Buncha Farmer's Stain stick

I got to try this little magic stick a few months ago.  Buncha Farmers Stain Remover.  Normally I am willing to try everything that is recommended to me.  I first heard of this stain stick about a year ago.  I was not at all interested.  I rinse my diapers right after messes and typically do not have any stains on them.  Several months ago one of my friends and I were talking and she recommended the stain stick to me.  I was skeptical and ignored it.  Then again in June she recommended this stain remover to me.  She also told me where I could get some.  While skeptical, I figured I had to at least try it.  If it didn't work I would not be out much money and could just give my supply to my friend since she loved it so much.  

After I got these in the mail I must admit, they sat on the shelf for at least a week.  Then I got a grass stain on my khaki pants.  When I first noticed the mark was while we were getting family pictures taken, outside, at a park.  I told myself I would rinse it as soon as I got home so it would not stain.  Well, later that night I had put the children to bed and remembered I forgot to treat the stain.  I was worried I would forever have this grass stain on my pants.  Visions of my pants from my childhood all stained up continued to flash through my head.  And then, I remembered I had the Buncha Farmers Stain Stick.   

I stared at the box reading and re-reading the directions.  I wanted to be absolutely sure of what I was doing.  I put a small splash of water on the grass stain then rubbed the stick over the spot.  To my surprise, the stain quickly vanished!   I could not believe it.  

I soon found myself searching my house for different things to try this out on.  I "Googled" uses and watched several Youtube videos.  One video I came across said to mix the stick with hot water and use it as a carpet cleaner.  I own a carpet scrubber, but I have to be honest.  I have not turned it on in about a year.  My carpet has accumulated stains from the past year and also had stains from 6 years ago when we first got out dogs and they tracked a bunch of mud on the carpet.  The mud around here has that red clay tint to it, staining everything.  

So, I grated half a stick and mixed it with hot water, stirred it until it dissolved, then added it to my carpet scrubber.  It took a few hours to scrub my carpet, but the results were absolutely amazing!  

                                      

(seriously, I did not realize how yucky my carpet looked before) 

Amazing right?  

Want to see it in action?  I made a video, just for you!  

(Note, I am not at all a videographer and do not know how to edit these, so there are two parts to the video, the before and the after.) 

After:

After washing

I keep a spray bottle filled with the stain remover to treat any stains before washing.  I keep a stick and an old toothbrush by the sink.  After I am doing spraying diapers I simply spray some of the stain remover on to the diaper, rub the diaper together, rinse, and toss into the diaper pail.  It only takes about a minute and ensures stain free diapers.  Any stains that do not come out right away will fade with every wash.  

The instructions state to wet the stick and rub on the stain.  I find it easier to wet the stained area and rub the stick on it. Either way, it works.  Also, a little goes a LONG way.  It only takes a quick rub from the stick and then a little scrub to get a nice lather on the diaper (or other material).  After lathering rinse and enjoy your stain-free item.  Toss in the wash and check to see if the stain is gone.  If it is not (which may happen) treat the stain again and let sit for a couple hours before rinsing.  

This stuff is seriously amazing!  It is also made of natural ingredients with no harsh chemicals.  It contains eucalyptus oil too, which I absolutely love the smell of.  

BUT, Don't take my word for it, try it out for yourself!   Kelly's Closet sells these wonderful stain removers.    

Enter to win your own stain sticks!  

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Miss Lily's Washing Powder

Miss Lily's Washing Powder

A little over a month ago my friend Kristen entered a giveaway for Miss Lily's Washing Powder.  It popped up on my Facebook and I felt the need to try it out myself.  Guess who the lucky winner was?  That is right, me!  I was so excited.  About a week later the owner, Jill, posted she was looking for bloggers to write reviews for her products and get her product out to more people.  I thought this was the perfect opportunity for me.  After all, I did just win some of her product, so I had the supplies needed to write a review.

After receiving the product I could not wait to get the laundry started.  Laundry is one chore that is not really a chore for me.  I find it some what therapeutic. We dirty clothes, they go into the wash, and come out clean.  Folding clothes and hanging them all in their place gives that sense of order.  Having a child in cloth diapers adds to the laundry.  I wash diapers every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.  It has been a month using the washing powder and I still have half a bag left.

For a normal wash I add three tablespoons of washing powder (you would use less if you have an HE washer).  Miss Lily's recommends using 1-4 depending on load size and the machine itself.  I sprinkle the powder in the machine, add the clothes and turn it on.  With diapers I add the detergent, add the diapers and set the machine for "whitest whites" (after reading my manual and some trial and error this setting works best for us.)  turn the temp to hot/cold, add an extra rinse, and turn it on.

Miss Lily's washing powder works great for getting out stains and for people who have hard water. When I wash Charlotte's diapers they always come out clean and smelling fresh.  The washing powder does have the fragrance of your choice, but I can't smell any type of scent on my clothes after they are dry.  They simply smell clean.

Up until I received the Miss Lily's Washing Powder I was using Rockin' Green.  Both of the detergents are great for hard water.  They both come in scented and unscented formulas (and Miss Lily's has a wide variety of scents).  I have noticed that Rockin Green often has chunks of detergent that I need to break up so I can accurately measure.  The washing powder seems smoother and does not have any chunks in them at all.  

The packaging of the product could be better as right now it is just in a gallon size Ziploc bag inside a little sac (which is cute and Charlotte started putting toys in and carries around like a little purse.) I also took a marker and wrote on the bags the scent because I can't really tell them apart.  Those are my only complaints, and neither affect the actual product performance. 

Since starting cloth diapering I have tried making my own detergent twice, I have used Tide, Rockin' Green, Grovia detergent, and Bum Genius detergent.  Of all of these I had liked the Rockin Green the best.  Now, I am thinking about switching.  I have one bag of Rockin' Green left.  After that is used I will be using Miss Lily's washing powder.

Want to try Miss Lily's Washing Powder?  Now is your chance!  Enter below.  The winner will receive 2 bags of Miss Lily's Washing Powder directly from Miss Lily's and will also be able to choose their favorite scent.  Winner will be announced on 09/17/2014.

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The Ingredients include Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Percarbonate, Sodium Borate Decahydrate, Essential Oils (essential oil version only), Fragrance Oils (scented version only). 

Birthday Giveaway: Day 1 Spray Pal and Sprayer

Yay!  It is finally September!  This is my birthday month.  In honor of my birthday I am having a huge giveaway.  All of you get to enjoy my birthday month as well.  Enjoy over $300 worth of prizes.

Day 1:  Spray Pal and diaper sprayer

I have to start the birthday giveaway with my most favorite cloth diaper accessory ever!  I use my Sprayer and Spray Pal daily and when I go away and do not have it I miss it dearly.  I love it so much I want to be able to share with one lucky person!


Spray Pal is not only awesome because of how much it easier it makes cleaning diapers, but also the company itself is awesome.  Spray Pal is owned and operated by a mom and her husband.  They have a little girl and little boy.  The youngest was born premature and needs special care, but do not tell him that.  Jen posted a video on Facebook of sweet 2.0 (her nickname for him) playing on a sit and spin.  He had the biggest smile.  Click here for more information about the Spray Pal Family.  Buying a Spray Pal will help make your life easier and benefit this wonderful family.

Check out my reviews of these products Here

Enter below to win a Spray Pal and a Aquaus Diaper Sprayer.

Entry-Form

Check back daily for more giveaways!  Every day until the 15th a new giveaway will be posted on the blog.  Enter and share with all of your friends.  Winners will be announced on the 17th.  Prizes from the sponsors will be mailed directly from them.






Disclaimer: This blog contains affiliate links.  The affiliates in no way affect my opinion.  All reviews are based on my personal opinion regardless of sponsors.  

Spray pal

This post is a little over due, but I LOVE the Spray Pal.  I did not buy a diaper sprayer when I first started cloth diapering with Owen.  It was easy to just knock the poo in the toilet with little mess.  However, newborns poop a lot, and it is not solid.  Before Charlotte was born I bought a sprayer and attached it to the toilet.  Owen gave me a diaper to try it out on.  What a mess, my first time spraying a diaper turned out to be a disaster.  I do not know how other people do it.  I tried several times to spray diapers without water splashing every where and soaking the toilet paper roll.  Upon further research I found the Spray Pal.

The spray pal is essentially a plastic clipboard that is enclosed.

Clip the diaper onto the spray pal and snap the sides together.

Spray diaper clean.  Make sure the bottom of the Spray pal is in the toilet so that the run off does not go on the toilet and floor.  The convenience of the Spray Pal allows you to turn the pressure all the way up and allowing to spray all parts of the diaper.  

The shape of the Spray-Pal allows me to easily reach my hand to spray thee bottom of the diaper.  It also allows me to be able to see all of the diaper and focus the spraying on the areas that need it the most. 

I love the spray pal and not sure how anyone sprays diapers without it! 

Here is a video made by Spray Pal that demonstrates use.  

The disadvantage of the Spray-Pal is that you need some where to store it.  It does fold up fairly flat and can easily fit behind my toilet.  I would recommend laying a towel down or putting the spray-pal into a bucket or pail so it does not drip onto the floor.  I typically put it in the tub, which is right beside the toilet, until it dries.  Then I fold it up and set it beside the toilet.  I love that the spray pal is enclosed around the front to protect from water splashing the walls and toilet.  The clip is strong and holds diapers and even wipes while I spray but doesn't hurt the diaper.

Other uses for the Spray-Pal?  Owen was sick the one day and we had a vomit mess.  I ended up lining the tub with towels and letting him sleep in the tub.  I put Owen's shirt in the Spray-Pal and quickly sprayed the vomit off of his shirt.  The wash cloths I used to clean the vomit off the floor, were also sprayed off using the Spray-Pal.

Click here to visit www.spray-pal.com

Diaper dawgs spray collar review

A couple of weeks ago there was a give away hosted by The Eco Chic, Dirty Diaper Laundry, The Eco-Friendly Family, The Cloth Diaper Report, Change-Diapers, and Cloth Diaper Geek.  The give away was themed around a cloth diaper baby shower.  The give away was huge, having over 60 prize winners.  I was lucky enough to be one of those winners.  I was fortunate enough to win a three pack of snappies and a Diaper Dawgs spray collar.  The spray collar I was really excited about.  I do not think I would have ever purchased one though, because I have and LOVE the Spray - Pal. I did want to try the spray collar to see how it compared, I just could not justify spending the money on it. 

The spray collar arrived in the mail fairly quick.  I also happened to receive it right after spraying three diapers and starting diaper laundry.  (Which should have been done yesterday but wasn't. ) I don't think I have ever hoped for a poopy diaper, until today.  Fortunately it wasn't long until Charlotte had given me one.  It was time to test out the sprayer. 

  

So how do I feel about the spray collar? I do not know that I am a fan. My first issue was trying to get the collar to fit on my sprayer.  Not sure that my sprayer really works with the collar.  It does not seem like it is on there to well.   I still managed to make a mess.  It is also kind of awkward to hold the diaper and spray it.  I tried putting the diaper in the toilet and spraying, I tried holding the diaper along the rim, and laying the diaper in the toilet and spraying.  Was not good at of that and still splashed water.  I also do not like that I can't see what I am spraying.  The collar blocks the .  If you pull the collar back away from the diaper you end up with a mess.  However, I love how little it is, how it can stay attached to the sprayer and not take up space.  I dislike that I would have to wipe it out every single time.  With the Spray-Pal I spray off the whole thing and set it aside.  I use a clorox wipe on the Spray-Pal about once a week.   Another disadvantage of the spray collar is that I cannot hang the sprayer back up with the collar on, so I would have to pull it off and put it back on every time as well.

I am going to keep trying to see if I can get the hang of it, but so far I am still a Spray Pal fan. 

FREE Cloth Diapers

Want a way to add variety to your cloth diaper stash?  Would it be even better if I told you it was free??

It is well known I am a cloth diaper addict.  Throughout my time using cloth diapers Kelly's Closet has been my number one go to site.  They offer free shipping over a certain amount, and even better, they offer free diapers for spending over a certain amount.  That's right, FREE!  In addition to the free diaper you get for spending over the given amount, you also earn diaper dollar rewards which you can trade in for a Kelly's Closet gift certificate.  With this you can get more FREE diapers!

So far I have received 11 free diapers!  These included fuzzibunz one size elite, GroVia AIO One size diapers, Bum Genius 4.0 Pocket, Kawaii GHW pocket, and Kawaii One-size. Plus I have bought 2 newborn diapers when I earned a gift certificate.

The diapers that are free with the coupon code are a complete surprise.  Although they sometimes give hints like if it is pocket or AIO, if the value of the diaper is over a certain dollar amount.

To take advantage of earning free diapers, shop at Kelly's Closet.




*Note, I really do just love Kelly's Closet and they in no way influenced me to write this post.* 

Wool Dryer Balls

These things, wool dryer balls, are amazing. 

So what are wool dryer balls?   

Wool dryer balls are wool spun into the shape of balls.  The ones pictured here are dyed, however there are some that are not colored.   The point of  the dryer balls is to replace dryer sheets.  Many of the brands of dryer balls that I have come across state they reduce static, reduce wrinkles, and most important to me, they reduce drying time.   Four balls are recommended for a small load of laundry and eight balls are recommended for a large loads.  

I got these last week and so far I definitely see a reduction in drying time.  The all-in-one newborn diapers I use typically take 80-90 minutes to dry, especially the lil joeys.  Using all 8 of the dryer balls the diapers are dry in 40-45 minutes.  That is HALF the amount of time.  I do diaper laundry 3 days a week.  In addition I do regular laundry about 3 -4 loads a week.  All that time saving equals up to a bunch of energy savings.  

As far as the reduction of static and wrinkles I am not 100% sure how effective it is.  (although hard to tell if it reduces wrinkles when sometimes the clothes sit in the dryer until I have to throw diapers into  it)  There is a little reduction in static, but there still is some, especially with sheets.  I do notice though that the clothes and diapers feel softer.  The same as if I were using drying sheets.  

One thing about these though, you have to dig them out of your laundry.  I have found a couple stuck in pant legs when I fold the laundry.  All of the savings though, totally make up for it. 

Cloth diapers, diaper review

This post is extremely picture heavy.  However I wanted to be sure you all were able to actually see what I am talking about and my likes and dislikes of each type of diaper.  Now, I have only been cloth diapering since April 2012, so Owen was a bit bigger and my reviews are that of a different experience.  I really wanted to cloth diaper since Owen was born but DH didnt want to deal with it.  He thought it would be messier, more work, and he most of all, did not want to deal with the poop.  However, after I found out I was pregnant with twins I stock piled a whole bunch of diapers.  I figured this would save a bunch of money when the twins came.  I could buy just a few at a time each week so I was not spending a fortune all at once.  I also bought the generic chinese brands on Ebay.  Now, I know these are ripoffs of American types and I should support the American working moms, but money was an issue and so I just went with the ebay ones. I would like to eventually get a couple of gdiapers to try when baby #2 arrives.  I am very interested in learning how these diapers work with a newborn vs a toddler.   Ok, so onto the diapers.

Here is just some of our diapers.  I will try to take another picture of all of them after they are all washed.

First diaper is a GroVia.  These at first were my favorite diaper.  I liked how if the diaper was just wet I was able to pull out the insert and snap a new one into place, with no need to change the shell.  However, I grew to dislike them because some how his little wee wee would shoot urine out and down his legs.   I  do like the shape of this diaper.  It seemed to fit him very well.  There are also many snaps that provide for different adjustments.

The insert is two pieces sewn together.  The bottom is lined with PUL to prevent leaks through the bottom.  The leg gussets help prevent runny poop from coming out the sides of the diaper.  The bottom has two snaps, one at each end that snap into the shell.  

 

This is a generic brand of diapers that I got on Ebay.

 I really like the elastic on both pieces as seen in this picture.  This prevents the insert from sliding out.  It also helps the diaper fit better in the back.  

 Several snaps along the top allow for different waist sizes.  These snaps are pretty standard on most pocket diapers. 

Also has three rows of snaps for different sizes, and a better fit.  

 I ended up adding an additional snap onto all the diapers to prevent wing droop.  

Here is the layout of that diaper.  It has a longer stretch of elastic around the legs to accommodate different sizes.   

Here is a picture to show the added snaps.  They sit on the hip preventing wing droop.  My only concern with the added snap is that when his waist grows to the point we will not be able to use these because of that added snap, however I do not foresee that happening before he is potty trained. 

After, with added snap, no wing droop.

Before, with wing droop

This is another diaper I got off of ebay.  It is a Baby City brand diaper.  These are one of my least favorite, but they still do their job.  And for $2 each I cannot really complain.

The elastic that goes around the legs is not very long.  For Owen this is no problem, he is big enough that the diaper fits ok.  I am not sure how well it fits a newborn.  With the different rises I am not sure if you can really tell or not.  

 The back is my all time least favorite about this diaper.  As you can see there is elastic on the top of the diaper but then there are two flaps.  This does not create an issue with the insert, but I continuously have to tuck the white part in throughout the day.  

Here is the backside of the diaper.  I also think that the fabric used for the shell is not really PUL but some sort of cheaper version, as it feels different.