!

Bonus entry: Submit a question for “Mailbox Mondays” to maria at change-diapers dot com. Once you’ve done that, you may check the box for the optional entry on the form. Stephanie, Kelly, Ash and Pamela have already submitted their question and may check the box! Please note: My intent is to get a queue of questions for the next several months, so it may be some time before your submission is posted. If you would like me to email my response so you don’t have to wait until your question is posted, let me know!

https://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?formkey=dHNlbTN5OVlQaFhrTFBCd21mT2F3Z0E6MA

# of entries received as of August 30th at 10:20 P.M.: 114

Feel free to leave any comments you like on the blog post, just remember they won’t be counted as entries! Leaving a comment can also serve as a reminder to yourself that you’ve already entered. If you’re ever not sure if you entered, just shoot me an email and I’ll check for you.

I will also be updating this post regularly with the # of entries received for those of you who like to know your odds!

I’ll accept entries until Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 at 9:00 P.M. Eastern. I’ll select a winner with random.org’s true random number generator and notify him/her by email. The winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize before it is forfeited and a new winner chosen.

This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. only. View my giveaway rules page for all details.

I did not receive any compensation for this post, it is entirely self sponsored, and all opinions are my own.

Please note: This giveaway is not affiliated with nor sponsored, approved or endorsed by GroVia.

Eco-Friendly/Green Giveaway Made in the USA Reusable Products Review Wet Bags & Pail Liners

Planet Wise Diaper/Swim Wet/Dry Bag Review & Giveaway CLOSED

Jun 16,2010 / By Maria / 458 Comments

Is there a company that you love? One that makes great products, has great service and great company practices? Do you get excited when you find out they’re coming out with a new product? Do you tell everyone you know about them? For me, that’s Planet Wise Inc.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I love my small, medium and large wet bags, wet/dry bag and wipes pouch. Planet Wise are the only wet bags I’ve ever bought; I never felt the need to look for any others because they are so great.

In case you’re wondering, I bought all of my wet bags myself. I haven’t been paid to endorse Planet Wise. I’m having no luck coming up with a clever joke about how I’m cheap and can be easily bribed. Hmm…

In any case, I had the opportunity to review a brand new item from Planet Wise, the Swim/Diaper Bag. I also have one to give away, so that’s your carrot to see this through to the end (or just scroll down, but I know you would never do that, would you?) By the way, who would seriously be enticed by a carrot? How about a cupcake or something at least. Jeez. If you’re gonna bribe me, it’s going to have to be better than rabbit food.

I thought this would be a great opportunity to shine the spotlight on Planet Wise, but I accidentally brought my interrogation lamp instead of my spotlight. Hee hee.

Planet Wise is owned and operated by Nicki Maynard and her husband Jesse. Their products replace their disposable counterparts and can be used for so much more than just diapers. Their prints and colors are fantastic and are a departure from the usual “baby” prints. Wet bags are great for travel, to keep toiletries, shoes or dirty clothes separate. Wash and reuse instead of putting another plastic bag in the landfill! Their packaging is also printed on recycled/recyclable paper using soy based ink!

I wish I could work for Planet Wise; employees are allowed to work flexible schedules to work around family time and school schedules and employees are welcome to bring their young children to work with them! Alas, Planet Wise is based out of Wisconsin.

Planet Wise chooses as many USA-made materials as possible, and all products are manufactured in a locally women-owned facility.

So why do I like the wet bags so much? Not only do they look pretty with their beautiful prints and hidden seams, they have sealed seams that will not leak, and a locking, lead free zipper. The bags do not wick and hold in smells like nobody’s business. They’re both versatile and durable. They’re not going to wear out before your kids are out of diapers, but you won’t be passing them along either because you’ll be using them for a dozen other things. Mine have been washed nearly daily since I got them, and still look new.

So clearly, it’s no secret how much I love Planet Wise. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve when I found out the company was sending me one of their brand new swim/diaper bags to review.

I chose the spring green color which is pretty, but still neutral, and not too girly for my hubby to carry.

The swim/diaper bag has the same great features as their other wet/dry bags. It measures about 19″ x 15″ by 8″.

It has a large, waterproof, PVC-free inner section.

Plus a generously sized “dry” zippered section.

They say it can hold two large swim towels, plus clothes and accessories. I of course put that to the test. The bag looked like the perfect thing to use for a long or overnight trip.

13 diapers, plus my Planet Wise wipes pouch stuffed with wipes and a spray bottle of wipes solution.

Yep, it all fit!

No trouble zipping it, and the structure of the bag made it stand up nicely, it didn’t topple over.

So how about 4 large beach towels, my swimsuit, my hubby’s swimsuit, my daughter’s swimsuit and my son’s swim diaper?

It all fit, zipped with no problem, and I could have fit a few snacks/toys in as well!

For swim lessons I put in: a towel, a blanket for my son to sit on, water wings and toys and snacks. There was tons of room left!

This is a spankin’ new product, so your favorite retailer may not have them yet, but you can win one!

~~Planet Wise is sending one of my blog readers their own swim/diaper bag in their choice of color (subject to availability, substitutions may be made.)~~

Here’s how to enter: The first entry is mandatory, you may do as many or as few of the rest as you like. Leave a comment for each entry and be sure to leave your email address in at least one comment. If I can’t contact you, I will choose another winner.

~~1. Visit~~ ~~Planet Wise~~ ~~and tell me what your favorite print is. Since the swim/diaper bag is a new product, the prints aren’t yet listed on it’s page, but it should be available in all the usual colors and prints.~~

~~2. Follow my blog.~~

3. ~~“Like” me on Facebook~~.

4. ~~Follow me on Twitter.~~

5. Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post. One tweet per day please. You may use this tweet if you like: @chgdiapers has a Planet Wise swim or #clothdiapers bag #giveaway for #summer #swimming! http://bit.ly/datbg3

~~6. Blog about Planet Wise, the new swim/diaper bag, this giveaway or this blog. Please be sure to link back to this post and leave me a link to your blog post.~~

This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. only. I will accept entries until Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 9 P.M., Eastern. I will select a winner using random.org’s true random number generator, and contact the winner by email. S/he will have 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and another winner chosen.

Planet Wise provided the review product to me at no cost, and is providing the winner’s item as well. I was not given any monetary compensation. I wasn’t requested or required to write a positive review, Planet Wise is a great company that I personally support.

Giveaway Made in the USA Wet Bags & Pail Liners

Planet Wise Wet Bag Giveaway Sponsored by me! CLOSED

May 20,2010 / By Maria / 481 Comments

> If you’ve been around a while, you know I love my Planet Wise wet bags.

From the tiny wipes wet bag…

To the large wet bags…

and the medium sized wet/dry bag.

I love ’em. So much that I’ve actually never tried another brand’s wet bag.

Why? First off, they are PVC free and lead free. The bags come in awesome prints and are incredibly functional. They have a locking zipper and hidden/sealed seams for no wicking. They can be washed & dried with your diapers, though I hang mine dry.

Planet Wise is family owned and has very family friendly employee practices. Not only do their products replace their disposable counterparts, their packaging is recycled/recycleable, and uses soy based ink. When your children are no longer in diapers, you can use the bags to transport wet bathing suits, dirty laundry, even use them to separate shoes or toiletries from the rest of your suitcase when traveling.

Now, if it were up to me, I’d run this blog Oprah style, and you’d all have a bag of SWAG under your seat with one each of my favorite things.

Unfortunately, I’m not independently wealthy. I have, however, received some great things lately as a result of this blog, so I want to pay it forward. This is a little different since I’m sponsoring this giveaway.

One winner will get their pick of a Planet Wise wet bag. I’ll be purchasing it myself from Abby’s Lane and having it shipped directly to you. Please note: This giveaway is sponsored by me. It is not sponsored, endorsed approved by nor affiliated with Abby’s Lane or Planet Wise. Open to residents of the U.S. Only and can only be shipped to a U.S. address.

You can view all in-stock Planet Wise items here.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Leave me a comment. What’s on your mind? What’s at the top of your wish list? Anything you want to tell me is great.

2. Follow my blog publicly, leave me a comment saying you follow to get your entry.

3. “Like” me on Facebook, leave me a comment here saying you do to get your entry.

4. Follow me on Twitter, leave me a comment here saying you do to get your entry.

5. Tweet about this giveaway. Please be sure to include a link to this post. Comment to get your entry. One tweet per day please! You may use this tweet if you like: @chgdiapers has a #giveaway for a Planet Wise wet bag for your #clothdiapers ending 6/3 http://bit.ly/9Ql4dp

6. Blog about my blog and/or this giveaway and be sure to link back here. Leave me a comment with a link to your post to get your entry.

I’ll accept entries until Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 9:00 PM, EST. The winner will be chosen with random.org’s true random number generator.

I will send the winner an email and s/he will need to choose an in stock bag and color or print, plus a backup in case the first choice goes out of stock.

Please make sure you leave your email address in a comment if it isn’t in your profile. If I can’t contact you, I’ll choose another winner!

Cloth Wipes Giveaway Made in the USA Review Wipes Solution

Thirsties Fab Wipes and Booty Luster Review and Giveaway! CLOSED

Apr 30,2010 / By Maria / 289 Comments

When I started cloth diapering, using disposable wipes got real old, real fast. I kept wanting to ball the wipe up inside the diaper like I did with sposies. It was a pain to remember to pick them out and throw them away!

When I ran out of the disposable wipes I had, I cut up some burp cloths that were laying around. I didn’t like them as burp cloths because they were very thin and washcloth-like. I doubled them over and zigzagged them. Not easy since they were super stretchy!

Not only are they not pretty (LOL) but they’re actually kind of scratchy compared to materials used in cloth wipes. I also don’t always have enough since I don’t have to wash every day anymore. I was finding myself using several for a diaper change and having to scrub a little bit, which isn’t fun for my little guy.

I really wanted cloth wipes, but I was kind of scared to buy some and not like them. I wanted to find a brand I liked, and buy a nice pretty stack of them, rather than have a mismatched collection!

I’ve heard Thirsties talked about in my cloth diaper groups. Both the Duo Diapers and the Duo Wraps came up an awful lot when I was asking other cloth diapering mamas about night time diapering. I haven’t tried either of those yet, but Thirsties agreed to send me a 6-pack of their fab wipes and a 4 oz. (travel size) bottle of their booty luster wipe spray. There’s a giveaway too, so keep reading!

“Thirsties® is a small (but growing!) cloth diaper company committed to greener parenting and Eco Friendly solutions, not to mention 100% USA Made quality! Erin, the owner of Thirsties, started this business with an old sewing machine and $100 5 years ago. Through her hard work and diligence, her company is now one of the leaders in the cloth diaper industry. Our diapers are now made by work at home mothers, and very close to our Canon City warehouse, reducing our carbon output. Erin and I are experienced cloth diapering moms, and offer our knowledge to our retailers and customers alike.”

The wipes! Oh my goodness, if you could feel these things. Buttery soft is an understatement. I feel bad for wiping my son’s tush with those rough burp cloths. 🙁

The wipes are cotton velour on one side and microfleece on the other. Both sides are super soft and the white side is nice to be sure you got the tushie clean. They’re 8 x 8 (after washing and drying) and will fit in a wipes warmer or empty wipes container. The washing instructions say to dry on low, but I dried them on high with my diaper inserts and had no trouble.

It’s been a while since I bought disposable wipes, but my rule of thumb was that I wouldn’t buy them for more than 2.5 cents per wipe, and under two cents per wipe, I would stock up. That was the “sensitive” brand. (Add a scoffing “ha!” to that please.)

I seemed to use a zillion wipes, but let’s just say 15 per day for simplicity here. That’s a cost of about $9 for a month. If you’re buying smaller refill packs or tubs, not shopping sales and clipping coupons, your cost per wipe will be a lot higher. For me, a 6 pack of thirsties wipes ($10.75 MSRP) would pay for itself in just over a month. So even if I had bought three dozen wipes, they would have paid for themselves by now.

I’ll just skip right over the issue of ingredients in disposable wipes and impact on the environment and add that based on the reviews I’ve read, people continue to use these wipes long after their kids are out of diapers. Wiping faces, cleaning the house. Let’s see you do that with a “used” disposable wipe!

The compulsive side of me feels the need to point out how nice and pretty they look stacked up all nice and neatly.

I had to run a quick load of diapers to avoid using those nasty burp cloth wipes on him! I want to buy 3 more packs of these. I think that would give me enough to have some upstairs and downstairs, not have to wash every day, and be able to ditch the burp cloth wipes!

The Booty Luster ended up being a whole lot nicer than I expected. To be honest, I thought it was going to be a pre-mixed, overpriced version of every other wipes solution. Sorry, I was wrong!

The ingredients are: Aloe Vera, Vitamin E, 100% Pure Coconut water, Organic White Honey, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Glycerin, Humectant Moisturizers, Avocado and other Organic Ingredients.

The “other organic ingredients” is a little bothersome to me. Edit: Those “other organic ingredients” are just purified water, so no worries! Anyone who has experience with food allergies will tell you how irritating listed ingredients like “natural flavoring” can be! My son doesn’t have any topical allergies that we know of, so I didn’t pursue this. I do like that it uses Grapefruit Seed Extract as the anti-fungal ingredient, rather than Tea Tree Oil.

I’m used to squirting away and wiping, squirting some more, wiping etc. I had a hard time getting used to needing only 2 squirts of the booty luster. My son’s tush wiped clean easily, felt smooth and clean, no residue at all. The spray came out with just the right mist, though we did have a few drips. The scent was very light, but pleasant. Like a very light, summery citrus.

The MSRP of the 4 oz travel size bottle is $6.25, and the 8 oz bottle, $11.00. That’s a little spendy for cough*cheap*cough, ahem, frugal me. However, using the math I did earlier, this would most likely still be cheaper than disposable wipes and very convenient to boot. I’m not sure how long a bottle will last, I’ll have to update on that. If I can get used to only needing two squirts, it will probably last a long time!

If you want to drool over all Thirsties has to offer (and maybe leave a not so subtle hint with some dog-eared pages), you can request a catalog on their website. Just go to www.thirstiesbaby.com/catalog.htm.

Want it? Find a retailer at thirstiesbaby.com. Or, win it!

~~Thirsties is sending one lucky blog reader just what I got! A 6 pack of~~ ~~fab wipes~~ ~~(your choice of boy or girl colors) and a 4 oz. bottle of~~ ~~booty luster!~~ ~~U.S. Residents only.~~

Here’s how to enter (the first entry is mandatory, you may do any, all or none of the rest as you choose!):

~~Please be sure to leave your email address in at least one of your comments if it’s not visible in your profile. If you win and I can’t find contact info for you, I will choose another winner.~~

~~1. Visit~~ ~~http://www.thirstiesbaby.com/~~ ~~and tell me what else you’d like to try.~~

~~2. Follow my blog publicly. Current followers count, comment saying you’re a follower to get your entry.~~

3. ~~“Like” me on Facebook.~~ ~~Current, uh, “likers” (?) count. Comment saying you “like” me on FB to get your entry. (They like me, they really really like me!)~~

4. ~~“Like” Thirsties on Facebook.~~ ~~Same as above. Current likers/fans count & leave your comment to get your entry.~~

5. ~~Follow me on Twitter.~~ ~~Current followers count, comment saying you follow to get your entry.~~

6. Tweet about this giveaway. Please include @chgdiapers and link to this giveaway. You may use this example if you like. “@chgdiapers is giving away Thirsties wipes and Booty Luster until 5/14 ~~http://bit.ly/dsSyLJ~~ ~~#clothdiapers #giveaway” Limit one tweet per day, please comment with the permalink to your tweet for your entry.~~

~~7. Blog about this giveaway and link back to it. Leave a comment with a link to your blog post for your entry.~~

~~Then do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around while patting your head and rubbing your tummy and…ok that one was just for fun!~~

~~I will accept entries until Friday, May 14th at 9 P.M. I will use~~ ~~random.org’s~~ ~~true random number generator to select a winner. I’ll notify the winner by email and s/he will have 48 hours to claim the prize!~~

Cloth Diapering Detergents Eco-Friendly/Green Natural Household Products Review Washing

Naturoli Soap Nuts

Apr 26,2010 / By Maria / 5 Comments

My friend Tonya is switching her household to all “green,” one week at a time. She’s writing in on Cafemom’s The Stir. Here is the post that prompted the one I’m writing right now! At the bottom of the post you can read the posts from prior weeks as well.

Anyhoo, when she bought her Naturoli soap nuts, she noticed that they were cloth diaper safe and offered to send me some. I’ve been using them on my cloth diapers for over three weeks now and I am so grateful to her for sending them to me!

What are soap nuts? They’re the dried husks of the soapberry. They contain saponin, which works as a natural surfactant. They can be used for a lot more than laundry as well.