Should You Or Shouldn't You

 I haven't yet addressed the pros and cons on cloth diapering. That might have been a good topic with which to start this series. But since it's too late for that, I'll do it now. Each system has its own pros and cons, but I'm just going into the advantages and disadvantages of cloth diapering as a whole.

PROS

-:Less expensive long-term than disposables, especially as they should last through more than one child

-No middle of the night runs to the store for diapers

-Reduced occurrence of diaper rash than with disposables

-Better for the environment than disposables, especially if line- or air-drying

-Cloth-diapered children tend to be potty-trained earlier than disposable-diapered children

-Less leaks and blow-outs with some choices of cloth diapers

-Made of natural fibers so no toxic chemicals sitting against baby's skin

-Prefolds and flats can be used as rags after diapering is through; pockets, covers, fitteds, and AIOas can be sold or donated

-Less garbage than with disposables

-Much cuter than disposables

Patrick rocking a Grovia All-In-One (AIO)

CONS

-High initial cost with cloth diapers

-More laundry (although diaper services can take care of this for you, for a price)

-More energy usage with cloth-diapering

-Child care provider (or family members) may not be willing to use cloth diapers

-Cloth diapers can be more difficult in public, especially long trips and vacations where they would need to be washed

-More leaks and blow-outs with some choices of cloth diapers

-Baby will need to go up a size due to larger tushy

-There is a learning curve with using cloth diapers

-Cloth diapers have to be changed more often than disposables (But do you really want your baby sitting in waste any longer than necessary?)

-It can be addictive!

And there's no need to worry about stabbing baby with a diaper pin. Below is a picture of Patrick wearing a prefold fastened with a [white] Snappi. Just stretch it across, throw on a cover, and go.

On an unrelated note, you shouldn't wash disposable wipes. They make a giant mess. I've learned this the hard way. My husband keeps accidentally throwing the disposable wipes into the cloth diaper pail. At least every other wash cycle, I'm picking bits and pieces of a disposable wipe out of my washing machine, or worse, my dryer. If you're going to use cloth diapers, I suggest also using cloth wipes. I was hesitant at first. It seemed expensive and unnecessary. But I've changed my mind. You don't need many. I wash my diapers about every other day and I wash my cloth wipes with them. They go in the same laundry pail. 

New Sites to Recommend

Irazoo
I finally earned enough irazoo points to cash out for a $5 Amazon gift card. It isn't much, but every little thing counts. And I don't use irazoo so much that I feel like I've wasted my time. You can win points with the search function up to 10 times a day. Yesterday, I won 240 points with 7 searches. You can get 1 point for each game you play, up to 10 points. You get 5 points just for opening up the offer page, which really just requires clicking a link. While you're there, check out Gambit for videos (usually worth between 2-7 points each). There may occasionally be some decent offers on the other walls as well, but for the most part I only do offers on one pay-site. It can get confusing otherwise. There is also a code (easily located on their facebook wall) issued every few days. The last code was worth 16 points. If you max out the dailies (search wins, games, offer page) every day, you could easily cash out for a $5 AGC at least once a month. I cashed out 3000 points for a $5 AGC yesterday morning and I'm already back up to 400 points. If you're looking for a new site just to tinker around on, I can definitely recommend irazoo.

Calyp
Calyp is a different type of earning potential. It's a pay-per-click network. You must have some sort of social network account in order to use this. Here's the basic idea: you endorse a product (ie. Lifesavers candy), you post a link to your Facebook, Twitter, blog, or LinkedIn, you get paid for 1-posting the link, 2-people clicking on the link, 3-people clicking through to an external site. I've been using the site since January 1 and I'm already up to $15. They issue a debit card at $30 so I'm halfway there already. I definitely like the potential of this site.

**Note:
Even if you're not a referral, if you every have any questions about a site, or you have one you want me to try, let me know. I'm always here to help. I won't be around as much, at least at first, once the little bundle of joy arrives (any day now), but if you leave a comment or email me, I'll try to get back to you as quickly as possible. I love all the money I've been able to earn on the different sites and I like to share my enthusiasm. I obviously appreciate referrals, but that's not what this is about.

Payouts for December

I've cashed in, and received $75 in Amazon gift cards for the month of December from Swagbucks. I have enough swagbucks remaining in my account to cash out for five $5 Amazon gift cards at the beginning of January and I have about 20% toward a $50 Amazon gift card. Here's a screenshot of my balance from my cash outs from the past month:

I have $29.00 on my Jingit card, which means I transferred $18.80 in December. Not bad for a few minutes a day of watching commercials while I watch television. Here's a screenshot of my balance (I cash out at the end of the week): 

These are still the only two sites from which I've received payouts so far. And as such, these are still the only two sites I will actively recommend. They are highly recommended from me. I've been very happy with both of these. Neither will be enough to allow you to quit your full-time job, however, it's a great way to earn a few extra bucks on your own time. My husband really only uses Swagbucks to search and he cashed out for a $5 Amazon gift card this month-just for doing something he was going to do anyway. 


Swagbucks: $75 cashed out to Amazon.com
Jingit: $18.80 balance (will cash out at the end of the week)


Superpoints: 816 points (2500 needed to cash out)
SendEarnings: $10.01 ($30 needed to cash out)
iRazoo: 1997 points (3000 points needed to cash out)
Points2Shop: 418 points (cashing out at 2000 points) <--obviously I didn't do much here this month
Opinion Outpost: 20 points (100 points needed to cash out) <--obviously I didn't do much here this month

An amazing site to find great deals on different products

I've come across a site about which I am incredibly excited.-nomorerack. Every day at noon EST, they offer good deals on 9 products in different categories (clothing, electronics, jewelry, etc) that are available until noon EST the next day unless they sell out. Sometimes there are amazing deals, such as this past Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. They released deals more often and the deals were amazing, such as an Xbox 360 with Kinect for $100. The drawback is that obviously these deals sell out quickly-within minutes in some cases. NMR also has Insanity Deals. These are deals that are too insane to pass up. They're released randomly, but NMR guarantees 30 Insanity Deals each month. These are almost impossible to grab because there may be only one released and there are so many people vying for it. The Apple iPad 2 has been released for $43.20, but other products released as Insanity Deals include the Kindle Touch 3G for $15.87, Canon EOS Rebel for $19.77, and Playstation 3 160GB for $26.54. Lastly, you can earn amazing products by getting referrals. With 200 referrals, you can "earn" a Kindle Fire for free. You can always try this site risk-free without buying anything. It takes seconds to sign up. Best of all, $2 flat shipping per item.

Last week, I purchased Angry Bird slippers for $8 and a hooded cardigan for $11. A lot of NMR's products are perfect for gifts!

*Note: As you might guess, when amazing deals are released (such as the $100 Xbox 360 w/Kinect), there are site issues. You may not be able to get in or the deal may sell out before you can get it. NMR does not have unlimited access to servers or products. I was really hoping to get the Xbox 360, but the site crashed due to the overwhelming traffic and it was sold out by the time I got in 10 minutes later.

Payouts for November

I've cashed in, and received, $125 in Amazon gift cards for the month of November from Swagbucks. I have enough swagbucks remaining in my account to cash out for five $5 Amazon gift cards at the beginning of December. Here's a screenshot of my balance from my cash outs from the past month:

My final November balance for Jingit is $10.20. That's really only for about a hour's worth of watching commercials while I watch television. Here's a screenshot of my balance (I cash out once a week after I max out):

These are the only two I have gotten payouts from so far. I have 685 superpoints; 3200 points are needed to cash out at 'basic' level. SendEarnings requires $30 to cash out; my balance is $8.25. iRazoo requires 3000 points to cash out; I have 288 points. I have 418 points at Points2Shop; I am cashing out at 1000 points (they do have prizes at lower levels). I have 20 points on Opinion Outpost; 100 points are needed to cash out. 

Swagbucks: $125 cashed out to Amazon.com

Jingit: $10.20 balance (will cash out after maxing out for the week)

Superpoints: 685 points from clicking a button 30 times/day (3200 needed to cash out)

SendEarnings: $8.25 ($30 needed to cash out)

iRazoo: 288 points from treasure codes and occasionally searching (3000 points needed to cash out)

Points2Shop: 418 points (cashing out at 1000 points)

Opinion Outpost: 20 points (100 points needed to cash out)

I will update at the end of the day or tomorrow if the points level changes.

Extra cash for a few minutes of time a day

Want to earn a little extra cash for very little work? Try a new site called Jingit. All you need is a Facebook account. In the past two weeks, I've applied for my card, earned $10, received and loaded my card. It's legitimate. I wouldn't recommend something without being confident in the product/service. It's possibly the easiest $10 I've ever made. Since it loads automatically, you still have time to earn some extra cash for Christmas! Contact me if you're interested in learning more!