Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of...Wool?

Lately I feel like I should nickname myself Oprah. Let me elaborate a bit, the more I dive into the world of cloth diapers and other eco-friendly alternatives, the more I find myself saying. "Wow! This is my new favorite thing!" I don't want to come off misleading, but I truly am finding a whole world of products I never knew existed, and loving all of them!(This next product is no exception) So, I apologize for my overuse of the phrase "favorite thing".

I've mentioned before that I tend to lean towards the "frugal" side of things. When I was introduced to this next product as a way to save time and money, I was hooked before I even tried them! What is this fantastic product? Well, its Woolzies 100% natural wool dryer balls. Wool dryer what-now? Wool dryer balls; they act as a drying-time-reducing-static-cling-killing-natural-fabric-softening dream come true. One of the first things you are told as a cloth diapering newbie is to avoid fabric softener and dryer sheets. The oils and chemicals in these products not only leave a reside in your appliances, they also leave a residue on your diapers that can make them ineffective. This got me thinking, if it's not "safe" to use on diapers, why would I use it on my clothes? So I've been doing my laundry with no softener and no dryer sheets. In Arizona, that's a recipe for crunchy laundry. With super hard water, clothes take a beating. Add line drying to that and you've got some pretty scratchy clothes. I was anxious to try out these dryer balls (I'm sure Polish Prince was looking forward to drying off after a shower and not worried about getting cuts from the towels...ok, it's not that bad, but you get the idea!) The folks behind Woolzies were fantastic and set me a set of dryer balls to review AND one of you will get your very own set as well! Keep reading!

When you get your "set" of Woolzies Dryer balls, you will get a sleeve of 6 balls. The directions state:

"Simply toss 6 or more balls into the dryer to create loft while dryer tumbles. Reduces drying time, wrinkles, and static without the harsh chemicals of conventional fabric softeners." 

Hm, ok, sounds easy enough! So I tested them first with a load of towels. I thought for sure that my brown towels would dye these pretty ivory wool balls or at the very least leave a lovely brown, pilly, residue. But when the dryer was done I checked it out, and the balls looked no different than when I put them in there in the first place! The FAQ section on their website states that the Woolzies will last at least one full year or 500 loads, and in most cases even longer. I can see why! I've been using these for a few weeks now and they still look brand new! So, for $35.99 you get 6 balls, I'm not a mathematician but let's break this down. $36 divided by a minimum of 500 loads of laundry is about 7cents a load. That's not even factoring in the energy savings and potential health benefits because they are chemical free! Sounds like a great deal to me! Side note: Allergy concerns? Woolzies states "Since the wool is not directly touching your skin and does not shed, everyone can use WOOLZIES without any allergic reactions." :)

B wanted you to see a close-up!

BUSTED!

An added bonus to using dryer balls...when removing clothes from the dryer, you'll have to keep an eye on these balls, especially if you have pets! The dryer balls end up stuffed in a shirt sleeve, in a pant leg, in the curved corners of a fitted sheet, the possibilities are endless! It is also slightly amusing when folding laundry and one of them pops out and rolls to the floor! Have a toddler? These will help to keep them entertained when you're folding laundry!

 Ok, now that I've got you hooked, here's how you get your own! You can order directly from their site here or take your chances on winning a set by using the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway




**Thank you to Woolzies for providing the items for review and giveaway. The opinions expressed are strictly my own and not influenced in any way**

Feeling Inspired!

I know I'm new to the world of blogging, but I just got a great email back from  Tommee Tippee about their willingness to sponsor a review and giveaway. My very FIRST one! I'm so excited because being just "little old me" I never thought a large company would be open to working with a newbie. It feels like a tiny version of the American Dream! :) Stay tuned readers, great things are coming!! :) 

AND...part 2 of the stripping is almost complete pulled all the dipes out of the wash and they are sunning as we speak. Here's to hoping that yucky yeast is finally gone! I can not wait to be back in cloth. Even Polish Prince is ready. The disposables don't fit the same, they aren't nearly as soft, AND we bought a pack of 70 last Friday (3/9 just 4 days ago!)-yeah-we are halfway through it already. There's $20 I'll never see again. Wait, I will see it, when I take out the trash. :(. Nothing against sposie lovers, but being a cloth junkie, it's hard to see all those diapers go in the trash when I'm so used to seeing them go in the wash and come back to life! And I'll even admit it, when I change him in public, I'm not nearly as excited because there's nothing fun to look at! I changed him Sunday at Barnes and Noble and while I was changing him, he kicked the whole package of wipes in the trash, a WHOLE package! This is of course after I threw his dirty #2 diaper in there, so while frugal, i'm not crazy. There was no way I was going dumpster diving in a public bathroom trash after those wipes, so there's another $5 or so literally down the garbage! My whole diaper changing routine is just off with disposable diapers and wipes! So, back to the title of this post, I'm inspired that the dipes are sunning, his rash is about 85% clear, and cloth is back in the very near future!!

Stripping!

No, this is not to support my cloth diaper addiction, it's time to get the yuckies out! My poor B has been struggling with yeast for the past week or so. Blame it on first-time-mommy-ness, but I didn't realize that it could:

A) Affect boys

-and-

B) LIVE in cloth diapers!

So...off I went to pick up some RLR (at one of my favorite local shops, Zoolikins) and get to work. Now, this has the potential to be 3 posts in one, so I'll try to stay with the issue at hand and not digress too much. After reviewing one of my all time favorite websites for cloth diaper info: Padded Tush Stats, I learned a little bit about the best way to kill yeast in CD's. Lots of HOT water and a good old fashioned strip. Since I tend to love Fuzzibunz, I have alot of microfiber inserts. Great for absorption, but also great for holding on to some nastiness. Out come all the pockets, all the AI2's unsnapped, liners and wipes dug out from every crazy place they end up getting stored. Now that I think I have all of them, here we go! The key is making sure they get a good wash first with detergent. I'm trying a new "make at home" recipe that I'll share in another post. I've also used Rockin Green and Lulu's in the Fluff, but I'm not taking any chances with this yeast monster. Also, AZ has notoriously hard water so the Borax in the at-home recipe will serve as a natural water softener. Who knew? :)

"They" say you should strip roughly every 6-8 weeks, and truthfully it's not that bad. Not really eco-friendly due to the excessive rinsing it takes with my HE frontloader, but overall not a bad process. I'm also fortunate enough to live in the Valley of the Sun, so my dipes can get a nice thorough sunning when they're done. Also a big help for killing yeast.

So, long story short, we're in sposies for the next week or so to make sure all that badness is completely gone. Insert mommy guilt here for not thinking of this sooner!!! Is 5 months too early for an apology milkshake?? :)