Tiny Tush Elite {One Size Pocket Diaper} Review and Giveaway!

I have been blessed with the opportunity to review the Tiny Tush Elite, one size cloth diaper for you!

 First off, here's a bit about the company:

Tiny Tush began with Charlene Foster, a mom who was searching for a better way to use cloth

diapers. Over the course of diapering her five children, she’d tried everything but had yet to find an

optimal cloth diapering system. With her unique flair for textiles and clear vision of her ideal diaper, she

knew she had developed a great idea that would help her - and many other moms – to successfully cloth

diaper....Tiny Tush was born!

Now a decade later, Tiny Tush, a family owned business, is fulfilling customers’ diapering needs

with excellent products and knowledgeable, courteous, and friendly service. Tiny Tush is dedicated

to providing the highest quality products (many made in the USA!) at affordable prices, and to giving

customers the best experience possible. Plus, Tiny Tush offers a generous 90 day money back guarantee

on all new products and a 30 day return on used products.

The Tiny Tush Elite One-Size Pocket Diaper

● This unique cloth diapering system is the easiest system available today. With a reverse envelope
pocket opening in the rear of the diaper, the inserts are easy to install. This opening also
prevents stool from getting caught underneath the flap, making cleanup easier and yuck-free.
● The exterior of the Tiny Tush Elite One-Size Pocket diaper is a waterproof PUL. The inner layer is
a non-piling polyester micro-fleece that keeps the diaper looking like new, even wash after wash.
This diaper is available in either snap or Aplix closures.
● Tiny Tush Elite One-Size pocket diapers are designed to fit babies from 7-35 lbs. The snap-down
system for sizing is similar to the popular Tiny Tush Trim fitted, except there is an extra fourth
row of snaps for increased adjustability. There is also an extra column of snaps to keep this
amazing diapering system secure and trim.
● The four row snap-down system (that comes with both the Aplix and snap closure diapers) allows
the rise of this diaper to be adjusted incrementally from newborn, infant, crawler, to toddler.

Let's take a closer look at the diaper:

Note the FOUR possible rise settings!

Plush micro-fleece inner fabric. Two microfiber inserts for smaller and larger settings. They can also be used together for overnight stuffing!

Notice that the flap for the pocket goes under the fleece layer. I have come to value this for spraying purposes! It helps prevent poop getting stuck or icky back splash. Also notice the extra snap on the right for crossing over for smaller babies.

First Impressions:

My first impression of this diaper was, "Wow! The material feels really sturdy!" I know that's a strange way to say it, but that is what stood out to me as unique from other diapers I've tried. It was plush, thick and it just felt sturdy!

The second thing that caught my attention was the FOUR possible rise settings. This is more than most one size diapers I've tried.

The micro-fleece seemed especially thick and soft.

Fit:

It fits my baby wonderfully. No gaping around the legs which equals no leaks. It looks and seems comfortable on her. It was easy to find a perfect fit because of the many snap options (they are close together all the way across the top) and rise options. There is NO question that it will fit until potty training!!!!!!!! Great range of sizes!!!

Final Impressions:

This is a great pocket diaper. I highly recommend it for its quality. The inner fleece is really durable and effective, and is made to last. It seems very comfortable and is easy to spray off from either direction because the pocket flap is under the inner layer and will not catch anything! This diaper is on my list of those which I will put on my daughter when I'm expecting her to have a poop any minute because it is easy to spray out without making a mess.

It truly fits a very wide range of sizes and is soft but snug around the legs. The inserts are absorbent but not bulky. I definitely feel comfortable going "out and about" in this diaper. It's on the highly dependable list in that regard. There are those that I will only use around the house when I know I'll be able to change her more quickly and those that I trust while out running errands or visiting that might have to stay on a bit longer. Tiny Tush is on that list!


I honestly have nothing negative to say about this diaper. For it's quality, the price is great, especially since it includes inserts!

GIVEAWAY!

Tiny Tush is offering one reader their very own Tiny Tush Elite one size pocket diaper in winner's choice of color and closure!

How to Enter:

Go to Tiny Tush and leave me a comment telling  me what other product you would love to try!

(Leave a separate comment for each entry. Include your email address if it is not easily accessible through your blogger profile. You do not have to have a blogger profile to enter, as long as you leave a valid e-mail address.) 

Additional Entries:

Follow Tiny Tush on Twitter!

"Like" Tiny Tush on Facebook!

Follow the Tiny Tush Blog!

Sign Up for the Tiny Tush Mailing List!

Like Life as a Global Mom on Facebook! 

Follow Life as a Global Mom via Google Friend Connect (Right Side Bar).

Follow me on Twitter.

Grab my new button!

Blog about this giveaway.

Tweet about this giveaway using @TinyTush and @cheapnchoosy. (Up to 3 times daily)

Subscribe to Life as a Global Mom via email. (right sidebar)

Link this post up to any Giveaway Linky and just leave me a comment with the link! (3 entries per linky entered!)

Share about this giveaway in whatever social media venue or forum you wish.  As long as you can provide a link to it, it counts!

Comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. (One entry per post commented on.)

 
This giveaway is open to U.S. residents 18 years of age and older until March 7, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. EST (14 DAYS)   The winner will be chosen using a random number generator. I will post and email the winner, who will have 48 hours to respond. If winner does not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen. I will post the winner when the selection has been made and confirmed by the recipient.


This is not a paid post. The opinions expressed are completely my own! I received the product reviewed free of charge.  You can see my full disclosure here.

The Traveling Toddler {Sponsor Highlight and Early Extra Entries!}

I believe I have mentioned the fact that our family will soon be heading south to Brazil. It's going to be quite an adventure, and our first traveling  experience with a toddler! I have arranged a couple of reviews and giveaways surrounding this trip.

One wonderful sponsor of this event is CSN Stores. CSN Stores has 200 + stores offering -you name it- from cloth diapers, to anything you might need in the kitchen, or any room in the house for that matter. Do you love the modern style? One of CSN's stores, ALL MODERN offers all kinds of trendy stuff for every place and occasion, including the oh so popular Eames lounge chair!

You may wonder what this may have to do with a traveling toddler....WELL, this particular toddler weighs just over 20 pounds, is not yet walking (but is *very* close), and LOVES to be carried! I've enjoyed our wrap style carrier, but now that our little one is much bigger and more active, I've been realizing that a soft structured carrier is in order, especially since we'll be doing lots of walking around in Brazil!

A friend of mine has an ERGO Carrier, which she let me try while we shopped at a consignment sale the other day. It was a great experience. I was so pleased with how well Lydia did in it. She was as happy as a lark in spite of the fact that she had missed her usual nap time.

Did you know that CSN Stores carries a great variety of baby carriers? Here's a sampling of just a few! Can you figure out what they are?

Can you look around my site and guess which one CSN Stores is going to be offering to GIVE AWAY in honor of our trip abroad? Which one will I be testing out on the trip and posting a review for afterward?

EXTRA EARLY ENTRIES

If you can identify 4 of the 6 baby carriers pictured above by browsing the baby carriers at CSN Stores and leave me a comment with your answers you can earn 5 extra entries into the March ERGObaby carrier giveaway!

Leave me another comment with a link to the baby carrier that CSN Stores carries that you'd most like to try and earn 5 more extra entries into the March ERGObaby carrier giveaway!

This is not a paid post. The opinions expressed are entirely my own. This is the second of a series of two posts including a link to CSN Stores that will enable me to offer you an exciting giveaway in March!

Wool Dryer Balls from the Willow Store {Review and Giveaway!}

You may remember my review of the Willow Store's Sprout Change reversible hybrid reusable diaper a couple of months ago! Well, as wonderful as it is, cloth diapers are not all the Willow Store has to offer.

Willow Store offers organic kitchen cloth, known as "forever cloth," reusable bags, feminine care products, and natural laundry products and more! Today It's my honor to review for you Willow Store's wool dryer balls! 

These wool dryer balls are natural wool felted, and handmade right here in the USA! These dryer balls last for many years and are effective in reducing drying time for all laundry, and naturally softening clothing.

If you use cloth diapers like me, especially in the winter when it is too cold to hang laundry outside (for me anyway), I appreciate anything that can help me keep the electric bill down by reducing the drying time especially of absorbent loads of towels or cloth diapers.

I have enjoyed having this set of three wool dryer balls. They are extremely soft and are very light. Therefore they do not make loud thumping sounds in the dryer! As a matter of fact, I can't hear them at all. This is wonderful for me because the dryer is normally a nice soothing background noise when my daughter is sleeping, but dryer balls can make enough thump to wake her up or keep her from sleeping. 

I had also been having a problem with a lot of static this winter, especially with my cloth diapers after pulling them out of the dryer. I kept shocking my little one! I have not had that problem at all since I started using these dryer balls! They really help reduce static electricity!

Aside from their functional use, these balls are the perfect size for my toddler's little hands (about the size of a tennis ball). She *loves* balls, and these are super soft and easy for her to throw! She loves playing with them between loads! Not only that, but she's become my little helper with the laundry. She helps me put things in, close the door (her favorite part), turn the knob, and then press the button and watch it go. Now we've added the step of her putting the dryer balls into the dryer each time. That one she can *truly* do by herself and makes her feel super proud!

I definitely recommend Willow Store's wool dryer balls!

 ***Giveaway!***

Willow Store is offering one very blessed reader their very own set of wool dryer balls!

Here's how to enter:

Go to the Willow Store  website and come back here and leave a comment telling me something you learned or which product you'd most like to try.

(Leave a separate comment for each entry. Include your email address if it is not easily accessible through your blogger profile.You do not have to have a blogger profile to enter, as long as you leave a valid e-mail address.)  

Additional Entries: 

Subscribe to The Willow Store Newsletter!  (right side of home page)

Like The Willow Store on Facebook. 

Follow @TheWillowStore on Twitter! 

Follow The Willow Store Blog GFC.

Like Life as a Global Mom on Facebook! (Right sidebar) 

Follow Life as a Global Mom via Google Friend Connect (Right Side Bar).

Follow me on Twitter.

Grab my new button!

Blog about this giveaway.

Tweet about this giveaway using @TheWillowStore and @cheapnchoosy. (Up to 3 times daily)

Subscribe to Life as a Global Mom via email. (right sidebar)

Link this post up to any Giveaway Linky and just leave me a comment with the link! (3 entries per linky entered!)

Share about this giveaway in whatever social media venue or forum you wish.  As long as you can provide a link to it, it counts!

Comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. (One entry per post commented on.)

 This giveaway is open to everyone everywhere until March 4, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. EST. The winner will be chosen using a random number generator. I will email the winner, who will have 48 hours to respond. If winner does not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen. I will post the winner when the selection has been made and confirmed by the recipient.

This is not a paid post. The opinions expressed are completely my own! I received the product reviewed free of charge.  You can see my full disclosure here.

Making Homemade Babyfood Easy: The FoodMill by Kidco. at CSN Stores

As you may already know, CSN Stores features more than 200 stores where you can find anything you can imagine from a new kitchen appliance, to a new bedroom set, to an ERGO Baby carrier, or a laptop messenger bag if that is your fancy!

I would like to highlight a product available at CSN Stores that I highly recommend. Has your baby been introduced to enough foods to be able to join you in eating what you're having for dinner, if only it were mashed or pureed?

The Food Mill by Kidco. made life much easier for us at that stage. Instead of preparing Lydia something totally different at dinner time, most of the time we could grind up a portion of what we were eating with this handy tool. When I first saw the aparatus, I have to admit I was skeptical of how much it could handle. However, it went above and beyond my expectations and efficiently ground up rice, meat, pasta, you name it!

 

It was great to not have to haul out the mini food processor, plug it in, make lots of noise to upset the baby, and then disassemble it's parts and hand wash the parts that cannot be washed in the dishwasher.

This food mill is a small, simple machine. We always washed it in the dishwasher, putting the smaller pieces in with the silverware.

I also noticed that CSN Stores also carries the Deluxe Food Mill, which I may want to try as it also comes at a great low price.

They also carry a small electric food mill! I highly recommend trying these products if you are embarking on the adventure of solid foods with your little one!

*This is not a paid post. The opinions expressed are mine and mine alone. It is one of two posts including a link to the CSN Stores website that will enable me to offer an exciting giveaway to my readers during the month of March. :) You can see my full disclosure on my PR/Disclosure page above.

Large Planet Wise Wet Bag- Review and GIVEAWAY! ***CLOSED***

Planet Wise is a family owned corporation that strives to provide the highest quality products while maintaining responsible environmental and social business practices. From an environmental standpoint, all of their products are reusable and designed to replace disposable items. They are also PVC-free and lead-free. I learned from Planet Wise's website that many zippers manufactured today still are being painted with lead paint. Planet Wise bags are totally safe and responsibly made, and even the packaging is made from recycled or recyclable paper using soy based ink.

All Planet Wise products are made in the USA, in a women owned and run facility near to the home of the owners, in fact. This provides jobs for neighbors and the local community, and everything is on a personal level. Family and community needs are priority.

Planet Wise offers diaper pail liners, wet bags in three sizes, wet/dry bags, hanging wet/dry bags, MINI wet/dry bags, and swim/diaper bags!

 

The award winning  Planet Wise wet bags can be used not only for cloth diapers but for shoes, swim wear, dirty clothes, toiletries, gym clothes, and more. They come in small (holding 1-2 wet diapers), medium(8-9), and large(16-17). Large Planet Wise wet bags come with a convenient strap with a snap for hanging. This is ideal as the large wet bag holds 16-17 diapers it can easily serve as a hanging diaper "pail"  as well.

All Planet Wise wet bags feature sealed seams to prevent wicking. Nicki had used and sold many kinds of wet bags over the years and had found that people often complained of leaks. After much research, she found quality materials and an innovative way of sealing the seams so that no moisture could get through. All Planet Wise wet bags have hidden seams and an outer layer of designer cotton fabric. Here's a labeled diagram of the Planet Wise wet bag: 

I received this large Planet Wise wet bag in "Playful Paisley" for review: (The diaper is for size comparison, of course I had to use one that matched, lol!)

Invisible seams and cute Planet Wise Tag

Matching inner PUL and zipper (I love matching colors! :)

And speaking of...

Color coordinating strap with snap!

My Review: 

This is by far my favorite wet bag yet, and no surprise, one my favorite things about it is the great print and colors of the designer cotton fabric. This extra liner also helps to keep odor in, makes it cute in the diaper bag, and just makes for a sturdier bag! The strap is great too. It has a sturdy snap which allows you to hang it on a doorknob or hook it around something.

I chose the large bag because my family goes on weekend trips pretty often as my mom and dad live about an hour and a half away. My mom is an advocate for cloth diapering. She had always kept the diapers she used on my brother and I, telling me I could use them someday. I thought the idea was disgusting, but here I am doing it (and it is not disgusting)! This means that we don't have to buy disposables every time we go visit my parents. I haul the whole stash and paraphernalia with us, and mom even washes for me while we're there! 

When I received this bag I knew I had my weekend (2 day) traveling bag! It's perfect. It holds a lot of diapers and is easily transportable. It worked out that we went on a trip to my parents' the weekend after I received the bag so I got to test it out. 


I ended up taking our clean diapers in it with plans to empty it there or throw the dirties in smaller bags that I had. It made me realize that two of these would make a perfect system.I would recommend a couple of these, one for the clean stash and another to throw the dirties in and you've got a simple, cute, practical traveling storage AND diaper pail for your short trips away from home, that you can hang on a bedroom and closet doors. Hang the one for the dirties to whatever door handle is closer to your changing station, of course. Then you can continue to use the bag that held the clean diaper throughout the week as your regular wet bag in the diaper bag while the other is being washed with the diapers.


All the "idealness" (to coin a new word) of this bag for weekend trips being expounded upon, I also use this as a regular wet bag in the diaper bag (because it's so cute), and found that it works great. It doesn't take up too much space in the diaper bag. As it holds more, obviously it would be ideal for a day trip or a day when you're going to be out of the house a lot. We have a lot of those!


All in all, I think this is the perfect wet bag. It works great, looks cute, and is super practical. I will stick with these from now on!

Where to Buy:  

Here is a list of Planet Wise retailers!

***GIVEAWAY***

Planet Wise is generously offering a large wet bag to one very blessed reader!

Here's how to enter:

Go to the Planet Wise website and come back here and leave a comment telling me something you learned or which print you like the best!

(Leave a separate comment for each entry. Include your email address if it is not easily accessible through your blogger profile.You do not have to have a blogger profile to enter, as long as you leave a valid e-mail address.)  

Additional Entries: 

Like Planet Wise on Facebook and tell them thanks for the giveaway on the Cheap and Choosy!

Follow @planetwise on Twitter! 

Blog about this giveaway.

Tweet about this giveaway using @planetwise, @cheapnchoosy, and #giveaway.  (Up to 3 times daily) 

Like The Cheap and Choosy on Facebook! (Right sidebar) 

Follow The Cheap and Choosy via Google Friend Connect (Right Side Bar).

Follow me on Twitter.

Grab my blog button (top right) and leave a link to where I can find it in your comment.

Subscribe to The Cheap and Choosy via email. (right sidebar)

Comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. (One entry per post commented on.)

 This giveaway is open to the U.S. and Canada until January 9, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. EST. The winner will be chosen using a random number generator. I will email the winner, who will have 48 hours to respond. If winner does not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen. I will post the winner when the selection has been made and confirmed by the recipient.

This is not a paid post. The opinions expressed are completely my own! I received the product reviewed free of charge.  You can see my full disclosure here.

Comfy Rumps Pocket Diaper- Review and GIVEAWAY! (2-pack!) **CLOSED**

 ...where our mission is to provide high quality cloth diapers that make cloth diapering an affordable and easy alternative...

Comfy Rumps is a Canadian based company that seeks to provide quality yet affordable cloth diapers by cutting out some unnecessary costs such as branding and special packaging. I think this is a wonderful idea! This blog isn't called "The Cheap and Choosy" for nothing. I like to be frugal, but still value good quality. My experience so far with this product makes it fall right into both of those categories. I'm all about cutting out unnecessary things to make things simpler and more economical.

Let's face it, most cloth diapers are expensive, even though less expensive than disposables in the end (unless bought in excess), the upfront cost is still often hard to swallow, at least for me anyway.

One size diapers are a great way to save since they are supposed to fit from birth to potty training more or less, you don't have to buy a whole new stash of diapers each time your baby grows out of a certain size. However, one size diapers are more expensive than sized diapers so the upfront cost can be discouraging, and even then you get a lot more use for your money!

Comfy Rumps combines the savings of a quality one size diaper for an affordable upfront cost! That is saving right there. As I've shared before, pocket diapers are now my preferred daytime cloth diaper, and I'm excited to know that there are very economically priced diapers that are great quality!

About the creators of ComfyRumps (taken from their website):

"ComfyRumps.com Diaper Services was born on a rainy November day in Vancouver, BC by Christie and Trey. After paying over two hundred dollars for 11 name brand diapers, and noticing 11 diapers was enough for a day and a half (max!), we decided washing them every day was not another chore we wanted to add to the list. Soon after, we launched our company with a great single product! Today we are continually working to provide affordable and environmentally friendly diapering alternatives to families across Canada and the USA.

Our goal is not to make a killing on selling diapers and diaper services.  Our goal is to ensure that after our time, our children, grand children, and future generations can proudly say “Our parents/grandparents did their job to ensure we can breathe clean air, and drink clean water”.  Our modern world war is the war on climate change and pollution.  We are all responsible for making sure that our future generations do not suffer from the way we choose to live today.  Nearly everything comes in disposable versions these days offering convenience in many aspects of our lives, but at what cost? We are proud to say we are trying to do our part, to promote a healthy planet for future generations and we strive to offer encouragement and education to everyone we can in order to help them do the same"

Comfy Rumps offers a variety of affordable pocket diapers.  On their site, you can find:

PUL One Size Pocket Diaper with Velcro Closures

PUL One Size Pocket Diapers with Snap Closures

Minky One Size Pocket Diapers

Organic Bamboo Diapers

I received this PUL one size pocket diaper for review:

The outer layer is polyester PUL, the inner material is a extremely gentle micro fleece. Each diaper comes with one 3 piece microfiber soaker, each soaker can last up to 3-4 hours. The diapers have 3 snaps on each wing, and 2 rows of snaps. 



My Review:

This diaper fits my little one extremely well. I have found it to be an extremely great value because the microfleece and PUL used are nice and seem to me to be totally on par with that of many more expensive brands. Not only that, but the snap settings are very convenient and assure a good fit for any size baby.

I actually prefer this diaper so far to most snapping diapers that I have so far in terms of  ease of use and good fit. There are four snaps for possible leg settings, and the bottom snap on the wing is far enough back to pretty much qualify as a newborn side snap which will help assure a snug fit and prevent wing droop. I can easily find a perfect fit for my little one. They are indeed "comfy"!

It also has cross over snaps so that it can be snapped up teensy tiny!

This is definitely one of my favorite pocket diapers, and without further ado, here it is on my 13 month old 20 pound baby:

Buy it!

You can purchase this diaper for $8.75 (Canadian Dollars) at www.ComfyRumps.com! (Um...wow!)

Current Promotion: Buy 18 diapers get 4 free diapers, 1 free wet bag and 4 free soakers!**
or Buy 12 of any diapers and get 2 free**

Win it!

Comfy Rumps is offering one very blessed reader TWO Comfy Rumps pocket diapers!

Here's how to enter:

Go to Comfy Rumps' website and come back here and leave a comment letting me know which product you are most interested in and/or something you learned!

(Leave a separate comment for each entry. Include your email address if it is not easily accessible through your blogger profile.You do not have to have a blogger profile to enter, as long as you leave a valid e-mail address.)

Additional Entries:

Like Comfy Rumps on Facebook.

Follow Comfy Rumps on Twitter.

Make a purchase from Comfy Rumps.

Blog about this giveaway.

Tweet about this giveaway using @ComfyRumps, @Cheapnchoosy, and #clothdiapers. (Up to three times daily.)

Like The Cheap and Choosy on Facebook!

Follow The Cheap and Choosy via Google Friend Connect.

Follow me on Twitter.

Grab my blog button and leave a link to where I can find it in your comment.

Subscribe to The Cheap and Choosy via email.

Comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. (One entry per post commented on.)

Get two entries for posting the Fluff Your Pockets! button on the main page of your blog. Just leave a link to where I can find it.

This giveaway is open to Canada and the U.S. until Dec. 23, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. EST. The winner will be chosen using a random number generator. I will email the winner, who will have 48 hours to respond. If winner does not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen. I will post the winner when the selection has been made and confirmed by the recipient.

This is not a paid post. I received the product for review free of charge. The opinions expressed are completely my own! You can see my full disclosure here.

Washing Cloth Diapers and an HE Frontloader: Problems and Solutions (Prelude to Rockin' Green Review and Giveaway)

Cleaning cloth diapers is simply not simple, at least not if you have an High Efficiency Front Loader washing machine. Just about every person you ask will have a different answer about what did or does work or not work for them, even among those who've been doing it for a long time. There are so many types of washers, water, and detergents, not only that but you never know the history of the diapers in question, and what kind of residue they may already have. I could make a list a mile long of factors that can influence cleaning diapers, but I don't have time to write a mile long post. :) I've got a half mile to go as it is...

Several months ago, I posted about what I'd learned so far about washing cloth diapers in an HE Frontloader, including the necessity (for me) to use "clean rinsing" detergent, the help of adding a large wet towel, and the help of using a diaper sprayer. At that time, I had  completely ceased to have issues with detergent build up (so long fishies!) and for some time enjoyed my diapers coming out of the wash smelling gloriously of NOTHING (this is how you know they are clean), and even after wet on, they smelled only of pee (this is how you know they are REALLY clean). I thought I had it all figured out!  Until...

Enter Ammonia.

I'd heard that pee eventually turned to ammonia as it sits, and not until my baby was at least 6 months old or so did I learn what that smelled like. Back to the Diaper Pin forums I went.  It wasn't too bad at first, only in overnight diapers and in the pail when it was time to wash did I smell it, but then it began to be an issue even after a diaper had been in the wet bag for a few hours while we were out on the town. It began to intensify and I was beginning to realize I had a problem.

I knew that some level of ammonia smell was normal, to be expected, and not necessarily a problem. I asked around to find out what was "normal," and the consensus seemed to be that it's normal in the overnight diaper (unless it's strong enough to burn your nose or something), normal in the pail after a day or too, but NOT normal if it is smelling like that in the wet bag after just a few hours and as I already new definitely not normal if you could smell it immediately after the diaper is wet. Fortunately, I've not gotten to that point.

However, it was an unavoidable fact...I had some ammonia build up. Now, what to do?

All HE Frontloaders are not created equal. I've looked it up so very many times and I often hear "use this setting or that setting, mine does this or that if you do this or that," and found none of those scenarios to be true for my washer. I've read the user manual front to back numerous times, and had almost become convinced that it was impossible to get cloth diapers PERFECTLY clean in my washing machine.

I had started or continued doing few things that had helped keep the problem from getting out of hand, and I still find them necessary to do, but they are not sufficient in themselves:

1. Spray out even just heavily wet diapers before putting them in the pail. Not only does this go ahead and rinse out some of the urine, it also makes the diaper already saturated when going into the washer so that they do not merely absorb all the teesie bit of water that the HE Frontloader puts in!

2. Throw a huge wet towel into the wash.

3. Wash at least every 2.5 days...

4. Do a delicate wash first (in place of the cold wash or rinse generally prescribed), because the delicate cycle uses more water than any other cycle (on most machines). This gives a better rinse than I had been getting. (I'd tried both doing a quick wash cold, regular wash cold, and just cold rinse.)

Though these things helped, and made my diapers tolerable, there simply was not enough water getting through my diapers. I had decided I was going to drive 1.5 hours to my parents house and hang out for a day or two and wash wash wash. That was after planning to do it at a laundry mat, which seemed like a great idea until I realized that there was no way I could have my not walking yet but crawling everywhere and eating every minute particle off the floor baby there all day!

(For those of you new  to cloth...please don't be scared away from cloth diapers...this kind of stripping only needs to be done once in a while...and you can make it a LONG while with clean rinsing detergent and...well...not having my washing machine.)

There were a couple of options before me, both of which came highly recommended.

1. RLR

2. Rockin' Green

I ordered the RLR, but did not use it right away because I felt that I would only know if it really worked if I tried it in a different washing machine or figured out how to get more water going through mine. Not long after this I wrote Rockin' Green to see if they'd be interested in working with me on a review of their product.

THEN, I heard some exciting news. I learned from this post on The Cloth Diaper Whisperer, that it is possible to add water to your machine through the detergent dispenser! The couple who wrote the article had the luxury of a sink in their laundry room, and were able to use a hose to add the water. I had to use a bucket, and yes some splashing was involved, but IT WORKED! I found that if I added two or three bucket fulls (depending on the size of the load) I could actually SEE the water moving around the dipes! I was very excited. I'm looking for a large watering can with a spout that doesn't have the "sprinkler" attached, which will make pouring in the extra water mess free.

I started doing this, and though I still had the ammonia smell, it definitely was NOT getting worse. This was no surprise to me since I knew it was a BUILD UP problem, and required stripping. Now I just had to figure out how to get that 'ol build up outta there!

I had finally heard back from Rockin' Green and they were going to send me a few samples of their product for review.

I had a choice to make. RLR, or Rockin' Green?  I decided to wait on trying the RLR, and give the Rockin' Green a chance first, especially since it was supposed to remove build up by SOAKING rather than stripping (and because I had to write a review of it :).

You'll hear the rest of the tale , or at least the next chapter, in my soon upcoming review and giveaway of Rockin' Green Soap!

BabyLegs Review and GIVEAWAY! (Plus a Discount!)***CLOSED***

The Original. Like you.

BabyLegs began when one mom needed a solution. Her baby had diaper rash, and she wanted to allow more air to get to the rash yet still keep her baby warm, so she cut off the feet of a pair of socks that fit her baby up to the thighs resulting in a cool pair of leg warmers. They ended up being great not just for warmth, but for protecting crawling knees, and making diaper changing and potty training easier! They have now become a "parenting essential" around the world. They are popular for legs AND arms of bigger kids! They are well known for the fun designs and practical use. They are especially popular with cloth diapering moms because they allow you to keep baby's legs warm without covering up the cute cloth diapers!


I received two pair of leg warmers and socks as well as a lovely pair of tights for review.

First, the leg warmers. These things are so great. I'll have to admit, I'd heard of BabyLegs for some time, and seen lots of pics of babies in cloth diapers and BabyLegs all over the place but I didn't get what the rage was all about. Eventually I realized that it was probably about not having to cover up cloth diapers in cooler weather, as they come in so many fun colors and prints, I know lots of moms hate to have to cover them up with clothes! They are great for that for sure, and I wish I'd decided to give them a chance sooner because they are GREAT for crawling knees as well.

Our entire home, except for stone tile in the bathrooms and laundry room is covered in hard, laminate flooring. Lydia has preferred scooting to crawling and it took a while for me to realize that it might be because of the hard floors, which was about the time that we started trying out these leg warmers, and sure enough...she's doing a lot more crawling all over the house now!!

They really do make diaper changing easier too. If it's not TOO cold, I definitely prefer keeping her in a diaper and baby legs because you don't have to take them on and off during changing! I keep them on under her pants too though when she is wearing them for an extra layer of warmth! Some of Lydia's pants come up a little when she's sitting in a stroller, so these also help keep her legs protected from the cold in that case.

They also come in lots of colors and designs and it's fun to match them to different outfits. Here they are on baby, before and after her first haircut :).

Leaping Leopard Leg Warmers

Bubble Tea Leg Warmers

I was also happy to try out BabyLegs baby socks!

I love the fit of these socks. They have grippers on the bottom so they are also perfect for our baby and our floors as she's pulling up and standing on everything! They stay on her feet better than any other socks I've used so far (except when she pulls them off of course ;), and I think it's due to the shape having more of an angle at the heel. And of course, I love all the fun colors and designs! Here is one pair on baby! :)

Honky Tonk Baby Socks!

And finally we really enjoyed these poetic tights. They fit Lydia perfectly, and stay up really well! No sagging in the waste/bottom OR legs! I definitely recommend them!

Through this experience, I have become a big fan of BabyLegs, especially the warmers, and plan to stock up on some more colors!

*********READER DISCOUNT*********

BabyLegs is generously offering 20% off your order! The code to use at checkout is: CHOOSY20 (all caps). It expires Dec. 10^th.

************GIVEAWAY!************

BabyLegs is generously offering a BabyLegs Grab Bag to one very blessed reader! 

Three Mandatory Entries:

-Go to BabyLegs' website and come back here and tell me something you learned! (Please include your email address if you do not have a public blogger profile through which I can contact you.)

-Like BabyLegs on Facebok.

-Follow BabyLegs on Twitter. (If you do not have a twitter account, just let me know that in your facebook comment!)

Additional Entries:

-Blog about this giveaway and leave link in comment!

- Tweet about this giveaway using

-Follow The Cheap and Choosy GFC!

-Follow @cheapnchoosy on Twitter!

-Like The Cheap and Choosy on Facebook!

-Grab The Cheap and Choosy blog button!

-Two entries for adding the  "Fluff Your Pockets!" button on the main page of your blog.

-Subscribe to The Cheap and Choosy via email.

This giveaway is open to the U.S. only until Dec. 10, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The winner will be chosen using a random number generator. I will email the winner, who will have 48 hours to respond. If winner does not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen. I will post the winner when the selection has been made and confirmed by the recipient.

This is not a paid post. I received the items for review free of charge. You can see my full disclosure here.