{crunchy living} cloth diapering journey: part 1

As many of you know, our fourth little bundle of joy is due to arrive in April! We are over the moon excited to welcome her into our family.

Once I was past my morning sickness (after Friday, though, I'm wondering if I'm really over it!) and began accepting the reality of another child in our family, I got pumped thinking about what I will do the same as I did with the other three and what I will do differently.

I cloth diapered our second child for three months. At that time, bumGenius 2.0s were the only cloth diaper in my arsenal, and I truly enjoyed her little cloth-covered bum. That is, until I got pregnant with Munchkin #3. At that point, this pregnant momma could not handle the smell and care of cloth diapers. So, much to my chagrin, back to disposables we went.

Now that I am five years past our initial cloth diapering experience, I am armed and ready to try again! This time, though we are going with prefolds and covers. I am anxious to see if I love them as much as I think I am going to.

As of right now, our little baskets are full of Green Mountain Diaper prefolds (24 yellows and 36 oranges), Ecobaby Organics cloth diapers (4 diapers that came with 2 additional inserts each), Assunta One Size Pocket Diapers (2), Bummis Super Brite (Newborn) diaper covers (2) , Flip diaper covers (3) and Thirsties Duo Wrap Snap covers (4) and Thirsties Duo Wrap Original Aplix covers (2).

GMD yellow newborn prefold

GMD orange small prefold 

Thirsties Duo Wrap Snap Covers 

Inside Tag of Snap Covers

Thirsties Original Aplix Covers

Bummis Newborn Brite Covers {notice the lower cut to accommodate the umbilical cord stump!)

Super Brite Tag

Assunta One Size Pocket Diapers

Two Flips w/ Snaps, One Flip w/ Aplix 

Ecobaby Organics Diaper w/ Two Additional Inserts

This is just the beginning of our cloth diapering journey. Stay tuned for follow-up posts!

Cloth diapers offer many wonderful health benefits for baby and financial benefits for our budget! I hope cloth diapering is something we can be successful with. If not, though, we'll adapt. :)

I'd love to know...

Do you cloth diaper?

Which ones do you love?

If you didn't/haven't cloth diapered, is it something you would consider?

Blessings to you and yours,

{crunchy living} homemade soap berries liquid laundry detergent

My parents call me their hippie child. It's okay...I can handle it. :) 

I do things in unconventional ways. Actually, I prefer to think that I am living life in an extremely conventional manner. After all, "natural" is the way humans lived life for thousands of years. Only in the last century has our world become bombarded with the term "artificial". 

Nonetheless...on to today's post! 

I am so over exposing my family to unnecessary toxins! Because of this, I am slowly but surely eliminating commercial products and replacing them with products I make right here at home. Not only is it extremely cost-effective, but I am now in control of the ingredients we put on our skin, in our bodies and in our home. Also, it's fun!

In my never-ending quest to find recipes that contain ingredients I deem worthy of my family's consumption, I finally found a recipe for homemade liquid laundry detergent that doesn't use Borax. {The safety of Borax is a debatable topic. Some think its fine. Others think it isn't. I'd rather be safe than sorry.} I really appreciate Amanda's blog and have gleaned so much from it over the last month or so. Go on over and check her out by clicking on the recipe link above.

In essence, I used her recipe. However, if you know me at all, you already know I made a few tweaks. All in all, though, her recipe is spot on.

Here is exactly what I did before I started cooking the concoction...

1) I ordered a 360-load box of Eco Nuts Organic Laundry Soap on Amazon. (To read about the discrepancy in my order and what Amazon did to take care of it, click here.)

2) I went to Walmart and purchased Heinz Vinegar and a jug of distilled water. You can purchase Heinz Vinegar on Amazon and many other wonderful websites, but why?! It's $2.82 for a gallon at Walmart. {Why Heinz vinegar? It is made of grains and not petroleum. Now, I'm not sure if the grains are non-GMO, but would you choose petroleum over non-GMO grains? I wouldn't.)

3) I pulled out my trusty Dutch Oven, large glass batter bowl from Pampered Chef and a mesh strainer.

Here is exactly what I did to cook the concoction...

1) I poured the Eco Nuts, vinegar and water into my Dutch Oven and brought it to a low boil. (I tripled the recipe, so here are the measurements I poured in: 3 cups Eco Nuts, 1.5 cups vinegar, 12 cups water).

2) Once the boil started rolling, I set my timer for 30 minutes and lowered the heat, so that the mixture was simmering. During that 30 minutes of simmering, I kept the lid on {except for every five minutes when I took the lid off, mashed the berries down with a slotted spoon and stirred well}.

3) After the initial 30 minutes were up, I took the lid off, set the timer for another 30 minutes and continued the mashing and stirring every five minutes.

{A word of caution...this stuff DOES NOT have a pleasant smell. I turned our vent-a-hood on high and opened a window. Don't say I didn't warn you!}

4) Turn off the heat, and immediately strain the mixture by placing the strainer on top of your large glass container and pouring the mixture through the strainer. I did this in my sink to avoid any possible spillage on the counter.

5) Mourn your graveyard of Eco Nuts and compost or throw them away. 

6) Pour your liquid laundry detergent into a water tight storage container(s). Please let your detergent cool before closing the lid.

This is the one I purchased for myself off Amazon and I love it! It easily holds 5 cups of detergent, and since I only need 1 T. per load since I have an HE washer, this will give me approximately 80 loads! The smaller jars in my picture can be found here.

Click here for a printable recipe!

I'd love to know...

What do you think? Are you going to try it?!

Do you already have a favorite homemade laundry detergent recipe? Please share below!

Blessings to you and yours,