Un-Paper Towel Winner!

The winner of the Eco-Friendly and Frugal UnPaper towel giveaway is.......
#9- nsees! Congrats!
I've sent you an email with details and to see what pattern of towels you would like- so check that out and get back with me!

Congratulations!

Let's talk GREEN- with a giveaway!

Here's my view on being green, take it or leave it:

God made the earth.
He said that it was good.

He then intrusted us to take care of it
and to be good stewards of what we have been given.

In my opinion, the best way to do this is to not waste and try not to use products that are manufactured in places that produce a ton of waste! The biggest and most expensive change to go "green" that I've mentioned before was cloth diapers for Noah- but there are TONS of smaller and much cheaper little changes that you can do! Every little bit helps and keeps garbage out of landfills!

Today, we're gonna be going on a little tour of my kitchen- thrilling, right?

One (waaaay cheap) thing we've done is gotten rid of paper napkins! I found these cloth napkins at a Vera Bradley sale for $1 each. Booyah! Score! We keep them on top of the microwave in a little basket so we can grab one after we fix our plate and head to the table!

The next thing we did was get rid of paper towels (I mean, we're already washing dipes and napkins, right?). I have few different kinds of "un-paper towels" and we keep them in a basket right beside the sink where the paper towels used to be:

From left to right we have Owlie Towelies from Eco Friendly and Frugal on etsy (oooh more on that in a sec!), some little scrubby-ish towels made of terry cloth on one side and flannel on the other (that I made as wipes for Noah but they just work better in the kitchen!) and then some towels from IKEA (10 for $3!)

After the towels get dirtied up, we just throw them in a basket on top of the dryer (note the vinegar- I could write a whole post on vinegar, but I'll spare you and just point you to this website that can explain a TON of uses for white distilled vinegar! And no, it doesn't smell like vinegar when you use it in laundry and to clean):

Oh our laundry? Glad you asked! That stuff in the candy jar right there is Charlie's Soap (10 cents a load, people!) We also use vinegar to soften the fabric and Fuzzy Wuzzy Dryer Balls instead of dryer sheets (aren't they pretty?)

But enough about all of the goings-on in the kitchen- let's talk about these babies (click for a larger pic): Un-paper towels from Eco-Friendly and Frugal!

What I love about these:
- They can also be used as napkins! Hello, versitile!
- With two layers of flannel, they are super absorbant (especially if you use vinegar in the rinse- the vinegar helps breakdown any detergent build-up, making flannel more absorbant!) and made very sturdy. They're turned and topstitched, meaning the two layers are sewn together not once, but twice to ensure that they won't come apart.
- This may sound strange, but after using a few different kind of towels in the kitchen, these dry very well! You know how sometimes you have to wipe up water, and the towels not neccessary dirty? With some towels, they dry very stiff and make it hard to use it again before washing- not these! They dry soft and pliable and ready to use again!

What I don't love:
- I kind of wish they came in different sizes- or maybe just a little bit smaller. You know, like the paper towels that you can tear off 1, 2 or 3 depending on the size of the mess? I do a lot of wiping up little spills and wiping down counters, so that could just be me.
(but I'm sure that is something that Eco-Friendly and Frugal could do something about- special order, maybe?)

So.... you want to try a set of these?

Buy 'Em!
Roll on over to the Eco-Friendly and Frugal Etsy shop
and check out her other stuff while you're there!
(Minky wipes?! Noah's butt says "yes, please!")

Win 'Em!
Eco-Friendly and Frugal has offered up a set of these to one of my readers! This is a perfect first step (of 100th!) towards doing your part to keep garbage out of landfills! Plus you are seriously saving some money!

To enter, leave me a comment here (don't forget to include your email address!) telling me how you try to "go green" at your house (or office or school!).

Want more chances to win?
Leave a separate comment letting me know you did any of the following:
- Follow my blog (if you don't already!)
- Follow the Eco-Friendly and Frugal Blog
- "Heart" the Eco-Friendly and Frugal shop on Etsy
- Become a fan of Eco-Friendly and Frugal on Facebook

I will choose a winner on Monday, February 22nd and notify the winner by email.
If I don't hear back in 48 hours, I'll pick another winner. Good luck!

Cloth Diaper Review

I know what you're thinking: "You don't do reviews! What blog is this? Who do you think you are?"

Well, first: calm down.

I'm bored... and don't have much exciting to post about.

Plus everyone else does them and I was starting to feel left out.

So there.

Last week, something awesome happened: I entered a giveaway on one of my favorite blogs (shoutout!) The Eco-Friendly Family. The giveaway was for a Thirsties Fab Fitted diaper and a Thirsties Duo (onesize) diaper cover- AND I WON!

WHAT?! I never win anything!

I don't think I've mentioned it on here, but Noah is a cloth-diapered (CD'ed) baby. To be 100% honest, we did it because they're cheaper (and cuter) than disposables. But come to find out they're also better for his skin, better for the environment and, dangit, a great conversation starter! PLUS they're not even nasty to wash (just ask Joe!) It's a win/win/win (Michael Scott's favorite kind of solution, btw). If I can CD, anyone can! And if MY husband is for it- then holy crap, it must be easy!

Anyways, back to my FREE diaper and cover!
They arrived within days of my winning them, and I immediately washed them and put them to use! We typically use prefolds with covers and Bum Genius 3.0 diapers- this is my first experience with a fitted diaper.

The Fab Fitted is so. incredibly. soft. I wanted to just rub my face all over it... but that would have been inappropriate. So I put it on da baby. Here it is on Noah's little tushy (it's a size small, recommended for babies in the range of 12-18lbs):

What a cute tushy.

And for size reference, that is a 9 week old, 13lb 4 oz tushy.

I tried it on with the cover that came with it (Thirsties Duo size two, smallest setting):

I ordered a size two because Noah already has a size one (reccomended 6-18lbs) and it's on the top setting with his prefolds already. And since I know you're curious, here is the diaper with his size one cover that we already had (top setting).

For good measure, here is it with my other new favorite cover, the Litewrap.

(Mini-review of this cover: I'm not gonna lie, I bought it solely for the print, but it has suprised me and I love it a LOT! It has a less-trim fit, but with jammies and clothes that are already kinda big on him, it works great! Plus, it's "un-trim-ness fits over the diaper easier. I don't feel like I'm stuffing the diaper into the cover, which is nice and I'm sure is more comfortable for him. Plus, it has great leg gussets... PLUS who doesn't love a huge fluffy heiny?)

And now, my review:

Thirsties Fab Fitted (size small):
I LOVE this fitted! I've never used fitteds- because I figure, if you're velcro-ing a diaper on your kid, why do it with one that needs a cover? Just use an all-in-one that has the cover built in. I was skeptical as to the "point" of a fitted. After using this diaper twice now, I understand! It's much softer than my AIOs and it fits so snug- there's no way poop is getting outta that thing! And if by some act of God, poop does slip out- it's not getting past this guy:

Thirsties Duo (size two):
I still love it! The leg gussets are perfect for holding in just about anything that comes out of the south end of a north-bound baby. The cover itself is made of PUL that is thin enough to be comfortable, but thick enough to not worry about leaks. With Noah between sizes, we went ahead with the size 2 (reccomended 18-40 lbs) which fit him! Sure, we velcro'ed the tabs on top of each other, but it was still a great fit in the legs!

So, 2 thumbs up from *the luckiest* family! Noah's tushy says thanks to it's friends at the Eco-Friendly Family as well! What a great giveaway!