Bumgenius 4.0 Cloth Diaper Giveaway – Self-Sponsored (CLOSED 4/3) U.S. & Canada

Mar 19,2012 / By Maria / 15 Comments

My love of fluff began in 2009 with 3 Bumgenius 3.0 cloth diapers, so it’s only fitting that I would give away a Bumgenius 4.0 to welcome all the new faces (and to say thanks to the folks that have been around a while!)

Consider “liking” me on Facebook, following me on Twitter, adding my Google+ page to your circles, subscribing to my YouTube channel, RSS feed, email updates or following me on Pinterest. However, this is a one click giveaway entry, so you don’t need to do any of that to get entries.

~~Giveaway details: One winner will receive a Bumgenius 4.0 one-size cloth diaper in his/her choice of color and closure (ARV $17.95.)~~

Winner may choose Albert or Lovelace print however, they may be backordered. I will purchase the diaper from a reputable cloth diaper retailer of my choice, including (but not limited to) my affiliates Cloth Diaper Outlet, Kelly’s Closet, Diaper Junction and Mom’s Milk Boutique. Winner name, address & email may be shared with the retailer for order fulfillment only. This giveaway is open to the U.S. and Canada, excluding Quebec, and will end Tuesday April 3rd, 2012 at 9:00 P.M. Eastern. I will select a winner using Rafflecopter, and notify him/her by email. Winner has 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is chosen. View my giveaway rules for complete details.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please note: This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed or approved by, nor affiliated with any cloth diaper manufacturer or retailer. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking the link, I receive a small portion of the sale. Thank you!

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Cloth Diaper Advice – Mailbox Mondays 3/19/12 – Flat Cloth Diapers

Mar 19,2012 / By Maria / 4 Comments

Do you have a cloth diaper question? Each Monday, I answer a reader question, and ask for my other readers’ input as well.

Questions don’t have to be cloth diaper related, just email maria at change-diapers.com with “Mailbox Mondays” in the subject, or fill out my contact form for readers, which you will always be able to find on my Contact Page.

Leigh says::

Tell me all things flats! I don’t really understand how they are so simple when the folds seem so confusing…

Carolyn says::

And are there different kinds of flat? (What the HECK are flour sack towels, anyhow??) But do they come in different sizes and materials? (Like prefolds?) Or is a flat always a certain size and a specific kind of material?

Ok, you all know I’m a pocket diaper loving Mama, and I am very glad I don’t have to use flat cloth diapers & pins like our Grandmothers did. Even so, lots of people love flats. They can be very affordable, are easy to wash & dry (they are a single layer of material) and can be customized based on how you fold them. Hannah wrote a guest post about using flats while traveling to Italy.

You can get flats for as little as $1.46 each for birdseye cotton and as much as $7.50 each for hemp flats. You may hear people refer to flour sack towels used as flat diapers as well. They are simply lint-free, absorbent kitchen towels very similar is size and makeup to flat diapers. They are available in different sizes.

Flats are generally about 27″ x 27″ before washing (some you can get larger, like Diaper Rite’s) and can be folded into quarters and used pretty much like a prefold; trifolded, or folded & snappied, pinned or simply placed under a cover. Green Mountain Diapers has a page about flats that includes folding a flat to prefold size with another inside as a doubler, flats on a newborn and many other babies, and a photo tutorial of the origami fold. Diaper Pin’s Diaper Pin Corner has lots of flat diaper posts including a photo demo of the mini neat fold and how to pad fold a flat.

I didn’t participate in Dirty Diaper Laundry’s flats & hand washing challenge last year because I wasn’t able to commit to it the week it was being done. However, I believe 50 (or more?) moms participated & blogged about it.

If I had to choose between diapers or food, I would definitely use flats, t-shirts, towels or whatever I needed to. Especially if I didn’t have access to a washer & dryer. Fortunately I have a stash of modern cloth that I love and my own washer & dryer! I know I need to master all the flat folds so I can really be a cloth guru, but it may have to wait until my little one is a bit bigger and I have a little more time on my hands!

Have you used flats? What do you think of them? How did you fold them?

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking the link, I receive a small portion. Thank you!

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Affiliates Giveaway

Fun Giveaway – Make Sure You’re a Facebook Fan!

Mar 2,2012 / By Maria / 12 Comments

Do you “like” me on Facebook? If you do, are you seeing my posts in your news feed? Facebook wasn’t showing me what I wanted to see, so I created a list with all the pages I wanted to see. You can also mark things as a “top story” so Facebook knows you want to see them. The more you interact with the page, the more likely it will be shown to you.

So why am I telling you this? You may have missed that I installed the “top fans” app from Booshaka. (You can see it in the left column of the page, though it will be closer to the top when the page switches to timeline view.)

Mmkay, well what the heck is that? “Booshaka analyzes your Facebook page and surfaces the top contributors so that you can recognize them. Fans earn points for the quality of their participation and ability to engage the community.” Huh? You can read their FAQs for more info but here’s the gist of it: “How does the point system work? Posts, comments and likes are all worth 1 point each. But don’t just try to create the most posts and comments. Your score is weighted by the quality of your participation. Higher quality activity (on topic and engages with the community) will earn extra points. Lower quality activity (off topic and spam) will earn less points. And consistent activity over time is more valuable than repeatedly performing the same action, such as clicking the Like button on every post.”

So basically, it’s a little bribe to be an active participant! As most of you know, Facebook promotion guidelines do not allow me to give prizes for actions on Facebook however, I will be awarding prizes based on the Booshaka leaderboard, a 3rd party app, and not by selecting someone who liked, commented etc. Follow?

Anyhoo, I plan to give a prize for the #1 fan each month and a small (but still fun) prize for #s 2-5. I plan to continue this as long as it is fun for everyone and no one gets upset, ok? 🙂

I set out this week to find some fun prizes that wouldn’t break my bank, and inadvertently found myself some sponsors!

Please thank Diaper Shops/Kelly’s Closet, Kelly Wels’ Changing Diapers and CJ’s BUTTer for providing some fantastic prizes for February and March (CJ’s & Kelly beyond March!)! Show them some love by “liking” them on Facebook and following them on Twitter!

Diaper Shops on Facebook and Diaper Shops on Twitter
Kelly’s Closet on Facebook
Kelly Wels on Facebook and Kelly Wels on Twitter
Changing Diapers on Facebook and Changing Diapers on Twitter
CJ’s BUTTer on Facebook

For anyone who doesn’t use Facebook, doesn’t like Facebook etc. you can have a chance at a runner-up prize (Approx. $5.00 value) using the Rafflecopter form below. Come back daily for another entry. Yes, I know daily entry stuff is annoying, but the point is to reward people who come and interact, read posts, comment etc. If you stop by regularly, a click for an entry shouldn’t be too hard!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I have not been compensated for this post or this promotion, however this post contains affiliate links!

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Itti Bitti D’Lish SIO Cloth Diaper Review / Size Comparisons

Mar 1,2012 / By Maria / No Comment

Last year, I posted my Itti Bitti D’lish AIO and O/S Tutto reviews. Both of “the fuzzy diapers” are my son’s favorites! Itti Bitti also makes a D’lish “snap in one” (SIO) which is essentially an all-in-two (or all-in-three to be exact.) I’ve been curious about them, so when my affiliate, Kelly’s Closet offered a 15% coupon for president’s day, I bit. I needed a few more reward points to have enough for a gift certificate, and this bumped me over. See, it was a logical purchase!

Itti Bitti says size small will fit 8-16 lbs, medium will fit 14-26 lbs and large will fit 23-37 lbs. However, they are cut with a much lower rise than many other diapers, so if you are at all in doubt about sizing, size up. (My 2 yr 9 month old can still wear a large, but if there was an XL, I’d buy it!) My little guy is around 10 lbs, so I bought a small and a medium.

The d’lish SIO is very much like the AIO. It has snap overlaps to fit a wide range of babies, and has the same inner fabric and leg elastic. I do prefer the encased elastic of the tutto, but I prefer the fit of the d’lish, so it’s a trade off!

Like the tutto, the inserts for the d’lish SIO have color coded snaps, so you know where they go. The inserts for the SIO are sized, so there is a bit less snapping involved than with the tutto!

The two layer bamboo insert snaps in and tri-folds to give you 6 layers of absorbency.

The hourglass shaped insert has two more layers of bamboo (so 8 layers total!) plus a stay-dry top layer. (Their website says there are only natural fibers in the soakers, but the content tag says the top layer is 100% polyester, and it definitely is!) I love getting the absorbency of bamboo, but still having only stay dry materials touch baby’s skin. I know some people say they would prefer that only natural fibers touch baby, but I much prefer stay dry. 🙂 The only thing that would make it better is it was a pocket, but I can’t turn every diaper into a pocket. Although, if Itti Bitti made a pocket diaper with encased elastic, I’d be all over that.

Left to right is the Itti Bitti Tutto O/S, the Itti Bitti D’Lish AIO and the Itti Bitti D’Lish SIO. All of them have red snaps to receive an additional booster, though only the Tutto includes one.

So here’s the size small measured folded & stretched (keep in mind that this is far from an exact science!)

Medium:

Large:

All of the sizes are great, and the overlap snaps allow them to get quite snug. Here is my son at 2 1/2 months and about 10 pounds in the small and medium d’lish SIOs:

and in the large AIO!

Here he is in the smallest setting of the Tutto:

Lastly, my older son at about 2 years, 9 months old and approximately 29 pounds, also in the large AIO:

Take a look at my D’lish AIO & Tutto review to see my son in them at 21 months/21 lbs!

The D’lish AIO diapers sell for $18.97 and the D’lish SIOs sell for $1 more at $19.97. Choose an AIO print or a SIO print at no extra cost! To me, it’s worth the extra dollar to get the additional & even more customizable absorbency. The Tuttos are $26.97 for solids and $1 more for prints. Kelly’s Closet also has a few Tutto prints on sale for $20.95.

My older son LOVES the Galaxy print (the red diaper.) I took it off his brother and when he was choosing a diaper to put on himself, he chose that one and wasn’t hearing it when I told him it was a) wet and b) too small for him. 🙂

FTC compliance: I purchased the SIO diapers at normal retail prices, with a promotion available to the general public. I received the AIO & Tutto diapers at no cost to review them last year. I was not asked to write, nor was I compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

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Diaper Junction Has a Cloth Diaper Service!

Feb 29,2012 / By Maria / 1 Comment

Everyone knows that Diaper Junction is one of my favorite places to buy cloth diapers, so I wanted to share their big news with you!

Diaper Junction’s New Diaper Service!
Do you live in Virginia Beach near Diaper Junction? Did you know that Diaper Junction has branched out and has expanded their offerings to include a Cloth Diaper Service?

Diaper Junction is located on the south side of Hampton Roads. Their Virginia Beach Cloth Diaper Laundry Service serves most areas of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, and Newport News.

About Diaper Junction’s Cloth Diaper Laundry Service: (from DiaperJunction.com)
As your favorite family-owned and operated cloth diaper retailer, Diaper Junction has been serving the cloth diapering community both locally, and virtually via the World Wide Web for more than 8 years. With over 10 years of cloth diapering experience, Diaper Junction is ready to embark in the next phase of serving our community and is proud to now begin offering a Cloth Diaper Laundry Service!

Throughout the years we’ve been committed to providing families with the cloth diapering options and support they need in order to use cloth diapers with success. Through our new Laundry Service we’ll be able to reach more families and add even more convenience for those who want to use cloth diapers.

Have questions about the service? Have questions about using cloth diapers? Not a problem! We provide support via phone and email and we even offer demonstrations to teach you how how to use our diapers and make the most of our service.

Need help making the transition from laundering your own cloth diapers to using our Laundry Service? Don’t worry, we’re here to help! Whether you want to use the service temporarily and then begin laundering your own, use the service part-time, or you want to use the service full time, we’ll walk you through it every step of the way.

One Stop Shop!
We have a large in-stock supply of cloth diapers and all the accessories you’ll need! Stop by and shop our warehouse. Better yet, Diaper Service customers get free product delivery. Just order online and we’ll deliver your items on your delivery day!

Affordable Rental Options
We do not charge a flat weekly rate. Why pay for more diapers than you need? You only pay for the amount you order. Our “pay only for what you actually need” philosophy is perfect for those who only want to cloth diaper part-time or simply do not need a laundry service full-time.

We also offer a variety of packages to get you started. Want to just give our service a try? Sign up for our Test Drive Package. Want to take the plunge with great savings!?! We offer an all inclusive Deluxe Starter Package at a huge discount or you can start using our Cloth Diaper Laundry Service part-time for as little as $13 per week, including pick up and delivery!

Serving the community
We are extremely proud to tell everyone that we have teamed up with Chesapeake Service Systems, Inc to wash our diapers. CSS is a local non-profit laundry facility that employs adults with disabilities, autism and other intellectual disabilities. We are happy to support this organization in their mission to provide work opportunities in an environment that will stimulate development, improve the health and quality of life, as well as providing a sense of worth and dignity to this very special group of people.

To read more about Diaper Junction’s new Cloth Diaper Service and their prices please visit DiaperJunction.com.

FTC compliance: I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

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