Get your covers ready!

We are quickly approaching the beginning of the Flats and Handwashing challenge. It starts in just 6 days. I am so happy that I will be able to participate in the challenge this year.
When this year's challenge was first announced I thought I might not be able to participate because BG is such a heavy wetter, we cannot use cloth at night. There was no way we could use just flats at night and not have her waking every couple hours with a soaked bed and jammies. Right now she sleeps through the night and I really don't want to break that. That is when Kim so kindly pointed out that the rules have changed since the first challenge and I can use my diaper of choice at night. What a relief! I quickly signed up to participate.
Now I have the fun of making sure we have the flats and covers to last us the week. Flats are not too much of a problem. We have a bunch and I have hundreds of t-shirts sitting upstairs unused. I can easily have more than enough flats to last a day or so between washing. I also have my camp style washer from the first challenge.  Now, the covers are a different story. We would have had enough if we didn't have to retire two awesome covers. We have two Mother-ease covers that I really liked. They worked so well and covered so many different diapers. Well, Bg's legs don't like those covers. The elastic around the legs always leave bright red marks that seem fairly irritated. It was saddening when I had to stop using them. I really did like them. I have even considered if I could redo them with new FOE and see if that makes them better for her. Who knows.
Well, luckily I get in kicks of wanting to sew. Yesterday BG got a brand new mommy made fleece pull-on cover. I even put a piece of PUL on the outside of the wet zone to help hold in extra wetness. I literally whipped it up in 30 minutes. It was so easy to do and I may end up making more because of that ease.
So, what does that leave me with for this challenge?

I have these four covers plus two more that are either on BG right now or in the wash. thepink one in the upper right corner is the one I just made. I am thinking of making a tie on patchwork kind of cover to use up some fleece scraps I have filling a drawer upstairs. That could be pretty cute. I want to use things I have already on hand to complete this challenge. Cloth diapering does not have to cost a lot of money. Even my regular stash did not cost as much as some. I got many for free or very cheap (used). I also tried winning as many as possibly. I believe I have maybe 4-6 that were won. This point is one thing that I always try to stress when talking cloth to those who do not know.

Are you preparing for the Flats Challenge? Would you ever consider participating? Tell us your thoughts!

Until next time... Happy Prepping!

3rd Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge

It is getting to be that time of year again. Flats Challenge time, that is! You may remember that I participated in the very first flats challenge when BG was very young. I even cloth diapered and handwashed diapers while camping with her during this time.
I was not a part of "The Challenge" last year, but I am thinking that I may do it again this year. I love my flats. I also think that we need to spread the word that it is not that difficult to use cloth diapers. You can even do it if you have very little money to spend.
The Challenge will run from May 20th through the 26th. Six days is not very long. I think anyone can do this for 6 days. I am posting this because I want to help spread the world about the Flats and Handwashing Challenge.  If you click on the picture above, or the link in the post, you will be taken to the very first post for this year's challenge. There you can put your name into the preliminary list of possible participants.
The first year there were 200 families. Last year, 260 families participated. Can we get over 300 this year?

Do you cloth diaper? Would you participate in a Challenge like this?

Who is with me!?

Until next time... Happy Diapering!

When times are tight...Every penny counts!

courtesy of RambergMediaimages

Times are tight all around. I know we are not alone in this. Factor in one and not two incomes and things can be very tight. After our big Disney trip this past fall and general winter expenses, we realized all our bank accounts were doing was getting smaller. We had to do something and as quickly as we could. One of the first things I did was hit the internet. We also quit a lot of our spending and made a budget. Yes, until now we haven't really had a budget.

When I looked at the budget I knew we would be okay if we stopped spending much past our necessary expenses. We had wiggle room, but not much. We worked to make sure we only spent a certain amount each week. Then I realized our next problem, we weren't taking a set amount of money out on a certain day each week, we would just try to keep it low and only spend the cash as much as possible. We weren't tracking the money either. 

Then I found a site that has helped me out a bit and we are now trying these new methods. In walked (well, I clicked to her somehow) The fun, cheap or free Queen. I now love her site. She has a ton of great tips and we are working on trying out her version of the envelope system. I will let you click on her link and see for yourself the full detail of her system. As for us, I have set apart a specific amount of money we can spend each month of groceries and for fun.

I also cut our costs by couponing. Coupons can be a great thing. Now, by no means to I even want to extreme coupon. That is just too much. I get coupons that I know I will use or for things we need. If I don't need that item, I don't get the coupon. Also, if i cannot get a good price even with the coupon, I don't use it. I know people that think they have to buy the product because the coupon is going to expire soon and they have to use a coupon if they have it. That is not the case! Let it go.

courtesy of StockMonkeys.com

We also use generic items whenever possible. As a family, we do not mind generic items, and usually I see no difference in taste or quality. I am also excited to start making more and more of the things we use and eat. We have been eating out a lot less. I already used regular household items like vinegar to clean the house, so that was easy. I am also going to try making more of the smoothie drinks that Hubby likes to get from the store. And since I won and awesome dehydrator (Thank you Happily Domestic!) I am going to try my hand at making jerky and other great little snacks. If we get good at making jerky, that can even help with some Christmas presents that we tend to give out each year. 

We are going to see how we do at pinching every penny we can and paying off our debt sooner rather than later. Now, I pass the advice on to you....

How do you save money? What are your budgeting tips? Let's here it!

Until next time... Happy Penny Pinching!

{31 Days} Day 17 - The Whys and Whens of Blogging

Why and When did you start blogging?
It is sort of funny why I truly started blogging. I was new to the world of online giveaways. I was also just entering the world of cloth diapers with LJ. He was about 18 months old. When I was entering the giveaways I would always see that I could get extra entries for doing a blog post about the giveaway. For the longest time, I would not get those entries. Then I decided, what the heck. Why not? I started a little blog so that I could post about giveaways and get those extra entries. Then I figured, why stop there? I started writing more on the blog and then building it up to possibly be able to host some of my own giveaways and share my life with others.
My first blog posts were in December of 2009. It is hard to believe that I have had this blog now for over 3 years.
My first three posts were:

1. "Feed Your Stash" fridays button
2. Leg Huggers Giveaway on The Cloth Diaper Report
3. FuzziBunz Giveaway on Suburban Saving Momma

Do you have a blog? Why and when did you start?

Until next time... Happy blogging?

{31 Days} Day 5 - My Favorite Movies

Everyone has a a favorite movie. Some have more than one favorite. There are a few that I have seen and will continue to watch for a long time. Some are newer and some are older. The first is an all time favorite for me. I have watched it so many times. That is Dirty Dancing.

Another really good one is The Avengers. Newer, but so good!

Now, these next two are two that I first saw on broadway. I loved them and now they both have theatrical releases that are really good. Those would be Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. 

Les Mis actually has two theatrical releases, but the new one that is a musical is the one I am speaking of here. I do not mind the first movie to be released, but it is not a musical and to me Les Mis is musical. I crave the score of the production. I have seen the new movie multiple times and would have loved to see it more. i know for sure we will own it on DVD when it is released. I am just so glad that Hubby loves it too.

What are you favorite movies?

Until next time... Happy Film Watching!