Clean Living {Homemade Laundry Soap}

For awhile now I have been pinning things on the ever-so-great pinterest about natural living. I think it would be nice to have cleaner cleaning products. Less of the junk and more of the good stuff that gets all the grime and dirt out of clothes and off of floors. I decided laundry detergent would be a great place to start. I've read a thousand different recipes and they are all pretty much the same: borax, washing soda, Brommer's soap (or another type of plain soap bar), often times a good dose of OxiClean, and sometimes some extract for a scent.

Tomorrow I have to do laundry, and we officially ran out of the liquid laundry detergent I purchased from Costco awhile back. So it was now or never. I was either going to buy all the ingredients to make the laundry detergent or I was going to cave and just buy some Tide. I will admit that I almost caved, but I thought it would be a fun project, relatively inexpensive, and make enough laundry detergent to last us FOOOOOOREEEEEVVVEEER (said in the voice from the movie Sandlot...).

Luckily, you can find all of these ingredients at your local grocery store in your laundry isle, which makes it super convenient to make a big batch. You will also need a big bucket to mix all the parts and some air tight containers to store the detergent. I opted for the every so handy and trendy mason jar. Ultimately, I ended up using the recipe from AskAnna.  I did change one thing: instead of buying an essential oil, I just purchased some Brommer's soap that had essential oils added. I went for citrus since it smells so fresh, but there are other options, like lavender and almond. I thought the lavender was a bit too strong, but it was my second choice.

And here you have it! That cute graphic design came from AskAnna as well! I just printed them out on some card stock, glued them down with some modge podge, and that was that! 

I am hoping have cute laundry soap in my trendy mason jars is the first step to transforming our laundry from this...

To this...

Might not be much, but to me, mason jars is a start! :)

Pretty Pantry {Step 1}

Our house has a huge pantry! While most families would love that, and I am sure we will come to love it as we grow, it has mostly been an excuse to be unorganized. We have plenty of space to put things wherever we want to, so what's the point? Well, people, the point is peace of mind. The urge might be is definitely due to my nesting craze. When I went to IKEA the other day, I went to solve this problem of organization.  Plus, this makeover from The House of Smiths really inspires me. I would love to stencil the walls of the pantry and paint the shelves, maybe get a better light, but for now a little organization (with the help of IKEA) will do!

Before IKEA our pantry looked something like this:

Terrible or Terrible?

This is just one side of the pantry. This side is the cooking side, housing anything that could be used in in the kitchen. The other side of the pantry is where we store our household items like paper towels, ziploc bags, toilet paper, etc. The shelf above is suppose to be our "baking shelf." To contain all the powdery things, I just put the bags into ziploc bags. Not only does it look terrible, it is also wasteful. Why use the ziploc bags? So I decided to make a trip to IKEA and purchase some containters. At about $4 a piece, I transformed the shelf from what you so above to what you see below. So for around $16, we have the start of an organized pantry. And let me tell you, I love it.

Peace of mind in the form of jars! 

My next step is to paint some chalkboard paint on them for labels. Right now, I just wrote what each thing is on the lid using a dry erase marker. Does the job, but I think the chalkboard paint will add some charm! I would also love to paint the whole pantry and maybe add a new light. Stay tuned for more pantry makeovers!

Clean Living: Cloth Diapering Our Little One

So I am pretty convinced that I want to cloth diaper our little bundle. There's a number of reasons we have decided to go this route, but I will just list a few.

1. We can save some big dinero. This is especially important in the long run of raising a family. 
2. We won't be putting our little babies into little chemical pouches aka disposable diapers. 
3. We prevent unnecessary waste. I feel convicted about this like I feel convicted about composting. 
4. And a bonus: babies look super cute in cloth diapers. 

Now that list isn't very long, but it is long enough for us! Though I want to move forward this way, I have to admit that I am a little bit intimidated. I know many people who cloth diaper and love it, but I also know people who have invested in cloth diapers and end up not being able to handle it. I am hoping we will be a part of the first type of people. :)

Here are some questions/concerns I have, but they aren't strong enough to keep from trying!

1. How will my husband handle these diapers? Lord knows, he will definitely be changing diapers alongside me. 
2. How will laundry look in our household? Right now I do laundry once a week for the two of us. I know that will change, but how much will it change?
3. Lord have mercy! The upfront cost! 'Nough said. 
4. Connected to all of these: what diaper should we go with?!

I have recently been reading a blog called A Mama Collective, written by Jenna Guizar. From what I heard and now from what I have come to know, she is a cloth diaper guru! Her blog has been extremely helpful to me when it comes to addressing those concerns.

Danny and Diapering. I know there are options out there that Danny will feel comfortable handling. The good thing (and maybe the bad thing at the same time) is that there are many options with cloth diapering-lots of different avenues to take and methods to try.

Laundry will change. I might have to do diaper loads 2-3 times a week. And this will involve different detergent and sun-drying the diapers. I figure with a good method, this will be no different than just doing laundry on a Saturday morning. I expect to do laundry on Saturdays, so it is no big deal. I will just expect to wash diapers on certain days, and life will be good. Maybe a new normal, but good.

$$$. That is what I see when I look for cloth diapers. I have thought about buying some on Craigslist, but in all honesty, that weirds me out. I will buy furniture and supplies on CL, but I just can't bring myself to buy cloth diapers. I know there are cheaper ways of cloth diapering and more expensive ways of cloth diapering. So why not go with the cheapest? Seeing $ is way better than seeing $$$. Yes, yes, but that brings us back to concern numero uno. The cheapest form of cloth diapering is to use diaper covers and flats or pre-folds, but as much as I love my husband and my husband loves me, I do not see him doing this. Plus, I will be going back to work after my maternity leave, and I want to make diapering as easy as possible for my niece, Shiyah, who will be loving on our little girl while we are at work. I also know that while the initial cost is $$$, the overall cost for diapering is $.

The Choices. While there are lots of options, my three choices have been narrowed down to the following:

1. Flips and Flat
Pros:

• Cheapest option for us, running us $125.7 for the diapers. (I would buy two packs since you need about 18-24 diapers for an infant.) 
• Laundry seems like it would be the simplest process. As far as I understand, you only would need to wash the flat, since you can wipe down the flip (the diaper cover) pretty easily. Plus, if the baby ends up using a ton of diapers for some reason, that just necessitates more flats (which aren't expensive) versus a whole new diaper.
• One-Size Fits "All" capability. These covers have snaps so they will fit as the baby grows. The only exception is newborn size babies. 

Cons:

• We would all have more work to do when diapering. I wouldn't mind, but I want to make it as easy for Shiyah or for whoever else might be watching the little one. 

Consensus:

• I think we will buy one set of these, so a dozen. These can be more of the weekend days off diapers that mommy will handle most readily. :)

2. BumGenius Pocket OS (One Size) Diaper
Pros:

• A little bit more dinero, but not the most expensive option. To buy six would cost us $86.90 ($14.48/diaper for a diaper that usually runs around $18).
• A little more daddy-friendly. This is almost like a disposable diaper in that you put it on exactly like a disposable. When it gets dirty, daddy can just take it off, put in the wet bag, and put a new one on the little toosh. Easy Peasy. 
• Again, these are OS fits "all" so we can still use them as the baby grows.

Cons:

• Both parts of this diaper, the cover and the piece you use to stuff the diaper, must be washed (unlike the flip). That means you "lose" a diaper once it is dirtied, unlike the flips where you just need a new flat. 
• A little bit more work in that the pocket diaper has to be stuffed, but this seems manageable. 

Consensus:

• I think we will buy at least 6 of these, since the deal is buy 5 get 1 free. So if we get a dozen Flip and Flats and 6 Pocket Diapers, that puts us at 18. What about the other 6 to get us to the necessary 24? That question brings us to our last option. 

3. BumGenius All-in-One (AIO) OS Diaper
Pros:

• Daddy-friendliest of them all. This diaper is most like a disposable. It literally is exactly like it in all ways except that it is cloth and you do not throw it away. Everything is sewn in so there is no stuffing of pockets or folding of flats. 

Cons:

• This diaper is the most expensive and would run us $117 for 6! That is quite the bullet to bite. 
• The laundry is simple in that there is one step-throw the whole diaper in the wash-but it also takes the longest to dry since it is all sewn together. I know they created a new design to help this a long, but still. And a wet diaper is a wet diaper, whether it is wet from the wash or wet from a baby. 

Consensus:

• I am undecided here. Originally I thought we would just do AIO, but the more I look at the cost the less I want to do it. Plus, a pocket diaper is almost an AIO....almost...and it seems almost as daddy-friendly as the AIO. So I am not sure. We might buy 6 of these, or we might buy 6 more BumGenius Pocket Diapers. Any thoughts?

Clean Living: Composting

I grew up in a very agricultural area in California: Santa Cruz County. Surrounding Santa Cruz are a number of different agricultural capitols-strawberry, lettuce, artichoke. Santa Cruz County is also very environmentally aware and full of people who make every effort to live sustainably. You don't see this as much in Phoenix, though I do love that we get a huge recycling bin which gets picked up each week! I recently found out from a friend that Tempe also offers compost bins for free. All you have to do is call the city and ask for one to be delivered. They are essentially recycled garbage cans which they carve huge holes into, since you need exposure to air for composting (I think).

So yesterday morning, I went out to our car and this baby was sitting in our driveway.

I'll be honest: I am a little bit intimidated by the size of this compost bin. I haven't ever composted before, but it is something I have felt convicted about for awhile. I hate when I am cooking and I end up throwing away a bunch of stuff I know I could compost. I also know very little about composting. 

Here's what I do know: 

• You need a mixture of wet and dry parts and this has something to do with the chemicals released which help to break down the particles.
• You need some water to get it started. (Perhaps this is part of the "wet" ingredients?)
• You need air exposure. 
• It helps to stir the compost-to blend all of its parts together. 

And that's about it, folks! This will definitely be a learning process, but I would love it if you would offer any insights or learn along with me. My first step is going to be creating a compost "station" in our kitchen, where all of our compostable items will go for the day. After dinner, I will take it out to the compost bin, but that's really all I've got so far!

If you live in Tempe, call the city and get on board! We all have to do our part to live as good stewards of the gift we have been given: earth.