Filed under: diapering
I think it’s been awhile since I’ve made any posts about my cloth diapering system, and I wanted to share how it’s working right now. There are so many different ways to “do” cloth diapering, that mine is just what works for me right now, though I’m expecting it to change slightly over time, and if I have anymore children, it would be different for them, too.
So let me start off with my “stash” of diapers and equipment:
- 20 Medium sized fitted diapers with velcro (fits from 15-30 pounds or so)
- 20 8×8″ cloth wipes
- 6 Large size covers (Very Baby Snug Wrap)
- 3 Medium Sized wool soakers in (Links are to patterns) Camo print, blue, and white with blue stripes (The adult content notice is NOT in reference to the soaker pattern)
- Diaper pail (Just a basic pail with a lid)
- 2 wet bags made from the same fabric as the covers
- 2 Cotton diaper pail liners–about the size of a pillowcase
- 8 flat cloth diapers–used for extra protection for nighttime
My system is pretty basic, and since my son is getting a little older, I’m finding I don’t have to change him as often as when he was a little baby, usually we wash about every 3 days. I’m really bad about going back and forth between cloth and disposables, so sometimes it seems like we get more days out of our diapers, but it’s because of disposables. We wash roughly twice a week.
I have all my stash in a living room cabinet, it fits nicely inside of there, and I don’t have to worry about it being out where it gets in the way. I keep the diaper pail next to the cabinet or in the garage if company is coming. The garage door comes right next to the living room, kitchen and downstairs bathroom, so it’s pretty easy access.
As far as diapering goes, we are pretty easy-going. We don’t have a diaper changing table, never have. We use the floor, generally, and as long as there are no big messes, that has worked for us. If needed, we go into the bathroom to confine the mess.
When it comes to poopy diapers, I used to use a soapy mixture on my wipes, but found that it didn’t really do much better than plain water, so now we just wet the wipes as needed and clean the babe with a plain, wet wipe, which is really okay if you bathe your child frequently. If there’s a rash, plain water is really your best bet, because other things can irritate skin more if they aren’t properly rinsed off. The poop needs to go into the toilet as well, so if it’s not a newborn with breastmilk poops, then a good shaking should cover it. Breastmilk poops don’t really need anything special, they just don’t have much solidness to them, but when babies start eating food, it can get a little messy and you don’t want that in your washing machine, so it’s best to shake and flush. (use the wipe to push it off if you need a little extra help–just don’t drop the wipe into the toilet)
Changing a cloth diaper is no more messy (sometimes even LESS messy) than changing disposables, and you don’t have a stinky trash can filled with poopy diapers smelling up the whole house, either. You can reuse covers several times before washing provided they are not smelly (like ammonia), sopping wet or dirty from a leaky diaper. We use them about 3 times between washes.
Washing is probably the most complicated part, but even that is not much more difficult than throwing in a load of laundry. I use either a clear unscented liquid (like all free and clear) or plain powdered detergent (like wind fresh from Sam’s club or any unscented white powder). I also use the hottest water setting and do as many diapers as will fit comfortably in the machine–you have to make sure they get clean! My diapers only do a medium load with all of them dirty, but if you have 30 or more, it will be a large load.
I use one scoop or capful of detergent, about 1/4-1/3 cup of LIQUID NON-CHLORINE Bleach (like Clorox 2 or Oxyclean liquid), 1/4 cup of Baking soda and 1/2 cup of vinegar. These are not all necessary for clean diapers, but if you want your diapers to smell pretty good after washing, then it’s probably a good idea to use them all every once in a while. If you just use the baking soda and vinegar once a week or every two weeks, it will help eliminate odors that linger. The non-chlorine bleach is really just hydrogen peroxide which acts as a whitening agent and also neutralizes most odors.
Dry them like any other load of laundry. They can go on the clothesline, too, if you’re into that, and they actually come back smelling even better than if dried inside.
That’s just about it. I don’t really need to fold anything, I just stack the diapers up and stick them back into the cabinet after drying and start over.
Filed under: canning
This weekend my sister taught me how to make apple butter and I also made pear butter from the Ball Blue Book, and I learned how to can both of them.
I am really into this, because it’s a really good way to preserve things that I can’t save otherwise, like tomatoes. I was surprised at how easy it was, and how the most important thing is really that the lids seal tightly, so that they stay fresh.
I have already made cucumber dill pickles, but didn’t use a water canner for it, but the jars did seal. The apple and pear butters were very different, because you actually had to cook the stuff, not just the juices like the pickles. I have learned that you can’t reuse the lid for canning, and that you can buy this part separately–which I didn’t know before. I like the fact that you can use just about any preserving jar for anything you make, with few exceptions. I think a canner set is going on my Christmas list, because it would save us a good amount of money in the long run.
What really impressed me about the whole process of canning is that if you have someone else to share the experience with, it makes the process more fun. I had a lot of fun, and it was nice knowing that I wasn’t just going to use all of it myself, but I was going to give it away to my family, too.
Filed under: exercise
I’ve been doing Pilates mat workouts for about 3 months now, not totally consistently, but I’m trying. I have seen an increase in my flexibility and even a little better posture. I know that it helps me to eat smarter, and that it also seems to help me be more calm.
Though, I think that those are secondary reasons to exercise, ones that I wouldn’t have predicted would be beneficial before I began. I am really more concerned about feeling good about my body, and what exercise can do to make me feel physically better overall.
When it comes to body image, I have always had minor issues, but nothing that made me yo-yo diet or obsess over my weight or figure. I always liked my body in high school, and two children later, I think there are things that I can improve upon, but none that I “hate.” I’m not talking about how I look with clothes on, or any features that God gave me, but about the excess tissue that comes with lowered metabolism and the stretch marks that unfortunately cannot be avoided sometimes with pregnancy.
I don’t know why people have negative body image, and I don’t want to speculate. I think that it’s mostly the result of negative feedback from other people, because we aren’t born obsessed with our weight. Somewhere along the line, someone has to tell you something that triggers that negative image, and honestly, I think that anyone who has a negative view of their body needs some sort of help with positive reinforcement.
But like I said, I’ve always had a positive view of my body, but there are times when I look in the mirror and think, I really need to work on that, or I wish this was a little smaller. It’s for this reason that I exercise. I don’t go to the gym, because I think the gym is too expensive, for what most anyone can get at home (and I can’t afford to pay for), and I don’t think that the gym is always a positive place for one’s body image. To be mystical, I think sometimes there’s just too much “negative energy” there. But that’s just me. If you like the gym, by all means, keep going.
But overall, exercise is also a time for me to focus on something outside my regular routine. It’s something that I do to improve my physical health and appearance, and it’s a break from my kids (okay, I do it when they go to bed). I think that everyone should exercise whether it’s alone or with other people, but not because of a body image problem or an obsession with weight (which are, essentially, the same thing). No, I think that exercise is good, and it’s shown to increase blood flow, which, for most people, is a really good thing. It’s a great stress-reliever, which can only be good in a culture of high stress jobs.
Filed under: flylady
I’ve realized today that I need a better cleaning schedule. Flylady has zones, which are great, but I also need to make a schedule for my own house of the things that need to be cleaned on certain days.
Like today. Today is Wednesday, when our Bible study group meets at our house. Which means the downstairs needs to be vacuumed and presentable for the people coming over. And trust me, it doesn’t look as good on Thursday evening as it does Wednesday evening.
But in order to get the downstairs clean, I have to do a list of chores that sometimes seems a mile long. This can get really frustrating, but I realize that if I kept certain things a little nicer in the first place then I wouldn’t have to do a mass clean every week.
Anyway, I’m getting off point. Flylady has zones that you do each week. One zone per week, and you clean that entire zone over the course of the week. But what do you do when you have a regular meeting that requires 3 of those zones to be clean every week? You can do major cleaning, like moving the furniture and sweeping cobwebs, once a month, but you have to keep those rooms in order daily or weekly in the meantime.
I have a list of chores to do each week that goes like this:
Scrub kitchen table and chairs, vacuum front room and living room, clean kitchen counters, clean up toy room (which takes up to an hour sometimes), then get all the hotspots in all of these rooms picked up, which often includes taking laundry upstairs, removing toys, and going through the mail that gets tossed wherever. This is not an exhaustive list, but in general, it takes the place of my weekly cleaning, because it takes about 2 hours total to get it all done, and the stuff Flylady calls her “home blessing hour” are things that I feel do not need to be done every week anyway.
But here’s the biggest problem: I can only do so much of this before Wednesday, and I can’t leave any of it until Thursday. Which really just means that Wednesday is the day I have to spend cleaning, because nothing stays clean long enough to do it beforehand. It’s not a full-on pile of garbage come Tuesday evening, but it makes me wonder how things do pile up so quickly, even if it’s not as bad as “Hoarders”.
Well, I’m almost finished, anyway, I just need to get a few things picked up before starting the dishes, so I better get back to work!
