RUMP's Review: Novel Red

If you're a reusable's fan, you've probably heard of Novel Red - if you aren't a reusable's fan, you really REALLY should be, and Novel Red is a great place to start!  This shop was even the winner of the first ever Kristy's List Outstanding Customer Service Award - Fancy!

So why is Novel Red so fabulous?  First, let's talk quality.  Novel Red has a wide variety of topper fabrics available, including a line of crushed velvet toppers that I absolutely love and have two of - and I've found that their pads are super thin and comfortable, even at high absorbancy levels.  Plus, I can't say enough about the sewing - spot on without weird wonky edges or huge mistakes.  Below is a breakdown of some of NR's cloth pad options as of the date of this post, along with a few photos - for more info on their products, check out their website @ NovelRed.Com.

Topper Materials: Cotton, Minky, Crushed Velvet

Core Materials: Bamboo & Cotton Flannel or Terry

Backer Materials: WindPro Fleece

Styles Available: Narrow, Curved, Straight

Absorbency: Liner, Moderate, Heavy, XHeavy

Lengths: 7", 9", 11", 13"

So clearly you can probably find something you'd be interested in with all of those options available, but WHY would I recommend Novel Red specifically?  Two words: Customer Service.  While I've never had an especially poor experience with any pad shop, the best experience I've ever had was with Novel Red.  You can't put a price tag on a pleasant experience and the care and attention that you receive as an NR customer is truly fantastic.

Novel Red has a great reputation and it's clear that reputation means a lot to the maker.  She went out of her to make me feel comfortable with a custom order I had placed and the experience only makes me want to order again... soon.

I hope this quick review will encourage you to give Novel Red a try as your build your own Cloth Pad Stash!  If you have any questions on RUMP's (Reusable Menstrual Products) feel free to reach out to me!

Oh... and I have a silly little YouTube channel where I post video reviews on cloth products, including Novel Red (check it out if you haven't already - all the cool kids are doing it).

CLOSED Giveaway! Farmerkids Organics!

It's finally time!  The Cozy Life Cloth Re-Launch!  I'm excited to be re-energizing the blog with such a special giveaway - I have partnered with an eco-friendly clothing brand, Farmerkids Organics, to raise awareness to the benefits of organic clothing for our children... and to get you guys some free stuff!!

Before we get into the specifics of the giveaway, let's talk about Farmerkids for a second - This wonderful brand, created by the fabulous Gabrielle and based in NYC, is a brand of children's clothing and accessories that combines whimsy with ecofriendly - using embroidered designs on 100% organic cotton in a range of goodies for our little ones including t-shirts, bibs, onesies, and hats.

My personal favorites are the personalized products that you can customize specific to your child and family.  I thought the onesie my daughter received, with "C is for Cozy Life" embroidered on the front, was absolutely adorable.  In addition to being high quality and looking fantastic, the organic cotton is super comfy.  My daughter isn't a big fan of clothing in general, but this onesie was so soft that she barely raised a fuss at all when I put it on her.

More so than it's cuteness, this onesie is an automatic favorite of mine because I know that the fabric is organic.  Organic cotton fabric is created using organically grown cotton crops - this cotton isn't treated with chemical pesticides or herbicides and as a result, it uses much, much, MUCH less water during harvesting and processing.  This also means that it's less likely to irritate your child's skin.

Want to learn more about Farmerkids Organics?  Check out their website, and follow them on twitter, facebook, or pinterest! 

... now let's talk about the giveaway

You want one of these personalized onesies or t-shirts now too, don't you?? Okay, here's the scoop on the giveaway. In order to qualify for the giveaway, you'll need to do a few quick things: Below is the fancy entry form - you have FOUR ways to enter.  In order to qualify you must be 18 years or older and live in the United States.

The giveaway will end on August 31st and the winner will be announced on September 1st!  Good luck!

**Giveaway is now closed**

Congrats to Susan D. for winning!

Review: NewAir AF-1000B Portable Evaporative Cooler

So seriously... It's HOT where I live.  While I'm still a California girl, I left the beaches behind and headed out to the desert climate of the California Central Valley - home of high temperatures and poor air quality.  Air conditioning is expensive and my family is doing everything we can to conserve energy, while still keeping our family comfortable in the 100°F+ weather we're having this summer.

Due to our poor air quality, a lot of times we're stuck inside and it's important, especially with an infant in the house, that we stay cool.  That means that our new evaporative cooler from NewAir (the AF-1000B) is our new best friend.

The cooler uses water and/or ice, in combination with an osculating fan, to cool medium-sized rooms.  As a self-proclaimed "Eco Mom" this fan is a dream because I don't need to worry about weird chemicals that might be present in other portable coolers - it uses WATER!  So on top of this cooler working amazingly well, it's ecofriendly too.

Extra bonuses?  It comes fully assembled (you literally just need to plug it in) and you can use it in "fan only" mode if you'd prefer to not add water.  You also have the option to have the fan stationary or osculating, depending on your needs.  While I feel like a cheesy used car salesman being 100% positive on this thing, I seriously love it.  We keep it next to our TV in the living room and it's allowed us to turn off our air conditioning unit in favor for a less energy-consuming fan.

Here's a few photo's of the cooler- I love that it's black and matches a lot of my furniture... but if you're looking for something more flashy, it also comes in red!

I did quick video to show you guys how easy this amazing cooler is to use.  You'll also hear how quiet it is - I turned it on right next to my dog, who was sleeping (as dog's tend to do) - my dog is a rescue and sudden noise seriously startles him... This fan/cooler?  So quiet, he barely noticed.  Check it out:

Upcycling with Habiliment

Alright, Eco-Moms, it's time to really live up to the "eco" in our Eco-Mom title.  Let me start by bringing up the term Upcycle.  Upcycling is a critical concept when we think about the idea of living an eco-conscious lifestyle - it's the idea that you can take an old thing and make it new.  Re-purpose and re-use the old to make it functional, beautiful, and/or relevant.  In order to be as ecofriendly as possible, us mom's have the responsibility to repurpose items in our homes and give them new life. 

Going out to the mall to buy clothes, shopping online for toys... these are common actions nowadays.  Doing that shopping while also supporting the idea of upcycling?  Not so common.  With that in mind, I want to share a discovery with you - Habiliment.  This company is a way to combine shopping and upcycling, bringing eco-conscious products into our homes and giving them new life.

Made from an old houndstooth coat, this pillow toy in the shape of a bunny rabbit is a new favorite in my daughter's nursery.  It's amazing to see what a sewing machine and an old coat can do!  I don't want to sound like a used car salesman, but this is a seriously exciting concept.  This toy is adorable - I've even found my six year-old carrying it around the house... and to think that it might have been a just dusty coat somewhere in a landfill.

Plus, how cute is the packaging?  When I received my pillow toy in the mail, I almost didn't want to unwrap it!  The obvious time and effort put into every product is another big reason why I'm so supportive of this brand.

One potential misgiving about upcycled materials is always quality - when you're reusing something old to create something new, will this "new" thing be rundown from the start?  Absolutely not the case with our adorable pillow toy.  The sewing is outstanding and the materials selected are vintage, but high quality.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this upcycled toy lasts longer than my daughter's factory made teddy bears.  Here's a close up of the "ears" on our bunny - Does that looked recycled to you?

All of the items available from Habiliment follow this same idea, or are produced using the Indian handcrafted fabric of Khadi, which is both culturally important to the people of India and also made outside of a sweatshop or factory, as so many fabrics unfortunately are.

I am passionate about being ecofriendly, and I'm extremely supportive of brands that seek to provide consumers with ecofriendly products.  I hope you'll take a look at the different clothes and upcycled products that Habiliment has to offer - they definitely get my stamp of approval!

Habiliment Website

Image (c) Habiliment

Beach Bottom Cloth Pads

This post was super fun for me... But note that it talks about our "monthly friend," so if that makes you uncomfortable... well, we're all adults here, right?  If you're a regular to the blog, you know that I'm a HUGE advocate for cloth diapering.  But one thing that I've never touched on is the idea of reusable cloth pads... Yes - I said it: REUSABLE pads.  Ladies, it's a thing!

While some of us cloth moms will talk to anyone who will listen about diapering with cloth, it seems to be a much more taboo thing to discuss handling our own hygiene needs with a reusable product.  Why is that?  Disposable pads and tampons are just as expensive and harmful to the environment as disposable diapers are!

Beach Bottom is a small business based out of California, run by someone very much like me - A mom.  Jaime is fantastic and seriously creative, so please check out her store on Etsy  or the Beach Bottom Facebook Page to see all of the amazing reusable pads she has made by hand.  I love the idea of supporting small businesses, so this really is a win/win for me.  I even have a coupon code for you below, so stay tuned!

Below is a shot of three sizes in Beach Bottom's collection - Pantyliner, Light, and Moderate (there is also a "heavy" option).  A fun element of these is that all of the sizes have their own snap/closure color - pink of pantyliner, white for light, purple for moderate, and teal for heavy.  That way, when you're looking for the size you want, it's easy to find!

Fabrics: What are they made of?

Much like cloth diapers, cloth pads need to have both barrier layers and absorption layers.  Beach Bottom uses cotton, flannel, and micro fleece.  The fun fabrics that make up the top layer of the pads are 100% cotton.  Beach Bottom has numerous prints to choose from, all of them fun and bright - One of the reasons I like cloth diapering is that the diapers themselves are adorable, and the same can be said for cloth pads.  My favorite of Beach Bottom's options is the dream catcher design - super cute!

To absorb and retain liquid, the middle layers of the pads are cotton flannel.  Each size has a different level of absorption - Pantyliners, for example, only have a single layer of cotton flannel.  As you go up in size, more cotton flannel layers are added.

The bottom layer (the backing of the pad) is a soft micro fleece.  This helps to form a barrier from the liquid reaching your undergarments, and also serves to help anchor the pad in place - no one wants their pad slipping around as they go about their day, right?  Beach Bottom even incorporates fun colors for this part too.

How to Travel with Cloth Pads

As a cloth mom, I had several wet bags on hand that I use for my daughter's diaper bag.  When I went to work, all I did was put a small wet bag in my purse, snapped the used pads closed after use, and put them in the wet bag for sanitary storage until I got home.  It really wasn't any different than a disposable pad, only I threw nothing away.  If you don't want to buy a "wet bag," small makeup bags would be ideal for this too, and would easily fit in your purse or handbag.

Comfort and Use

I'm being 100% honest when I say that once I used these cloth pads, I knew I couldn't go back to disposables.  The cotton fabric is SO much more comfortable than the synthetic and bleached wood pulp or viscose rayon (ew) that disposable pads are made from - and Beach Bottom's pads are WAY less bulky than your typical pad.  I almost forgot I was wearing them... No joke!

I used the pantyliner as I was getting the indications that my cycle was coming, then the light and moderate once my cycle actually started.  I have a heavy flow, so these pads were most suitable for the first and last days of my cycle in order to limit any potential staining to my clothing - the days in between would have been ideal for the heavy pad (I'm heading over to Beach Bottom's store to load up on heavy pads soon!).

Clean Up

But, while all of this is great, I haven't brought up why most women don't want to try a cloth pad... the clean up.  It's the same with any reusable hygiene product - people don't want to see it or touch it, so they just keep using synthetic and bulky disposables.

So here's the truth - hand washing for all three took less than five minutes and was amazingly simple.  The care instructions that Beach Bottom sent over said that the pads were machine washable following a rinse, and could be dried in a conventional dryer (Beach Bottom pre-washes all fabrics so potential shrinkage is minimal).  I, however, opted to hand wash to see how it would go.  As directed, I used cold water to limit staining.  I started with rinsing out all three pads until the water in my sink ran clear.  

At that stage, I opted to use OxyClean (a handy product for cloth diapers as well) with a tiny bit of my plant-based cloth diaper detergent and scrubbed the powder into the fabric with my fingers, then rinsed again.  All signs of possible staining were gone and the fabric looked just as great as it had before use.  Below are the pads following wash, laid out flat to air dry:

Final Thoughts & Coupon Code!

I wouldn't recommend anything if I didn't love the product - and seriously, I LOVE Beach Bottom's pads.  They are adorable, comfortable, easy to clean, and super cost effective considering how long you'll be able to use them.  I am thoroughly impressed with the quality of the product and I know that I'll be a customer for a long time.

In celebration of Memorial Day, Beach Bottom is offering 10% off all products this weekend using the coupon code NYU2015.  It's a limited offer, so don't wait!  This limited offer has expired!  But don't worry - Beach Bottom's cloth pads are actually much more cost effective than other cloth pads out there, so still check them out!

Beach Bottom's Etsy Store

Beach Bottom's Facebook Page

Beach Bottom on Instagram

 

Images Copyright Beach Bottom

Review: NewAir Outdoor Misting Fan, AF-520B

If you're new to my blog, you may not know that I recently relocated to the central valley of California.  The weather here is NUTS - super dry all year-round, and crazy HOT during the spring and summer (we're talking 100°+ for six months out of the year - yuck).  So when I had the chance to try out the NewAir Outdoor Misting Fan, I jumped at it (it's the AF-520B model if you want to check one out!).  

Assembly

While the fan arrived in an impressively sized box, there was still assembly required.  Luckily, I've spent hours putting together modular furniture in the past, so I figured this would be a breeze.  The fan came in five large pieces, taking around five to ten minutes to put together.  As far as what you'll need - all it takes is a phillips-head screwdriver (though I had to use two - one small, one large).  The instructions were a little confusing, but I was able to figure them out once I re-read a few parts and consulted the handy diagrams they included.  I felt that the fan itself was really high quality and well designed, which is huge plus.

Indoor Use

This fan is technically an "outdoor misting fan" but I gave it a go inside first, just to make sure everything worked right.  While you will have the water tubing to deal with (I wrapped it around the base of the fan), it works just fine inside - the fan is a good size and the three different speed settings make it work for small and large rooms.

Outdoor Misting Use

My son was so excited to hook up the fan to water and give the misting a try - what I really liked was the "on" and "off" switch for the water - I can imagine this will help me avoid future "accidental misting" issues when setting up the fan :)  The set up was fairly simple, but I did have to use an extension cord because the plug on the fan was too large to hook up to our exterior power outlet, which has a safety cover (as most outdoor outlets do, I would assume).  

Once the water was going, I knew I was in LOVE with this fan.  The amount of "mist" is perfect - keeps you cool but doesn't drench you - and once the weather heats up, I can see my family using this thing A LOT.  Depending on how far you want the misting to spray, you can increase or decrease the speed of the fan.  The product itself is very sturdy as well, so I can see it handling windy days with no problems.

Final Thoughts

If you had asked me before trying this fan whether I would want to buy it or not, I probably would have said no.  Who needs a fan that shoots water at you??  ... but now that I've tried it, I'd recommend it to anyone that lives somewhere hot.  This fan might actually get us outside more in the summer, which will mean a lot to my kids. If you want more information on this product, check out the NewAir website or like them on Facebook!

Demonstration

Here's a quick video showing the fan in action!  Take a look: