Buy Dizolve and Support Alberta Flood Victims (July 2013 Campaign)

Last month, I told y'all about how much I love Dizolve, a non-toxic, eco-friendly, effective and Canadian-made laundry detergent I had the opportunity to review which comes in ultra-concentrated strips (vs. "standard" liquid and powder forms). I was consequently sold on its awesomeness enough to make the long-term switch.

But Dizolve Group Corporation doesn't stop at offering a wonderful product! The company also donates a portion of its purchase payments to fundraising causes, and its latest campaign has the potential to make a tremendous impact on an incredibly dire situation.

Last month, the province of Alberta experienced heavy rainfall which led to catastrophic flooding, particularly along many of the province's rivers and tributaries. According to Wikipedia, four people have been confirmed dead, 100,000 had to evacuate and 2,200 Canadian Armed Forces troops were deployed to provide assistance. It has now been two weeks since the events took place, however relief efforts continue and it will likely take years for a complete cleanup/restoration.

Preliminary estimates suggest that damages could be as high as $5 billion, and charitable donations are urgently requested to offset these costs. As such, the Canadian Red Cross has set up an Alberta Floods Fund to provide relief to the victims and assist with rebuilding efforts. The Canadian Red Cross is one of our country's top-rated charities in terms of fundraising efficiency, governance and transparency, so donors should feel confident that their dollars are making the greatest possible impact.

So how does Dizolve fit into all this?

Until the end of July, 2013, Dizolve is donating the entire purchase price of every package sold (less shipping and handling) to the Alberta Floods Fund. Yes, you read that right - 100% of all profits. At $12 per box, this campaign could really make a difference. If 1% of the population purchased a single box, over $4.2 million would be donated. If 10% of the population purchased 3 boxes, over $126 million would be donated! This is one of the most compelling fundraising campaigns I've come across - the cause is urgent, the charity is reputable and the donor gets something (very useful) in return!

To make a purchase/donation yourself, head over to Dizolve's Alberta Flood Relief campaign page. You can buy online or order by phone. If you're interested in spreading the word to others, Dizolve makes it easy - you can send an e-card or print postcards to hand out. Or simply pass along the above link or this blog post!

Thanks for reading and I hope you'll join me in sharing and/or contributing to this terrific campaign!


Disclosure:  This is a sponsored post. The company who sponsored it provided me with compensation in the form of product. Regardless, I only publish posts which reflect my own, completely honest opinions and which I believe are valuable to share with my readers.

Dizolve Ultra Laundry Detergent Strips: Review and Giveaway! (Closed)

Did you know that Canadians spend $890 million annually on laundry detergent, and that 33% of this is wasted due to over-use? How about that we go through approximately 134 million plastic detergent jugs each year (enough to circle the Earth more than once!) and that 94 million of these end up in landfills?

These are just a few of the scary estimates you can read about in The Eco-Impact of Laundry Detergent in Canada, an article from Dizolve Group Corporation. The goal of the article is to create awareness and steer families toward their considerably more eco-friendly solution - Dizolve Ultra Laundry Detergent Strips. I got the opportunity to try this product for myself (well more specifically, my family's never-ending mountain of laundry) and I have to say it's the cat's (clean) pajamas!


Product Info (abridged):

 

Dizolve packs ultra-concentrated cleaning power into a tiny, pre-measured strip of detergent that you just toss in the wash.

It makes your laundry washing chore easier, healthier, more economical, and much kinder to our planet.

Doing laundry has never been easier!

• Small and light, easy to carry and store
• No waste, no messy spills
• Dissolves completely in hot or cold water
• For H.E. and standard machines

 
Half load or hand wash? Just tear a sheet in half.

Just about everyone is impressed by Dizolve’s amazing concentration: 93% of participants rated Dizolve's cleaning power equal to or better than their usual brand, according to a 2012 independent research study of 177 participants washing 1,649 loads of laundry with Dizolve.

• Hypoallergenic for sensitive skin
• Free of 1,4-dioxane
• Phosphate-free
• Biodegradable
• Safe for septics

If everyone in Canada switched to Dizolve, the annual eco-savings would be enormous:

• Eliminate 134 million plastic jugs, saving 94 million from going to landfills
• Save 8.2 million litres of truck fuel and 23.8 million kg of CO2 - equivalent to taking 3.2 million cars off the road for a day, or planting one million trees

But that's not all: a portion of your purchase payment supports the environmental youth education programs of the Sierra Club Canada or another fundraising cause of your choice.


My Review:

I received a 72-load package of Dizolve laundry detergent strips to review.

 

I immediately took note of just how small & light the package was. Pretty remarkable that this tiny li'l box can handle 72 loads of laundry! (More, actually - I'll get to this in a bit.)

The product's contents - a recyclable cardboard outer sleeve, and a booklet of detergent strip sheets. That's it!

Here's a single 3-gram strip - all you need to wash a full load of dirties!

 

Needless to say, I'm sold on the company's claim that Dizolve has a considerably reduced ecological footprint.

In terms of safety, first of all the strips have an almost neutral smell which is a good thing in my books. Strong scent = narsty chemicals, in most cases. Second, I reviewed the product's full ingredient list. Each one includes a layman's description of its source and purpose, and none of them appear on several "toxic laundry ingredients to avoid" lists I found online. Convincing enough for me! Side note - the company is working on a natural scent for those who do enjoy a li'l olfactory goodness infused into their family's duds.

All of this is well and dandy, but the most important question - does Dizolve actually work? Happily, I'm one of the (quoted) 93% who believes that it does. And very well indeed! I've run about 20 loads so far in our front loader using these strips (in softened water, at different temperatures), and consistently noted the following:

• Laundry comes out smelling fresh. (Not chemically-scented "fresh" but truly clean fresh.)
• Stains are easily eliminated (or, at least, minimized)

Upon receiving the green light from my PR contact, I've even taken the plunge into cloth diaper laundering and it's been working fabulously. The standard wisdom for washing dipes is to halve the amount of detergent, and this appears true here as well. I initially used a full strip, however following my regular 3-cycle routine, the diapers appeared to be holding some residue. The next time, I tore a strip in half and the everything came out perfectly clean and neutral-smelling. This means a 72-load box could go even further for CDing families; perhaps about 90-100 loads total. Awesome! (All this said, I should note that our son is exclusively breastfed right now so we're not dealing with "real" poo just yet. I'm certainly interested to see how well Dizolve handles things when we get to that point, especially since I've wrestled with major funk in the past with my daughter's diapers.)

Finally, a comment on the convenience factor. I love how clean and simple it is to rip off a strip and toss it in the drum! The instructions say to put in the strip before your clothing, but order doesn't seem to matter in practice as (true to its name) the strip dissolves as soon as it comes into contact with water. On this note, however, my husband pointed out that we shouldn't store our Dizolve under the laundry tub like we do our other detergents. One significant splash and the whole box could dissolve away! As such, it's found a new, safer home on top of the dryer.

Overall (in case it's not clear) I'm a huge fan of Dizolve. It's safe, convenient, performs well and leaves a significantly reduced ecological footprint. I honestly can't come up with any criticism, and that's rare for me. :) The strip format just makes sense, and I can see it becoming the new gold standard for laundry in the not-so-distant future. Kudos to the Dizolve Group Corporation for creating a truly stellar product - I'll certainly be ordering more when my current box is finished!



Buy It:

Purchase Dizolve Ultra Laundry Detergent Strips directly from the Dizolve website. Shipping is free to any address in Canada. Make sure to select the fundraising campaign you wish to support! (Read up on the Dizolve Fundraising Cleanup Program for more information on this.)

Dizolve is also sold in some grocery stores in Atlantic Canada and several other countries.


Win It:

One super-lucky Manager to Mom reader will win a one-year supply (6 boxes) of Dizolve! Open to CANADA ONLY.

To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Please follow all instructions within each entry option to ensure your entries are valid.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure:  The prize is being provided and shipped to the winner by Dizolve Group Corporation.  I received no financial compensation for writing my review or offering this giveaway, although I did receive the sample items free of charge.  This is my completely honest opinion above and may be different from yours.

Wool Dryer Balls from The Willow Store: Review and Giveaway {FluffyFebruary} (Closed)

I know I've kept y'all waiting for my second Fluffy February feature, but this one is worth the wait - I promise! :)

The Willow Store is a company based in Verona, Wisconsin which offers reusable alternatives to many personal care and household products which are most commonly available today in disposable forms - for example nursing pads, wipes, feminine care products and, of course, cloth diapers! Catherine Bolden, founder and mom behind The Willow Store, recognized that recent generations have been treating the Earth as "single use", thus disrupting its natural cycle and putting its future at risk. As such, she created The Willow Store in 2005 out of a desire to help care for and preserve our planet for future generations.

All Willow Store products are ethically manufactured in the United States. In addition, the company strongly supports small business and living wages, and selects top-quality materials which are organic and sourced in the US whenever possible.

That's a strong set of core values and business practices, don't you think?

So let's take a closer look at one of the particular products offered by The Willow Store. And nope, despite the fact that it's Fluffy February, I'm not going to be reviewing a diaper this time around. But don't be disappointed - the item I am going to tell you about can definitely play a key role in the overall practice of cloth diapering!

** Drumroll please! **

Enter the Wool Dryer Ball!

For those of you raising your eyebrows in uncertainty, wool dryer balls are used in place of disposable dryer sheets to reduce static, soften laundry and reduce drying time. Most importantly, they are free from the harsh chemicals which are rampant in disposable sheets. (These chemicals are bad news in general but particularly damaging when it comes to cloth diapers, as they leave residue behind which reduces absorbency and can cause irritation to sensitive little bums, not to mention potential longer term health risks.) Finally, since wool is naturally antibacterial, these balls can be used for weeks (if not months) before they're due for a cleaning.

I've been using wool dryer balls for about 8 months now and I love them - they totally work! Not just for dipes, but all different types of laundry. The balls I have owned the longest were made by a fellow mama blogger who used to sell them online. I wrote about her laundry balls, as well as how I first discovered this wonderful natural laundry concept in general, last September.

Let's look at The Willow Store's wool dryer balls in more detail. In addition to the general benefits I mentioned above, these balls are:

• Natural wool felted; they won't unravel in the laundry or in your little one's hands!
• Safe from color bleeding, as the dye used is fiber-reactive
• Soft and malleable, so they tumble quietly in the dryer
• Hand-made in the US

In addition, they come in a wide array of vivid colours! To me, brighter is better when it comes to locating the li'l guys quickly from your clean laundry pile. However, a "natural" option is available as well for those of you who prefer to go dye-free.

For review purposes, Catherine sent me a 3-pack of their wool dryer balls in yellow, green and blue. They came packaged in a cute li'l recyclable cardboard box:

Each one is approximately the size of a tennis ball, but as you can see there is some variation in both size and shape. This is expected since each ball is hand-made!

Here's a close-up of the biggest ball. This one's closer in size to a baseball, I'd say. Also notice how the surface is uniform and "fuzzy"; this is because the balls are made with wool roving, a piece of wool that has been combed, clumped and twisted. (A more common style you'll see on the market today is made with wool yarn and has a corresponding "wrapped" appearance.)

The balls are, indeed, very soft and almost "squishy", and true to description are extremely quiet in the dryer.

In terms of performance, the three balls used together are quite effective at keeping the static at bay, and I'd estimate they cut down drying time by 20-25%. For my cloth diapers in particular, without using any balls I need to run a full dry cycle (on low heat) and then turn the dryer back on for about 25 minutes longer to finish the job. And then everything's stuck together, of course. With three balls, I only need an extra 10 minutes or so, and static is minimal to nonexistent.

My daughter is quite fond of these balls herself. A few times now, one of them went missing for a day or two, and then I'd find it hiding under her crib or in her toy box. (Eventually I realized her intentions weren't exactly honourable when she'd saunter over to "help" with the laundry! ;) In any case, these situations allowed forced me to test performance with just two of the balls, and I found that these loads did require slightly longer drying times and resulted in a bit more static.

On the flip side, more is definitely merrier when it comes to dryer balls - to a certain extent, anyway. (I'm sure the Law of Diminishing Returns applies at some point. :) When I dried a load of dipes with all five balls (three from The Willow Store and the two I had previously) I barely needed any extra time on top of the initial dry cycle.

In terms of longevity, aside from some surface pilling (which doesn't affect performance and is probably inevitable, especially if used with lint-emitting laundry) these balls are extremely hardy! Despite their softness, they maintain their shape well load after load, and the felted wool continues to be fused strongly to each ball's core.

And even the pilling can be "fixed" using a sweater defuzzer, if desired. It took me 2-3 minutes to "beautify" the blue ball below, which was previously as pilly as the green one:

All in all, I wholeheartedly recommend wool dryer balls as a key component of a natural laundry routine, especially for folks who cloth diaper! The Willow Store's dryer balls in particular are a great choice; hand-made, soft and colourfast, they come in a wide variety of bright & cheery shades and I find them to be highly effective (at reducing static, cutting down drying time and softening laundry), quiet and durable.


Buy It: 

Visit The Willow Store to pick up some of their wool dryer balls for yourself! Individual balls cost $6.95 each and 3-packs (natural or assorted colours) go for $19.95. Check out all the other natural, reusable products while you are there! Shipping time averages 2-5 days. The company stands behind their products and demonstrates this by offering a 60-day return policy. Willow Store products are also available at numerous 3rd party retailers (online and across the US).

** Sale Alert! ** Until the end of February, all Natural Feminine Care products are 20% off! Plus, you can get a free Anywhere travel bag with every pad!


Win It:

Catherine has generously offered to give away a set of three wool dryer balls from the Willow Store to one lucky Manager to Mom reader! Winner chooses colours from among available options.

To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Comments do not count as entries, however feel free to add a comment to remind yourself that you entered!

Rockin' Green: Your Tips & Ideas!

In my recent Rockin' Green laundry detergent giveaway, I asked you to comment on helpful/interesting ways you have used RnG in the past and/or or how you'd like try using it in the future! You guys shared some great suggestions and ideas, so I thought I would list 'em all here. I'm definitely eager to try a few of these! I actually just rocked a grungy stuffed animal soak myself and it worked like a charm! :)

• Want to try this on my cloth diapers and hubby's socks!
• I've soaked our pack'n'play in the tub with Rockin Green... you can check out pics of it on my blog Facebook page, Baby and the Chi's 
• Love that it takes all the stinkies out and cleans really well. I do the RnG soak overnight about once a week, and it's great!
• I would love to try this on the bibs of the children I care for
• I'd like to try cleaning my carpet with it... but def. successfully rocked a few soaks already!
• read RNG will clean tubberware stains!
• I wash them once to get out the gross stuff before using any soap and use as little soap as possible
• I'd love to try cleaning all the stains my daughters get down the fronts of their shirts...they are messy eaters!!  and I end up throwing out a lot of clothes
• i'd like to try it to wash the floor
• I have heard that Rockin Green Soap is great for doggie beds...well, this is a bit different but my dog will be giving birth in just one week and I will be using Rockin Green to clean the towels and blankets that get messy during the birth. Really hoping for the best for my blankets! :)
• I haven't tried it yet but would use it on hard to clean dish clothes
• I've rocked a soak on my diapers and got them extra clean! We ahve a few pet spots on the carpet we want to try to use it for and would love to try the funk rock to get rid of stinkies on a couple diapers I have.
• We use rockin' green on our diapers but I would love to see if it got the gunk out of my husbands shirt collars!
• I use it on my dipes, but I never thought about my kitchen cloths.  I usually bleach to get rid of the mildewy smell, but RnG would be much gentler on the cloths and on the environment.  Thanks!
• I used it in my dishwasher-it was great!
• I rocked a soak on my cloth diapers when I first tried Rockin Green - the water was so nasty, and I thought my diapers were clean!
• Used it to rock a soak on some stinky microfiber inserts. My results were about the same as yours, MUCH better, but still could smell a little something funky....
• ...would like to try it on some outdoor canvas chair cushions.
• I would use it on sneakers!
• I use Rockin' green on our regular diaper laundry, but also on cloth diapers I find at resale shops and garage sales.  It gets them as clean as new!
• I would like to wash my kids sheets.  After a summer of bare feet I would love them to get really deep cleaned without using bleach.
• I'd love to clean my dd's floor rugs! The bath mats was a wonderful idea!
• Rockin Green was the only thing to get rid of the stinkies from the washcloths we use on our toddler after meals!
• I love RnG and have rocked a tub soak for my cloth diapers- it worked like a charm after trying some detergent that did not work! 
• I haven't used Rock'n Green yet, but I really want to try rocking a soak of our one size diapers. Especially in Funk Rock!
• I haven't ever used Rockin' Green but would love to use it on my grungy kitchen cloths!
• I have never used this product but would love to try it on stains -- especially on sheets and sleepers 
• I WOULD LOVE TO WASH SNEAKERS IN THIS DETERGENT 
• I rock a soak once a month letting them sit in the washer over night. It really helps keep them fresh.
• Carpet Stains! I added a little bit of water to make a paste and scrubbed it right into the carpet. Worked wonders!
• Haven't used RG yet, but would love to try it in the dishwasher (I'm having some problems right now with cloudiness).
• I'd love to use it on my old stuffed animals. :)
• I'd love to try cleaning my musty towels with this!  never tried it before!
• Have never tried Rockin Green but have heard so much good about it -- would love to try it out on my baby laundry and also bedding!
• I'd love to try rockin' a soak on my towels...I hear it really works to soften them up!
• I was so impressed with your bathmat!  That is probably what I would use it for also.

Does anyone have any other tips or ideas to add to the list?

Rockin' Green Laundry Detergent: Review and Giveaway! (Closed)

Rockin' Green Laundry Detergent: It's not just for cloth diapers!!

There. Did that get your attention?

See, here's the thing. If you currently cloth diaper, you've almost certainly at least heard of Rockin' Green. And there's a good chance you've used it or it's even your regular diaper detergent. But if you don't, it's likely you aren't familiar with this rockin' brand, since it is marketed so heavily based on its ability to clean and de-funk little ones' skivvies. So let me share a secret with y'all: not only is RnG a great cloth diaper laundry detergent, but it does a darn good job at other types of cleaning as well! I'm hoping to demonstrate this to you in my review, by sharing my experiences and tips for both cloth diaper laundry and general cleaning.

But first things first - a few key facts about Rockin' Green:

• The company was founded in 2009 by Kim Webb, an avid cloth diapering "mompreneur"!
• Their main product line is their laundry detergent, however they also offer dryer balls, diaper sprayers, pail fresheners and "Funk Rock", an ammonia bouncer.
• Their laundry detergents are made of safe, eco-friendly, phosphate-free ingredients.
• Detergents come in three formulas depending on water type - Soft Rock, Classic Rock and Hard Rock. RnG has a helpful page on their website dedicated to determining which formula is right for you.
• Seven unique and tantalizing scents are available. Scents are derived from natural oils and have groovy names such as Smashing Watermelons and Lavender Mint Revival. They also offer a scent-free option called Bare Naked Babies, because babies smell so good on their own, darn it! :) Their list of scent offerings changes periodically.
• The company offers Rockin' Rewards for buying products on their website. Reward points can be redeemed for detergent and other products.

It is also worth mentioning that Rockin' Green's customer service is top-notch, and that they continuously strive to improve their products. For example, a few months back they announced that they had remixed all of their formulas to have better cleaning power but also be gentler for longevity and safer for sensitive skin.

I have had the opportunity to try a few Rockin' Green eco-friendly cleaning products: their old formula, remixed formula and Funk Rock. I've sampled several scents and I've stuck to Classic Rock as our water is moderately hard. For the purposes of this review, Rockin' Green was kind enough to send me three different samples of their remixed formula, in Rage Against the Raspberry, Earth Wind & Orchids and Lavender Mint Revival.

First of all, let me just say that all of these scents are wonderful! If I had to pick a favourite from these, it would probably be Lavender Mint Revival. It just smells so crisp and fresh!

So here are some ways we've used these products, and our resulting experiences.

Cloth Diapers

We've been using Classic Rock (in the older formula) to wash our cloth diapers for about four months now. We have a front loader and the following washing steps are working quite well for us:

1. Cold/cold light wash cycle with no detergent
2. Hot/cold normal cycle (extra rinse turned on) with about 1 tbsp of RnG
3. Additional warm/cold light wash cycle

Our diapers come out very soft (especially the prefolds) and pretty much neutral-smelling. And S's bum has been (for the most part) rash-free, so we haven't noticed any sensitivity issues. Finally, those natural scents which smell so great in powder form truly do vanish down the drain along with the suds, so there is no concern about fragrances kicking around in her clean diapers.

We do, however, contend with chronic stinky diaper bag issues. S's daytime dipes aren't too bad at all, but her night time dipes often come off smelling ammonia-riffic. And then they all sit together in the diaper bag, creating an increasingly pungent smell over the 3-4 days that transpire until the next laundry cycle. I suspect this may happen because our front loader simply can't do as good of a job as a top loader at getting our dipes completely clean and residue-free, even with that additional rinse cycle.

This is where "Rocking a Soak" becomes helpful! This process (coined by the company) involves soaking diapers in hot water and a generous helping of RnG laundry detergent. The recommendation is 3 tbsp detergent and a 30-60 minute soak, however the amount can be adjusted to accommodate a smaller or larger load, and the time can be lengthened (even as long as overnight) for really stinky dipes. The general rule of thumb, though, is to reserve the really long soaks for synthetic material such as microfiber (which is what tends to get the stinkiest over time!)

From my experience, rocking a soak has resulted in SUPER clean, soft and absolutely neutral-smelling prefolds, however I haven't been able to get my microfiber inserts completely ammonia-free - even after a full night of soaking. Less smelly, to be sure - but not 100% stink-free. I'd find that they smelled neutral when they came out of the laundry so I'd get all hopeful, but then that all too familiar ammonia smell would be back after 11-12 hours of overnight pee-age. I tried Funk Rock as well, and while this did seem to help further, it still didn't completely eliminate the ammonia. I'm not sure why as I've read other reviews raving about how rocking a soak and/or using Funk Rock completely eradicated any ammonia issues. I guess that since so many factors are involved (water type, top vs. front load washer, days between laundry cycles, age and other characteristics of child, etc.) this is just a hard one to pin down.

On a related note, it's a little more complicated and time consuming to rock a soak or perform a Funk Rock treatment using a front loader. With a top loader, you can soak your dipes right in the machine and then simply run your first cycle. With a front loader, diapers need to be soaked separately, rinsed and then moved to the washer at which point you follow your regular wash routine (like the one I outlined above.) Our laundry tub comes in handy for this as it's right beside the wash machine.

Before rocking a soak, I also generally run a cold/cold wash cycle with no detergent on the dipes to remove the surface nasties. This way, you don't end up with a tub full of yellow pee water.

All in all, we're quite happy with Rockin' Green's ability to clean our cloth diapers, using a combination of regular laundering and soak rockin'. It does take some time and dedication to keep the nasties at bay, but such is the nature of the beast; I mean c'mon - you're cleaning cloth that gets peed and pooed on all day. There is no instant, magical solution to this! :) If you're lucky, you may find that Rockin' Green is literally ALL you need to keep your diapers in tip-top form, as many others out there have found. However if you're like me and still wrestle with a bit of pesky ammonia, you may need to look at supplementing with an alternative approach. I think as a next step I'll take a page from Grandma's book and fire those stubborn microfiber inserts into some boiling water and vinegar; let's hope that does the trick!

As for the old formula vs. the remixed formula? Aside from the new scent (Earth, Wind and Orchids) I haven't noticed an immediate difference between the two formulas. That said, S's skin isn't sensitive to the old formula so this wasn't an issue for us anyway, and one of the noted benefits of the new formula (gentler for longevity) can only be appreciated in the long run. Regarding the improved cleaning power - well, I'll have to take the company's word for it that there's a difference here. :) 

General Cleaning

I've been especially pleased by how well Rockin' Green works to clean our regular laundry and other items. I've used RnG to launder all of our clothing a few times now, with both the older formula and the new "remixed" formula. In some cases I machine dried and in others I hung to dry. In all of these cases, our clean & dry clothing was soft and neutral-smelling.

I also conducted two "Rocking a Soak" de-funk experiments. First, I soaked some stanky dish cloths and towels. (As a side note, as much as I heart my kitchen wetbag, I suspect it may promote funk as the wet, dirty cloths sit in there for days at a time. I've started leaving the bag open a tad and ensuring I wring things out really well prior to storage.) The result? Everything came out *almost* neutral smelling! There was just a slight hint of....something still in the funkiest wash cloths. So perhaps I'll soak 'em again before the next laundry cycle. But all in all, I'm impressed!

Second, I soaked our shaggy bath mat. Now, I'll admit something here. I hadn't washed our mat in a looong time. How long, you ask? Well, perhaps this image will give you some idea:

I'm not sure if I was more disgusted or impressed when I discovered this. Especially since it followed an (obviously ineffective) attempt to clean the mat using an eco-friendly all-purpose cleaner and scrub brush earlier the same day. Gross! That said, following a good rinse, the rug smelled pretty good and I actually felt OK about putting it back out once it had finished drying.

Now I'm all eager to soak other things too! The front hallway mat comes to mind (though I'm a bit frightened to envision what'll come out of that!), perhaps S's bucket seat cover and I'm sure I'll think of many more.


Buy It:

So do you want to have fun soaking icky things too? :) Head on over to Rockin' Green and browse their laundry soaps and other great eco-friendly products! You can buy directly from their site or find a retailer online or in your area!


Win It:

One lucky Manager to Mom reader will receive a 45/90 load bag of Rockin' Green (Remix) laundry detergent! Winner chooses formula (Soft Rock, Classic Rock or Hard Rock) and scent. Open to Canada and the United States.

To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Comments do not count as entries, however feel free to add a comment to remind yourself that you entered!

Happy Green Wool Dryer Balls: Review and "Final Chance" Giveaway! (Closed)

When I began my research on cloth diapering, one of the first things I learned was that I'd need to follow a fairly demanding and finicky laundry routine to get the stinkies out, keep my dipes in tip-top shape and ensure that I wasn't introducing harsh chemicals to baby's sensitive li'l bum. One particular thing that would have to change? No more dryer sheets. As it turns out, these bad boys contain compounds that have been linked to cancer and other health issues.

Really? I thought. Yowza. But then how the heck would I keep the static at bay?

A bit more research unveiled the answer - dryer balls! What a cool concept; toss a couple of these puppies into the dryer and voila - bye-bye fabric cling! And better yet, bye-bye chemicals!

Cloth diaper laundry - what worked for us!

We have now done about 6 loads of cloth diaper laundry (about once every 2 days) in our Frigidaire front load washer with Country Save detergent. Our loads consist mainly of the Bummis organic prefolds plus some Bummis covers, Kawaii snazzy minky pockets, AMP pockets and wet bag. For the first load, we followed the directions in the Bummis manual and the dipes seemed to come out OK. However about 2 loads later, we started to notice a bit of an unpleasant ammonia-y smell so obviously things weren't getting fully clean. During the next load, I added half a cup of vinegar to the initial prewash cycle and then continued with the Bummis instructions and there was still a bit of a smell. So I changed things up a bit further during the latest cycle and it seemed to work wonderfully - no smell! I also noted that the latest load was larger due to a few extra Kawaiis and microfiber inserts in the mix, so the washer would have used additional water which may have helped as well. Here are the full directions we will be following moving forward; I'll post an update if we find we need to make additional adjustments (e.g. when S starts eating solids.)

1. Start with a large load of cloth diaper laundry. (If it's smaller, add a wet towel to the mix to get the washer to add more water.)
2. Make sure inserts are removed from all pockets, one size diapers are fully unsnapped, velcro tabs are fastened and prefolds are "unbunched".
3. Run a cold/cold delicate cycle with 1/4 the recommended detergent for a front load washer (this amounts to about 1/2 a tablespoon of Country Save).
4. Run a hot/cold normal cycle with the same amount of detergent as the previous cycle. Turn the extra rinse option on.
5. Run an additional light wash cycle on warm with extra rinse off.
6. Remove the Bummis covers and wet bag and hang to dry (Note: we need a better solution for soiled dipes while the wet bag is drying. We're currently just setting them on dirty clothes in a laundry basket!)
7. Dry remainder of load on medium heat. Do a full cycle then an extra 15-20 minutes to fully dry the prefolds.

In the summer, we'll probably hang dry the dipes to help sanitize them and remove any stains. In the meantime, we'll dry the occasional load on high heat to help with sanitization. We'll also likely replace the detergent in the cold/cold cycle with a cup of vinegar about once a month to help remove detergent build-up in the washer.

Now that we seem to have a good handle on laundry, my next mini-project is to figure out an effective solution for home-made baby wipes! This should save a few extra hundred $$s and also allow us to control the "ingredients" touching our little one's tushy! I'll post on our experiences here as well - stay tuned!