Packing Organization: Part One

February 29, 2012 in organization, simplify with 4 Comments

Packing for trips has become hard since becoming a parent. I tend to put packing off until the last minute. The procrastination just leads to stress, unpleasantness and a bad attitude about our trip.

With an hour or two before our planned departure, I’m scratching out lists to try to avoid forgetting something, throwing stuff in suitcases and overpacking. We finally get everything together and into the car past the time  we had planned. My husband and I are both feeling the stress by this point and inevitably, about 30 minutes into our drive we realize we forgot something.

Two weeks ago, we were preparing to spend the weekend at my parents’ home. Our first trip with Weston, packing for four and traveling with cloth diapers for two babies. I was not looking forward to our trip at all.

Instead of following my typical packing procedure, I began writing out my packing list days before the trip. The result of planning was a detailed list! The day before our departure, I completed about 90% of our packing, only leaving the necessities like toothbrushes, Paxton’s blanket and wipes unpacked.

The next day, after our morning routine, I finished packing and we were ready to go, stress free! The most amazing thing, we had packed less for two children {including their cloth diapers} than with one!

I realized packing organization was the key to stress free departures.

Since we were planning to visit my husband’s family the following weekend, I decided to keep my packing list since we would need the exact same things the following weekend.

When it came time to pack for that trip, I pulled out my packing list, grabbed our suitcase and begin checking items off of the list. Again, we departed happily, looking forward to our trip with no stress or tension between us.

Having a master packing list is so simple yet so helpful. You typically pack the exact same things so why write out a list over and over? Instead, have a master packing list you can refer to.

The next time you’re preparing to go on a trip, write out your list a few days early to make sure it’s all inclusive. Then after you use it to pack, keep it to make the process easier for your next trip.

To be continued…

Are you an organized packer? Or do you tend to procrastinate? 

Lunapads Postpartum Cloth Pads

February 27, 2012 in giveaway & reviews, green, pregnancy with 54 Comments

As I shared two weeks ago, while preparing for Weston’s birth, I put quite a bit of thought into postpartum recovery and my comfort during that time. Since we were already cloth diapering our toddler and planned to begin cloth diapering our newborn after a week or two, I decided to try out cloth pads for myself during my recovery. I just washed my pads along with the boys diapers!

One of those cloth pads I tried was a Lunapads Heavy Pad:

“With Lunapads, the Liner Inserts sit on top of the Pad Base, so all you have to do is swap out the Liner Insert, which can easily be done as often as you desire throughout the day. This feature also allows you to purchase fewer pads (you’ll need more liners than pads) in the first place, as well as not having to carry as many things around with you.” -lunapads.com

Pictured is a Wing Liner, the Heavy Pad and a Tri-Fold Liner Insert. Each of these are 14" long. The Heavy Pad and Wing Liner are $24.99 and you can purchase a Tri-Fold Liner Insert for $16.99.

The Wing Liner is inserted into the Heavy Pad. The rick-rack is what holds the liner in place.

The Tri-Fold Liners are 14" long and 8" wide. As the name implies, they are tri-folded for maximum absorbency. The liner is simply folded and inserted into the Heavy Pad.

At 14" long, the Heavy Pad is very long but provides excellent coverage.

The Heavy Pad is large and long. The Tri-Fold Liner is very, very bulky but it is a postpartum pad! The Wing Liner is not as bulky and the lack of bulk was more comfortable. Of course, both the Tri-Fold Liner and Wing Liner are so much more comfortable than disposable pads and even the Tri-Fold Liner didn’t feel as bulky as some heavy disposable pads!

As far as postpartum pads go, they are really bulky, I was only wearing them at night, from the beginning at 1 week postpartum. However, if you plan on skipping the disposables all together and start wearing cloth pads from the moment your baby is born, this pad would be perfect, especially with the Tri-Fold liner. And they’re useful beyond the postpartum recovery as overnight pads!

Heavy Pad, Maxi Pad and Long Pad

In addition to having the Heavy Pad, Wing Liner and Tri-Fold Liner, I also purchased a Heavy Flow Starter Kit which includes:

2 Long Pads with 2 Long Basic Liners and 2 Long Wing Liners

2 Maxi Pads with 2 Maxi Basic Liners and 2 Maxi Wing Liners

This kit retails for $87.94 but was on sale for $79.14 when I purchased it. I had a 16% off discount code and free shipping, so I only paid $66.48 for the 4 pads and 8 liners!

I really love the Maxi Pad and Long Pad. These two are not nearly as bulky as the Heavy Pad but still provide complete and adequate coverage for postpartum bleeding after the first few days.

About Lunapads:

Lunapads International is a women-owned and operated mission-based business based in Vancouver, Canada. Our mission is to help individuals have healthier and more positive experiences of their menstrual cycles, and by extension, their bodies overall. Our team is made up of a passionate group of women who believe that using natural menstrual products is a creative and empowering way to honor and care for ourselves and the planet.

Giveaway: Win a $50 gift certificate to lunapads.com

Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment telling me if you’re already using reusable menstrual products, if you’re thinking about it or if you didn’t even know such a thing existed!

Additional Entries: {leave a separate comment for each entry}

Giveaway ends Monday, March 5th at 12 pm EST.

*Giveaway restricted to US and Canada.

Disclaimer: I was provided a Lunapads Heavy Pad with Wing Liner and Tri-Fold Liner to review. I personally purchased the Heavy Flow Starter Kit. I was not compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed in this post are my own!

This giveaway is now closed! Congratulations to commenter #37, Meg!!

Postpartum Cloth Pads: GladRags

February 14, 2012 in giveaway & reviews, green, pregnancy with 23 Comments

While preparing for Weston’s birth, I put quite a bit of thought into postpartum recovery. Since he is my second baby, I knew what to expect and wanted to make my recovery as comfortable as possible. With Paxton, I had a third degree tear and was uncomfortable for weeks post delivery. I also remembered how uncomfortable those huge disposable pads are and how much waste they create! Since I’m  already cloth diapering and know it saves money and how much more comfortable cloth seems over disposable, I decided to try postpartum cloth pads.

I looked at several different brands of cloth pads and purchased samples of the different brands so I could actually see the product before investing in several.

I was also given the opportunity to review a GladRags Night/Postpartum Pad:

This pad comes with 1 Night Holder {approximately 14" long and 3" wide at the middle} and 2 Inserts. It retails for $17.99.

The inserts are placed inside the holder {this side is what touches your underwear}. You snap the pad in place around your underwear.

Once the pad is snapped in place, this is what touches your body.

When this pad came in the mail, I was shocked at the length! It's huge as you can see!It's pictured with a ruler to give you an idea of the length.

My first impression was this thing is huge and there’s no way it will be comfortable. After wearing it the first time, I realized I was wrong! It was so comfortable, so much better than the pads from the hospital. I didn’t feel like I was wearing a diaper, like the disposables feel, even though it was large and provided full coverage. As far as postpartum pads go, this is really bulky, but that is the purpose of a postpartum/overnight pad. I started wearing the cloth pads at 1 week postpartum and by that point, I was only wearing this one at night.  Of course this postpartum pad will make a fabulous overnight pads beyond the postpartum recovery. This one piece pad system with inserts is so easy to use, it’s really no different than disposables, only you wash and reuse instead of throwing away!

How many pads are recommended? I just guessed on how many I would need. I ended up with a total of 11 pads {3 postpartum pads, 4 long/heavy pads and 4 maxi pads} and 4 liners which were more than enough with my wash routine. I would recommend a minimum of 5 pads per day.

How often do you wash them? I washed every day and a half along with the boys diapers. I simply put them in the diaper pail and they were washed along with the diapers which was no extra laundry.

What about staining? I have had no staining issues so far after 5 weeks of use.  I rinsed the pads with cold water and then stored them in the diaper pail to wash with diapers. My current diaper wash routine is cold rinse, hot wash with detergent and another hot wash {to make sure all the detergent residue is gone to prevent build up issues in the diapers.}

Recommendation:

If you’re tired of spending money on pads and exposing your body to chemicals, then look into cloth pads! I invested around $75 into cloth pads which should last 5 years or longer. I’ll save a ton of money and prevent so much waste!

All of the GladRags are made of a comfortable cotton flannel and come in a variety of prints as well as undyed organic cotton.

About GladRags:

Inspired by the simple utility, earth-friendliness, and comfort of cloth diapers, GladRags was founded in 1992 in Portland, Oregon. It began as a home based business that quickly outgrew the extra bedroom and moved to its own building.  Today, GladRags is still a small company but with a big presence, promoting positive attitudes toward menstruation and making the environment a safer, cleaner place. GladRags can be found in health food stores and natural pharmacies nationwide.

Here are some informative links regarding disposable feminine products:

The Shocking Truth About Feminine Hygiene Products

Scary Tampon Recall May Change Your Periods Forever

I’d love to answer any questions you may have  about cloth pads! Either leave a comment or send an e-mail to rachel@frugalandsimple.com. Please don’t leave any rude comments saying this is ‘disgusting’ or ‘extreme’, menstruation is a natural function that is neither disgusting or nasty. Women’s bodies are doing just what God intended for them to do and it’s nothing to be ashamed of or disgusted by!

Disclaimer: I was provided a GladRags Night/Postpartum Pad to review. I was not compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed in this post are my own!

Pregnancy from the Eyes of a Single Mama

January 24, 2012 in baby, pregnancy with 9 Comments

This post was written by my sister, Rebekah. It was originally published in August 2010. Since Sanctity of Human Life Sunday was this 2 days ago, I thought this was fitting to share! It’s a beautiful story of God’s forgiveness, grace and love. Not every woman is thrilled to learn it’s positive when they take a pregnancy test but each one of those babies are blessings!

Rebekah and 3-day-old Emerson

I was 19 when I found out I was pregnant.  I had just started my sophomore year in college and it was a nightmare.  Not only was I pregnant, but I was not in a relationship with the baby’s father; this was not exactly an ideal situation.  I was so scared about what my parents and friends would think and say.  I think I was even more nervous about going to church pregnant and unmarried.  I told my parents and they were pretty supportive, upset of course, but supportive.  My mother and I did get into a few arguments and she said some things that really hurt my feelings, but I know she was just as upset about everything as I was.

So many people that I talked to acted like it was no problem at all.  “You can take care of it” or “just get it fixed” were common remarks and an abortion seemed to be a simple “solution” to the problem.  Even though my parents already knew I was pregnant it would be so easy for me to just tell them I had a miscarriage.  But I couldn’t do it.  I had never even considered having an abortion if I got in this situation and now that I was in it an abortion was certainly not an option for me.  I knew things would be hard and some people would think badly of me, but I had made the decision to have sex and this baby was not something I could just get rid of like it never existed.

Each month was difficult for me.  Often I felt like no one cared and that I was a loser and a screw up.  I kept wishing that things would go back to normal, but I knew that realistically this was my life.  I was going to be a single mom and I needed to prepare for it whether I wanted to or not.  During my pregnancy my relationship with the Lord actually improved.  I had been a Christian for several years, although I had made poor decisions on many occasions, but I felt like I was closer to the Lord than ever.  Even though I was in a bad situation I knew that everything would be ok and towards the end of my pregnancy I was actually happier than I had been in a long time.

Emerson Alexandria was born on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 9:54 am.  I couldn’t believe that this little bundle was actually my daughter.  It took a few months for me to realize that I was a mommy and the “unconditional love” didn’t set in for a couple months either.  I felt like something was wrong with me and that I wasn’t going to be a good mom.  After a while, however, I continued to fall more and more in love with my little girl.

Today I don’t know what I would do without her.  I love holding her in my arms and my favorite thing to do now is take naps with her lying on my tummy.  She has made me become a better person and has made me realize that I need to enjoy life and what I have and not take things for granted.  Although my situation is certainly not ideal and what God intended, I know that this happened for a reason.  I am so glad I made the decision to keep my baby and not “fix the problem” like I was encouraged to do.  Babies are not choices, they are a life.  We should not have the decision to terminate a life that God has created.  All people are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” and seeing how every person starts off as a baby, this applies to them also.  Emerson is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I know that every other baby can bring just as much joy as she has.

Celebrating Emerson’s First Birthday!


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