(Note: I promise to stop writing about laundry racks after this post!) Ready for some advanced laundry hanging devices? Last week I presented five mid-range options. Now I bring to you the Rolls Royces of the indoor drying world. These accommodate more laundry for a more satisfying drying experience.

Moerman 88346 Laundry Solutions Y-Airer Indoor/Outdoor Folding Clothes Drying Rack 79 Feet Of Drying Space ($45)

Hills Expanding Indoor Clothes Drying Rack Clothesline ($53)

Moerman Laundry Solutions Airer Indoor/Outdoor Folding Clothes Drying Rack ($50)

I went a few years without a tumble dryer at all, and during that time I used something very similar to the first two options. I was able to hang an entire load on one rack, which is more than I can say for my current ones. Also, these more expensive racks allow you to hang wider items such as sheets. If you have tried any of these, please chime in with your reviews!

Although I adore secondhand gear, I know that buying heirloom items is a gloriously green option too. Generations of babies can use products that emphasize flexibility, great design, and craftsmanship.  This month stay tuned for updates on green splurge products in every category. What are the most amazing high chairs, car seats, bike carriers, slings, strollers, and other items that are worth the investment?

I’ll be scouring the internet for products that last, not just for multiple children but for many years of your child’s life. After using them for all your children, they should retain a strong resale value. Although I will be especially focusing on high end gear, you can refer to the extensive list of green products in our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide for recommendations that fit with varying budgets.

What if you can’t even imagine spending a few hundred bucks on a single item but are picky about having the very best for baby? The key is to search resale shops and online sites for gently used versions our recommended products. You’ll get them for 50-90% off by buying secondhand and be able to resell them for about the same price that you bought them.

Still, if you want to splurge on baby, or have family members who are itching to shell out some dough for your little one, stay tuned for our reviews in upcoming posts!

(Check out last week’s post for outdoor clotheslines that can accommodate up to 210 feet of laundry.)

You save around $.50 and prevent at least a pound of carbon from polluting the planet when you hang a load of laundry to dry. With an indoor drying rack, you can hang laundry year-round, rain or shine! Here are five great options for about $25:

Compact Accordion Clothes Drying Rack ($25)

I have two racks similar to this one. Chrome is definitely preferable to wood, which seems to be less stable and prone to mold.

Household Essentials 5009 Collapsible Indoor Tripod-Style Clothes Dryer ($25)

Household Essentials 5003 Wall Mount Telescoping Indoor Drying Rack ($25)

Polder Two-Tier Free Standing Clothes Drying Rack with Mesh Garment Dryer ($26)

Moerman 88354 Laundry Solutions Over Bath Airer Indoor/Outdoor Folding Clothes Drying Rack 30 Feet Of Drying Space ($22)

If you’ve tried any of these yourself, let us know what you think!

For the last year, I’ve been about four months pregnant–or so it would seem from my bulging belly.  Elastic waistbands have been my friends while my actual pre-baby clothes have been sitting up in the attic for years.  Although I’ve tried everything from exercise boot camps to Spark People, my body has stubbornly held those pounds and even added a few more.

I was almost resigned to accept my flabby-bellied fate until a friend of mine mentioned a diet she had just started.  It had no limitations, but required her to eat avocado, dark chocolate, nuts, olives, or olive oil at every meal.  Since those are some of my favorite foods, I checked out the book The Flat Belly Diet immediately from our local library.

Here’s the diet in a nutshell:  The yummy foods mentioned above are required because they’re high in mono-unsaturated fats (called MUFAS in the diet).  Those fats are known to help keep you full while eating less, thus slowly melting away belly fat.  You eat four 400 calorie meals during the day and always include a MUFA at each sitting.  This means pesto, peanut butter, dark chocolate chips, and guacamole are your mainstays.  Yahoo!

I have dropped ten pounds in a month on this delicious diet!  After feeling as though my scale may have been broken for all those months that the numbers didn’t budge, I’m now rejoicing that weight loss is not only possible, but fun!  The meals keep me satiated and I look forward to each one because the recipes are so delectable.  Since I’m breastfeeding, I do eat an extra spoonful of peanut butter here and there, and am constantly amazed to see the weight keep dropping off.

Although daily exercise is recommended, it’s not required.  I haven’t been able to get in my workouts most days, but am surprised just by how well the weight loss is working just based on eating habits.

Is the diet eco-friendly and budget friendly?  Yes!  Since it’s so full of nuts and seeds, it isn’t overly dependent on meats.  The meats it does recommend are organic and it has several vegetarian options.  It eliminates processed foods (which are both expensive and full of packaging) and focuses on whole foods that aren’t packed with artificial sweeteners or synthetic fiber.   There are also organic packaged foods that you can purchase such as Kashi frozen meals that will do the trick if you don’t have time to cook.  You’ll be surprised to see that the first few days of the diet require cornflakes, but don’t let that throw you off!  They tried to pick transitional foods that people would be comfortable with.

Plus The Flat Belly Diet was written by editors of Prevention magazine, so its focus is on healthy foods that pack nutritional benefits as well as taste.  I’m trying to hold back, but I feel so lucky to have discovered this diet finally.    I still have about five pounds to go before I can button up my old shorts, but it’s nice to know that success is within sight!

On Thursday I re-ran my vintage post about a car-free living with a baby. So what’s life like over two years later?

I never thought I’d be one of those parents wheeling a four-year-old around in a stroller. In fact, I scoffed at parents who didn’t make their kids walk, instead opting to push them all over town like little princes and princesses. Why, I practically joined the track team by the age of two! My nephews escorted my father for three-mile hikes when they were still in diapers!

Fast forward to 2010. My daughter is four and a half and can’t walk more than half a block at a snail’s pace before stopping dead in her tracks and begging to be carried. I’ve tried leaving the stroller behind on errands, only to resort to carrying her thirty-pound body hither and yon. She simply won’t walk—she’ll stand in place, sit on the sidewalk, and moan and groan.

For now, I am going to continue using the stroller. I really couldn’t get anything done without it. (As a side note, the fact that I’ve walked this stroller at least a mile a day for the last 4.5 years is a great endorsement for the Maclaren Triumph!) If I had a car, it might be different, but until Audrey can walk at least two miles without complaint, I guess I’ll have to resign myself to being one of “those” parents. I’m just hoping I don’t have to wheel her to into kindergarten next year. . . .

Do any of you have “advanced stroller riders”? Or do you have any tips for making a reluctant walker get moving?

In a recent post many readers commented that their biggest shock with cloth diapers was the bulkiness. Since almost all baby clothes are designed for disposable clad bottoms, it can be sad to see some new baby garments go unused because of baby’s huge diaper bum.

Still, if you keep these tips in mind while buying those adorable little ensembles, your baby can pull off the bulky diaper bottom without a hitch!

1. For girls: Skirts and dresses are tremendously forgiving when it comes to sizable diapers. In the winter, you can use Babylegs instead of tights and keep those dresses on, but if she needs more warmth, or freedom to crawl, buy pants in sizes six months bigger than her age. Then roll up the pant legs and enjoy!  Note from Rebecca: For her skinny daughter, Audrey, pants were always too short, even with the huge diaper! In fact, Audrey has not been able to wear pants for 2 years, since she potty trained. She fits in size 24 month pants, but then they’d go up to her knees….  Still, for “thicker” babies, like my daughter, Jovi, buying bigger and rolling up the bottoms works just great.

2. For boys: Overalls handily accommodate cloth diaper bulk. Buy them in bigger sizes and they’ll also be able to be rolled up. With my son, we bought larger sizes from the time that he reached about one year of age. Then a year later, when he was potty trained and wearing just underwear, he still fit in the same clothes! It actually saved us money to have used cloth because we were able to stretch his wardrobe out for a full year.

3. For everyone: Buy larger onesies or footie pajamas.  Or skip the onesies and just buy shirts without the snaps at the crotch so that you don’t have to worry about whether they’ll fit baby’s bottom half.  You can also buy extenders to make the onesies fit over bulky diapers.

Other ideas? Have you had trouble with your child’s diaper clad bum in regular sized clothing? What were your solutions?

This post is a part of the illuminating “Why don’t you” series. No judgment! We’re just curious.

This is a subject close to Joy’s heart.  She’s written about it several times on the Green Baby Guide, and we devoted a section to it in The Eco-nomical Baby Guide. Readers have offered commiseration, tips, and product recommendations, but nothing helped contain the leaks or prevent yeast infections.

I, on the other hand, simply used two prefolds inside a larger diaper cover at night and never had any problems at all.

But what about you other cloth diapering parents—do you use disposables at night? Why?

I originally ran this post over two years ago. Stay tuned for an update next week. What’s carfree life like with a four-year-old? You may be surprised. . . .

I’ve managed to go my whole adult life without owning a car.  When I was pregnant, I wondered if I’d finally succumb to automobile ownership, but I’ve found I get along just fine.  In the first few weeks of parenthood, I plopped my daughter into a sling and stepped out the door.

Audrey's very first stroller ride

At three months, she took her very first stroller ride, and at almost two and a half years she still takes a spin in it almost every single day.  I have found the stroller indispensible for a car-free lifestyle–jaunts around town are entertaining for the baby, and the basket provides some storage space for books or groceries we pick up along the way.  We enjoy what I like to think of as a European way of life: Instead of driving to the store every week or every other week and filling up an entire cart full of groceries, I stop by every few days and pick up the items I need by foot.

My husband does have a car, but I have only driven it once, and that was to take him to the emergency room (long story).  He does commute to work by car, and I have to admit that I rely on his chauffeur services to run to the store for particularly heavy or unwieldy items.  Yes, I am grateful that I don’t need to walk down the streets with a 24-pack of Seventh Generation toilet paper or a ten-pound bag of flour!

In many ways I’ve had to revolve my life around not driving.  It’s no coincidence that we live within walking distance of shops, libraries, restaurants, and coffee shops.  It can definitely be inconvenient to rely on walking or bus-riding, especially with a fussy baby.  A few times a year the weather is bad enough to keep me stuck indoors all day long.  Also, my hour-long bus commute to work would take a mere twenty minutes by car.  This may seem like a waste of time, but I use the bus ride to read or grade papers.

Despite the inconveniences and drawbacks, I love remaining car-free.  I hate driving and am thrilled to live a life that doesn’t require getting behind the wheel.  We save thousands of dollars by not buying a second car, not to mention all the time and money we save on gas and maintenance.  My husband’s commute by car is terrible for the environment, and I rely on the bus to get to work two to four times a week, so we can’t claim to be carbon-neutral.  However, we are able to cut back on our combined carbon emissions by running most household errands on foot.  On those bad days when I’m standing in the rain with my toddler in one arm and a bag of groceries in the other, at least I have the solace of knowing I’m doing the planet a small favor!

Have pureed yams forever ruined your baby’s pinstriped pajamas? No worries! With a little persistence, ingenuity, (and possibly vinegar) the garment might just be restored to its original brilliance.

Of course with all of the below stains, the best option is to quickly wet and pre-treat the item so that the stain doesn’t have a chance to dry. If it is dried without your knowing, you can still give the following remedies a try!

Try these simple tricks for specific stains:

• Berries: Boil water, stretch the garment tight over a pan, exposing the stain. Then pour the very hot water down over the stain. If that doesn’t work try mixing vinegar and toothpaste to remove the stain.
• Blood: First soak the clothing in cold salt water and then rub with detergent. If that doesn’t work try applying dish soap, letting it sit for a bit, rinsing thoroughly and letting it dry in the sun.
• Feces: Wash and then let the stain be naturally bleached out by sunlight. If that doesn’t do the trick, try Nature’s Miracle Stain Remover.  There’s no need to use bleach with cloth diapers!
• Grass: First work in some rubbing alcohol and then allow it to dry. Afterwards treat it with detergent and rinse with cold water. If none of those things work, try Bac-Out or Nature’s Miracle Stain Remover.
• Mustard: Mix rubbing alcohol with dish soap and rub into the stain.
• Tomato Sauce: Rub dish soap or dishwasher detergent into the stain and then run cold ice over the stain. Repeat multiple times until the stain works itself out. (I have to share that I managed to cover myself in spaghetti sauce at a lovely restaurant while dining without my children. After many applications of dish soap and ice, the stains came out completely even though they were dried into my clothes.)

What are your favorite stain removal tricks? Do you have any recipes for a homemade stain pre-treatment? Are there stain removal victories you’d like to share?

Nothing beats the sight of clean laundry flapping in the breeze. If you have a nice, sunny spot in the yard, why not dedicate it to a solar clothes dryer—i.e., a clothesline? Of course you can rig something up with a simple piece of rope, but if you’re feeling fancy, these products will allow you to make the most of your space.

Household Essentials MD-61 Five-Line Indoor/Outdoor Mini Retractable Clothes Dryer (just $11.99!)

67 ¾ feet drying space

Household Essentials Five-Line Indoor/Outdoor Retractable Clothes Dryer ($48)

170 feet of drying space!

Household Essentials 1600 12-Line Outdoor Umbrella-Style Clothes Dryer with Aluminum Arms ($40)

165 feet drying space

Household Essentials 4000 30-Line Outdoor Parallel-Style Clothes Dryer with Steel Arms ($72)

210 feet drying space

Household Essentials H-150 30-Line Outdoor Parallel-Style Clothes Dryer with Steel Arms ($54)

182 feet drying space

Do you have an outdoor drying system? I’ve admitted elsewhere on the Green Baby Guide that I’ve all but given up on outdoor drying due to earwigs. I wonder if one of these racks would solve that pesky problem? Let us know what works for you!