Do they Make a Difference???

A while back we got talking about dryer balls on our Facebook Page. There were quite a few moms who didn’t have any ideas about them, and there were others who wanted to know: Do they really make a difference??

There are many answers to this, but the simplest answer is: YES!

When I asked around on our Facebook page what other moms’ experiences were with their dryer balls here’s what I got back. It’s fun to see the love that dryerballs give!

Barbara Jean Henning: Love our Buddha Bunz! Not only did they cut down on the dry time for all of our clothes but they removed the need for fabric softener. I've found that the combination of using our diaper detergent on our clothes and our balls have made them softer now than when we were actually using fabric softener!

Crystal Biehl : Yes! I have 6total … by using these, I can dry an entire large load of clothes in under an hour ... I estimate it cuts off about 20 minutes of my drying time. It dries diaper covers/shells in 30 minutes!

Melanie Kelsay : I have 5 and love them.

Courtney Luebben Peeler : I love mine... I made 2 from scrap wool yarn... need to make more. felting was easy and they've cut 15 minutes off of my diaper drying... I leave them in for all loads (unless darling husband takes them out).

But want my honest opinion??? I may be a bit biased but these things ROCK your socks off!!!! Okay so I don’t think I’m biased, I think I’m addicted.

I first got 8 dryer balls from a mom on Etsy, and sadly had a few unravel from her. After looking further for another maker to carry in the store Jess came across Michelle Cook, owner of Green Belle Designs on Etsy. I immediately knew I had to have more!

I’d already seen a difference. Things were coming out softer and fluffier without the use of harsh “softeners”. I also noticed we were having shorter dry times. I was now able to run a load of laundry and not have to wait very long for the dryer before I could put the next load in there.

Like most Cloth Diaper moms do, I became addicted. Only not with fluff, with dryer balls! I HAD to get my hands on more. I was able to purchase 6 more through the store, putting my total up to 17 balls. Now are all of them in there at once? Not always. We average 10-15 balls at any given time.

I’ve been asked how if they’ll unravel and how long they last. Sometimes you’ll get one that will unravel, but not very often. With my first few balls, I realized they weren't wrapped very tightly, and they did unravel. My ones from Michelle, are wrapped so tightly, that I have NO worries of them unraveling.

As far as how long they’ll last? Forever as far as I’m concerned. I’ve had these (pictured above) for 3 months now, and they look as new as the day I put them into my dryer.

Here is another example. These are Michelle’s own personal dryerball stash. Some of them have been in rotation for over 2 years.

All in all I LOVE LOVE LOVE our dryer balls, they cut down on my dry time, and things are so much softer! I’m admittedly an addict. And shh…..don’t tell my wallet that I want to buy more.

Meet & Greet TONIGHT with Kelly Wels

Founder of Diapershops.com and Kellyscloset.com, Kelly Wels is in Omaha and has decided to have a meet and greet tonight.

Come meet Kelly Wels, former owner of DiaperShops.com and current cloth diaper advocate, at the Omaha Marriot this evening. (The room # will be posted in the lobby.)

When: Tonight: 6:00- 8:00 pm
Where: Omaha Marriot 
              10220 Regency Circle
              Omaha, NE

Please come with your family! The more kiddos the better!
Food and beverages provided. (Kid food friendly!!)

Door prizes to win: bumGenius, Itti Bitti, & Happy Heiny's diapers. Come meet with other cloth diaper mom's and dad's!

We hope to see you there!!!!

*If you plan to come on out, could you go RSVP on their FB page! :) They’d like to get a count as far as food and such goes! :)

In The Middle of It: Newborn Cloth Diapering

Let me begin this post by summing it up: I LOVE THE RUMPAROOZ LIL' JOEYS!!!! I bought them for three reasons: Convenience, Fit, and Umbilical Cord friendliness. They fit the bill perfectly. I am so, so happy I took the plunge and bought them before the baby was born. And since I already had them, I was able to get some super cute pics of my baby in them before we even left the hospital.

This is Violet. She was 7lbs 14oz at birth, and the Lil' Joeys fit her perfectly on the smallest setting. I didn't end up putting her in cloth for the drive home from the hospital. Fail. I don't know why I didn't. It was just a lost detail in the very long nightmare that is getting dismissed from a hospital. But she did wear them as soon as we got home. I love how well they fit underneath her newborn size clothing. No cloth bubble butt.

She wore them on the smallest setting until her cord fell off at two weeks old. After that I was able to undo the snap down feature which gave her a lot more wiggle room, while still on the smallest setting for the waist. I did put fleece liners in the Lil' Joeys while I waited for Violet to get rid of all the dark meconium poo. That was a tight squeeze. Maybe the biodegradable liners would have been better? I never tried. But her poo turned a lovely shade of yellow within a day or two, so I didn't have to squeeze the liners in for long.

I have 14 Lil' Joey diapers. This stash is enough when washing every night. I hardly use my tiny prefolds and covers that I got for laundry day. But I LOVE the newborn sized Bummis Super Brite. It is a little tricky to get the prefold under the flap in front, but once you get it in it has a super trim fit. I never leave Violet in it for long. So although it has never leaked on me, I haven't give it a good chance to prove it's leak proofness. The Thirsties Duo Wrap in size one fits snugly around her legs, and has more room for stuffing a prefold, but is just generally bulkier than the Bummis so I don't use it as much. But it is a good cover economically speaking because it will still fit Violet for a few months, I think, while the newborn Super Brite is nearing the end of it's usefulness already.

Violet wears her Lil' Joeys even at night. They have only leaked maybe once or twice when she has slept longer than four hours at a stretch (isn't that delightful?!). She has gone over four hours other times without them leaking, though. Maybe I didn't have them snapped just right those other times.

I have been using cloth wipes. My favorite is actually the cheap Gerber wash cloths. I got some in plain white so I could designate them specifically for diapering, and not wash Violet's pretty little face with a pooped on wash cloth. I bought other cloth wipes to try, but haven't liked any of them.

I haven't tried my Wee Essentials wipes cubes yet. Simply because I haven't had the time in these busy first weeks with baby. I've just been wetting the wipes down with plain water as I need them. That's been a little bit of a pain. I need a better system. At bedtime, I put about four wet wash cloths in a ziplock baggie for middle of the night changes. That has worked well so far.

And Rockin' Green laundry soap. Should you get some? Yes, you should. It is simply delightful. After a few washes with the Rockin' Green I did notice my Lil' Joeys smelling a little bit funky. But after an extra long soak in that magic stuff, I could shove 'em straight up to my nose and sniff nothing but cleanliness. The Lil' Joeys do have slight yellow staining. But I don't think it's anything a good long soak and some sun bathing (I guess I'll have to wait till Spring) can't take out.

So far, so good. I was worried that using cloth at the newborn stage would be overwhelming, but it really isn't. I'm really glad I decided to go for it. Give it a go! I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Rump-a-Rooz YELLOW sale!

It’s the annual yellow sale!!

Today through 11:59pm on 12/31/10 all Sunshine Yellow Rump-a-Rooz are 25% off!

Get them while they last!!!! We’ve got them in Snaps and in Aplix! At this price they won’t last long!!!!

Boy, do we have a SALE for you!!!

It’s been almost a year since we opened our website for business, and you all have made it such a wonderful experience. We couldn’t do half the things we do without all of our great loyal customers.

As a Thank you, from December 26th to December 31st, we’ve decided we’re going to offer up some great deals for all of you, and we hope you take advantage of them!

Sale #1: Monkeysnuggles and Cover
Buy any Thirsties regular cover or any Bummis cover at regular price and then you can buy up to 2 (two) Monkeysnuggles regular fitteds for $15 each (so, 26.50 for a Thirsties cover and Monkeysnuggles fitted)

Sale #2: Buckets of Fluff
For Buckets of Fluff, there will be several "buckets" of products that have some great discounts on them. If everything from the bucket is purchased before December 31, everyone who purchased something out of that bucket will receive a $0.50 store credit per item. If all Buckets of Fluff items sell, then anyone who purchased items will receive $1.00 in store credit per item.

Sale #3: Grab Bags
$15.00 "Pink"
$15.00 "Prefolds & Snappi's Oh My"
$15.00 "Blue"
$20.00 "$20.00 Diapers" (5 available)
$25.00 "Small"
$25.00 "Large"
$30.00 "Green"
$35.00 "Got Milk?"
$50.00 Girl Diaper Set
$50.00 Boy Diaper Set
$50.00 Girl Diaper Set
$50.00 Gender Neutral Diaper Set
$50.00 Gender Neutral Diaper Set

#4 Wool
Buy a Monkeysnuggles wool and a Monkeysnuggles fitted and receive a free wool wash bar from WeeEssentials!

#5 Hidden Coupons
Every day there will be hidden "deals" on products. When you check out you will receive additional discounts on those products!

Featuring: CJ’s BUTTer

We just got this email the other day and I totally had to share! We love it when our customers find the same love that we have for all of our WAHM’s.

I Have a new favorite diaper rash and dry skin solution! It happened like this:

I got my son up in the morning and changed his diaper to find a VERY red, VERY swollen penis in that diaper. The poor boy screamed in pain any time I so much as touched him, which made diaper changes interesting. I immediately reached for the CJ's Tube o' BUTTer, only to discover that we were nearly out! What to do?! I called Jess: "I have a horrible diaper rash on my hands and I'm almost out of CJ's! Help!" Then I headed out to Top to Bottom.

Jess had just got in a bunch of new products and one of them was CJ's Spray BUTTer. Perfect! I can spray it on to take care of the diaper rash and I don't have to rub or wipe it on.

Turns out, it was no regular diaper rash. My little man has extremely dry skin. So dry that it cracks and bleeds. Not fun... The doctor suggested we put Vaseline on it EVERY time we change his diaper. That's all fine and dandy, but Vaseline is heavy and messy and somehow, my son always gets his feet in it before I can cover him up with the diaper. Not to mention I would have to use a liner with his cloth diapers all the time. So, I tried the CJ's Spray Butter.

It works wonders! Three sprays with every diaper change, and no more dry skin. Plus, it smells fantastic! When I'm out and I change a diaper, someone almost always asks "did someone spray air freshener?" They're amazed when I tell them it's my diaper cream. I also love how easy it is to keep in my diaper bag. It makes less mess on my hands when we're out and it's much faster than a tube. I'm officially hooked!

-Amanda Kloke, local mom

Baby Greek

Hi. My name is Megan and I want to use cloth diapers.

Jess: You have to buy Rumparooz® wet bags and pail liners Me: What exactly are wet bags for?
Jess: Wet clothes
Me: Right. And…?

Extent of my cloth knowledge: Disposables bad, Cloth good.

There you go. That’s it. Even though I’ve listened to Jess talk about everything cloth diaper for the last year it didn’t sink in, because well I was NEVER going to have another baby.

Surprise my daughter hit 3 and I want another baby. I’m lucky enough that my wants have aligned with possibility, so now we’re trying. Now before my daughter was born, I was type A. After surviving her infancy and toddlerhood, I’m uber type-A. Like relentless. My Nook, has bookshelves organized by subject then by author. I’m probably crazy, but that’s how I keep My-Bee (my daughter) alive.

A little bit of back story- My husband is a writer, and shortly after My-Bee was born we moved from Kansas, to Brooklyn, NY. Cloth was not an option for us. We lived in an apartment that didn’t have a washer and dryer, in fact the washer and dryer were 3 blocks away in a horrible neighborhood called “East NY.”  We lived at the corner of Pitkin and Schenk, pronounced Skank. What? Yeah Skank, well I suppose it could be shank, but that’s not much better.

Did I mention prostitutes worked out of the bathrooms in this Laundromat? Yeah there was NO way I was walking down there every two to three days to wash diapers. Instead I was OBSESSIVE about changing My-Bee, which means Nate became obsessive about how much diapers cost.

Well 3 years later we are living in Los Angeles (for the most part) the Mecca of all things hippie, including the environment, and why not? Have you see what the human species has done to LA?

When we started talking about a new baby, I started dropping hints like “what do you think about cloth diapering” and “do you really want to go back to buying diapers?” and “diapers are so expensive. I guess we could do cloth” in order to appeal to my husband’s inner cheap-o. It worked. It got him to agree to cloth. I just needed time for him to come around “by himself.”

Ok now what? Google of course. I’m an intelligent woman I can research this shiz right?  The first Google search got me confused. My follow up call to Jess had me more confused.

Ok so I was going to try the newborn rental package and she uses the pail system (what? No diaper genie?) and only fitteds (ok… ) and huh?

This is like Baby Greek to me people. I have no idea what I’m doing, or looking at. I don’t yet understand the difference between fitteds, and all in ones, and inserts, and why I can’t use my All Free and Clear soap, and, and, and… The real problem for me is that I learn by seeing, and I don’t understand things if I can’t see them.

So in addition to my twice daily calls to Jess, I’m looking for a physical store in LA or NYC. But until I find one, or several, I’ll be looking at Top to Bottom Baby Boutique’s website and trying to figure out the differences between the products.

Oh, and keeping you updated on my progress, or just the panicky calls to Jess whichever happens more often.

Megan Mascorro-Jackson is wife, sister, daughter, a stay at home mom  to one sweet little girl. Just relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, but she tends to be a bit bicoastal. After deciding to try for another child, Megan convinced her husband that cloth was the way to go. Come along on her journey though the rabbit hole of cloth diapers.