My Frugal Baby Tips: November 2008

Thanks to Ann for this Frugal Baby Tips!

With my son, the smelly urine starts as much as two weeks before he shows signs of illness. And I think it is age related... He was over 2 when this became really noticable (although I did have diaper service for a long time, so maybe this was there before and I never realized). Maybe it has something to do with his immune system kicking in...

To neutralize the "extra powerful" urine, I throw vinegar into the wash cycle(s) too, and a lot of it (maybe as much as a cup) if the smell is really bad. I've had his urine smell SOOO bad that you could smell him in the next room right after he peed... and lots of vinegar really helps.

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Thanks to Carrie for this Frugal Baby Tip!

From what I understand, and have found out myself, line drying does cause the diapers to be stiff.

After I line dry, I run them in the dryer for about 10 minutes to soften them up a bit.

I've only line dried my fitted diapers once as I don't have a clothesline (yet), I'm sure you will get more tips from the great women here!

Thanks to B for this Frugal Baby Tip!

OK now I'm confused, and I have spoken to other UK cloth diapering Mums about this: why on EARTH would you store diapers in a dry pail before washing them, especially since your US machines sound so inefficient and unable to heat the water to the right temperature. It sounds tremendously risky from a hygiene point of view.

I store my diapers and washable liners in a nappy bucket with a touch of white vinegar in (so there's no smell) and then run a normal 40 degree wash with the rest of the household wash each evening, and occasionally zap the diapers in the microwave just because it's fun (what a great tip that was!), and I never have any trouble with stains.

All these zillions of hot, cold, warm rinse, prerinse, soak cycles seem to make it such hard work.

Am I just being simple, or something? There must be some advantage that I'm missing here. Please explain.

Image: Nan, caged, by Timothy Vollmer on Flickr

The dollar store often has has drawstring nylon bags or pop-up laundry baskets, by the laundry stuff.

I paid less than $3.00 each, and I have used them for nearly a year now, and they are still holding up great.

Thanks to Kellie for this Frugal Baby Tip!

Photo credit: Nan, caged,
by Timothy Vollmer on Flickr
Some rights reserved

Image: Calgon Liquid Water Softener | Add to your laundry wash for whiter, brighter clothes

Shannon said: I use liquid Calgon because we have EXTREMELY hard water. I use about half a cap of liquid Calgon or, obviously, about half of what they recommend. It's made a huge difference in the softness of the diapers. You're right; it's very expensive.

Veronica replied: I used Calgon too, it is sooo expensive when you see it reads to use 1/4 cup per load! The $5 box lasts about a week and a half here!

I went to the grocery store a week ago, and went to the huge bags of water softeners (for the softener machine). I don't have one, but I bought a bag of the cheapest rock pellet salt softener, the store's brand for $2.99 for 40 pounds! (kinda like the kind you use for home-made ice cream). It works just as good for me!

I pour a half of a cup into the running water, then on the rinse cycle I pour in some apple cider vinegar and presto! The diapers are soft, without added fabric softeners. My washer has also lost its musty smell it used to have, it must be the vinegar. Funny how something that smells itself can make odors disappear!

Thanks to Shannon and Veronica for this Frugal Baby Tip!