Monday, April 30, 2012

Kitchen Updates

I've got a couple kitchen updates to share with you. It's been a while since i've done a post on the kitchen so here goes.
In my dream kitchen i would have all open shelves. Most of you think i'm crazy but i love the accountability to keep everything clean and organized and not keep things i don't like to look at ;)
I tried to convince my husband of this and he didn't agree but he did give me open shelves on both sides of the window. 
Here is a very old before picture of our kitchen when we first moved in.
 Then to start my love for open shelves i took the doors off our cabinets. Which i liked at the time but lookin back does not look that great.
So here is the after,
the right side of the window
and the left 
 i LOVE it!
 i also added globes to the top of the cabinets and yes i would make these open shelves also in a heartbeat!

 I also made this sign. I got the idea from pintrest of course. It's a little lopsided but i'm trying to let go of my perfectionism (yes it's a word) and just love the imperfections.
 it's from this scene of friends
I also made these little cake stands for our spices and honey. The plates were .50 cents each and the stand on the right was .50 cents and the left was $1.
Total for cake stands $2.50

New blog design

As you may have noticed i did some updating on the little blog. it's not much but i am not very good with blog design at ALL so this was pretty good for me.

On the left side are links to some of my labels, and on the right you'll notice a blog poll. PLEASE help me out and take a second to answer the question. I'd really appreciate it ;)

If you follow me on Instagram you know my car broke down on Saturday. We thought it was the transmission which was gonna cost us $3,000 for a used one and $5,000 for a new one. 
 We drive a 2002 Subaru Outback which we love but it is not worth that much. At most we could maybe sell it for $4,000 so we weren't sure what we would do if it was going to cost that  much. We can't afford to buy another car right now so we have been praying that it was something we could fix and that the car would last us another 1.5 to 2 years. So we could save some money to put toward something to hold some more babies ;)
But this morning the hubs called and said that the mechanic called and said it was only gonna be $330! PRAISE THE LORD! What an answer to prayer! The hubs told me what was wrong but i can't remember something that has to do with the front right of the car. Anyway all that to say i am carless today so i'm sitting here and writing lots of blog posts! i've got a list here of about 5 or 6 i need to write. So pray the lil guy gives me some time to work on them :) 

Alright i'm getting to work don't forget to take the poll :)

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

It's been a snuggling kind of day :)

Thrifting 4/19/12

Last week i went home to help my Mom clean her house and while i was there i stopped in a couple thrift stores.
I got all the books below plus 2 that i gave away for $2. They were buy one book get two free and their hardbacks are $1
 I got this cute toy for Z for $3
 here is the other side
This light blue plate was $1 
 Puzzles $1 each
I got this shelf for $3 a few weeks ago at the thrift store
I replaced the other white shelf  
This tin was .99 cents 
adorable vintage baby doll crib was only $4. I'm gonna scrape the stickers off and repaint the white part.
 and this crib was only $3
 i know i have a boy and he's not supposed to play with dolls, but the second crib is for my niece for her bday and the first one is for Z to play with but i'm hoping one day we have a girl and ultimately it's for her but until then Z can rock his manly stuffed animals to sleep in it. Don't judge; his wife will appreciate it one day :)

These are some things i didn't buy 
these cute vintage baby dolls, $1 each but the boy had a sad face on and weird shorts. I wouldn't want my son taking fashion sense from that guy..

i was going to get this cute sign for my valentines day collection it's originally from target but at $4 i wasn't sold and when i found the doll cribs i knew i wanted them more.
 Some of you might say this thing is ugly but i thought it was kinda cute the cookie jar alone was $5 and it had more pieces, like salt and pepper shakers and sugar and creamer dishes i can't remember what else.
This little picture was $3  
This adorable picture was $6 and it was huge i LOVED it but didn't have anywhere to put it. 
 This toy was $2 but it reminded me of a Dr's office toy so we passed on it.
I have a running list on my phone of blog posts i need to write including, our new kitchen shelves, my terrariums, my birth story and a few more so hopefully i can find some time this week to get them done!


Monday, April 16, 2012

Cloth Diapering- What i've learned so far

Hey guys, i have had a few people ask me about cloth diapering. I haven't been doing it long but   i love it so far. I will show you what i've bought and how i clean them.

I had been given some bum genius for a shower gift which is what i originally wanted to use but they are so expensive! The are anywhere from $16-$35 a diaper. When i talked to people they said they had about $18-$20 diapers for one kid. let me do the math for you real quick. 
At $16 each for 20 Diapers that's $320 bucks and that's just he diapers not the detergent or wetbag or stain and odor spray. 

G Diapers
So i returned the bumgenius and was left with $150 to put towards my cloth diapers. I talked to a friend who uses the G diaper and she loves them so i tried them out and actually ended up getting two small diapers and and some inserts that some friends kindly bought us. but when i tried them with Z he leaked out of them almost every time he wore them and they were so tight on his legs i think the problem was they were just too small. So i plan on using them for our next child but the reason we didn't buy that cloth diapering "system" or brand is because it was also very expensive. 

Here is how the G diapers work.
G diapers are hybrid diapers which means you can use cloth or disposable inserts with them.
They do not grow with your child they have sizes small, medium, and large.
Small 8-14 lbs
Medium 13-28 lbs
Large 26-36 lbs
So you need a cloth diaper with the liner (the liner is what the insert fits into) for a pack of two that it costs $28. 
You need about 6-8 covers with the g's.
So for 6 diaper covers that's $84

 This is a picture of the diaper with the liner snapped inside
Then you have to purchase the inserts.
You can buy the cloth inserts which come in a pack of 6 for $27.
Most people said you needed a minimum of 18 cloth inserts. So that's $81 for the minimum amount needed.
Or the disposable inserts which come in a pack of 40 for $15.
 These are great for traveling or when you are on the go cause they are basically just like disposables you just pull the dirty insert out throw it away put another insert in and reuse the diaper cover. I loved that about them.
So that is basically what you need for the G's but they have different sizes small, medium, large.

Ok so even if we didn't use the disposable inserts we would be spending $165 minimum for the G's and that is only one size. 
So say you just wanted to do Small and Medium size diapers that's about $330 for diapers for you baby up to 28 lbs.
Which will still save you money on diapers but we could not afford to put that much money up front.
The nice thing is the covers come in S,M, and L.
but the inserts come in S and M/L 
So you save a little money there by being able to use the same inserts on the M/L diaper covers. I really wanted to use the G diapers and for them to work but i just couldn't put that much money into it up front.

Alva baby
So after figuring all this up i did a lot of research watched video reviews and checked ebay to try to find the best price. 
While looking at ebay i found a diaper that was only $5 and couple bucks shipping. 
They were Alva Baby's. So i youtubed alva baby reviews and came across quite a few videos of people who loved the diaper.

Alva baby has two main types of diapers.
3.0's and 4.0's 
4.0's are also known as the double gusset color snaps. 

These are the 4.0's are $6.99 each.

Here it is opened up
 They have double gussets which just helps keep number 1 and 2 in the diaper.
 It also has a snap in liner so it doesn't get moved all around in the diaper. The other nice thing is you can throw the whole thing in the wash without removing the insert and it will make it's way out of the diaper in the wash. I tried this the first time i washed them and the only problem was i only sprayed the diaper with the odor and stain remover not the insert and the poop didn't come off the insert as well so i just remove the insert before i wash it if it's poop if it's just pee you can leave it all together and just throw it in the wash.
 the 4.0's also have these awesome color snaps. Which make it easy to snap the diaper quickly because you know which button to snap by the diaper.
The 4.0's come in blue, green, black, red, cow print, a swirl patter and camo.
These are the 3.0's they are $4.79 each
They don't have any of the features above but come in cuter patterns. 
 They don't have the double gussets but i think these are a little thinner so if i know he has already pooped that day and he's only going to pee i just put the 3.o's on him.
Alvababy.com offers free shipping which takes about 3-4 weeks because they are made in China. But if you order 20 items you get free express shipping which is what i did and mine came in less than 2 weeks.
I got 19 diapers each diapers come with an insert so that's 19 inserts as well and 1 wetbag

My Stash
Here is my stash, minus a few.

These are my washable wipes, they are just washcloths that i folded so that they come out of the box like disposable wipes.
It make so much sense to be able to just throw everything in the wash.
I still need to buy a small spray bottle so i can spray them down with water before i use them. but i haven't been able to find a small water bottle anywhere. Anyone know where i can find one??? 
 The laundry detergent i use is on the left and the spray bottle on the right is the odor and stain remover that is spray on the diaper before i throw it in the pail.
This is the diaper pail i use. it was a couple bucks at walmart.
I would like to eventually get this wet bag  that i can hang in his room, it stores better and would hold all my diapers.
 dirty diapers :)
My wetbag was less than $5 and is great for when we are out and about it hold about 7-8 diapers. 

So here's the money breakdown.
 14-4.0's= $98
 5-3.0's=$24
Wetbag=4.79
Alva Baby total was $127
White Bucket $3
Washcloths or wipes i got a great deal at Ross. I found an 12 pack for $2 so i bought 2=$4
The bac out odor and stain remover was a gift but you can find it on amazon.
The laundry detergent i use is also Biokleen it was also a gift but you can find it on amazon


So far i've spent $135 on Cloth diapering.
Since i was given $150 worth of bum genius diapers that i returned i still have $15 left!


Detergents and Washing
I wash diapers about 2 times a week sometimes 3. The  more diapers you have the less laundry you have to do. 

Detergent
So if i did 10 loads a month the laundry detergent would last me 3 months since it does 32 loads. That makes the laundry detergent $2.50 a month. but i'm sure you could find a cheaper detergent a lot of people use Country Save which is usually in a powder form and i have a front loader so i can only use liquid.
When washing cloth diapers you just want make sure there are no fillers or softeners in the detergent these bread down the absorption of the diapers and liners.

Stain and odor remover
The bac out i spray on all poopy diapers so i think it will last me 1 and a half to two months. i'll keep you updated and let you know.
The bac out would be about $7 a month maybe less.

I haven't been able to figure out how much out water bill will go up but it is about $11 a month and adding 2-3 loads a week can't add that much maybe 2-3 bucks a month.

So that's less than $13 a month on diapers. - the prices i figured into my per month were by amazon's prices. my mom got them both on sale so 

How i wash my diapers
I do a cold wash first with no detergent then a warm wash with detergent and an extra rinse on both cycles. Don't wash them in hot water your PUL can delaminate. 

So far i am loving the Alva babies. The only difference in the cloths and disposables while i'm changing Z's diaper are i spray his cloth wipes with water and when i'm done i spray the dirty diaper with Bac out. Everything else is just like disposables which makes it so simple and easy! 

I hope that wasn't too confusing. If you have any questions please let me know i am still learning but will answer them as best i can!
(Pictures from babies r us, and google)

Friday, April 13, 2012

Phone Dump Friday

Hey guys just wanted to stop in and show you a few pictures of our week.

Z slept INHIS CRIB, for the second night in a row, for almost 6 hours last night!!!
 I missed out on a few incredible things at the thrift store. See those little red tags, those mean the item is sold...

 But i did score a couple awesome things, including this adorable book for .25 cents 
 Z's cloth diapers came in!
 We played at the park with some friends.
 Z's bottom lip made it's apperancea few times.
 We decorated the front porch-still a work in progress. 
I watched the graduate for the first time, and enjoyed my favorite snack; almonds and cranberries! 
i love this pic. 
and this one  
 Also this is what i woke up to this morning 
WHAT? it's april and 41 degrees?? 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!

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