Review: Rockin Green Soap ROCKS

We cloth diaper and for a while I used my own homemade laundry soap for everything, including Gray's diapers (though it was a different laundry soap, one that didn't include actual soap). It worked pretty well, especially considering how hard our water is (everything gets residue on it, yuck!) Though after a while, my diapers would start getting stinky. They wouldn't really stink when they came out of the dryer, but as soon as they got wet, WHEW! It was like an Elementary School's Boy's Bathroom in Gray's pants (or maybe High School? I think High School boys purposefully pee on the walls, whereas little boys accidentally do). It was pretty gross, not to mention embarrassing (I don't want people to think I don't change Gray frequently, or that his diapers aren't clean!) I'd end up stripping diapers every 2 weeks, which was a lengthy and time-consuming process of -

Cold rinse (to remove pees/poop residue)

HOT wash & soak (at least 4 hours) with blue Dawn and as many pots of boiling water as I could manage before the washer filled up (usually 3-6)

Hot washes/rinses until the water was no longer bubbly - sometimes as many as 6!

--so my washing machine would be tied up for at least 24 hours and then - even then!- sometimes I'd still get the stinkies. (Plus I didn't want to put anything PUL in there, or GroBaby shells because the velcro gets weak in super hot water, so I'd have to wash those items separately!)

BUT NOT ANYMORE! -and here's where I go all infomercial on you. (not really!) I heard about this detergent Rockin Green and wanted to try it but was a little worried about cost, especially if it didn't really work because I'm Frugal! (maybe this blog should be the Frugal Green Housewife... hmmmm). And then I heard that she was doing this whole new marketing thing and changing stuff and getting new scents (another thing I was worried about because I'm very sensitive to strong smells) so I held off - and tried to win my own bag - and waited... then she came out with the new stuff, which is 100% natural and organic and I bit the bullet! (I also learned that she is out of San Antonio and so I liked that I could get it LOCAL, too!) I ordered a sample of each scent (excluding orangevana and lavender mint revival b/c I thought I wouldn't be a big fan) and a full bag of the scent I thought I'd like the best - Motley Clean. First off, the scents are MARVELOUS! (I have since been to the store in San Antonio and smelled them all - and amazingly loved all of them!) Motley Clean & Plain Green T's are my two favorites - they smell clean and slightly sweet like grapefruit and linen. I also love Rage Against the Raspberries and Smashing Watermelons but they smell like Kool Aid to me so I feel like I might mistakenly mix them with water and drink.

BUT on to the important stuff - my fluff! I took 6 tablespoons of Rockin Green and threw it in the washer with my rinsed diapers, turned it on hot/heavy duty then soak and left it overnight. The next morning, I was disappointed to open the washer and see clear looking water! Argh! Then I turned the washer ON and Voila! yuck water! It was dingy in there - gray-brown water that I couldn't even see through. Apparently it had all sunk to the bottom. I rinsed the diapers 3 times, dried, and since that day, I have not had any stinkies. We LOVE Rockin Green so much, I've stopped making my own detergent and started using RnG on everything! I even use this detergent to clean - the kitchen, the floors, the carpets, the couch! It is magic! (I used it to clean my toilets this last weekend - it's awesome, great srubbing ability, all natural, organic and it smells nice!) My kitchen sink was disgusting - stains from foods (we have a white ceramic sink) and stains from tea and marks from pots and pans. I mixed RNG with enough water to make a paste and scrubbed the paste into the sink, then left until it dried and srubbed it back off - and ended up with a shiny, sparkley and most importantly, WHITE, sink.

My regular wash routine now is 2 tablespoons RnG into the washer on hot with my rinsed diapers, leave it to soak overnight and rinse in the morning. It works like a charm, and only using 2 tablespoons per load means one bag lasts for 45 loads! If you have an HE machine, you can cut the use in half (1 tbs per load) and get 90 loads from one bag. It is amazing stuff!

WIN YOUR OWN BAG of RnG! I'm keeping things simple because I hate those blog contests where you have to do 15 different things. So, please, if you haven't before, check out RNG's website, read about it. Find them on facebook and "like" them (you can get great hints from other mama's and find out fast about RnG giveaways and discounts!) and if you feel like it, find me, Squeaky Green Housewife, on facebook and friend me, too! Leave a comment below letting me know the scent you'd like to try and if you have hard, soft or regular water in your home. One comment per person, please! Giveaway ends September 17!

Giveaway: Plum Organics

My very first super sweet giveaway! I'm SO excited!

I received Plum Organics products from Ecomom (Eco-friendly baby Products - Ecomom), including some apple-carrot fiddlesticks, 2 toddler mish mashes (peach and strawberry) and 2 baby pouches (spinach, peas & pear and pumpkin & banana), plus some Plum dispensing spoons by boon (these just attach to the pouch for seriously easy feeding as well as no used spoon mixing into your baby food and getting germs down in there, so I feel a little safer refrigerating leftovers for use later).

I gave Gray a fiddlestick right away. (Right away after I tried it, of course!) I like that these are gluten-free and also are very soft textured, so I feel like the choking hazard is diminished. Even though Gray had just finished eating dinner, he went right after the fiddlestick and ate the whole thing like it was candy, so I'd say that was a hit!

(Gray guiltily eating his first fiddlestick - he'd had a long day of sun and swimming in the river, so he was worn out.)

We had some of the mish mash and pouches over the last couple of days. He's liked everything he's tried and I think these would be great for moms who are super busy, it is so simple to just throw one in the diaper bag (or open up for a quick meal!) I don't really like the boon spoon, when you squeeze out the food it is all at the back of the spoon which makes it harder to feed to a baby. It also didn't have a solid handle, since the pouch of food is the "handle" so that took some getting used to. I tried just squeezing directly into a baby spoon and that worked really well for us.

EcoMom's website is very easy to navigate and there is a cool program called EcoPass where you pay a $99 annual membership and get 15% off every order plus free shipping on any order! I think if you were planning to use this as your main baby food source, it would be a great program.

EcoMom is giving all of our readers 15% off their first order! Use coupon code SBBL435 offer good until June 30, 2010.

And now for the Giveaway!!!! EcoMom is giving one lucky reader $15 in Plum or Revolution foods!

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment letting us know you've done any of the following (multiple entries encouraged!) I'll draw a winner on June 30th, 2010! Contest only open to entrants in the US and Canada.

Mandatory Entry: Check out EcoMom's website (www.ecomom.com) and let me know 1 product you would love to try - there are so many products aside from just baby food (and way more food products than I got to review!) 1 entry

Entry #2: Follow EcoMom on twitter (1 entry)

Entry #3: Become a fan of EcoMom on Facebook (1 entry)

Entry #4: Join the EcoMom newsletter (1 entry)

Entry #5: Publicly follow my blog (1 entry)

Entry #6: Follow me on facebook (1 entry) {Note: There's nothing going on over there yet because I just started the page, but there will be!}

Entry #7: Tweet about this giveaway including @rachaellindsey and @ecomom as well as a link to this blog (1 per day)

Good Luck everyone!

* I was given products to review but was not compensated for this review. This review is completely my own opinion and does not represent those of Plum Organics, EcoMom, or anyone else.