The Flats and Hand Washing Challenge is in less than one week. While I am excited to test myself and my ability to hand wash my daughters diapers, I am also quite intimidated. As of right now, I use flats to supplement my stash when the 'fancy' diapers are being laundered. I don't mind using them occasionally as fill-in diapers, but there is the possibility that the novelty of pad-folding and pinning these huge squares of cloth onto my squirmy girl will wear off when it is all I am using. I am hoping by the end of next week to be a pro at it. My goal is to rid myself of the intimidation of flats and pins and incorporate them more into my stash. Plus, as my daughter gets bigger and grows out of her small sized fancy diapers, I wont have to expense the cost to replace them with larger sizes for her. We are living on only my husband's salary right now, so funds are limited.
To prepare, I purchased a huge rubber bucket and new plunger from a discount store for less than $10.00. My initial plan was to take the "green" aspect of cloth diapering even further by leaving the bucket outside to catch the rainwater to use as my first wash cycle with the diapers. Unfortunately, the bucket also caught a ton of drowned bugs, dirt and leaves, which made washing fabric that was going to touch my daughter's skin nearly impossible.
For Plan B, I have developed a two part wash routine. In my basement I have a huge utility sink that the bucket fits into to fill with hot and cold water for each wash cycle. I plan on doing the actual plunger-washing on the floor, where there is no danger of my vigorous agitation actually ripping the sink off the wall. It will be a nice strength training exercise bending and lifting the heavy diaper bucket up and down from sink to floor.
I purchased Biokleen Bac-Out Stain and Odor Eliminator that works so well with the dirty diapers. In between washes I will soak the dirty diapers in the Biokleen and cold water in preparation for hand washing. I also use Biokleen All Temperature laundry detergent. For roughly $12.00 I can get 128 loads in my HE washer. I use it for the diapers and for our normal laundry cycles as well. It is fantastic detergent.
Once the diapers are washed and ready to dry, I plan on line drying them on the nice days outside and drying them indoors on a rack when it is rainy out. I am hoping for sunny and warm days next week. Line drying is so much more efficient and they come in smelling so much better.
In my stash I have 12 premium (not birdseye) flats by Gerber. I purchased them for around $10 before I discovered they are not considered "true" cloth diapers by the CD community due to their size and shape. As I cannot afford to purchase new cloth diapers, I plan on using them anyway. I was given more receiving blankets for my daughter than I ever plan on using, so in a pinch I will use the not so pretty ones as diapers as well. I may end up using them as doublers as well if I find the Gerber flats aren't absorbent enough for her.
I have five covers for the diapers. Two are running on the small side for her now, so I may just end up using three. In a pinch I will use old tee shirts as a wrap.
This is unchartered territory for me, so I will be learning as I go what works and what does not.
More to come...
~A
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