Miss Lily's Washing Powder Review & Giveaway!

 

 I love doing laundry. There, I said it... I love doing laundry! I love that you can take dirty, stinky clothes and diapers, put them in the washing machine with a scoop of detergent and voila! Clean, fresh clothes! I love laundry fresh out of the washer - slightly damp and smelling oh-so-fresh! I am pretty picky about my detergent when it comes to our families clothes, sheets and towels and SUPER picky when it comes to little man's cloth diapers, because, well, they're an investment and I want to take care of them to the best of my ability for long term use as well as taking good care of little man's tushy. I use, well, let's say, "Brand X" cloth diaper detergent and I am pretty happy with it. I find that my diapers come out pretty clean, I only occasionally feel like a load still comes out "stinky" and then I do a soak. One of my biggest issues with it though, is that sometimes I feel like I have to rinse and rinse and rinse so much to get all the suds out. Maybe it's our uber hard water or maybe I am just using too much or maybe it's that darn he machine that barely seems to use a splash of water. Little man has had two rashes under the care of "Brand X" and they were pretty bad - not sure if the detergent had anything to do with it, but his sensitive skin is something I definitely take into consideration when choosing the best detergent for his diapers and clothes. So, since his last rash, I have been a little more open to looking for a new cloth diaper friendly detergent to try and I came across Miss Lily's Washing Powder. I read wonderful reviews about how great it was for sensitive skin and how well it removed stains and the stinkies. I was intrigues! I contacted Miss Lily's Washing Powder and was so excited when I got the opportunity to do a review of Miss Lily's Washing Powder!

Miss Lily's Washing Powder is natural, enzyme-free, soap-free, clean-rinsing laundry detergent. Jill is the woman behind behind Miss Lily's and she is a WAHM of four kids and a cloth diapering mama! Her youngest is Lilyana (aka Miss Lily) and she is who the detergent is named after! Jill's goal is to provide a clean and fresh-smelling laundry without the chemicals found in the other detergents. Jill got started making Miss Lily's after reading about cancer-causing agents in popular detergents.  She started trying out other "green" detergents, but wasn't satisfied with any of them. Jill knew there had to be a better way -- a way to make a natural detergent that is effective on stains and odors. So, Jill started working on her very own formula and when she felt like she had gotten the perfect formula down, she had some friends try it out ...and, they loved it! So, Miss Lily's Washing Powder was born and Jill decided to start selling it. 

I was sent a small bag of Miss Lily's Washing Powder to review and I have to say, for a small bag, it lasted forever! A little bit goes a very long way! I read over the directions before I put Miss Lily's washing Powder to the test ...I couldn't wait to get a load of little man's cloth diapers in the wash!

The directions for use can also be found on Miss Lily's Washing Powder's Facebook page: 

• Directions for clothing use: Use 2-4 tablespoons of Miss Lily's per load, depending on the size of the load and how soiled it is. HE users need only 1-2 tablespoons. Usually, only the smallest amount is necessary. Run a heavy wash cycle, if possible. For extra smelly clothes, a soak might be a good idea (see stinky diaper directions).

• Directions for diaper use: Run an extra large load size, cold water rinse first. Then, run a warm or hot heavy duty wash cycle using 2-4 tablespoons of Miss Lily's, half that amount for HE users. Rinse well, using a warm water rinse if possible, or double rinse.

• Directions for stinky diapers or diapers with build-up: Fill washer or tub with warm to hot water, add 2-4 tablespoons of Miss Lily's and your unsoiled diapers. Allow diapers to soak for 1-2 hours or overnight, depending on the odor problem. Rinse well, then run a normal diaper hot wash using no detergent.

• Stain removal: For stubborn stains, remove as much as possible with cold water. There are two effective pretreatments. They are: 

1. Make a paste of Miss Lily's and water. Apply to stain, gently rub with gloved hands or rub fabric together. Allow paste to sit on stain. Launder as usual with the warmest water possible. Repeat if necessary, being sure not to dry garment in the dryer if stain is still present.
2. Soak the garment using 1-4 tablespoons of Miss Lily's and warm water. Allow garment to soak 1-2 hours or as long as overnight. Launder as usual with the warmest water possible. Repeat if necessary, being sure not to dry garment in the dryer if stain is still present.

• (Sunlight works very well at removing stains. Putting your diapers/clothes outside to dry in the sunshine is a great way to get rid of stains, and it makes them smell great.)

• Nothing removes all stains, individual results may vary.

• Do not mix with bleach.

I found these directions to be very helpful and I also talked to Jill about the correct amount of Miss Lily's Washing Powder that I should use with our hard water and the he machine that I have. Jill let me know that she also has hard water and that I shouldn't have to use any more than the directions stated. She did mention that for those with soft water, you may find that using less works just as well.

Little man's diapers being washed with Miss Lily's Washing Powder!

So what did I think? I used Miss Lily's Washing Powder on little man's cloth diapers, on towels, sheets and on clothing. Many loads of laundry later, I am still impressed! I think that my favorite thing about Miss Lily's Washing Powder is how clean rinsing it is. I actually sat and watched a load of laundry go through the entire wash cycle. (I know, I'm a nerd, but little man is always so entertained by his colorful diapers spinning around!) Miss Lily's Washing Powder was very low suds-ing and when the laundry was done, I opened the door, sniffed, stuck my head further in and sniffed again and... nothing! It smelled like clean, wet cloth diapers. I hung my diapers out in the sun and have not noticed any stains that dared to sick around on little man's diapers. I am also happy to report that little man's bum has not had any rash issues and his sensitive skin seems to like his cloth diapers being washed in Miss Lily's Washing Powder! I also feel like my load of whites came out just a wee bit whiter after a spin with Miss Lily's Washing Powder. I am a super happy with the results from Miss Lily's Washing Powder, it really is perfect for cloth diapers and all of your laundry!

No residual suds during the rinse cycle...Yay!

Interested in getting some Miss Lily's Washing Powder for your laundry room? You can BUY Miss Lily's Washing Powder here and just take a look at all those yummy scents! I think Miss Lily's Bamboo and White Grapefruit and Miss Lily's Lemon Sugar sound just like what my laundry room needs for spring!

-OR-

  You can WIN a full sized bag of Miss Lily's Washing Powder in your choice of scent!

Here's how to enter:
Mandatory Entry:

• First, you must publicly follow my blog via GFC and then visit Miss Lily's Washing Powder and let me know what your favorite scent is!

*This mandatory entry must be completed for the rest of your entries to be valid. I will be checking/verifying your comments, if you say you signed up for something or did something, you do need to actually do it for it to count as an entry*

 

Extra Entries:

•  "Heart" Miss Lily's Washing Powder on Etsy and leave your Etsy name in your comment. (1 entry)

• Follow Miss Lily's Washing Powder on Facebook (you can thank her for the giveaway from @The Little Hedgehog if you would like) (1 entry) 

•  Make a purchase from Miss Lily's Washing Powder from now until the giveaway ends on 5/10. I will verify your purchase with Jill. (5 entries)

• Add my button to your blog and leave me a link (2 entries)

• Follow The Little Hedgehog on Facebook. (1 entry) 

• Follow me on Twitter: @lttlehedgehog then, comment here with your Twitter ID to get your entry. (1 entry) 

• Tweet about this giveaway. Comment with a direct link to your tweet so I can see it to get your entry!  You may use this tweet or make up your own:  #Win a bag of Miss Lily's Washing Powder on the @lttlehedgehog blog! Safe for #clothdiapers! http://bit.ly/lUSBZh {Ends 5/10} #giveaway  (1 entry per day)

• Sign up to receive The Little Hedgehog emails via feedburner and have your subscription verified. (2 entries)

• Blog about this review/giveaway. Be sure to include a link to this review/giveaway. Comment with a link to your blog post to get your entry! (2 entries)

*Don't forget to put your email address in each comment so I can get a hold of you if you are the lucky winner! If I cannot get a hold of you, I will have to draw another winner! Also, I will check to make sure that the winner filled out the mandatory entry.

***Open to the US with shipping included. The giveaway is open to those outside the US, but the winner must cover the difference in shipping. Jill will cover the first $5, and the winner (if outside the US) would cover the remaining $8.95.***

I'll accept entries until Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at Midnight PST. I'll select a winner using random.org's random number generator, then email the winner. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email and if I don't get a response, I will have to choose another winner. Again, make sure you leave your email address in your comment!


*Miss Lily's Washing Powder will be sending the winner’s prize item to them directly. 

Thank you to Jill of Miss Lily's Washing Powder for providing me with the opportunity to host this review and giveaway at no cost to myself. The items were sent to me free of charge for review and has not influenced my opinion of the product. I have sought to give my honest opinions and experiences on this product. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own. Thank you again to Miss Lily's Washing Powder for sponsoring this review and giveaway!

Worldless Wednesday - Splash! Splash!

Last Saturday after The Great Cloth Diaper Change, we took a spur of the moment trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (since we were only about 20 min away). We came across a little water park at the Safari Park that was perfect for our little monkey man to play in on a warm day! Thank goodness a new cloth diaper with the insert removed could double as a swim diaper!

Little man had a blast running around splashing and playing in the water and he even made some new friends. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Take the Flats and Handwashing Challenge May 23-30!

In light of this recent article about the lengths that some parents will go to stretch out their diapers usage, Kim from the Dirty Diaper Laundry blog was inspired to do something about it and help to teach others that cloth diapering can be done by anyone with even the smallest budget. Kim is challenging herself and other families to commit to using flats and hand-washing flats them for 1 week. The Flats and Handwashing Challenge will run from May 23-May 30 and I am joining in!

Would you like to join Kim, myself and other familes as we commit to using and handwashing flats for a week? The rules are pretty simple:

• You MUST use Flats.
• You MUST handwash them.  How is up to you.  (bathtub, sink, large wash tub, portable non electronic washing machine, or camp style washer (bucket and plunger- think churning butter)
• You MUST air dry them.  (indoors or outdoors, makes no difference)
• You MUST limit your number of covers in rotation to 5 or less.
• You can use any detergent you want.  (Keep in mind that you still want cloth safe detergents)
• You can still use your nighttime diapers but I ask that you try to make flats work.  Maybe try a prefold wrapped in a flat.
• You can use disposable liners.
• You CAN’T use a diaper sprayer.  I thought long and hard about this one, but at an average cost of 40.00 this is one diaper accessory that is out of range for many families.  Dunk, swish, flush, or scrape!
• You MUST start the morning of May 23 and end the evening of May 30.
• You MUST fill out a completion survey about your experience.  Results will be published here and can be republished on your own blog.
• You don’t have to be a blogger!  Your conclusions about the experiment will be entered into the survey at the end of the challenge.  You can share on your Facebook, Twitter, various messageboards.  But if you are a blogger please share your experience on your own blog.  Grab the button and let people know you are planning on joining the challenge.  Recruit others!  Challenge your own readers to join and fill out the completion survey.  You can blog everyday updating your experience, beforehand to let people know you are getting ready for it and explain what you will be doing, and of course, after the fact to let people know how it went.  If you hated it, say so.  If you think it was awesome and want to continue in some aspect, say that too!  Who knows, flats might be your favorite diaper!

Before I started cloth diapering little man 13 months ago, I was pretty intimidated by cloth diapers. Back then, I took one looks at flats and the mysterious snappi and the many different folding techniques and thought, "No way! I can't do that!" I have learned (many times over) to never say "no" about anything....because I will likely end up doing it. So, here I am, 13 months later with a lively, wiggly, energetic 17 month old and I am looking to tackle the mystery of flats!



So WHY do I want to join in on this challenge? 

1. I actually really want to learn how to fold a flat diapers! I know that when we have a second baby, I would like to start them in cloth diapers right away and flats seem like an extremely adjustable option for a newborn. I also feel that learning new things helps my brain to stretch and grow...so this challenge will be good for my brain!
2. I would like to learn how to hand wash diapers. I love having a washing machine and how simple laundry is with it, but what if something happened to it? What if we were without power for a few days? I have been thinking about it and I feel like learning the "art" of hand washing would be a good skill to have... just in case! 
3. I would also like to know how to use flats and learn to hand wash to help educate others who may want to cloth diaper but feel that they can't afford it or with their limited resources (either financial or washing machine resources). I would love to take the information and skills that I can learn from this challenge and in turn help someone else.

Kim's challenge has really gotten me intrigued to use flats and learn to hand wash them and I am excited to learn and share my experiences!
I only have a few covers. I will be looking into getting a snappi and some flats...and learn how to use them! I will definitely post about my progress, what I'm learning and of course, there will be pictures!

Do you think you could commit to using and hand washing flats for a week? Would you like to join in? Make sure you check out Kims post about the Flats and Handwashing Challenge and let me know if you will be joining in from May 23-30th!

Happy Diapering!

Little One Books Winner!

The winner of the Little One Books giveaway is entry #42!

Congratulations to April of Living Hip Today!

Thank you to everyone who entered and a big thank you to Little One Books for sponsoring this wonderful giveaway!

The Great Cloth Diaper Change!

This past weekend, little man and I got the chance to take part in The Great Cloth Diaper Change and help set a world record for the most cloth diapers changed simultaneously! The event was on April 23rd, 2011 and little man got to participate at Babies in Bloom in Vista, CA. 

Here we are at the store, just starting to go in!

We're headed in to find a spot!

Hubby, little man and I were able to meet a friend and her daughter at the store and it made it so much fun to take part in the event with someone I knew changing her daughter right along side me! We did have to get up pretty early to make it to the store on time, since we lived about an hour away from the location, but it was sooo worth it! 

Keeping little man occupied while we're waiting

Everyone getting set up

The event started at 9AM and we all did a count down to start changing diapers! Little man was quite the trooper! He is normally pretty wiggly when it comes time to change his diaper, but, he held relatively still while I changed him. Maybe it was the "audience" or maybe doing a little light reading during his diaper change helped. Either way, he did great! I changed little man from a bumGenius 4.0 (in Sweet) to a bumGenius 4.0 (in Ribbit). 

On your mark, get set... GO!

Off with the old and on with the new! Getting a fresh diaper on.

Holding up the dirty diaper :)

My friend and I on our way our of the sore. Yay! We just set a world record with our little ones!

 After every baby was changed into fresh fluff, we all got a fun little swag bag with some babylegs and other little samples in it and a certificate for participating!

 

 *Thanks to my great hubby for snapping photos of little man and I participating in the event!

It was so fun to get together with other parents who cloth diaper and take part in such a big, worldwide event! Cloth diapers have come so far and hopefully this event helped some learn about cloth diapers and can help to spread the fluffy love!

Did you participate? Which location did you go to? I would love to hear your stories from The Great Cloth Diaper Change!

 

Happy Easter!

While this Easter little man is still a bit young to care about the fun and festivities that go along with Easter (he is currently napping), I do look forward to the day when I can color Easter eggs with him, make him a little Easter basket of fun goodies and watch him scurry about as he hunts for hidden Easter eggs. I also look forward to the day when I can have conversations with him about the more meaningful reason for celebrating Easter. Oh, little man and I "talk" now and I must say, he is quite the conversationalist! But, one day, the "Bwa-bwa's", ""duckie", "da-da'" and "ma-ma" conversations will turn into something more. I cherish these fun, sweet moments of hugs, wet, slobbery kisses and how he loves with abandon. I hope that he never looses his joyful spirit, delightful smile and that he continues to embrace the world without fear. I hope that as parents, hubby and I can continue to encourage those traits. I hope that we can also help him to discover the beautiful act of atonement that Jesus made for us and that he can marvel because of the power and glory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. I have so much hope and excitement for what is yet to come for little man in his life. I cannot wait to see who he becomes as he grows. I am so thankful that hubby and I were chosen to be little man's parents and that we can teach him about the wonder and glory and hope that God has for him, all because HE Lives!

Happy Easter Sunday everyone!

Winner!

The winner of the Moms Crafts 4U Giveaway is Joy N.!

Congratulations Joy! I will be sending you an email shortly. Thank you to everyone who entered and also to Moms Crafts 4 U for such a wonderful review and giveaway opportunity!

Don't Forget!

I hope everyone has had fun entering the two giveaways that are up right now! If you are new here and haven't entered yet or if you just haven't had the time to enter yet, make sure that you get your entries in to win these great giveaways! Remember, you can't win if you don't enter!

• Are you looking for ways to go greener in honor of Earth Day this year? (This giveaway is for all the ladies who read this blog) Have you already jumped onto the Mama Cloth bandwagon or are you still a little hesitant? Whether you are looking to build your stash or you are just starting, you can enter to win 3 mama pads from Moms Crafts 4 U! This giveaway ends on 4/21.

• Have a little one in your life that loves to read? Does it seem like they have taken up residence in front of their bookshelf? Then, you'll want to enter to win the $15 gift card to Little One Books! This giveaway ends on 4/23.

Good luck and have fun!

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Emotions (All of Them)

Little man is expressive...very expressive. Maybe even a tad on the dramatic side (future drama club member perhaps?) Dinner at our home has been an emotional event lately. Little man usually runs the gamut of emotions. Happy to silly to water works to perplexed to content and... repeat! So the other night I thought I would document dinner.

I think I am a pretty lucky mama - most of the time little man is some form of happy and I am just delighted by his adventurous, joyful spirit. So, even though there were some tears involved at diner, it was still a fun event and I really got a chance to observe all of little man's facial expressions. I loved it.

I introduced tofu for the first time - I made tofu sticks, breaded them and sauteed them in a little olive oil. I was surprised at how well they went over! Then little man munched on "cheese-yeah" (his favorite way to ask for cheese) and some veggies. Now to be fair, he did sign "All Done" toward the end...but I thought I could sneak some sweet potato, carrot and pumpkin soup with brown rice in there. NOPE! He even managed to squeeze out two half tears! I guess he was having an anti-orange food day. ...And back to munching on more tofu.

Our little session reminded me of the "How Are You Feeling Today?" Poster. I think little man would select all!

Happy Wednesday! (Or whatever emotion you may be feeling today)

-CLOSED- Little One Books Review & Giveaway!

 Little man is a book lover for sure! I love finding new books for him that will spark his interest and curiosity. I also love finding new places to shop for good, quality books, because, seriously, there are a million, bazillion children's books on the market, but that doesn't mean they are all interesting or fun page-turners for little man. So, with that being said, I was so excited to be able to work with Little One Books for this review and giveaway!

Little One Books was founded by Joan McCoy and Barney Cohen who have five grandchildren under the age of seven and have personally selected and reviewed each and every item that Little One Books carries. I think they've read through their fair share of books! Little One Books carries books, music, and videos for children birth through age five and the site is set up so that you can easily find the perfect item by your child's age! Little One Books was created to make shopping for books, music and videos for children informative, not overwhelming.

Little One Books takes great care and pride in their selection of books and my absolute favorite feature of their site is that they explain why they chose each and every book! I loved looking through their selection of books and their helpful explanations really helped me to find the perfect book for little man! 

I chose Peek-A-Who? by Nina Laden and little man absolutely loves it! He loves playing peek-a-boo right now and even tries to say peek-a-boo every time I say it, although his sounds a little more like "Baa-ba-boo!" He loves to cover his eyes and then fling his arms back wide and of course, he loves it just as much when I play peek-a-boo too! Reading through Peek-A-Who? has been so much fun and it is such a cute book! The illustrations are big and colorful and the pages are easy for little man to turn on his own. Little man has also had fun pointing to all the different things in the book to learn their names. 

"Hooo..."

He loves the owl and the cow pages and every time he sees the owl he says, "Hooo!" and when we flip to, "Peek a Moo", he loves to point at the cow and say, "Moo-Moo"! 

I think the biggest surprise came at the end of the book though when he saw his reflection in the mirror! he got the biggest kick out of is and had the biggest smile on his face! Now he loves to angle the book so he can see me in the reflection and he will say, "Hi!" over and over again while he sits on my lap. Ahhh... a good book and my little man on my lap.... nothing is better than that!

 Little One Books is a wonderful site to find new books for your little one - I know I have already found more that I think little man needs for his bookshelf! The customer service at Little One Books is outstanding and they are so friendly to chat with! Little One Books really puts the extra effort in to making customers feel like they are part of the Little One Books family.

You can SHOP for books, music and videos from the Little One Books site. They have a wonderful selection, I know you will find something special for you little one - a book to help your children learn more about Earth day and the environment or maybe a special book to tuck into the Easter basket! Little One Books also has a special offer just for my readers! When you Buy any 2 Little One Books products you will get the CD Sunflower for FREE! Just use the code: sunflower when you go to checkout!

-OR-

  You can WIN a $15.00 gift certificate to the Little One Books site!

  Here's how to enter:
Mandatory Entry:

• First, you must fan/like Little One Books on Facebook and sign up for the Little One Books newsletter (in the upper right corner of their main page). (1 entry)

*This mandatory entry must be completed for the rest of your entries to be valid. I will be checking/verifying your comments, if you say you signed up for something or did something, you do need to actually do it for it to count as an entry*

 

Extra Entries:

•  Visit Little One Books site and tell me what your favorite item is (1 entry)

• Follow Little One Books on Twitter and comment with your Twitter ID to get your entry.(1 entry)

•  Publicly follow my blog via GFC. (1 entry)

• Follow The Little Hedgehog on Facebook. (1 entry) 

• Update your Facebook status telling your friends about this giveaway!  Tag @The Little Hedgehog and @Little One Books in your status. (1 entry)

• Add my button to your blog and leave me a link (2 entries)

• Follow me on Twitter: @lttlehedgehog then, comment here with your Twitter ID to get your entry. (1 entry) 

• Tweet about this giveaway. Comment with a direct link to your tweet so I can see it to get your entry!  You may use this tweet or make up your own:  Enter to #Win a $15 GC to @littleonebooks on the @lttlehedgehog blog! http://bit.ly/gpTo1b {Ends 4/23} #giveaway  (1 entry per day)

• Sign up to receive the little hedgehog emails via feedburner and have your subscription verified. (2 entries)

• Blog about this review/giveaway. Be sure to include a link to this review/giveaway. Comment with a link to your blog post to get your entry! (2 entries)

*Don't forget to put your email address in each comment so I can get a hold of you if you are the lucky winner! If I cannot get a hold of you, I will have to draw another winner! Also, I will check to make sure that the winner filled out the mandatory entry.

Open to the US and Canada!

I'll accept entries until Saturday, April 23, 2011 at Midnight PST. I'll select a winner using random.org's random number generator, then email the winner. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email and if I don't get a response, I will have to choose another winner. Again, make sure you leave your email address in your comment!


*Little One Books will be providing the winner’s prize to them directly. 

Thank you to Little One Books for providing me with the opportunity to host this review and giveaway at no cost to myself. The item was sent to me free of charge for review and has not influenced my opinion of the product. I have sought to give my honest opinions and experiences on this product. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own. Thank you again to Little One Books for sponsoring this review and giveaway!