Clean B

I have been putting off writing this review for some time because honestly, there's nothing more I hate than having to write a not-so-good review.  :-/  I guess it had to happen sometime, right?  I REALLY tried my hardest to be able to write a positive review on Clean B & Melissa the owner.  I gave her over 3 chances but with each order she messed them up & then continued to lie to me in her email responses.  I hope that I can save others the hassle, headache & stress of dealing with her by posting about my experience.

Here is my story: 

I had heard about Clean B last year through Facebook.  I decided to give it a try since all these people raved about how awesome the detergent & customer service was.  I ended up ordering some from a vendor on hyena cart.  Some time had passed & I still hadn't received my package. (Can you tell I'm used to dealing with Kim from Rockin' Green?  She ships your order immediately!)  I emailed the vendor & she apologized & stated that since she didn't have what I ordered (then why was it listed for sale????) that she spoke with Melissa & she would send it out directly from Clean B.  More time passed & still no detergent, mind you I paid immediately for the product.  Most places don't charge your credit card etc until the order ships, but not Clean B.  So then a little later the vendor replys to another of my emails & states that Melissa "forgot" about my order but was getting it ready to ship & would include some "freebies" for all my trouble.  Well, I finally got my package, but it was just the 1 bag of detergent I ordered, no freebies.  I was a little upset because I had been lied to not once but twice!  I didn't care about any freebies, but don't promise what you won't deliver.  The detergent smelled really good.  I had ordered Apple Mango Delight.  It seemed to clean my diapers pretty good at first.  So I placed another order directly from Clean B's website.  I decided to give her a "second" chance & since I was ordering & dealing directly with Melissa, I figured things would go smoothly.   Well, I was WRONG!  Her website states that there is a 3-4wk waiting list which is fine.  I originally placed my order on 1/13 & received a shipping notice on 2/10.  A wk later I emailed her to inquire about my package since I had yet to receive it & she said she hadn't started it yet but would "get on it" right away.  Yet another lie!  Why say you shipped it when you didn't?  It took MANY emails, a paypal dispute & 46 days later I finally received my package minus the scoops I ordered & paid for.  It was funny how quickly she shipped my order after I opened a dispute.  I must be a glutton for punishment because I placed yet another order with her.  I really wanted a positive experience.  Maybe the first two times she was having a "bad" day.  Third times a charm right?  WRONG!  I placed my third order on 3/2.  Waited patiently.....still no package so I emailed her on 4/19 inquiring about the items I had ordered & paid for back on March 2nd.  I received that order on 4/25.  Missing from my order was yet again 2 scoops that I had paid for.  I let it slide the first time but the second time-NO.  I wrote her back to let her know that I still needed them & she said that she would have them in the mail on 4/25.  So by now it is 5/13 & I still have yet to receive my 2 scoops.  So yet more emails.

Here is the email I sent :  Back on April 25th, you said that you would mail out the 2 scoops that I PAID for & I still have yet to receive them. Yet another lie! I am so over this & the UNPROFESSIONAL business that you are running & all the lies. I have ordered off of you 3 times & 3 times I have had ALOT of trouble with my orders & have been lied to. So I feel that I have given you more than a fair chance before I do my review of Clean B on my blog. Hopefully in the future you learn to run a professional business & appreciate your customers. 

 And here was her reply : Im very, VERY VERY sorry Leann.. My life has been turned upside down right now..

It bothers me more than you.. I wish I could express how much..
I know you already know I had 7 LO’s then my 8th baby was born early and we have been having issues.. dr app and such,
I also have a disk in my neck that is smashing my spinal cord.
It has affected my left arm much like a stroke victim .. It is numb and I have limited use with it..
Im in treatments/DR visits/therapy 3-4 days a week just for myself.. I have to get improvement or its surgery..
Im sure by now my word doesn’t mean much as so much has ended up coming up and it always effects your order..
I have started a new program to help me keep track of important orders and information.
I just wanted to try and let you know from my heart.. Im sorry.. I never intended to mess up your orders or the time it has taken..
I will add some extras for all your trouble and again, I AM SORRY>
I wish I could change a WHOLE lot about the last 6 months..
A lot..
I did check though and I have the extra scoops marked as shipped.. Im not sure what happened there..
I will include 2more of them with your order. You have my word, no matter what it takes I will ship this tomorrow.
Melissa C ~ Clean B
Pure & Natural Products
www.PureCleanB.com
Joshua 24:15b
but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD

If you are that bad off, shut your shop down temporarily & get better before taking more orders & more customer's money.  So when I finally got my scoops, guess what???  Just 2 scoops, nothing extra for my troubles like she told me.  ANOTHER LIE!

Unless you are looking to be lied to & put through an extreme hassle, I DON'T recommend ordering from her.  I ran my own cleaning business for years until I was unable to due to health issues with my back.  I would have never dreamed of treating my customers the way Melissa has treated me.  Her customer service leaves ALOT to be desired & is extremely lacking at times.  In fact when I shut my business down, I gave my customers over a mths notice.  Six mths after I stopped cleaning, they were still calling me & begging me to continue cleaning for them.  That says alot.  There is one thing I pride myself with & that is excellent customer service & being truthful & honest with my customers.  I guess I was naive to think that all people who work from home abide to that.  Another thing that bothered me was when anyone griped about their order on her FB wall, she either deleted the comment or stopped allowing others to post on her wall.  That right there is a bad sign.  I also have run into quite a few people who have also had negative experiences with her.

Here's what I thought of the products I tried from her.

Detergent : after using for a few months, Barker started breaking out really bad & we had build-up issues & it just didn't seem to clean as well as it did in beginning.

Dryer Balls : I will say that out of all my dryer balls, hers are my favorite.

Freshening Spray : it leaves an oily film over things when you spray it in your room.  My picture frames were covered with it & the smell didn't last real long like others have said it did.

Do any of you have any past experiences with Clean B?  Was it negative or positive?  I'd love to hear your stories.

Blueberry Trainers

So I did it, I broke down & splurged some on these awesome Blueberry Trainers.  I always said that I would NEVER pay that much for a pair of trainers, but I did.  :-/  Well, here's what happened.....I had entered a giveaway & won the yellow giraffe pair.  I was so excited when I found out I won!  I have been wanting to try them for some time but couldn't justify the purchase.  When we received it, I was instantly smitten & could definitely see why they cost so much ($15.95/pair).  They are extremly well made & are lined with this yummy velour that is so soft.  I wish I had gutchies this soft!  I also love the fact that sandwiched in between the print & velour is a layer of PUL & a layer of absorbant material.  Now while they don't contain a full pee, they do keep the floor dry if he starts to pee some on his way to the potty.  They come in a variety of prints & three sizes to choose from : small (22-30 lbs), medium (25-35 lbs) & large (32-42 lbs).  I bought all larges since Barker now weighs 35lbs.  I have washed them over a dozen times & they still look new & are as soft as ever on the inside.  My only complaint is that since they do have an absorbant layer, they tend to be a bit bulkier under clothes than our Gerber Trainers.  However, I can deal with this since they do absorb more than our other trainers & have a waterproof outer.  Overall, we love our Blueberry Trainers!!!

 Here's the inside of the trainer.

 Not sure if you can see it or not, but I tried to take a close-up pic to show the velour & stitch marks for the absorbant layer.

 I love the nice wide elastic bands.  They fit him nice & don't leave any red marks.

Country Save

We have been using Country Save laundry detergent exclusively for almost a year now on our clothes & I can't rave enough about it.  Our clothes have never felt cleaner or looked brighter.  We have well water & it is some pretty hard water.  While using commercial detergents, our whites always ended up looking dingy & grey no matter what I tried until I tried Country Save.  I have been purchasing it from Alice.com.  They sell a 40/80 load box for $9.99 & as long as you buy any 6 items, your order ships for FREE!  In my opinion, the free shipping is awesome & well worth ordering from them, not to mention that 2 boxes lasted us almost 10 months.  I usually use 1T per load in our front-loader.  When buying special cloth diaper safe detergent, I was paying around $5/bag for the shipping which ended up running me around $17-18 for a 45/90 load bag.  Although you can use Country Save on your cloth diapers, which I have.  I have a major weakness, I absolutely adore scented cloth diaper laundry detergent.  I also have a confession, I smell my clean diapers.  Yes I do & I have a feeling that I am not alone.  My sisters make fun of me for doing so, but how are you supposed to know if they are clean....right?

On my last order to Alice.com, I decided to purchase some Country Save liquid dish soap.  I had tried Bio-Kleen's liquid dish soap & don't really care for it.  It just didn't seem to cut through the grease.  I wanted to switch from the mainstream, chemical laiden dish soaps for some time & hate the "scent" that was being left behind on anything plastic I washed.  I'm not going to lie, I was a bit skeptical when I first tried Country Save's dish soap.  It worked amazingly!  All of our dishes were clean & no greasey residue was left on anything.  There also was no "scent" left behind on any of Barker's sippy cups or any of our other plastic food storage containers.  The dish detergent itself has a very faint, pleasant & mild baby shampoo~ish smell to it.

If you are looking to try a new "green" laundry detergent or dish soap, look no further.  Give Country Save a try.  I give it an A+++ in my book!  

MIA

I am so sorry that I have been MIA for quite some time.  I have been sick the last month with this retched chest cold & we have had some family issues to deal with too.  Things are slowly getting back to normal & I promise you a new post soon.  Hope you are all doing well.  Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Mac-A-Doodle

I ran across this diaper from mac-a-doodle & just had to have it. I instantly fell in love with the print. What a gorgeous diaper! It arrived very quickly & words cannot describe the softness of this diaper, even after a dozen of washes. It is made from minkee & cotton/poly velour with a hidden layer of PUL. Absolutely yummy & lucious! The only problem I had with this diaper was it's tendency to leak. In defense of the diaper, Barker is known to be a super duper heavy wetter. I think that on a smaller baby(with less output), it would work perfectly. Even though it is a One~Size AI2, I used a cover with it to keep the leaks at bay. Lots of rise adjustments. Instead of the usual 3, there are 4. This is the most I have seen on a diaper.

It also has cross-over snaps to get a nice fit for a small waist.

Oh the velvety softness!
The super soft snap-in soaker.
What a gorgeous print!

It fit Barker really well. He is 32lbs in this photo & still had a few more snaps to go on each side.

Trim fitting, not alot of bulk.

A very nice & comfy fit.

Here are a couple pics to show you the measurements on the largest setting......

.....and on the smallest setting.

As you can see from the measurements, this is definitely a diaper that can work from birth to potty training.

GoGreen Pocket Diapers

About 3 months ago, I went ahead & ordered a couple GoGreen Pocket Diapers after reading rave reviews on them. I kept thinking "how good could a diaper possibly be when they cost under $10"? All my other diapers were $20-$40 a piece. So I just had to see for myself if they lived up to all the hype. Well, they sure do! Even after numerous washes over the 3 months, they look as new as the day I received them. We got them in super record time, fastest shipping ever! When they arrived, I couldn't get over how soft they were. GoGreen Pocket Diapers are a one-size pocket diaper that fits from 8 - 35+lbs. Now the snaps are a little bit different than the ones we are used to on our other diapers. I wasn't too impressed with the inside suedecloth at first, but then again, this was our first diaper to have a suedecloth inside so I didn't know what to expect. Let me tell ya, I LOVE suedecloth!!! It keeps Barker's bottom really dry & has yet to stain, unlike the fleece on my beloved FuzziBunz. They come with 1 microfiber insert. I always stuff mine with two tho because I don't want to risk having a leak when we are out & about. We have used them successfully for naptime, but have not attempted bedtime yet. So far no leaks. Yay!!!

Go Green Pocket Diapers offer 2 types of diapers... Regular & Champ. I really, really want to try the Champ out. It is supposed to fit from preemie - 45+lbs & comes with not 1, but 2 bamboo/microfiber inserts. They offer both silky & fuzzy diapers, wipes, wet/dry bags, pail liners, microfiber inserts & even gift certificates.

I picked the Fuzzy Moo & Fuzzy Zebra.

I was able to get a really good fit on Barker. He weighs 32lbs & we still have one snap available on each end.

We LOVE our GoGreen Pocket Diapers!!!!

Easy "Green" Cleaner

Over the past few months, I have been slowly replacing the chemical filled cleaners in our house with more eco~friendly, natural cleaners. I've spent a bunch of time on the internet researching what others use. I have come up with a simple cleaner that works well in our household & wanted to share it with you all. It's really easy to make.

All you will need is:

1) Empty Spray Bottle

2) Distilled Water

3) White Vinegar

4) Tea Tree Oil

*I purchased all items at our local Walmart.

*The White Vinegar & TTO are natural disinfectants.

You will need to do a 50/50 solution of White Vinegar & Distilled Water.

Since our spray bottle is 24 oz, I filled it up half way (12 oz) with white vinegar.

Then add 12 oz of distilled water.
I then add a dropper full of Tea Tree Oil into the spray bottle.

Shake well & then you can get to work cleaning & disinfecting your household naturally. I do shake it up some prior to using it.

I use this cleaner everywhere in our house.....the kitchen, the bathroom, our diaper pails, the laundry room & even use it to clean & disinfect Barker's toys! It works wonders on keeping our faucets sparkling. It also works very well for cleaning windows & even eyeglasses! The possibillities are endless & the list goes on & on.

The main bonus is that I can now clean without having trouble breathing from all the chemicals that are in store bought, mass produced cleaners. I feel good knowing that I am making a change for the best interest of my family & the planet. :-)

Easy Foaming Wipe Solution

Since making my own wipes, I have relied on making my own wipes solution to go with them. I used to make my own sprayable wipes solution from distilled water, baby wash, lavender essential oil & tea tree oil. It worked pretty good for us, but there was 1 major drawback to it. Poor Barker found it to be a bit too cold on his "tender" parts down there even though it was room temp. So after researching a bit online, I ran across an article from FuzziBunz where someone had asked them what they should use as a wipe solution. Their response was water & baby shampoo. So that got me thinking......hmmm.....what about a foam? So I set off to try to make a wipe solution that both Barker & I loved.

*I shop Walmart alot...hence all their brand products.

Here is all you need to get your baby's bottom all squeaky clean.

1) Foaming pump

2) Distilled water

3) Baby Shampoo

This is just a rinsed out pump from generic antibacterial soap that I emptied out into our other soap dispenser.

I put about 2Tbsp (I usually just eyeball it!) of baby shampoo into the bottle.

I then fill it 3/4 of the way full with distilled water.

Screw the pump lid back on & just give it a gentle shake til it is all mixed & then you are ready to foam at your next diaper change.

TIP : If you find at any time that your foam seems a bit watery, just add a bit more shampoo, gently shake to mix & it will thicken up.

We love this foam because it is no longer cold on Barker's delicate parts & he actually will bring the foam over when he needs changed. :-) It also seems to clean better than my spray bottle version.

EDIT : Since making this post, I have started adding a few drops of tea tree oil into my foaming wipe solution.  I love TTO & all its antimicrobial/antifungal properties & the fact that it has soothing properties.

Sunning & Drying

How do you sun & dry your cloth diapers throughout the year?

I remember the first time that I read an article about the sun's natural bleaching power & the claims these people made. I honestly thought that it was a crock of bull. Well, I can tell you first hand that those people were telling the truth! It never ceases to amaze me that each & every time I hang a freshly washed, stained dipee in the sun, the stain is gone by the time it's dry.

During the summer months, hanging my diapers out to dry/sun was easy as pie.

The winter months however required me to get a little more creative. I wasn't sure if it was going to work the first time I tried it & I'm pretty sure that our neighbors thought I had completely gone bonkers, but the stains were driving me nuts!!! So after washing them, I hung them out to sun/dry. It took longer than usual for them to dry, but that was ok. It was also sunnier out than it appears in the photo. When I went out to bring them in, the stains were gone & they were dry......cold & stiff, but dry. I couldn't believe it!
I also use our radiators to dry clothes (including dipes) in the winter months. Why not? I figure that they are running anyways to heat our house so I might as well utilize them.
I have also come up with another way to sun/dry my diapers during the winter without having to go outside. I hang them from our blinds in the windows that the sun is shining on. It has worked so far to lighten any stains we have had. I got this idea after reading an article about placing your diapers on your cars dash to sun them in the winter & I figured what the heck, I'll try hanging them in the windows......and guess what? It worked!
*My sweet Barker wanted to be in the picture with his diapees. He LOVES having his picture taken & jumps at the chance.
So how creative have you been when it comes to sunning & drying during the winter months? I'd love to hear! :-)

Welcome!

I just wanted to give a warm welcome to all my followers (both new & old). Thanks so much for following my blog! I have been trying out alot of stuff lately & will have some good posts coming soon. Sorry for the lack in between posts. We are a one income family & depending on what it is, it sometimes takes us a little bit to save for it & then I like to use something for a month or two before I give my two cents about it. :-) So please bear with me. I will be posting my thoughts on GoGreen Pocket Diapers, Menstrual Cups (Meluna & Lady Cup), Family Cloth, Mini-Shower Diaper Sprayer, Clean B detergent, cloth wipes solution (my "new" version) & making your own "green" cleaners in the very near future. Hope you all have a wonderful day!!!

WAHMies DSQ Pail Liner

When we first started cloth diapering over 7 months ago, I'll be honest, I was completely clueless & lost in the cyber world of cloth diapers & all their terminology. I spent HOURS scouring THOUSANDS of websites absorbing in all the information like a fresh new sponge. I had purchased a Planet Wise pail liner in Butter. We do have a Planet Wise wet/dry bag that we use when we go out & about. It works fabulous! Well, a few months later, I broke down, spent the couple extra $$'s & bought not 1 but 2 (they were on sale w/ free shipping!) of the WAHMies DSQ (that's diaper service quality ;-) ) Pail Liners. I had been eyeing them up for some time. I have to admit, it was the Monkey Babies print that initially caught my attention. They have come to replace the Planet Wise pail liner who now sits all by itself in the bathroom closet & are by far my favorite! I have noticed that they are made from alot thicker material than the Planet Wise & seem to be deeper & roomier too.

The two features that I adore are : 1) that little piece of elastic there on the right hand side is ingenious! You wrap it around the mouth of the bag to either keep little hands out or in ease of transporting on laundry day. It has really come in handy on those days I had to treck my dipes down to our local laundromat.

2) see that swatch of fabric on the inside right? To keep your pail smelling fresh, you can put a few drops of your favorite essential oil on it. I like to use either Tea Tree or Lavendar oil, but you can use whatever scent you want.

See what I mean about the cute monkey print?
I bought a regular step-open 13 gallon trash bin from Walmart for $12.00. I did find that when I kept the lid closed, it tended to smell more & there was noticeable condensation on the inside of the can. I usually wash every 2-3 days. I also read that by keeping the lid closed, your diapers become more susceptiable to becoming moldy. I don't know about you, but I paid too much $$ to let those dipes get ruined! So I started leaving the lid up (except when company is over) & both issues were resolved immediately. Funny thing is that you can't even smell the dirty dipes when it's open! I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that I rinse each diaper out prior to placing them in the can?

Did I say that I LOVE this pail liner???? Because I do!!!