The unseasonably warm weather has us looking forward to spring and our garden! When we purchased our home last March, we were more excited about our yard than we were the house. We have one acre with a fenced in backyard and ample room for gardening.

We spent quite a bit of time planning a garden last spring. We bought supplies for four raised beds and built one. That’s as far as we got. A few weeks later we found out I was pregnant and soon after morning sickness followed and the garden was abandoned.

This year is going to be different. We’re already making plans and looking forward to gardening as a family and fresh vegetables!

Here’s our garden space:

The garden as of yesterday. Nothing much to look at, there’s one raised bed and that’s it.

The one bed that was built last year. We’re going to be getting the weeds and last years dead plants out and adding more soil!

We purchased this barrel via Craigslist for $10. John David has plans for it, I’m not quite sure exactly what he’s going to do with it {he has the mechanical mind!} The plan it to put this out in the garden space, although we’re not sure where exactly it will go.

As we work in the garden, I’ll keep you updated on the progress!

Are you looking forward to spring time and gardening? Do you do raised beds, a traditional garden or use some other method? 

I found out I was expecting baby number two when Paxton was 12.5 months old and I knew I’d be cloth diapering two babies. I spent several months thinking about diapers and trying to figure out how many I would need, how often should I wash and on and on!

One of the big questions was whether or not to invest in a stash of newborn diapers. Paxton was 8 pounds 8 ounces at birth and was in our one-size cloth diapers within a month {and probably could have been in them a few weeks earlier, this first time mama was just intimidated!} I figured our new baby would weigh about the same as his big brother and newborn diapers would be a waste.

Weston arrived 9 days early, weighing 6 pounds 14 ounces! He was teeny tiny {at least to a mama whose first baby was 8 pounds 8 ounces!} While in the hospital, I began thinking about cloth diapers and how many weeks it probably would be before Weston could fit into our diapers. I was ready to order some newborn diapers then and there! My wise husband asked me to wait and ask one of my friends if I could borrow her newborn pre-folds and covers to see if I liked them before investing in our own stash.

When Weston was 11 days old, I started cloth diapering with the borrowed pre-folds and covers as well as a few of her different brands of one-size diapers. After seeing how bulky they were, I decided to try a bumGenius 4.0 with the newborn insert on Weston and it fit the best! I was so excited since our diaper stash is almost exclusively bumGenius pockets with a few Econobum pre-folds/covers for Paxton.

At Weston’s 2 week check up, he was up from 6 pounds 14 ounces to 8 pounds 3 ounces {which is an amazing weight gain for a breastfed baby!} So, he was right around 8 pounds when the bumGenius One-Size diaper started fitting.

3 weeks old in a bumGenius 4.0 {he probably weighed around 8.5 pounds}

3 weeks old in a bumGenius Small All-in-One {he probably weighed around 8.5 pounds}

The bumGenius 4.0 fits wonderfully! In fact, snapped on the smallest setting and with the newborn insert it actually fits a little trimmer than our bumGenius Small All-in-One!

A newborn sleeper over a bumGenius 4.0 with the regular insert

These diapers are quite a bit bulkier than newborn disposables but I’ve not had any blowouts in them which actually is saving on laundry since I don’t have to change Weston’s clothes 3 or 4 times a day! At 4 weeks, I’m still able to snap newborn bodysuits and sleepers up with the cloth diapers on him, even with the regular insert in {he’s getting to be a heavier wetter and the newborn insert isn’t cutting it!}

Newborn diapers are precious but think long and hard before investing in them! Pre-folds and covers are very bulky and some of the trimmer fitting ones will probably be quickly outgrown! We saved a ton of money by not purchasing newborn diapers since these bumGenius diapers will fit until he’s potty trained!

My two sweet cloth diapered boys

{Note: I am a Sweetbottoms Baby Affiliate}

Living a ‘green’ life is often portrayed as being more expensive than mainstream living. The reality is that being ‘green’ often is quite frugal and can save you a lot of money!

Here are some small steps towards living green that can save money:

• Recycle :: The more you recycle, the fewer trash bags you use! We only use 3 or 4 bags a month and buy trash bags once a year or less! Of course, if you live in an area where you’re charged by bag of trash or pay for weekly trash service, the more you recycle means the less trash you produce and the less you have to pay to get rid of it!
• Compost :: Once again, this helps save a little on trash bags for us! We compost our food scraps which produces rich compost for gardening. Another benefit, our trash rarely smells so we only take a trip to the dump every month or two!
• Cloth Napkins :: Never buy paper napkins again! We’ve been using cloth napkins throughout our entire marriage. We were given a few, bought a pretty set of 6 at a yardsale for $.50 and I’ve made several! We’ve spent less than $3 -4 on napkins. They just go in the wash with our clothes and they’re so small they don’t make a huge impact on laundry.
• Replace Paper Towels :: We haven’t purchased paper towels in 3 or 4 years. Instead we use kitchen towels and dish cloths for typical kitchen uses and use rags made from my husband’s old white t-shirts for messes and tasks like disinfecting countertops, cleaning the bathroom, wiping up spills from the floor and so on. We store the used rags in a small trash can in a closet and wash about once a month.
• Programmable Thermostat :: You can set the temperature to automatically lower at night as well as when you’re out of the home, saving electricity {and money} without putting much effort into it!
• Conserve Electricity :: Turn off lights when you leave a room, turn off electronics that are not being used, unplug kitchen appliances when they’re not in use and unplug electronics when you go out of town or if you rarely use them.
• Shop at Thrift Stores :: Not only do you typically spend less when you shop at a thrift store but you are also ‘recycling’ and giving an item a new use!
• Combine Errands :: With a little planning and organization, combine all of your errands so you don’t have to run to town multiple times in a week. Also, if you’re tempted to spend when you are running errands, only going once should cut down on temptations and save you money!

What green steps are you taking? Are these steps saving you money?

If you’re looking for a deal on cloth diapers this weekend or other ‘green’ gifts for your children or friends, check out Sweetbottoms Baby ! They’re offering 10% off a $30 or more purchase through Monday night when you use discount code ‘BLACKFRIDAY2011′!

Diapers on Sale*:

*GroVia: Buy 2, Get 1 FREE  (applies to AIO, Newborn AIO, Shells, & Bio Diapers)

*Rump-a-rooz Pocket Diapers: Buy 4+, Get 1 FREE; Buy 8+, Get 2 FREE; Buy 12+, Get 3 FREE; Buy 20+, Get 4 FREE

*Bottombumpers AIOs: Buy 6 solid or 4 prints, Get 1 FREE

*Econobum: Buy 1 Prefold/Cover Set, Get 1 FREE

{*If you purchase the sale diapers, the 10% off doesn’t apply.}

I took advantage of the discount code twice this weekend purchasing a few items for my boys and a few gifts!! 

{Note: I am a Sweetbottoms Baby Affiliate}

Cloth wipes really go hand in hand with cloth diapering. It’s actually much easier to use cloth wipes with cloth diapers since all you have to do is drop everything into a diaper pail after a change instead of putting the diaper in the pail and the soiled wipe in a trash can.

We’ve been using cloth wipes since day one of our cloth diapering and love them! They can be quite frugal too. Most of my cloth wipes are baby wash cloths which are inexpensive.

However, since we’re having baby #2, in addition to needing a larger diaper stash, we also needed more cloth wipes! I’ve been looking around for wash cloths I like {without edge binding and a cotton blend} and the cheapest I’ve found is $8 for a pack of 12! I’d rather not spend that much on wipes!

Thankfully before I made a purchase, one of my cloth diapering friends showed me some cloth wipes she’d made out of old flannel receiving blankets. I immediately liked them and remembered I had some flannel in my fabric stash. She gave me one to test out and after using it on Paxton, I was sold! Time to break out the sewing machine!

These wipes were so simple to make. I cut squares out of flannel fabric and then sewed the fabric inside out {leaving a small hole to flip it}. Then I used a zig-zag stitch to top stitch and was done! Easy.

There really is no right or wrong size, just choose a size of wipe that you think will work best for you! Mine are a little bit smaller than the baby wash cloths I’m currently using as cloth wipes.

Lovely stack of 9 new cloth wipes! And yes, I have pink ones even though I have boys! But, who cares since these are going to be used to wipe their bottoms!! The flannel was free since I already had it!

After making the 9 blue and pink washcloths, I was sold on them so I decided to make more! The fabric this time was an old pair of my pajama pants! I was able to get 10 cloth wipes from the pajama pants and I love the red and white stripes.

Using cloth wipes is easy and frugal and making cloth wipes is too! If you don’t have any flannel already, look at resale and thrift stores for old receiving blankets or ask your friends, I’m sure you can easily find someone who has a ton of extra receiving blankets they’d be more than willing to give you!

Do you use cloth wipes if you cloth diaper?

Trying to have a ‘green’ Christmas isn’t easy! In previous years, I’ve been shocked by the bags of trash produced at gatherings simply due to gift wrap. {Spending money on paper to throw away just a few weeks later seems a little crazy.} This year, I’m taking steps towards using green wrapping!

My grandma gave me several beautiful Christmas fabrics a year or two ago and they’ve just sat in my craft chest. I realized it would just take a little bit of time and effort to turn the Christmas fabric into cloth Christmas bags that can be used for years to come!

Making these bags was so simple. They’re not super fancy and the edges aren’t serged {due to the fact that I don’t own one} but they’re adorable and I love that they’ll be reused over and over in our family!

Step 1: Cut out your fabric in a rectangular shape. The size doesn’t matter, just base it upon how big you want your finished bags. I made several bags of varying sizes to hold both large and small gifts.

Step 2: Hem the edges of the fabric that will become the top of the bag. This step makes them look much neater!

Step 3: Fold your rectangle over with the hemmed edges touching and sew up the sides.

Step 4: You’ve sewn a cloth Christmas bag! All that’s left now is finding the perfect gift to place in your bag!

Isn’t this cute? I used scrap ribbon {mostly ‘recycled’ from gifts I’ve received in the past} to tie up my bags!

I love these colorful cloth Christmas bags!! { The larger bag is holding a 12×12 children’t book to give you an idea of the scale}.

I made about 10 bags already and have plans to make a few more. I’m using a few as gift wrap for gifts outside our family so I won’t personally be able to reuse them. The rest will be used in our little family so we’ll be able to reuse them for years to come!!

The best part of these bags, they were completely free since I already had the fabric on hand! Look in your fabric stash and see if you have any fabric that would work, reds and greens would make wonderful traditional colored bags but don’t forget blues and whites too! And of course any color or print would work because there are no rules that say your gift wrap has to be a certain color!!

Are you taking any steps towards a ‘green’ Christmas? If so, what are you doing?