Feed Your Stash Friday...Ideal Cloth Diaper Stash

This weeks Question is: If you could build the ideal cloth diaper package, what would be in it and what would you expect to pay for it?

My personal ideal stash would be
6 BG Organic AIO’s w/snaps
4 Print Rumparooz One size w/snaps
6 Blueberry Bamboo One Size Minky w/snaps
4 Kissaluv Marvel Fitteds
6 Thirsties Fab Fitteds
6 Thirsties covers
2 Vanilla Snap Grobaby shells
6 Grobaby inserts
3 Planetwise wetbags
1 Planetwise Wet & Dry bag
36 bamboo wipes

This would probably cost at least $750

WFMW--Rockin' Green Review & Giveaway!!! CLOSED

As a Mom of 6 kids I've done a LOT of laundry over the years. I've always used standard commercial laundry detergents. When we bought our HE front loading washer almost 5 yrs ago, we switched to using liquid detergent exclusively. ALL has been our brand of choice for the last several years, mainly because none of us are allergic to it. Since I've started getting more and more obsessed with cloth diapers, I've been reading a lot about natural detergents and how much better they are both for your clothes and for the environment. I've never had any trouble with using ALL Free & Clear on my diaper laundry, but when I heard about Rockin' Green, a laundry detergent specifically for cloth diapers, I was intrigued. I wanted to know more. Rockin' Green is made by a work at home Mom. She developed the formula for this detergent to get her diapers clean in hard water conditions and not irritate her baby's skin. She is also an online distributor for Green Acre Designs pocket diapers. I met her on twitter and knew almost instantly that I needed to try both a GADBaby diaper & her yummy sounding detergent. I ordered Melanie an Ocean Blue PUL GADBaby with bamboo velour lining & a hemp insert and since Kim offers flat rate shipping I decided to add three samples of Rockin' Green to my order.

Melanie LOVES her GADBaby diaper, it is so soft. It's also one of the trimmest cloth diapers I've ever seen. Since it is a side snapping pocket, Melanie has never even tried to take it off. When the package arrived it smelled like fresh baked goodies! The outside of the envelope said "Fluffy Mail". We couldn't tear it open fast enough. We ordered Cherry Almond, Brown Sugar & Vanilla Butter Cream. We didn't have enough diapers for a load, so we ran a load of towels in the Cherry Almond. The scent in the laundry room was heavenly!! I really expected my towels to smell like cherries & almonds, but when I transferred them to the dryer they just smelled CLEAN. After drying they were fluffier & cleaner than they have seemed in a long time. I decided right then that I would start using the Rockin' Green on all my laundry. Since Rockin' Green is a powdered detergent, I had to adjust the detergent drawer on my washer to insure that the detergent was properly distributed. Rockin' Green makes almost no suds at all so it is perfect for my HE washer. I put a measuring spoon in the bag of detergent & measure out 2 tablespoons per load...my clothes, towels, sheets & diapers have never smelled cleaner. I know a lot of people use one kind of detergent for their general laundry and another kind for their diapers, but I've discovered that using one detergent for EVERYTHING is so much easier, plus I don't have to worry about any of the "regular" detergent residue getting on my cloth diapers.

Rockin' Green comes in 12 delicious scents.

• Fresh Linen- Blend of Lily and Jasmine. Comparable to Bath & Body Works Fresh Linen.
• Baby Powder- smells like freshly powdered baby.
• Cherry Almond- yummy cherries mixed with almonds. Best Seller!
• Vanilla Lavender- a soft fragrance of yummy vanilla and lavender.
• Monkey Snacks- A tropical blend of Banana, Coconut, Lime, Orange, Grapefruit, Bergamot, and Clove. Smells like Banana Laffy Taffy! Best Seller!
• Lemon- a clean, crisp lemon
• Cherry Lemonade- Blend of Cherry, Lemon, and Berry. Reminds me of a Cherry Limeade from Sonic!
• Brown Sugar- sweet brown sugar scent. It’s like fresh baked cookies without that pesky oven.
• Cucumber Mint- a refreshing blend of cucumber and spearmint.
• Ocean Rain – Blend of Ozone, Sea Spray, Orange and Rose
• Vanilla Buttercream- it’s like a cupcake without the calorie guilt! Best Seller!
• Berries & Cream- Strawberries, Raspberries and Cream. Think red and pink starbursts.

An unscented version is also available.

Rockin’ Green is:
Dye & perfume free
No fillers
No enzymes or optical brighteners
100% Phosphate Free
Vegan
Great for sensitive skin
Easy rinsing formula
Works wonders on microfiber stink!
Perfect for cloth diapers
HE Compatible
Reusable packaging
Great for all water types
Economical at .13 cents a load!

Rockin' Green Soap is currently available on the Rockin' Green website and the GADBaby website. It will soon be available from several other cloth diaper websites and retailers. You can purchase a sample of any scent for just $3 including shipping!!! A sample will wash 10 loads in an HE washer!

I highly recommend this detergent to anyone who does laundry....this is definitely not a cloth diapers only product!

Kim has generously offered a full size order of Rockin' Green for one of my readers in your choice of scent. A full size order will wash 45 loads in a conventional washer or 90 loads in a HE washer. This giveaway is open to residents of the US & Canada. Please be sure your e-mail is visible in your profile or you include an e-mail address in each entry. Entries without contact information will be disqualified.

Mandatory first entry: Please tell me what scent you want to try the most and what scent you think Kim should add next.

EXTRA Entries:
Follow this blog publicly (one entry)
Subscribe to this blog by e-mail (one entry)
Follow Me on Twitter (one entry)
Follow Kim on the GADBaby blog (one entry)
Follow Kim on Twitter @gadbaby or @rockingreensoap (one entry for each follow)
Become a fan of Rockin' Green on Facebook (one entry)
Tweet this giveaway. (2X/day)

I will draw a winner using Random.org on Wednesday August 12th. The winner will be notified by e-mail & have 48 hrs to respond, if they do not respond a new winner will be chosen.

Visit We are THAT family to see more Works for ME Wednesday.

Wordless/Wordful Wednesday....

Melanie was right at home at the library...reading books requires bare feet when you're two!

Visit 5 minutes for Mom to see more Wordless Wednesday and 7 Clown Circus for Wordful Wednesday.




Don't forget to sign up for my Rockin' Green Laundry Detergent Giveaway HERE.

I'm working on my blog again...excuse the dust

I've been adding some new features and decided to try a new blog background. You can now search for things on my blog & you can subscribe to my posts by e-mail. I've also been working on a way to consolidate all the STUFF in my sidebar.....haven't found a true solution yet.

I'm still working on it, so there may be more changes to come.

Take Me Back Tuesday

This is our oldest son Marvin. Sorry for the quality, it's another picture of a picture. This was taken in the Spring of 1988. He was about 9 months old & almost walking. The shoes he's wearing here are hightop Reeboks I bought for him before he was born. They are a size 5 and everyone told me he would be at least 2 yrs old before they fit him. Marvin has always had BIG feet (like his Daddy) and by the time he started walking at 10 months old these shoes were too small. The first pair of shoes that he walked in were a size 5 1/2 EEE from Stride Rite. Also in this picture he is wearing his Genuine Oshkosh overalls. I still have these & all his siblings & his own daughter have now worn them.

Cloth Diaper Carnival....What I wish I knew

A while back I joined ClothDiaper Blogs this week we are having our very first Cloth Diaper Carnival!

The theme is "What do you wish you knew then that you know now? Meaning, now that you have experienced cloth first hand, what would you have told yourself when you first started or before you started?"

Well, there are so many things that I wish I had known a LONG time ago. The very first thing that comes to mind, is that I wish I had known how EASY it could be to use cloth diapers. Melanie is my 6th child and she was 14 months old before I made the switch.

Then from a practical standpoint, the biggest thing I wish I had known about when I was initially purchasing cloth diapers is that modern isn't always better. My initial purchase was for about $50 at a local clothdiaper store. Those first diapers I purchased were not very absorbent and are now my least favorites. As I built my stash, I purchased a variety of brands trying to figure out what worked best for my baby. If I were to start a stash now, I would first purchase a dozen Diaper Service Quality prefolds and 3 Thirsties covers....that is easily a full day & night supply for my daughter. I avoided prefolds for a long time because I didn't realize just how BIG & THICK they are & what a great value. The local diaper store has the Premium size for just $2 each. They are not my very favorite diaper, but they are economical, easy to care for & efficient. They are also very similar to the old fashioned cloth diapers my Mom used on me when I was a baby in the 1960's.

I would still want fitted diapers & pocket diapers to round out my stash, but I would have been able to cloth diaper my baby full time from the beginning and I probably wouldn't have almost a day worth of diapers that I try hard to never need.

Do you or did you clothdiaper your baby? Are you considering using cloth diapers in the future? Feel free to write your own post about what you wish you had known before starting to cloth diaper & link up!! Follow the links below for more great Cloth Diaper tips & tricks other Moms wish they had known when they first started out and don't forget to share your thoughts in the comments.

Music Monday

I was searching around You Tube looking for a song & came upon this one. I used to LOVE this song & I haven't heard it in ages.

Through the Lens Thursday

Can you tell how much Marissa adores Mason?

Visit my friend Janet at Life in Focus for week two of Through the Lens Thursday.

A Thousand Words Thursday--Best Friends

Destiny is not generally a friendly cat, but she has a new best friend...don't they make a cute couple?

To see more A Thousand Word Thursday Visit Cheaper Than Therapy!

I've recently become obsessed with entering giveaways

Every Friday The Cloth Diaper Blog gives away a prize package. This week they are giving away a Gro Baby shell set (clothdiaper), a wetbag (for storing dirty clothdiapers) & a box of the new Tiny Bubbles detergent (for washing dirty clothdiapers). This is a GREAT prize that I would be very happy to win!!! This is one of those giveaways that you have to check back to see if you won, so if you enter, be sure to check their site on Friday to see if you are the winner!!!

Wordless/Wordful Wednesday....She KNOWS she's cute!

This is one of the pictures I recently took for a cloth diaper contest. Melanie is turning into quite a Ham in front of the camera & absolutely LOVED posing in her "fluffy butt" diaper.

Take Me Back Tuesday

This is a portrait that was taken of Hubby & I in the Spring of 1987. I'm about 3 months pregnant with our oldest. I still don't have my scanner hooked up, so this is a picture of the picture.

Music Monday

I almost forgot it was Monday. This week I'm letting the kids pick. I was a little surprised they picked this song, but it definitely fits. This Summer is flying by!

And the Winner of the Jumpstart 3 month membership is....

#7....Jess said...
following on twitter
July 13, 2009 10:24 PM

I will forward your e-mail to Jumpstart & they will contact you to set up the 3 month membership!!!

Another Giveaway I really want to Win!!!

Two of a Kind Working on a Full House is having a Baby Bash (see button on my sidebar) giveaway event on her blog. The very first giveaway is for a Recaro Vivo booster seat.

Their features include:
-Holds child from 3-12 years
-30-100 lbs.
-up to 59 inches
-RECARO Side Impact Protection
-Adjustable Headrest
-3 Seating Positions
-Innovative Belt Routing System
-Vivo has the Microfiber Cover
-One Hand Headrest Adjustment
-Reinforced Aluminum Structure
-Ventilation System

Marissa will be 4 in August & would absolutely LOVE to have the pink version of this booster!!!

My Jumpstart Giveaway Ends Sunday

I found these videos on You Tube and wanted to share them to give everyone a better idea of just how cool Jumpstart 3-D Virtual World really is.

Click HERE to enter to win a FREE three month family subscription. Winner will be drawn on Sunday July 19th!!

Friday Photo Flashback

This is a picture my son Mason took of himself & Maggie on his first cell phone about 3 years ago. Currently they are constantly fighting, so it's nice to have this picture to look at & remember how sweet they used to be to each other.

Miracle Diapers is having a Fundraiser!

Miracle Diapers is a GREAT non-profit organization that helps families in financial need to acquire cloth diapers for their baby. The operation is temporarily being run from a storage unit. A Fund Raiser has been organized to help Miracle Diapers raise the $3000 needed to rent a real office with attached warehouse for a year.

Several Cloth Diaper Retailers are currently helping with this campaign:
Diapershops will match any donation made through their site dollar for dollar from now through July 31st

Earth Angels Diaper Co. is offering you a $5 coupon toward purchases from their website for any donation of $5 or more made to Miracle Diapers through their site from now until the end of August.

You can also fill out a pledge card at Miracle Diapers to pledge a donation of money or diapers to be auctioned. I strongly encourage anyone who has cloth diapers they no longer need to consider donating them to this GREAT cause!!!

Through the Lense Thursday

My friend Janet at Life in Focus is starting a new weekly carnival called Through the Lense Thursday. Janet is a wonderful photographer & I LOVE looking at her pictures. I just got a new camera & I'm hoping to improve my skills as I get to know my camera better. This week I'm sharing a picture I took a few days ago of Melanie.

The Natural Baby Company has come out with a Cloth Diaper Detergent

The Natural Baby Company, makers of Gro Baby One Size diapers has just started selling their own brand of cloth diaper laundry detergent. It is called Tiny Bubbles and is specially formulated for washing all brands of cloth diapers. All Facebook fans of Gro Baby have been invited to blog about the new detergent & receive a FREE box of this new product!!!

I'm really excited to give it a try & can't wait to get mine!!!

My Cloth Diaper Stash...Part 3 Prefolds

This is the third in a series about my cloth diaper stash. I started out a couple weeks ago showing you all my pocket diapers, in part 2 I did a little show & tell of all my fitted diapers, now I'll tell you about the backbone of my stash, the contours, the prefolds & the covers.

Lets start with the contours...the Kissaluv contour diaper is a diaper that doesn't have any elastic or snaps or velcro and is shaped to fit baby without any folding. This was the first diaper I bought. I have 6 and bought them originally with the intent of using them during the day to cut back on the number of disposables Melanie was going through in a day. You can lay it in a snug fitted PUL cover and fasten the cover to keep it on the baby, or you can do what I do with Houdini Melanie & use pins to fasten the diaper, then put on a snug fitting waterproof cover. These are not super absorbent, but for an easy during the day diaper, I still find them very handy.





I have a dozen premium size prefold diapers. I chose unbleached because I had heard they are more absorbent. They were also the most inexpensive diaper option available at about $2 each. I mostly only use them when I'm running low on other diapers, but having them has definitely made it possible for me to not ever need to use disposable diapers. Melanie actually likes them fairly well. Given the option of a prefold or a disposable she will always choose the prefold. (Yes, she has occasionally be offered that choice) She is mildly afraid of the pins because I've told her that they will poke her if she messes with them. The premium size is much bigger than I expected. I have to fold down the front for them to fit properly. I've never tried the infant size, but I think they would probably fit her fine without the need to fold down. I've been very pleased with their absorbency, Melanie can wear one for a 3 hr nap with no leaks.


Melanie is really bad about taking off her diaper, especially poopy diapers. I've found that pins are currently the ONLY things that can guarantee her diaper will stay on.
The JamTots Berry Plush is advertised as an All in One, but most places I have seen it, you buy the cover and have the option of buying the insert at an additional cost. I have 3 of the covers (two yellow & a pink). One of them came with a hemp insert with minky layer down the center, the insert has snaps at one end & you can attach it to either the front or the back of the cover. The cover snaps on the sides and is almost impossible for Melanie to take off. I LOVE these covers, but am not overly impressed with using it with the insert. The insert is very absorbent & works great as a pocket stuffer, but when snapped into the cover it tends to bunch up on Melanie because it only snaps to the cover at one end. I mostly use these covers over fitted diapers.

We've got two size medium Thirsties covers, a pink one & a blue one. Even though it is a medium, Melanie has a lot of room in it & I don't see her ever needing to go up to a large. I avoided these covers at first because they are velcro closure, but since I loved the Thirsties Fab fitted diapers, I decided to try the Thirsties cover, as soon as I bought one, I had to have another. Recently Thirsties came out with a multi-size cover. I just bought a size 2 Duo wrap in lavender, it says that it fits from 18 lbs to 40 lbs. Melanie has only worn it once, but I was very impressed with how versatile it is. I snapped it on the smallest setting and it fit nice & snug. I think it would be about the same as her medium Thirstie covers if I snapped it on the middle snaps. It is definitely too big for her at the fully open setting.

This cover is a Super Whisper Wrap by Bummis. I have looked at these in the local diaper store, but had never bought one because of the velcro. I won this cover in a blog giveaway & have been surprised at how much we like it. The velcro is a bit stiffer, but the PUL feels thicker than any of the other covers I own & the print is adorable. This is a medium and while it isn't quite as big as the Thirsties medium, it fits Melanie well and has a bit more growing room. It works well over both prefolds and fitted diapers.
This next cover is a Blueberry One Size Coverall. It has snaps on the front so that it can be used from about 10 lbs up to about 40 lbs. It is also a snap closure, which I really LOVE. I ordered this online and was surprised when I received it that it is not lined inside at all. The sticky side of the PUL is fully exposed. At first I wasn't very happy about that, but I have found that it makes it super easy to just rinse this cover in the sink, hang it to dry for an hour or so & reuse it. Because of the cow print, it is Melanie's favorite cover. Melanie can wear it snapped down to the middle snaps or fully open. It is snug over a trim fitted diaper snapped down, & perfect over a bulky prefold fully open...we've never had a leak on either setting, so it usually just depends on what diaper she is wearing under it whether I leave it fully open or not.All the diaper covers I've talked about up to this point have been PUL (a polyester type fabric on the outside with a plastic coating on the inside to make it waterproof). I also have two fleece covers. Fleece is waterproof, but it is also much more breathable than PUL. I bought both of these covers used from my local diaper store. The Sugar Peas Windpro Fleece cover is very trim. It isn't the most attractive cover, but it works GREAT!! This one is a large & is a bit big on Melanie. It gaps at the waist on the tightest setting, however we've never had a leak with it, even overnight. I don't have a picture of it, I'll try to remember to take one in the next few days & add it in. The other fleece cover we have is a Stacinator Deluxe Fleece Cover. It is really thick, made of two layers of fleece. This feels like blanket material it is so soft & thick. Melanie has only ever worn this at night. We used this cover a lot when I was putting her in two prefolds for a night time diaper. It is a bit bulky, but works wonderfully!

I have a few more covers that I use occasionally, but they aren't anything special. I had planned to wrap this series up here, but there are still a few things about my stash I would like to share, so sometime soon there will be a part 4. As always, if you have any questions or would like to give me feedback on your experience with cloth diapers, please leave a comment.

A Thousand Words Thursday--Ultimate Summer Fun

Wordless/Wordful Wednesday....Great Local Park!

Visit 5 minutes for Mom to see more Wordless Wednesday and 7 Clown Circus for Wordful Wednesday.

Catching up on OLD TV shows--Works for ME Wednesday

We subscribed to Netflix a while ago. We got the cheapest plan that had streaming video. We get one DVD at a time in the mail and we can watch as much streaming video as we want. People who have X-Box 360 can buy a box that attaches to your tv and download directly to your tv.




We don't have an X-Box, so we hooked our flat screen tv to Hubby's computer. We've been watching a lot of old episodes of television series. Some of our favorites are BBC shows like Dr Who, MI-5 [Spooks] & Jekyll. We also watched the entire Sliders series and lots & lots of movies. We aren't the best at getting dvd's back into the mail, we average about 3 or 4 a month, but we watch streaming video from Netflix just about every night.
The best part is that it costs less than $10 a month!!!


It's been almost a year since we got rid of cable & I can honestly say we really don't miss it. Streaming video from Netflix definitely Works for Me!!!

To see more Works for me Wednesday visit We are THAT Family.

Take Me Back Tuesday

This was June 2001. Maggie had just turned one & was offering to share some of her birthday cake. Seems like yesterday, but seems like a lifetime ago at the same time.

My Giveaway ends Friday. Click here to enter!