When Spray Pal wanted to expand to other countries (everybody deserves to prevent poo-splatter, amiright?) there was a slight problem- toilet plumbing for diaper sprayers. We heard over and over that the differences in toilet connections made attaching a diaper sprayer difficult or completely impossible. While this is a bummer, take heart, there are a few ways to still spray your diapers in your bathroom and use a Spray Pal splatter shield.
Hack #1- Detachable Shower Head
In many cases, a detachable shower head can and will work as a diaper sprayer. As long as the shower head is close enough to the toilet and the cord is long enough you've got yourself a solution.
If you're looking to replace a single shower head with a detachable one we have some things to keep in mind before you buy. Adjustability is important, if you can't focus the spray there may not be enough water pressure for the shower to function as a diaper sprayer. Now let's address cord/hose length- choose the longest you can find. Lastly, a shower head with an on/off toggle or trigger is ideal, otherwise, you would have to juggle aiming the shower head over the toilet while you turn the faucet on.
We asked our fans if they use a showerhead and many said YES and with great success.
Hack #2- Sink Attached Sprayer
If your bathtub or shower are too far from the toilet or you'd rather not use the showerhead perhaps a sink attached sprayer will work instead! Our friends at QD Spray have created a sink attached sprayer that's completely temporary. The hose attached to the faucet and can be removed as needed- perfect for renters or anyone with a toilet that can't accommodate a diaper sprayer. The hose can even be ordered in various lengths to suit your needs. For now this brand isn't available in all countries but maybe with enough interest they can make it happen.
Of course, as you explore ways to make sure that you can effectively spray your cloth diapers clean without a diaper sprayer we hope you also add a Spray Pal splatter shield to your shopping cart. We have a feeling if you don't the first time around you may come back after testing your sprayer soon enough ;)
If you have any tips or tricks to add feel free to share with us in the comments or post to our Facebook page!
If you are expecting and are working to build your cloth diaper stash using a registry can help jumpstart your journey. The start-up cost of cloth diapering can be hard to overcome so having help from family and friends can make it a little easier on your wallet.
Our Spray Pal and Cloth Diaper Sprayer Bundle and Spray Pal - Cloth Diaper Sprayer Splatter Shield with Storage Wetbag are the perfect addition to your baby registry. When the proverbial poop hits the fan once your baby begins eating solids you will be so relieved to have your sprayer and Spray Pal shield installed and at the ready. Cloth diapering parents call their Spray Pal splatter shield "A definite must for cloth diapering" and say "If you are going to do cloth diapers, this is a MUST BUY! This made cleaning out the diapers an absolute breeze."
AND, we are super excited to announce our newest addition to our Amazon listings, a cloth diapering starter kit! This kit is the PERFECT shower gift for any family interested in using cloth but isn't sure where to begin. We make the starting part EASY! The kit includes 4 different styles of cloth diapers from some of the top brands in the industry so you can try them out and see which work best for you. No more buying a stash of all one brand only to find out that they don't work the best with your babe. You'll also get the accessory-necessities to make your cloth journey a success from the start!
We've heard many times that convincing family members to buy cloth diapers or accessories from their baby registry can be challenging. Here is a tip from a blog post titled Registering (and getting) cloth diapers from your registry- "Keep your registry realistic and basic. By paring down to the essentials (does your baby really need that plush cotton robe and slippers or the decorative giant giraffe?) your guests will find it easier to shop for you and their eyes won’t glaze over..." Our starter kit is the perfect solution!
If your friends and family are skeptical about your choice to use cloth, they may be hesitant to search out a specialty boutique to shop for the things you need to start your cloth journey off on the right foot. Luckily, Amazon is a quick and easy place for your friends and family to shop whether they're local to you or sending love from across the nation. Once you have your registry set up, you can use the clickable images below to add these cloth diapering items and others so that even the most skeptical friends can help support your choice. With the money you've saved, you can shop with your favorite cloth retailer to add to your stash once your shower is over! ;)
We'd love to hear from you. Were your friends and family supportive of your choice to use cloth diapers? Was your cloth registry successful for you? Comment below to let us know!
If you've ever shopped on Amazon before, you surely know by now that they are hosting their 2nd annual Prime Day today, July 12th. You really can't miss all the ads on the sidebar of every website ever. Last year's Prime Day was met with high anticipation from customers hoping to score an awesome deal, only to find that most of the products offered were things they didn't really care to purchase, even at 40% off. The #PrimeDayFail hashtag was quite a fun one to follow, and begs the question, will this year be different?
We were actually asked to apply to have a Prime Day deal on Spray Pal products, but our products weren't selected this year. My guess is that 1) we weren't able to discount our items as deeply as they would've liked, and 2) after last year's #PrimeDayFail fiasco, they're probably looking for items that are considered more "mainstream" and "exciting" to the average customer.
So while there are plenty of cloth diapering moms and dads who would be THRILLED to take advantage of a discount on the greatest poop splatter shield on the market, Amazon probably just didn't see it that way. Which actually worked out well because we wanted to provide a sale or discount but we didn't want to undercut our retailers. So, we decided, instead of a discount on Amazon, how about we support our small business retailers with a sale instead?? For this year's Prime Day, we'll be sharing a list of retailers who are offering an approved sale on our Spray Pal products. Stay tuned on social media for this list!
Running a cloth diapering store is hard work and comes with lots of overhead, especially if you have a physical brick and mortar location. But these stores are invaluable resources to their local communities. Just think how many families they can educate, support, and build a community with in their local area. Without these stores, cloth diapers wouldn't be nearly as mainstream as they are today. One of the best things we can do to help #makeclothmainstream is to support our local stores by shopping (and BUYING) locally. We hope you'll consider checking out their deals on Spray Pal and adding a few other cloth diapering items to your cart when you shop, because who really needs another cheaply made phone battery pack at 40% off anyways? ;)
Every day is a Prime Day to shop small. :)
Now that Prime Day 2016 is over, please check out our list of retailers to find out if you have one near you and support them by spending your dollars locally! You can find them HERE on our retailer map!
EDITED APRIL 2017 TO ADD: Every sprayer now includes a non-return valve at no extra charge!! You asked and we listened! :)
The time has finally come. After nearly a year of testing various sprayer adapters, we're launching the same great diaper sprayer that has gained massive popularity here in the USA, just with the correct fittings to easily install it on your Australian toilet! No more dunk and swish down under! No more spending extra money on liners that can damage your plumbing! The Spray Pal system makes nappy clean up so easy and mess-free, you'll be dancing in the streets telling all your friends and family how awesome cloth diapers can be...even when dealing with the poop! ;)
Cloth skeptics, beware...the cloth advocates now have one more tool up their sleeves to convince you that cloth CAN BE DONE. And easily, too. :)
We're mostly excited that we can start saying cloth nappies legitimately now!
Special bonus, when you shop on your website, your flat rate international shipping will qualify for anything else we carry on our website, so be sure to stock up on any other cloth diapers or accessories you need! Also, to make things easy, you can change the currency on our site to AU$ and it will automatically convert things for you. Happy shopping!
If you’re in a group on Facebook, you may have noticed an
influx of notifications over the past 24 hours letting you know that a group
admin as deemed you to be one of her BFFs. In other words, she changed the
setting of the group from something like “closed” to “close friends” in the
hopes that you would see more of her posts in your news feed.
You likely also noticed that many of the groups that made
this change are trying to sell you something (LulaRoe, anyone?!), so it makes
sense that they’d want to get those posts in front of you to increase
interaction and thus (in theory) increase sales.
Is this a good move? I suppose the jury is still out. As
someone who is a Facebook groups shopper as well as a small business owner, I can
see this from both sides. I completely understand the need for small businesses to get their message out there to the millions of daily Facebook users
without wanting (or being able to) pay for ads or promoted posts. In fact, I’ve
recently been testing out some theories on the latest Facebook algorithms over
on our business page for this exact reason. But, I will admit, I haven’t tested
any of these theories in our chat group…this was solely on our business page.
On the flip side, here’s what went through my mind when I
woke up this morning to THREE TIMES the normal amount of notifications on my
personal page:
“Whoa!! 25 notifications overnight?! Is it my birthday?? No…hmmm…something big
must’ve happened. Let’s check…OK, so like ¾ of these are about LulaRoe groups.
WTF? Wait…they’re all changing the groups to “close friends”?? Why?? Wow, how
the heck was I in so many of these groups?! I need to clean up this list.
Click. Leave group. Click. Leave group. Click. Leave group.”
So, as you can see, in my case it was not a great move for these admin to do
this all at once because it brought attention to the fact that I was in way too
many groups to begin with. But, you might look at that as a silver lining. The
people who are going to leave are the ones who are done shopping and aren’t
going to be your customers anyway. If changing the group setting increases your
visibility to those who are actually going to buy your stuff, then it’s worth
it to lose a few “duds” in the process.
Before you make any changes, decide what your end goal is.
If your goal is to have higher numbers in your group, I say don’t mess with it.
If you’re ok with losing some members in order to target those who are actually
going to shop, then go for it! But, one more thing to consider before you make
the switch it this: Does the setting of the group actually increase
engagement? I’ve heard from some LulaRoe consultants that it has, but my
thought is that it could just be residual from those notifications going
through. If people weren’t (like me) just leaving the groups as they got
notified, they may have actually clicked the notification to check out what was
going on in the group and then interacted with a post. It doesn’t necessarily
mean that the group setting change made the difference. Only time will tell. Of
course, by the time we have this figured out, Facebook will probably change its
algorithm again. ;)
Now that summer is here, 1.0 and I have found a show we can both enjoy which (thankfully) doesn't involve princesses or ponies. It's the Food Network's Kids Baking Championship! I'm super excited that she's as into cooking shows as I was growing up, and I especially love that we can watch a show together before bedtime that doesn't make me want to gouge eyes out. No offense to all the Bronies and MLP fans out there. ;)
The other benefit to watching this show together is that it's encouraging a love of cooking and food exploration in her. Now when we go for groceries, she likes to pick out an easy recipe off Pinterest so she can try it at home. For this video, we adapted our own version of a watermelon popsicle to try out, and she loved it!!
Here's what we used in case you'd like to try this out with your kids:
1/2 bag of frozen strawberries (you can probably use fresh as well)
5 c. seedless watermelon
2 mangos
1 can of coconut water (we used grape flavored)
We only have 4 push-pop type popsicle molds, but this made enough to fill probably 10. We decided to drink the leftovers smoothie style and it was really good that way, too! The frozen strawberries helped keep it cold, so if you use fresh you may need to chill it first or add ice.
She really wanted me to make a video of her showing how to make this, so here you go! Enjoy my silly, sassy chef. :) And if you try this out, let us know how it goes in the comments below!
I wanted to share this with you this morning. A lot of times
before the kids wake up (I'm not trying to say my kids are sleeping in by any
means, I'm just a naturally early riser), I'll spend the quiet time just looking
around on social media. It's my ME time. I sip my coffee and follow my clicking
fingers down rabbit holes that often take me to some pretty interesting places.
Today I did my morning story watch on Snapchat. Lately, this
is how I begin my "me time" routine. (At least, ever since I've
started getting the hang of this crazy Snapchat thing I swore I'd always avoid.
Totally eating my words.) I've been particularly loving watching Hillary
Rushford's snaps from the Italian Riviera as it is giving me the perfect
opportunity to practice my Zen as I try not to feel complete and utter jealousy
and focus on the beauty that she is sharing while living vicariously through
her Sabbatical.
One of her snaps this morning mentioned hopping over to
Instagram to leave a comment on a post (great social media engagement tip,
BTW). Dutifully, I went right over and starting scrolling through her IG feed.
I went from posts showcasing beautiful scenes of the Italian Riviera down to a
photo of an open page of a book that caught my eye. Clicked to learn more about
said book. Clicked the book's hashtag. Found some more photos of this book,
then my eye landed on a photo of three books (the original book in question
plus two more) laid out on a furry rug. I clicked this photo to learn more
about the new books. One was written by Elizabeth Gilbert of "Eat, Pray,
Love" fame (hello, crazy Sabbatical coincidence!) and the poster had
tagged her. So I clicked through to her account. That's where I found this:
And this was the fruit of today's random clicking because it
inspired me. This little graphic inspired this entire blog post. And here's the
craziest thing you should know about me: I can tie PRACTICALLY ANYTHING back to
cloth diapers, including an inspirational Elizabeth Gilbert quote. #talent
In the case of this quote, it struck me as the perfect
mantra for anyone using cloth. You know how you'll get friends asking about
your diapers on play dates? Or you'll post a photo of your baby in fluff on
social media and a random Internet person will see it and ask what the diapers
are all about? Well, this is your opportunity to be an influencer. Whether
you're Instafamous, a blogger, or just a mom sharing a cute photo of her baby
in cloth, how you respond matters. Whatever you say WILL be contagious. You may
not realize it, but your response will be heard or read by many more people
above and beyond the person who originally asked the question, so keep that in
mind as you reply. Your play date friend may strike up a convo with another mom
about it down the road. And on social media, if your account is public, many
more people will read the conversation on your post than you realize. If you
stay POSITIVE, it WILL be contagious!
Let's play pretend for a minute. Imagine you just posted a
picture of your darling in the latest print you've obtained and someone
comments with, "Wow, that diaper is adorable! I wish I could do cloth but
it just seems like so much work. My friend tried it and she said she was
CONSTANTLY doing laundry." :::Insert fed up non-smiling emoji here::: It
looks like someone who didn't read this blog post has already been spreading
their influence. But fear not! Positivity is much more powerful!
Now let me give you two sample replies, and you choose which
you'd rather see be contagious. Because they both will be, no question.
Response option #1: Yeah, the diapers are super cute, but
the laundry can be tiring if you let it get out of hand. It's worth it, though!
Response option #2: Yeah, aren't they cute?! I was actually
nervous about the time commitment when we started with cloth, but it's been a
lot easier than I expected! Just a few extra loads of laundry a week. If you
ever want to give it a shot, just let me know! I'm happy to help.
Both responses are honest, right? But just that slight lean
to the negative side can be very off-putting. Response #2 is only worded a
little bit differently than #1, but it makes all the difference in motivating
and encouraging someone who may be on the fence.
And while I am applying this quote and this concept of
influence to cloth diapers, it's honestly something that applies to all areas
of life. "We all have more influence than we realize" so let's choose
our words accordingly.
