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Blankets Review: UHaul blanket

SquareWheels30

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Thanks Holly&Fred and Nicolene for your prompt and very helpful answers!

We now have our U-Haul moving blanket and a yard of 100% polyester Anti Pill fleece from Joann and a box of 200 safety pins! I'm so excited!

My boyfriend says he's going to wait until tomorrow to start washing the fleece though. If there was ever a time when I wished that I could get up and walk my butt over to our apt. complex's laundry room, it's now!

However, I'll have to cut him some slack because he's working on a huge project right now, and as he tells me there are more things in the world to worry about than just Violet...

I'm attaching 2 pictures of Violet testing out her new fleece for the very first time. We set her on it as soon as my boyfriend brought it home. Oh how I wish it was ready to use right this minute because she seems to really, really curious about it.

Violetonhernewpinkfleece10-28-1021weeksold.jpg


Violetonhernewpinkfleece10-28-1021weeksold3.jpg
 

sarahspins

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Oh she is a doll! I've used fleece without washing it first and it hasn't been a problem.
 

cam767

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and as he tells me there are more things in the world to worry about than just Violet...

Don't let Violet hear that! She'll be totally upset that she is not the center of the universe! :D
 

SquareWheels30

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Thanks Sarah, we think she's pretty cute too! I'm afraid to use the fleece without washing it first for maximum wicking because if it stinks after 2 days, my boyfriend's going to give up, I think, and we'll be back to Carefresh. I finally sold him on fleece by telling him about the U-Haul blanket option and just how cheap it is (less than $20 for blanket, fleece and pins).


He'll be looking for it to work as well as Carefresh which has no smell, except just sometimes a little bit on the day of Violet's weekly complete cage change. And I think that has more to do with whether I spot cleaned thoroughly enough during the week than anything else. I do it every day, but some days my reach is shorter than others depending on how tight my muscles are that day.

Anyway, if he ends up disliking fleece for any reason, I'll insist and we'll keep trying for a while because the cost just can't be beat and Violet has a heart murmur so we may be looking at high vet and med costs pretty quickly.

Financial considerations aside, I'd just like to be right on the first try! ;) Hearing about the U-Haul blanket is the first time I've considered fleece even remotely doable for us as I didn't want him to have to lug around baskets of dirty towels, etc every week. He lugs me around and that's enough of a heavy load, in my opinion. This blanket and fleece combo is just so much lighter than 2 layers of towels, and much, much cheaper than expanding our tiny towel collection (tiny collection=5 or 6 towels total), so yes, I REALLY need it to work!

cam767-Believe it or not, we think we just figured out that she does actually know when we're talking about her. Every time we say her name, even when we're clearly not calling her, (she's set up in the living room, cage open all day) she stills, twitches her ears, and even looks up a little, as if she's sniffing for food. Tiny little gestures, I know, but we choose to believe she understands us. :)
 
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TweedleDee

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I am SO excited to try this! Your instructions are great. Are you planning on sewing the Uhaul blankets to the fleece eventually or will you continue to pin it?
 

chucknlarrysmom

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Thank you so much for keeping us updated on your blanket experiment. Since you're having such good luck with it not stinking, I will be heading to my local Uhaul this week. I scored big time at Hobby Lobby with my fleece, got two "remnant" pieces for $4 which was enough for both floors of my cage. I sacrificed a few old mismatched bath towels for under-layers ... but I can always use more (especially for cheap!) ... heck, they might even work for top layers for all my boys care. They'll doodie on anything, they're not picky!!
 

Nicolene

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So far so good, I still love it! My hubby does the laundry and tends to over-dry everything, which is because he gets lazy and hits the "10 more min" too many times and one of my sets shrunk about an inch. Luckily I cut them a little big so it hasn't been an issue. I told him not to do that again and my other set is still the same size.

I still have no plans on sewing mine, because honestly, it takes me 3 min to pin it together and I think it helps on drying times when it is in layers.

I tried just the blanket in the kitchen area and the hay stuck to it terribly! So I'm back to newspaper and carefresh in there... Really, the kitchen area is my biggest headache.
 

chucknlarrysmom

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My hubby does the laundry and tends to over-dry everything, which is because he gets lazy and hits the "10 more min" too many times and one of my sets shrunk about an inch.

I tried just the blanket in the kitchen area and the hay stuck to it terribly! So I'm back to newspaper and carefresh in there... Really, the kitchen area is my biggest headache.

I had to laugh about your hubby doing the laundry. It blows my husband's mind that I don't want a dryer sheet in with piggie laundry. I love dryer sheets. They're in every dresser drawer and under the seats of my truck. I tried to explain the whole fabric softener makes it so wee won't go thru, he refuses to understand. :rolleyes:

I've been using aspen bedding in the kitchen this last week with the new cage/fleece setup ... not really liking it, they kick it all over. I tried newspaper for all of 3 hours one day, that doesn't work either, hehe. I think I'll try a bedding I found at Tractor Supply ... it's like Yesterday's News but $5.99 for 20 pounds it's much easier on the wallet. And they won't be tracking and kicking it all over the fleece! Yay!
 

Deb's4Pigs

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The U Haul store by me carries them so one day next week I'll try to remember to pick up two blankets. Will you need more than one blanket for the cage?
 

chucknlarrysmom

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I bought one today! I'll keep y'all updated! :D
 

sarahspins

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The U Haul store by me carries them so one day next week I'll try to remember to pick up two blankets. Will you need more than one blanket for the cage?

I can get one two layer liner for my 2x6 part of my cage out of one, with some extra material (it's not much, like a 12" strip and then like 1" cut off the short side).

There is enough material to get three two layer 2x4 liners out of two pads.
 

nvjenn

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I bought 2 blankets today. I'm excited to get my fleece from JoAnns. (BTW... there is a lot of different fleece for sale for $2.99 at JoAnns online) Do I need to wash the Uhaul blankets a few times for shrinkage?
 

LightningPig1

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I just bought some fleece for the expanding of the cage today and I had been considering using towels under the fleece but I wasn't sure that was very sufficient. So I thought about this thread I saw a while ago before I started thinking about expanding the cage. We will be ordering two of these very soon! I can't wait! For right now I will probably just pen it to the fleece but when I have time I will sew it together.

Wow that is some nice pricing! Hancock Fabrics is also having a big sale on fleece. I got my fleece for $3.99 and the original price was $8.99. But wow! It looks like I should have looked into JoAnns first. But oh well, I still think I got a good buy.
 

merrycat

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Thanks for the info! I'm going to get some this weekend. I'm so excited! I've got a couple of questions though-

How many layers of the UHaul blanket do you use under the fleece? Is just one layer enough?

Do you use any additional layers of blankets/towels in addition to the UHaul blanket?

How long can you go between changings? Ideally I'd like to be able to go a week between washings.
 

mmas4

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I am going to be getting UHaul blankets soon. Do I need to wash them a few times before I use them? Like if I cut them to size first and then wash it will it shrink and be too small?
 

Lauren326

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Use 2 layers of u-haul & 1 layer of fleece, that is it. I've been using the u-haul for a bout a month now & they are great! I didn't wash my u-haul before using & haven't noticed any shrinkage, although mine are a bit larger then the cage as I haven't cut them...I just fold them to fit. You can easily go a week between washing.
 

merrycat

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Thanks for the feedback! I'm going to try the UHaul rental center near here tomorrow, and hopefully they'll have the furniture pads. If not, I guess we'll have to order them online and wait for them to arrive.
 

CavyMom1970

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I am going to be getting UHaul blankets soon. Do I need to wash them a few times before I use them? Like if I cut them to size first and then wash it will it shrink and be too small?

I have purchased several of the uhaul blankets now. Results:

1st: all of mine shrunk some so I highly recommend washing before cutting.

2nd: they shed fuzzies in the first couple of washings then the shedding stops.

3rd: I sewed one of my areas to the fleece for trial, but have not done any more because I prefer to wash my fleece and blankets separate. The blankets dry really fast.

4th: I have made pee pads by sewing the uhual to the fleece. These have become extremely useful under hidey houses, extra. This allows changes of the fleece in the entire cage to be less often.

Nicolene has found a diamond in a haystack for all of us!:cheerful:
 

Nicolene

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I have purchased several of the uhaul blankets now. Results:

1st: all of mine shrunk some so I highly recommend washing before cutting.

2nd: they shed fuzzies in the first couple of washings then the shedding stops.

3rd: I sewed one of my areas to the fleece for trial, but have not done any more because I prefer to wash my fleece and blankets separate. The blankets dry really fast.

4th: I have made pee pads by sewing the uhual to the fleece. These have become extremely useful under hidey houses, extra. This allows changes of the fleece in the entire cage to be less often.

Nicolene has found a diamond in a haystack for all of us!:cheerful:

Thank you for your update, I too will wash my blankets before I cut them next time.. Though I only had one set that shrunk, and as I said before, I blame my hubby for overdrying. LOL

I love your pee pad idea! I have tried that (hand towels), but part of my pigger's dominance dance is to push the pigloos around (or carry the smaller pigloo on his back like a he's a turtle).. I have even tied them to the cage and he got really mad. Now I just kinda move them around after I sweep in the morning, so they wet a different area. I will try that if he ever get's over this phase.

I can't take all the credit, somewhere on some thread someone said they wondered if those recycled denim blankets from uhaul would work and then there was no feedback, so I decided to jump on it and try it, because I was desperate to get away from the towels.
 

Thor-Loki's mom

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I too am using the uhaul blankets underneath my fleece. I have not sewn them to the fleece, which I dont plan on doing. I like washing them separately as the uhaul blankets tend to run (get blueish/gray color) on the fleece.

Ive been using them for about a month or so. It has taken alot of trial and error for me to get my cage just right. Now..today I am on day 5...and yesterday I noticed the lovely pee smell radiating from the cage. I have a serious issue with smells in my house...I can not stand it! Which is why I have tried a litter box numerous times, with different types of bedding..which worked fantastic however..I couldnt stand the bedding getting all stuck to the fleece, made so much more work for me when I cleaned the fleece. (Hard to have guinea pigs when youre a neat freak! lol)

I have read thru this thread numerous times before...and today, seriously is the first time I ever noticed Nicolene say that she moves the pigloos around daily...honest to God I never even thought of that. My major problem is that the pigs both pee in the same spot under their wooden house..which is where the big stink is coming from. I cannot believe I didnt think of the idea of moving the houses around..feel like an idiot! I moved them a little while ago, hoping the usual pee spot will dry out and I can wait until Saturday to change it all (my usual big clean day on the cage).

Anyway, the point of this crazy post is to say, thank you so much for such great ideas. I love the uhaul blankets, its so much easier then towels and defintely works so much better!
 
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