Washing Cloth Diapers

We have been cloth diapering for 3 months now and one of my biggest challenges has been trying to find a wash routine that works for us. My main issue was that the diapers were not getting clean enough. I found that the diapers would smell really bad when baby went pee, the kind of smell that reminded me of dirty wet towels. I played around with different wash routines, I even stripped the diapers more then a few times thinking the issue may be a build up of some sort. I contacted Rock n Green to see if maybe they could help. I tried using more detergent, I tried using less detergent but nothing seemed to work. Finally, one day I took the time to watch the wash cycle and noticed that the hot water would run out when the water level hit medium (I was using large) and by the time the water made it to a large load the water was cold. So with that being said, this is how I wash our cloth diapers:

1. Cold rinse & spin
2. Hot soak/wash (2-3tbs RnG, our washing machine offers a soak feature before it washes using the same water)
3. Cold rinse & spin
4. Extra cold rinse & spin
5. Tumble dry the inserts for 30 minutes (just to that they are not soaking wet)
6. Hang dry everything on a drying rack

I should also add that we use Rockin' Green detergent and use a medium water level.

After using this method for a few weeks now, I noticed that our diapers have become SO much cleaner but still not 100% clean. The reason I think is due to the fact that we have a very cheap washing machine that doesn't agitate strong enough. If only I could just go out and buy a new one :)

Meal plan Feb 14-20

For this weeks meal plan we decided to really try hard and save money by using what we have. It also helps that 3 nights of the week we wont be home as we are going to my in laws for the long weekend.

• Pork Roast, scallop potatoes, corn and cesar salad
• Chicken Alfredo and garden salad (although we ended up using left over pork and saved our chicken...score!)
• Homemade burgers and chicken wings
• Chili and bread (leftovers from last week)

Next week I might try a different grocery store that is known for having lower prices. I am very curious to see how much of a savings it will be!

Meal plan Feb 7-13

This week we tried to save money by using what we already had and it worked. We ended up spending way less then we usually do!

• Homemade Hamburgers and Salad (they turned out so good last week we had to have them again)
• Chicken Cesar Wraps and fries
• Chili and dinner rolls
• Hot Chicken Sandwiches, fries, green beans and carrots (made from a whole chicken)
• Lemon Chicken breasts, white rice and peas
• The Keg (we have gift cards)
• Steak, potatoes and corn

The only meat we had to buy this week was the whole chicken which was on sale. We also bought/had lots of frozen veggies which will last a few dinners and therefore save us money. Lastly, I am making a huge pot of chili so we will freeze the left overs and have that for at least 2 more suppers.

Double Layer Tutu

I know Chelsea is only 7 months old but I have already started to plan her 1st birthday. I booked an appointment with a local photographer for a cake smash photo shoot (I will talk about that in a later post) and for this shoot she will need a tutu (okay so maybe she wont "need" one...but I really want one haha). I started looking up tutu's online and I found a really great website that makes 1st birthday tutu's, onesies, and diaper covers but the whole package costs over $60 (including shipping) and that is kinda crazy!!! Then I had a thought...I'd like to think I can be crafty so I should make it myself.

Well... finding out how to make a tutu online is pretty easy but trying to find out how to make a double layer tutu..not so easy. Double layer tutu's are ones that have one colour on top and another colour underneath (So cute) I had to have one. I'm sure I can figure it out so I went to the fabric store and bought my supplies. It took me a little longer then I thought to make because it was my first time but I made one and it turned out pretty darn good and it only cost me $11. Now I just need to pick out a birthday shirt so I can match the colours and start making Chelsea's 1st birthday cake smash tutu!! :)

Meal plan Jan 31 - Feb 6

Okay so I am late again posting our meal plan for the week. I tried to come up with meal idea's that would cost the least amount of money since we went out for supper last week and we all know how much that can cost! I also tried to use up things we already had to help save money.

• Ragu chicken, rice, and green beans (from last week since we went out for supper instead)
• Chicken Cesar Wraps and fries
• Spaghetti & Meatballs, garlic bread
• Homemade Burgers, homemade fries
• Slow cooker Pork, rice, carrots
• Roast, potatoes, and corn
• Pizza (not sure if we will do pizza but I just left this one open to anything)

One more thing I thought I should mention...we do not need to buy any beef or chicken. My husbands parents live on a beef Farm so we get our beef from there and a few weeks ago we bought two boxes of chicken (one box of Chicken Breasts and one box of Chicken cut into strips).

First time making homemade baby food

Today I thought I would attempt to make Chelsea some homemade baby food for the first time. It was actually my first time making baby food EVER as we only gave Blake baby jar food (I guess you really do learn a lot the second time around). We decided that we were going to make baby food for Chelsea as soon as we realized just how expensive it is to buy the jar kind. So, let me break down the cost... one jar of sweet potatoes is about .79 cents and that would be for about 2-3 meals. One large sweet potato in the grocery store was $2.14 and made about 25 cubes. This come out to...Jar food .26 cents per meal and homemade .08 cents per meal, how awesome is that?

Now let me tell you how it went, not good. haha. First I made sweet potatoes, which I didn't realize how hard it is to cut that darn thing. I don't own a real steamer so I just used a strainer over a pot, which worked okay. Next I put the potato chunks into my blender as I also don't own a food processor. I turned the blender on and Nothing! The potatoes didn't move! Maybe I just needed to add water because that seemed to get things moving (a little). I put my mixture into 2 ice cube trays and YAY I did it but wait why is the colour of my strainer now faded off?? UGH...is it possible that the colour faded/dripped/melted into the pot of water that I used to thin out the baby food? Better safe then sorry...in the garbage my baby food goes!

I decided to try again but this time I would make something that didn't require a steamer or food processor so I made Banana Applesauce Mush . This was so easy to make and tasted SO good! Chelsea loved it and she rarely likes anything!! The only thing is one apple and one banana only made 7 cubes (probably 8 if I didn't give Chelsea any first). But I would call this one a success!

My next adventure in making baby food will be with pears and more sweet potatoes...but first I shall invest in a steamer, food processor (I forgot to mention my blender died haha), and a small strainer!