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Showing posts with label planet wise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label planet wise. Show all posts

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Blogger Beach Bash!


Welcome to week 5 of the Blogger Beach Bash sponsored by Kelly’s Closet! I’m honoured to get to participate with all the other lovely bloggers, and to work with Diapershops.com! Don’t forget to head on over to the Diapershops.com blog and enter the prize package of sunscreen, a reusable swim diaper, and a medium wet bag! You can also enter to win a $15 gift certificate to Kelly’s Closet at the bottom of this entry!




I thought long and hard about what to post, and I was torn between summer traveling tips and making a long list of must-haves for the summer time…. So I am doing both, but a shorter version! I have my top 5 summer must-haves on Pinterest, and a little tidbit about travel too!

Traveling with Pocket Diapers

We never travel more than 4 hours to get to our destination (well, we haven’t yet, anyway!), so please keep that in mind if you’re going to use this for a travel guide! We also normally do NOT wash diapers while we are gone, as we are normally only gone 3 days/2 nights. Yes, I have that many (pocket) diapers. That aside, Bobble is now 18 months, so you need to adjust any amounts to take into consideration that he does not mess as many diapers as a newborn, or even a 6 month old.

When traveling for an extended period of time (read: over 2 hours), I always use a “night time diaper” on our Bobble. A “night time diaper” is really just any pocket (aplix) diaper that I have double stuffed, or a double-stuffed Rump-a-rooz diaper. Since Bobble likes to peel at aplix, we generally cannot put them on him unless he’s either sleeping, or in a carseat. I always pack enough “night time diapers” to get me through however many nights I’ll be away from home, however many naps he’ll take in that time frame, and one for each leg of the journey. That normally equates to 5 diapers since we try to travel during his nap time to make everything easier on us. Our favorite diapers to use as “night time diapers” are:
  • ·         BumGenius 4.0
  • ·         Rump-a-rooz
  • ·         Blueberry Deluxe Pocket
We also make sure to bring a FuzziBunz hanging pail to use while we are at our destination because this is easy to transport and the elastic at the top, while it doesn’t seal anything, helps keep some of the smell inside. I also take a medium wet bag (either Bummis or Blueberry) for each leg of the journey, one of the non-traveling day, plus one more (one extra one to sit in the diaper bag in case we end up with wet clothes that don’t need to be with smelly diapers). Since they are size medium, I am able to fit all dirty diapers for that day (while out and about) into the bag.

We made our own liners from a yard of anti-pill fleece (just cut them into rectangles!) to use for non-clothdiapering safe creams, but they also work great for traveling! I almost always place one of these liners in the diaper while out of town so any messy diapers keep most (or all) of the mess from staining our actual diaper. This is great since we often don’t get to do diaper laundry while out of town, and I’d much rather have a discoloured piece of fleece than a discoloured diaper, and I’d much rather have any leftover particles stuck on a liner than my diaper!

I’m not very squeamish, so I had no problem taking the liners and holding them under the water in the toilet (hey, that’s clean water anyway! Well…. It was clean!) and folding the material of either the diaper or the liners and rubbing it together to break off any particles. It works pretty well for those messier diapers! In an ideal world, my mother-in-law would let me hook up a diaper sprayer at her house to leave there.  I tried explaining how much easier it would make cleaning her entire bathroom (mostly tiled), but she was convinced her water (heavy on the calcium) would ruin the sprayer. I would definitely recommend providing a diaper sprayer to your family to keep there if they will go for it. I just explained how great it was for helping clean toilets, providing water for mopping (seriously, no bucket!) and more, and it was pretty convincing for them. It would make cleaning more convenient for them, and spraying diapers more convenient for you when you visit!

We do our diaper laundry as soon as we get home, especially in the summer time since the heat doesn’t help the smell of those dirty diapers!


Top 5 Summer Must-Haves On Pinterest
Speaking of summer heat, I wanted to share with you my must-haves for summer! Best of all, you can find 4 of the 5 items on Kelly’s Closet! So what are the top 5 Summer Must-haves?

1.       Episencial Sunny Sunscreen



Everyone needs protection from the sun, so why not go natural with Episencial Sunny Sunscreen SPF 35? Great for all ages (and water-resistant, too)!


2.       Imse Vimse Swim Diapers

Looking for a great swim diaper? Imse Vimse Swim Diapers not only come in adorable prints, but they are super trim! (Sizes run a little large, so size down if you're unsure!)


3.       Planet Wise Wet Bags
Planet Wise Wet Bags are fantastic for storing wet clothing in, and have great prints/patterns like Tropical Retreat (shown above).

4.       Episencial Soothing Cream




Re-moisturize your skin after playing in the sun with Episencial Soothing Cream-4OZ. Safe for all ages, and all-natural!


5.       EnviroSax Reusable Bags
Looking for the perfect beach/pool bag? Check out Envirosax (pictured: Sydney)! Many different prints to suit your style, large enough to hold everything you need, but with a wide strap to prevent it from digging into your arm! Rolls up to be compact for storage!




I am part of the Kelly’s Closet Blogger Beach Bash.  Kelly’s Closet sent me Super Undies (size Medium) for my participation in the campaign.  To see a complete list of bloggers who are participating visit the Kelly’s Closet blog.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Planetwise Wet Bags: An Alternative View


Planet Wise Inc. is a well-known company with cloth diapering parents, and they offer great quality products. In fact, I own pail liners, snack bags, sandwich bags (and wraps) and wet bags from them. I love them all. Yes, every one of those items is pluralized, too. I have 3 pail liners, actually. I can have one in the pail, one in the wash, and one hanging dry on the line!  Obviously, I am impressed with the quality of the items, but I have to admit that my new favorite item is their small sized wet bag… and not for use of diapers.

Don’t get me wrong, the wet bags work great for diapers! I’ve never had a leak, I’ve never had any issue with the bag’s zipper closure, and I’ve never had any fading problems with the awesome designs they have. I use a medium wet bag for our diaper bag, as the small one is… well, small. That’s the point though,  right? 

Here's my medium (print: Outerspace) next to my small (print: Tropical Retreat):

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....and a quick glance at the inner (water-proof!) layer:

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So, for those of you who were unaware, I am a full-time working mother. I have pumped for my son to have milk since I returned to work. I have a double-electric pump and I pump on my work breaks, but was rather flustered at the means I had to store items. My pump came with a tiny cooler bag for the bottles, but I was at a loss of what to do for the actual pump pieces. I didn’t have time to clean the parts after I would pump since I had a 15 minute break, but I figured that if breast milk is good in the fridge for 4 days, then the pump parts could be put in the fridge for the next 4 hours until I had another break. I could just take them home each night. I grabbed one of those big rectangular lunch bags that are insulated, put some paper towels in there to keep the parts from touching the material on the sides and bottom, and was on my way. That took up a LOT of room though, and the bag eventually broke down. It split at the sides, the lining cracked from the continuous usage, and it started becoming difficult to unzip. On top of that, it smelled a bit funky… and I was pretty sure there was no way to get that smell out since the padded insulation was now exposed from the cracked material. Yup, I was on the quest for a new way to do this.

I went to a local breastfeeding store and asked about Planet Wise storage bags. I saw on the Planet Wise website that they have quart storage bags and gallon storage bags (in addition to the sandwich and snack bags), so I figured this local store might have them (they carry Planet Wise products). I was in there and the owner suggested trying a wet bag. I had just mentioned to her that wet bags make great impromptu ice packs since they will hold in the water from the melted ice and they are insulated so you’re not instantly freezing when you place the bag against the ailing part….. so why didn’t I think of a wet bag for this storage? It was a great idea!

I bought a small Planet Wise wet bag and found that my pump parts fit (assembled, mind you) perfectly with a bit of room to spare. The fact the bags are lined meant I didn’t have to worry about any droplets of milk seeping into the material and making it smell or look funny. 



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A peek inside with the pump parts shows we have extra room!

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No, really! There is still a bit of room:
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I love the fact it takes up less space in the fridge now, and that I have a lovely bag I can use for other things when I’m done with pumping for my son!

Check out all the other great wet bag prints (and products!) Planet Wise has to offer!

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Disclosure: The product mentioned above was purchased by me, and I received no compensation for this publication. My opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.