Using Flour Sack Towels as Flat diapers

I restocked on Flour sack towels I bought from Walmart, in preparation for my second baby due next month. They run about $5 for 5 of them.

I use flour sack towels as flats for my 18 month old toddler. They are cheap and easy to use. They clean thoroughly, dry quickly, and I get a perfect customized fit every time. I can increase absorbancy either by folding together two towels, or by adding an insert or microfiber towel.

I never have to strip clean the flour sack towels. I only have "stink" issues with my other diapers. The inserts and fitteds. With those I have to strip clean them every few months, but my flour sack towel diapers are always ready to go.

Many of the negative reviews I hear about using flour sack towels as diapers, I have personally not experienced. I've heard people complain that they are not very absorbent. By themselves, the flour sack towels where absorbent enough for my son to wear for 2-3 hours, up until he was almost a year old, after that is when I starting adding inserts, or trifolded microfiber towels to increase the absorbancy. I've heard people say that flour sack towels felt rough. Compared to minky, velour, and microfleece, it's definitely not as soft to the touch. But I don't see my son complaining...

The only cons I experience is family, friends, babysitters, and daycares not knowing how to put a flat diaper on a baby. Handing them stuffed pocket diapers, they can quickly figure it out. Handing them kite folded flats with a snappi and a diaper cover, you will probably get question marks.

Because I am a stay at home mom that doesn't regularly use the service of a babysitter, flat diapers is the best choice for my family. They are very cheap, economical, easy to clean, easy to customize, long lasting. They are also great for multipurpose uses, I have used them to wipe down kitchen counters, juice spills, spit up, sticky toddler hands and faces, and many other messes associated with babies.

For one baby I would recommend 25 flats. That should be enough if you do diaper laundry every other day. If you are buying flour sack towels, that's a little over $25, plus the cost of waterproof diaper covers. It is a great way to get started with cloth diapering if the price tag of other cloth diaper styles is off putting.

Completed my Newborn Diaper Cover Stash

Our baby girl is due in August. We decided to use flats, prefolds, and lay in inserts to diaper her. All of which I currently use for my 18 month old Toddler.
 I have been working on Newborn diaper covers using the Turn and Topstich method I've been using with my son's covers. They have double gussets to hold in all that Breast milk poop, and has a dip on the belly panel to avoid rubbing against the umbilical cord while it is still attached.

 Admittedly this diaper cover was MUCH more difficult to sew because it's so tiny. This diaper cover doesn't lay flat. It "concaves" to better fit around baby's legs and bum. It doesn't drape over my sewing machine like most projects. It curls around my sewing foot as I am trying to sew the tiny diaper pieces together.

 But I am VERY happy with how these came out. I plan on making Small sized and One Sized diaper covers so that I have a stash that can take her all the way to potty training. I don't think I will be getting much sewing done while I have 2 under 2.

The Pattern I use is Rocket Bottoms In A Snap cover pattern. It can be found here.
Tutorial on how I did the leg gussets can be found here.

The benefits of having babies close together. Low cost Baby#2

As of today, I am 12weeks along with my second pregnancy. This baby was "kinda" planned. Literally the day after we decided to start trying to conceive baby#2, I changed my mind. I wanted to focus on Bikini season (not that I would have been wearing one lol). So 4 weeks later, I took a pregnancy test just to be completely sure that I wasn't pregnant...Well I am.

So now it's time to revisit the conversation about the cost of having another baby. Because we kept everything from our first son, there isn't much we have to buy. We kept the infant car seat, all of Connor's clothes. We still have a bassinet. We have cloth diapers that are still in perfect condition. We kept the bottles and pacifiers. Infant tubs, changing table, infant carrier.

The things we do need to purchase, to accommodate a growing toddler, is a Toddler bed frame, a new crib mattress, a double jogger stroller. And a booster seat for when Baby#2 grows out of the infant carrier and moves up to Connors Car seat.

I am a huge fan of Hand-me-downs. All of Connors clothes come from children thrift stores. With baby #2, it won't be any different. except they will be hand down from big brother Connor. And with the babies being close together in age, All of the baby items we have are still in excellent condition.

When i was pregnant with Connor, buying all of the things we needed for a baby was so expensive. But now with baby#2 coming, I can look forward to the new addition and not worry about buying expensive baby furniture.

"Upgrading" to a one car family

Before I had my son, I worked full time. Having two cars was a must!! Since then, I decided to stay home with our son, but being down a paycheck and still paying two hefty car notes with double the insurance, things become consistently tight around the household.

A year later after giving birth to our son, I find myself never leaving the neighborhood. My family lives on a military station. There are playgrounds for my son every corner, the Commisary and NEX is a short walking distance. The gym is a power walking distance away. Everything I need is already stocked at home.

My beloved car is parked in the garage, where I only take her out maybe once a week for a night time joy ride with our son.

I don't like to imagine selling my car, she's a really sexy ride. A sleek black sporty car fit for a car lover. But selling my car will be the smartest financial decision my husband and I will have ever made. We will be saving over $500 a month! We will be so much better off as a one car family.

My husband and I can go out on dates night more often. I can get my hair and nails done regularly.
Buy more sewing supplies, buy even more toys for our son. Finally decorate our very bare home! And most importantly, put money into a savings account and finally have piece of mind. Sounds like an upgrade to me!

We Practiced. My husband works almost 10 minutes away. I got our son ready and buckled him in the truck, I put on my mommy pants and a jacket over whatever T shirt I was wearing that night. And drove my husband to work for his overnight shift. My son Connor and I got up 6am in the morning, put on whatever we had on last night, and very sleepily picked up my husband from work. We made it there 5 minutes after his shift ended and he was standing outside in the freezing cold like an abandoned puppy.
 "Can you at least try to be early!?" What a whiner he was....
And then on our way back home, I ended up getting pulled over by the military police for going 21mph in a 10mph zone. Who the hell drives that slow! I got a freaking citation, and a wag of a finger.

So we finally make it home. I asked him how our one car practice went. "Minus the speeding citation, it wasn't that bad."

We already have a buyer for my car. It will be sold this Friday. Being a one car family is not doable for every family, but I think it's a conversation every family should consider. And practice for a day!