A favorite snack to keep our family regular without meds

Homemade air-popped popcorn is a great way to stay regular without costly or nasty tasting medicines.  

This is our favorite recipe.

1/2 cup unpopped kernels, popped = approx. 12-14 cups popcorn

1/4-1/3 cup unflavored coconut oil, melted

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

2-3 tbsp. nutritional yeast 

Pour the melted oil onto the popped popcorn.  Sprinkle the salt, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast over the popcorn.  Stir & serve!

Making homemade carpet freshener

I learned about a simple homemade carpet freshener today online.  It was 5 drops of essential oil plus baking soda.

I had about half of a quart jar full of baking soda, added 5 drops of On Guard essential oil and mixed it well.  

Hammy, my 8 year old, helped me make a shaker lid for our carpet freshener.

When we had enough nail holes punched, we tried it out.

We shook it on the living room rug and sang, "Let it snow!"

After letting it sit a few minutes, I vacuumed it up.

Ahhh!  Nice and fresh!

I can just hear it now, 

"You have 8 kids, a hamster, and a cat and a dead rat in your walls??  I couldn't tell at all!"

Fleece Diaper Pockets Tutorial

Fleece diaper pockets are a frugal semi-crunchy mama’s dream.  They work much better than just a fleece liner because they won’t bunch up.  The fleece pulls the wetness inside the diaper and the baby feels dry longer. 

When changing the diaper, just pull the diaper and doubler out of the fleece and toss them all in the diaper pail together.  If it’s poopy, pull the diaper and doubler out and all you have to rinse is the fleece pocket.  A lightweight fleece pocket is so much easier to rinse than a big-ole poopy prefold.

Look for remnants of fleece to make these pockets.  I actually bought the fleece for $4.44 a yard at Wal-Mart and got 14 out of each yard.  With tax, it's still less than 30 cents a piece. 

Gather your supplies:  Fleece, measuring tape or ruler, scissors, diaper, cover, and doubler.

Lay your prefolded diaper on the fleece to get an idea of how big to sew the fleece diaper pocket.  Allow for an extra half inch around. 

Cut a piece big enough to fold it in half sideways. ←→ Also make sure your stretch is ←this way→.  Fleece only stretches one direction.  This is very important that you make sure it goes sideways.  It is a hassle to try to stuff a fleece pocket when the stretch is going the other way.  I did that once and ended up chucking that pocket because it was so dang annoying.

Sew a straight stitch along the top and down one side (not the folded side).

Turn right side out.

 

Now stuff it.  mwahaha.  *ahem*

All stuffed.

Place stuffed fleece pocket in cover.  I prefer Proraps. 

Put on Tater, or whatever cute baby you have laying around your house. 

So comfy!  I think I might just . . . ahh! 

Spare fleece pockets and one already stuffed diaper, just in case.

If you like what you read here, follow me on my journey.  I’d love to have you along.  :)

This post is linked at Thrifty Thursdays, Frugal Fridays, My Coupon Teacher’s Thrifty Thursdays, and Frugalicious Friday. and Homemaker Mondays, and A Soft Place to Land.

Ask away!

Please submit your cloth diapering questions that I haven't answered here or need further explanation.  I will compile another post of Cloth Diapering Q & A. 

I suppose if you have other questions, you can ask them too.  I can't guarantee I'll know the answer-- unless it specifically applies to me and my family.  Feeling nosey?  You could read my 100 list.  It's a little outdated though.  Maybe I'll write another one when I hit 100 subscribers. 

Round one cloth diapering Q&A

I am excited about my readers’ interest in cloth diapering.  I am more than happy to share my experience with it.  Here are a few past questions.

New Nikki and Danny blog follower:  What do you use?

Nikki:  Regular Chinese Prefolds,  Bummis Super Whisper Wraps in snaps, also the aplix (velcro) kind, proraps, doublers, and fleece pockets.  Proraps are actually my favorite cover because of the gusseted legs.  They really make a difference.  Flannel wipes I make out of 9 inch squares of flannel.  Some are one layer wipes.  Some are two layer.  You can also buy flannel wipes online through ebay, etsy, and more places like ComfyBummy.com.  We have all-in-ones, but we don’t use them.  I think they’re gross actually because it seems like I can’t get the smell out of them.

Devoted and related Nikki and Danny blog reader:  How do you wash them?

I dump the pail of dirty and wet diapers in the washing machine and run it on hot wash with this detergent.  It doesn’t suds up and gets them really clean.  And it’s cheaper too.  For my front-loader washing machine it only takes 1 tablespoon per load.  I fill the fabric softener cup with distilled white vinegar.  This balances the PH and makes them come out clean and fresh smelling.  With three in diapers, I’m cutting corners and not hanging them all dry.  This WILL wear out the diapers faster though.  It’s a compromise really. 

The covers get washed with my white laundry unless they have poop on them.  If poopy, I wash them in the sink first and then throw them in with the white laundry.

Do you use a wet diaper pail or a dry one?

Dry.  Definitely.  With at least two in diapers at a time, I reach a load in a little over a day preventing the stink level from taking over the bathroom.  I used to do a wet pail with my first thinking it would help prevent stains.  But seeing as these are prefolds and now we’re on the fifth and sixth babies using them, I don’t care if they get stained because I don’t plan on reselling them.  I think I’ve certainly got my money’s worth out of them.  Covers stain a little easier because they aren’t 100% cotton.  The covers don’t go in the pail anyway.  The covers get washed with the whites making sure the velcro is closed so as not to snag anything.  The doublers and fleece liners also go in the pail.

What if you get a poopy diaper?  Are you ready to throw in the towel, so to speak? 

Nope.  Not with fleece liners.  I pull the diaper and doubler out of the pocket and drop them in the diaper pail.  Then I dunk the fleece pocket in the toilet water to get the poop off.  The cold water really helps loosen it.  Use gloves if you’re grossed out.

Do you make your own? 

I make fleece pockets and flannel baby wipes.  I have also made my own doublers.  When I’m using disposables I use disposable homemade baby wipes. 

New Nikki and Danny blog reader:  Have you cloth diapered many?

I cloth diapered Pookie starting at 5 months. 

Gabbers was cloth diapered until she started showing signs of allergies to everything.  We thought possibly the vinegar in the rinse cycle.  We switched her to Pampers Cruisers for a spell.  Then back into cloth again.

I cloth diapered Bun most of his diapering days. 

Hammy has been cloth diapered about half because of overwhelming nausea at the beginning of my twins’ pregnancy and then being overwhelmed with three in diapers.

The twins have been cloth diapered for one day.  I decided I would finish the size 2 diapers we had and then put them in cloth.  We’re almost there.

Appalled mother at church:  Are you planning on cloth diapering your twins? 

No way!  (Yes I am.  I really am.)  Sometimes I’m a closet cloth diaperer.  Why?  People are weird and try to educate me on how I actually do not save money cloth diapering.  I know the reality of it and see the savings in my bank account and my piece of mind knowing I’m not going to be sending 150 diapers a week to the landfill.

I am sure I missed more questions.  Please leave them in the comments and I’ll endeavor to answer them in our next round of cloth diapering Q&A.  Here are the next questions I plan on addressing:

All of these terms are new to me.  Can you explain in laymen’s terms?

Do you cloth diaper at night?

Do you cloth diaper when traveling or on vacation?

Do you cloth diaper when running errands or going to church?

There is something so endearing about a huge cloth diapered tushie. I cloth diapered the twins a few days ago. 

I found that I had no desire to use the cloth diapers that didn't have fleece pockets.  Fleece pockets make it SO much easier for when there's a poopy diaper.  So I'm going to sew up a bunch this week out of my fleece remnants.  They are unbelievably easy to make.  So if you're a cloth diaper mama and are interested, or know someone about to have a baby and want to make an inexpensive gift, check back next week for a step-by-step Fleece Pocket tutorial for Frugal Friday.

I am a bitter, bitter woman.

My Tater is teething. This is one instance where I'm glad he can't nurse. He chews on everything.

Also, I decided to wean.  Translation:  Pumping nearly four hours a day is driving me batty and switching to formula sounds like a well-deserved vacation.  It was a really hard decision to make.  I think for my sanity, I've got to stop pumping. 

But as I've finally vocalized it and drastically reduced my milk supply this week, I'm realizing that my Squdge (not the one pictured) has allergies.  His face looks just like my Gabbers face looked at the same age.  And when tested, we found out she was allergic to  e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. 

wheat,

barley,

rye,

dairy,

eggs,

soy. 

She couldn't have

fish,

nuts,

citrus,

or berries either. 

Or any of the latex foods.

ie. banana,

avocado,

kiwi. 

Her allergy doctor advised me to nurse her until she was two.  And that was the plan.  But I got pregnant with Bun when Gabbers was 14 months old.  When she was 18 months she weaned herself because of decreased milk supply.  Luckily by then, she had outgrown the soy allergies.

So ARGH.  Dang you pump.  I am sick of you.  The best thing that has come from it, other than mother's milk, is my blogging has increased since figuring out the hands-free thing. 

Aren't you glad?

What's on the menu for Valentine's Day?  Fenugreek.  Marshmallow root, Borage Oil, and Fenugreek.

I hate the way it makes me smell.