Smile! It’s Saturday. No. 1 – The Bird…

There are moments in life where you look at something you’ve done and think…

Ah…

Yes…

I’m a little bit daft, aren’t I?

This is one of them.

Picture the scene, if you will…

We decided that Little Master Monkey Clothbum’s room was a tad on the boring side. Ok, it wasn’t too bad – plain soft green walls, white curtains, beige carpet and decorated with The Very Hungry Caterpillar sticker and canvases that I’d made. It was nice, but we were getting bored of it.

So, we went shopping and found these wonderful stickers at Jojo Maman Bebe. The pack was their Giraffe height chart one and came with two gorgeous giraffe stickers, some branches/leaves and some very cute little birds.

Mr Clothbum kept Monkey busy whilst I got sticking. Stickers are so fab as they not only brighten up a room, but they cover a multitude of sins.

Those pesky holes where you started to try and put up shelves…it’s now a pretty tree!
That dent where the toddler keeps slamming the door handle into the wall – covered up by a giraffe’s head!

That strange black mark that just appeared one day and you haven’t got a damn clue where it came from – suddenly transformed into…

Well, into this…

Yeah. I didn’t really register the white mark. That white drip of paint that was very near the black mark.

So…

So now we have a bird having a poo in the nursery.

Well – I suppose it’s original and a talking point.
And aren’t the stickers gorgeous?!

Yep. I’m a bit daft sometimes

daisytheclothbummum bought these stickers herself (well, hubby did!) and all words, thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ecover: Message in a Bottle Campaign

Whenever someone finds out that I use cloth nappies on my little Monkey, I usually get asked why. Now, whilst part of me wants to rail against that (I doubt many disposable nappy users get asked why…) I will quite happily list off the reasons that led me to using these amazing nappies.

My three main answers are:

I always wanted to
They are so much cheaper (I can’t see the point of throwing hundreds of pounds into the bin)
The environmental impact is so much less (Ugh to putting all that plastic into the ground)

So, when Ecover contacted me about their ‘Message in a Bottle’ campaign, it really caught my attention. I’ve always used Ecover products around the house (not exclusively, but I do love them) and as someone who has ridiculously sensitive skin, their natural plant-based ingredients really do make a difference to how itchy I can get when using products.

But what I particularly love about Ecover is the way in which they package their products. They have come up with a really clever way to turn raw sugarcane into a 100% recyclable, renewable and reusable petrol-free green plastic, which is rather damn amazing stuff. It makes me shudder to think about just how many plastic bottles, containers and bits of packaging I throw away every week so having products that can help to reduce that impact on the environment is a great thing, in my opinion.

I’m one of those people who do the whole recycling thing. We have our main bin and then all the other boxes and bags. But there are so many people out there that just can’t be bothered. Whether it’s due to lack of education or just not actually stopping, thinking or caring, I was quite shocked to learn that only about 30% of plastic bottles actually go to UK recycling plants and only 50% of all bottles used are actually collected for recycling in the first place. Shouldn’t the bottles be made of a plastic that can actually be recycled? You’d think so, wouldn’t you – but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Have a look at the ‘Message in a Bottle’ Campaign to find out more. It’s such a great idea and something that I hope more manufacturers will take onboard in the future to help lessen the impact of their products on our world. Thank you, Ecover, for making such a great and inspiring start!

Cleaning the seas, one bottle at a time. Visit The-Splash for more information and to read our pledge.

daisytheclothbummum was not paid for this blogpost. All thoughts, words and opinions are my own.

And the winner is …(Real Nappy Week 2013)

I think I’ve kept you all waiting long enough…
The time has finally arrived…

Mr Monkey Clothbum has picked a winner!

As you can see – he had lot of fun!

I wrote out all the names of people whose lovely friends/family had nominated them via the blog, Twitter and Facebook. There was a LOT of you! Then I folded them up and Mr Monkey had great fun picking a name out of his sorting toy.

Well done, Beverley Graham! You were nominated by the lovely Katie and I’ll be contacting her to get your details so that I can post you out your prizes!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered. I really hope you all had a wonderful Real Nappy Week 2013!

Thank you also, again, to the lovely Eve at Baba+Boo who has donated one of the lovely nappies that our winner will be receiving!

Giveaway update!

A very quick apology but I’m currently stuck as my car has massively broken down, so all plans for everything, including doing the giveaway draw are on hold until tomorrow when I can let Monkey pick a winner.

I have a funny feeling that if we do it later he’ll just rip the names up as he’ll be too tired…

Apologies . At least it draws out the suspense for a tad longer!

Giveaway Closed!

Just a quick message to let you all know that the giveaway closed at 5pm so Monkey and I will be doing the draw ASAP.
The winner will be announced over the next couple of days, so keep an eye on the blog.

Thank you so much to everyone who has nominated someone.

Sussed it Sunday: The Great British Nappy Hunt

Just a little quickie to say that if you haven’t already signed up for The Great British Nappy Hunt, you really really should get on with it today. There’s not one, not two, but three hunts going on today with some fabulous prize bundles to be won. They’d make someone a brilliant starter pack or would be a fantastic addition to any cloth nappy stash or nappy library stock!

Go on! Get out there and get hunting for that naughty little Billy!

Sunday – Real Nappy Week : Real Clean (plus a bit about Saturday too!!!)

Argh! I must apologise for a lack of blogpost yesterday. I had one all written up and queued it up on one of those automatic system thingies which meant, in theory, that the post should have uploaded itself for you all to see yesterday.

Well. It didn’t, did it… Utterly rubbish. Ok, ok, I know that means that I probably didn’t set it up correctly but it’s much easier for me to blame the technology, so that’s what I’m going to do! Bad technology.

So, yes, did any of you manage to get out to one of The Great Cloth Diaper Change events? For those of you who don’t know what this is, click on the link to find out more and keep an eye out for it next year. Annoyingly, I couldn’t go this year due to a really important appointment, but I plan on running one next year – which will be rather cool!

Having a mass nappy change is such a great idea as it brings instant attention to just how funky cloth nappies are and just how simple they are too! I’ve seen lots of lovely photos of the one that was done at Glow, Bluewater yesterday and it looks as if it’s a lot of fun!

So, the theme of today is ‘Real Clean’

Most people that I’ve spoken to cloth nappies about (ones that either are thinking of changing or had never really considered them before) seem to have one thing that either completely or slightly puts them off – the cleaning aspect.

People have the impression that it’s hard, that you’re going to be touching poo and that it’s a lot of work. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Cloth nappies are such a breeze to use and to wash and, in fact, seem to create less washing than using disposables. You see – you don’t get those explosive nappy leaks. You know the ones! Those horrendous moments that are suffered by disposable nappy users where the baby has a poosplosion, the flimsy paper nappy can’t cope and the baby and clothing ends up covered in poo.

I can safely say that I’ve NEVER had one of those! Cloth nappies are fab for containment, so I have never had to wash poo-covered clothes. Brilliant.

So, how do you wash them? I’ve written a blogpost about it HERE but it’s just so easy.

Take off the nappy.
Put any poo down the loo and either bin or flush any paper liner (some can’t be flushed, be careful!)
Separate the components of the nappy (take any inserts out of pockets)
Put them into either a nappy bucket that’s lined with a mesh bag or a wetbag (this is dry pailing)
(NOTE – THERE IS NO NEED TO SOAK YOUR NAPPIES. SOAKING WILL ACTUALLY RUIN THE WATERPROOF OUTERS AND IS A PRETTY OLD-FASHIONED AND UNNECESSARY THING TO DO!)
When your bucket or wetbag is full, pop the nappies (with the mesh bag, or wetbag) into the washing machine (shake them out of the bag into the machine)
Wash with about a third/half of your usual washing powder with NO CONDITIONER IN IT AT ALL (non bio is best for sensitive skin) I use a drop or two of tea tree oil as well.
Wash at 60 degrees (I do a prewash) for smaller babies and then, well it’s up to you. I alternate my washes so sometimes it’s at 40 and sometimes it’s at 60.
Take out and dry. Obviously tumble drying is expensive and also not really needed. Get them out on the line when it’s sunny and the sun will help to bleach out any stains.

That’s it.

It takes you about 3 minutes to put on a wash and then about 10 mins max to hang them out at the end. That’s less time that it takes for most people to even get ready to go to the shops!

Have you got your nappies out on the line today? It’s such a glorious day here and mine are brightening up the garden right now!

Happy Real Nappy Week Sunday, everyone!

Ooooh! Remember you’ve got until 5pm today to enter my GIVEAWAY!
What are you waiting for? Nominate a friend today!

daisytheclothbummum wrote this post immensely quickly and is aware that there are probably some dreadful typos in it. It’s Sunday. I’m half asleep. Oh well!

Friday – Real Nappy Week 2013: Real Future

Before I even start, I must apologise for the really brief nature of this blogpost. I’ve been out all morning promoting cloth nappies to all the lovely people who came along to my nappuccino and this afternoon I…

Erm…

I could lie to you right now and say that I’ve been doing something of value,
something worthy…

But…

The honest truth is that…

Monkey and I had a MASSIVE WHOPPING GREAT BIG NAP!

We obviously needed it and I feel miles better for having it! But the downside of all that lovely sleeping (and ignoring of all household duties) is that it’s now bath and bed time and then I have a load of stuff to catch up on!

So, today’s Real Nappy Week theme is – ‘Real Future’

Now, I’m not an expert by any stretch of the imagination and I really don’t have all the facts and figures to hand (see the wonderful post by Go Real to find out lots more info) but what I do know is that the idea of throwing away lots and lots of disposables full of toxins, chemicals and plastic has never appealed to me at all.

I mean – come on – it’s hideous. I see just how much waste some of my friends create from solely using the things and it’s pretty dreadful stuff. We had to use disposables for two weeks after Monkey had an operation last year and, to make it worse, we had to double nappy him as he had a catheter in. The amount of waste we created was shocking and it made me so glad that I use cloth.

If we want our children, grandchildren and other descendants to have a planet that is worth living on then we really need to do something. Not just about disposable nappies, obviously, but it’s a massive waste issue and one that we can all take an active role in doing something about. Thirty odd years ago, disposables weren’t even an option and now they are the ‘norm’. Our society has gone and got so lazy, so throwaway and we need to wake up and take responsibility to ensure that there’s a future and a planet worth having.

24-30 ish cloth nappies that can be reused on other babies vs thousands (around 4000) disposables per child. It’s a no brainer, surely?!

OH! A quick reminder to enter your friend into my GIVEAWAY! It closes on Sunday so get your skates on!

Thursday – Real Nappy Week: Real Easy! (Honest!!!)

In the words of the almighty Dangermouse,

‘Gooooood Grief!’

I can’t quite believe that it’s already Thursday! Real Nappy Week is flying by – I blinked and most of it has gone. I’ve really been enjoying this week – I’m finding that the different things that the real nappy companies have put on have got people talking (mostly in a good way) and I personally am particularly enjoying ‘The Great British Nappy Hunt’.

Maybe it’s because I’m at work most of the time, maybe it’s because when I’m at home I’m with my son/ doing the shopping/sleeping and don’t have time to click on lots and lots of sites and look through Facebook pages for clues, I’m not sure. Whatever the reason, Billy the cloth-bummed kid has caught my attention a little more and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the competition so far.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the concept of Clothopoly and if you’ve got the time, I can see that it’s a lot of fun and the amazing prizes that you can enter for are well worth it. I just don’t have that time – let’s face it, I don’t even get to wee on my own at the moment without a toddler giving me a running commentary!

Best of luck to everyone in whatever you enter! Remember that lots of the nappy retailers have their own little competitions as well and it’s well worth having a good look around.

Have you entered my giveway yet? If not – have a think about someone you could nominate to win a little bundle of nappies and goodies. It’d be a nice, thoughtful thing to do!
Go on! You know you want to!

So – today’s Real Nappy Week theme is ‘Real Easy’. Now, I could (and often do) wax lyrical to anyone and everyone that will listen as to just how utterly SIMPLE and EFFORTLESS cloth nappies are to use. They are such a doddle nowadays!

Gone are the days of boiling up your nappies on the stove, of soaking for hours. I mean, I’m a lazy wench at the best of times and if they were such hard work (or even just a little bit of hard work) I wouldn’t have bothered.

At all.

I would have given up quite quickly.

I’ve blogged about this in the past HERE and HERE but in a nutshell, I find using cloth nappies so easy.

I have a large wetbag in the upstairs toilet and once I’ve changed my little Monkey’s nappy, I get rid of any poo down the loo and put the nappy in the wetbag (after taking out any inserts). That’s it! That’s all I need to do until the wetbag is full, which is about every 3 days.

Then I take them down and wash them (use about half/third of my normal dose of non-bio washing powder along with a scoop of sanitiser, but not Napisan as it wrecks the waterproof wraps).
I do a 60 degree wash with a pre-wash and that’s it.

The nappies then go on my airer (hopefully outside now it’s getting a bit warmer) and are left to dry.

See! Pretty simple stuff!

Real Nappy Week 2013 – Wednesday: Real £hange

Today is all about ‘Real £hange’! When I first started using cloth nappies there were lots of people who tried to tell me that I wouldn’t save that much money. That by the time I’d washed and dried the nappies that it wouldn’t work out a whole lot cheaper.

Well, 20 months on I can safely say that they WERE TALKING THE BIGGEST LOAD OF NONSENSE EVER!

I’ve saved an absolute fortune! My nappies in total have cost me under £450 (and I’ve bought some really funky, slightly unnecessarily expensive ones too plus a heated Lakeland airer). I don’t tumble dry and only ever use my heated airer when absolutely necessary. At this time of the year, my nappies are out on the line so no electricity bills there and I only do 3 washes a week for Monkey’s things (2 nappy washes and 1 clothes wash).

It’s definitely a cheaper way of doing things for me. If you think that I’d be buying packs and packs of disposables, plus many packs of wipes (I do buy a few but I mainly stick to cloth wipes) and I never really need to buy creams as our tubs last us forever.

To cloth bum a baby it can cost you as little as £50 if you use terries and wraps and even if you choose the most expensive options, it’s not going to work out as expensive as using disposables. Add onto that the fact that you can reuse the nappies on other children or sell them on preloved, you’re pretty much quids in! Have a look at my blog post on COST OF NAPPIES to get an idea!

Now, because it’s all about savings today, I thought it would be the perfect day to open up my little Real Nappy Week 2013 competition!

Do you know someone who’s just starting out with cloth nappies, or just about to?
This year, I’ve decided to put together one bundle of goodies to help someone out!
The winner will get a range of goodies from both myself and the lovely Eve at Baba+Boo

All you have to do is write a comment in no more than 25 words, saying why you feel this person deserves a little helping hand.

Please comment on either the Blog, Facebook (daisytheclothbummum) or via Twitter (@daisyclothbum) and the name of the person you nominate will be placed in the draw to win.

So – what do they win? The lucky person will get:

A small Pumpkin Pants soaker (blue with cars on it)
A size 1 Tots Bots stretchie
A BTP Baba+Boo nappy, courtesy of the lovely lovely Eve!
plus a few other bits and bobs!

The competition is open from NOW (as soon as this post goes live until Sunday 21st April at 5pm. Once the deadline has passed, I’ll put all the names into the ‘hat’ (Monkey’s little sorting toy) and he’ll pull out the name of the lucky person who gets to have the bundle posted to them.

I will then contact the person who nominated the winner to get hold of their email address.

Remember to let me know via the FB page or add #daisynappybundle to your Tweets, or I won’t be able to keep track of you all.

Before I post the question, the T&C are as follows:

The competition will close at 5pm on Sunday 21st April 2013
The nappy will only be posted out to a UK address.
The winner will be decided by daisytheclothbummum and is final.
The winner will be notified, and announced, as soon as possible after the giveaway closes.
After the competition closes, I’ll pick out twenty entries that are (in my eyes) the most creative and they’ll go into the ‘hat’. Monkey will then pick out a winner and I’ll document this via photos for you!

Disclaimer:
daisytheclothbummum gives her time freely to run this giveaway and is not being paid for running it.