On cloth diapering:
I love it. Totally love it. Every time I change Lauren's diaper, I'm reminded that I'm saving our family money. Our system right now consists of 14 fitteds, 2 wool soakers and 2 Mother-ease PUL covers. All 14 of my fitteds are used and made from various work-at-home-moms. They are super easy to wash and dry. The wool soakers are a bit bulky but I can see them being cute and suitable for summer days at home with a tee shirt. I bought the two Mother-ease covers in preparation for a delivery I was expecting. (Its in Minnesota. Why? I do not know. It was supposed to be here yesterday.) I love them. They keep everything in very securely and the woman who sold them to me assured me that they will even hold together the flat diapers without a snappi. We'll see if my flats ever get here from Minnesota. The really cool part about all this is the lot of diapers I bought on Diaper Swappers. The woman I bought it from is also sending me two pocket diapers and a minkee diaper cover because I was confused about what was included. Besides the fact that she sent me two extra fitteds in the first shipment, she wanted to be sure that I had everything I needed to try cloth diapering and succeed at it. When everything gets here, I'll have 12 flats, 14 fitteds, 2 wool soakers and 3 covers (oh! and two pockets that I'll stuff with the flats when needed). It should easily be enough for 2-3 days. I'm one blessed mama. I also bought a yard of plain fleece and cut it into 8x8 squares. I put them into an empty wipes box with a squirt bottle of wipes solution next to it. Its so much easier to just toss the wipes right into the diaper pail-turned-laundry pail. We'll see how much they fray after a few washings.
On good food:
This is the best salmon recipe. Ever. I subbed honey for the maple syrup and we ate every bit of it. And the salmon I used was the cheap, frozen fillets from Aldi's. It was still delicious.
I've perfected iced tea sweetened with honey rather than sugar. 8 tea bags in 4 cups of boiling water. 1/2 cup of honey melted into the hot water. 4 cups cold water. Fridge. Perfect.
I've been making our own bread for a couple of weeks now. Its going well. With my Kitchenaid, its very easy to make two loaves at once. I use the rising time of the bread to make granola bars too. Same basic recipe I've used for a couple of years now with some changes - less brown sugar, whole wheat flour rather than AP and always flax seeds. Even Josh likes them, as long as I make him a separate full-of-peanut-butter batch.
On stain removal:
I came across a spray stain remover that is ultra cheap. It scared me a little at first because it contains ammonia. Why this scares me, I'm not sure. Ammonia just sounds like something you shouldn't have in an house with small kids. But since I got enough supplies (including a new spray bottle) to make enough stain remover for at least 6 month (probably more like a year) for a little over $3 - I'll just be careful. Here it is:
1/8th of the bottle - lemon-scented ammonia
1/8th of the bottle - laundry detergent (without bleach)
Fill the rest with water. Spray directly on stains. The longer it can set into the clothes the better. I've had great success with grass stains.
I love it. Totally love it. Every time I change Lauren's diaper, I'm reminded that I'm saving our family money. Our system right now consists of 14 fitteds, 2 wool soakers and 2 Mother-ease PUL covers. All 14 of my fitteds are used and made from various work-at-home-moms. They are super easy to wash and dry. The wool soakers are a bit bulky but I can see them being cute and suitable for summer days at home with a tee shirt. I bought the two Mother-ease covers in preparation for a delivery I was expecting. (Its in Minnesota. Why? I do not know. It was supposed to be here yesterday.) I love them. They keep everything in very securely and the woman who sold them to me assured me that they will even hold together the flat diapers without a snappi. We'll see if my flats ever get here from Minnesota. The really cool part about all this is the lot of diapers I bought on Diaper Swappers. The woman I bought it from is also sending me two pocket diapers and a minkee diaper cover because I was confused about what was included. Besides the fact that she sent me two extra fitteds in the first shipment, she wanted to be sure that I had everything I needed to try cloth diapering and succeed at it. When everything gets here, I'll have 12 flats, 14 fitteds, 2 wool soakers and 3 covers (oh! and two pockets that I'll stuff with the flats when needed). It should easily be enough for 2-3 days. I'm one blessed mama. I also bought a yard of plain fleece and cut it into 8x8 squares. I put them into an empty wipes box with a squirt bottle of wipes solution next to it. Its so much easier to just toss the wipes right into the diaper pail-turned-laundry pail. We'll see how much they fray after a few washings.
On good food:
This is the best salmon recipe. Ever. I subbed honey for the maple syrup and we ate every bit of it. And the salmon I used was the cheap, frozen fillets from Aldi's. It was still delicious.
I've perfected iced tea sweetened with honey rather than sugar. 8 tea bags in 4 cups of boiling water. 1/2 cup of honey melted into the hot water. 4 cups cold water. Fridge. Perfect.
I've been making our own bread for a couple of weeks now. Its going well. With my Kitchenaid, its very easy to make two loaves at once. I use the rising time of the bread to make granola bars too. Same basic recipe I've used for a couple of years now with some changes - less brown sugar, whole wheat flour rather than AP and always flax seeds. Even Josh likes them, as long as I make him a separate full-of-peanut-butter batch.
On stain removal:
I came across a spray stain remover that is ultra cheap. It scared me a little at first because it contains ammonia. Why this scares me, I'm not sure. Ammonia just sounds like something you shouldn't have in an house with small kids. But since I got enough supplies (including a new spray bottle) to make enough stain remover for at least 6 month (probably more like a year) for a little over $3 - I'll just be careful. Here it is:
1/8th of the bottle - lemon-scented ammonia
1/8th of the bottle - laundry detergent (without bleach)
Fill the rest with water. Spray directly on stains. The longer it can set into the clothes the better. I've had great success with grass stains.
Good news, fleece doesn't fray :-)
ReplyDeleteNice post. I love these kinds of super-useful homemaker posts. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's the same maple salmon recipe we love around here! (Also using the cheap frozen fillets from Aldi) It's so yummy!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the fun,useful tips!
ReplyDeleteWe're going to be camping at Coles Creek in Waddington. Actually, I emailed you to see if you would be up for visitors at some point while we're there, but maybe I got your email address wrong?. Anyway, we are planning on definitely being at CFC on Sunday (June 8?). Other than that, we haven't done much for planning, so let me know if you want to get together at some point..we would love to see you and finally meet your beautiful girls.
ReplyDeleteSaturday afternoon sounds wonderful. I will try to call sometime Monday or Tuesday for directions and such.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely enjoying the useful household tips and the updates on your family. :)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like things are going well for you - wish I could make it up north to see you....maybe there will be a random blessing in gas prices so Peter and I can make a trip...LOL. (I can hope.)