8 things I learned during the Flats and Handwashing Challenge

Today is the final day of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry. Once again, I have learned so much! This year, I washed in the bathtub. That was such a challenge, as I had to bend my pregnant heiney over the tub. I was also traveling for the first four days of the challenge. So what exactly did I learn?

1. I learned that it is possible to hand wash and dry you diapers in a hotel room, even when your child has a virus that gives them horrendous diarrhea.

2. I learned that investing in a diaper sprayer is worth the money! I love my diaper sprayer and it makes it so much easier to to get the poo off and to rinse the diapers thoroughly!

3. I learned that you don't have to have a diaper sprayer to make cloth diapering work. You can get the poo off if you dunk, swish, and flush... repeatedly. Then you can rinse in the bathtub or sink.

4. I learned that it is much easier to get your diapers clean if you invest less than ten dollars and get a plunger and a five gallon bucket. I did this last year and feel that the whole process was much easier and my diapers came out cleaner.

5. I learned that washing daily is much easier and less time consuming than washing every other day.

6. I learned that you need to experiment to get the right amount of detergent. Too much and rinsing takes FOREVER!!! Too little, and your diapers do not get clean.

7. I learned to appreciate the luxury items of my washer and dryer. It is so easy to forget that not everyone has these items.

8. I learned a new appreciation for my mother and grandmother, who hand washed their diapers when they had no other choice. It was my mother who encouraged me to cloth diaper over 13 years ago when I was a single mom and had my first son at the age of 19. She opened me to a whole new world that has literally become an addiction, but in a good way! (I say first son, because now it is years later and I am about to have my FIFTH son!)

Thanks, Mom! You are the best and I love you!

Cloth diapers do not mean big heineys!

Today is day six of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry. The challenge is almost over! Today is an open topic day. My topic today is on the question I get quite often: "Don't cloth diapers make their butts look big and you can't put them in clothes that fit?"

Cloth diapers can be bulky. Prefolds are especially bulky. Some pocket diapers are bulkier than others. A pocket diaper is a cloth diaper that has a waterproof outer layer and a liner of some sort on the inside, all sewn together. The back (or front or sides!) has an opening that you can stuff inserts into for absorbency. Most pockets go on and off just like a disposable diaper. Some are velco, also called hook and loop, and some are snaps.The more you stuff in the pocket, the bulkier the diaper gets.

One thing I learned doing this challenge last year, is that flats are TRIM! No, really, they are so trim! Granted, they are not going to be as trim as a disposable, but they are pretty darn close. They wash easier, whether by hand or in a washing machine, than any other type of cloth diaper too. I found that I do not get the ammonia build up or stink issues that can sometimes happen.

I posted this picture yesterday. See how trim that is?! His legs are not being pushed apart at all.

 

This is what happened when I said show me your heiney!!!

 

Almost a good heiney shot to show how trim!

 

And this is about as good as I was able to get...

 

So, you will just have to trust me! Flat diapers with a cover are very trim and I am able to have my son wear his regular size pants with them, so no having to buy the next size up.

 

All that being said, I personally love the big, poofy heiney, hence the name of my blog! I am very excited that summer is here in Oklahoma and I can just start coordinating shirts with diapers and not worry about pants!

What is and isn't working for me during this challenge?

Today is day five of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry. Being home and done with traveling has definitely made things a lot easier. Before I got home, when my son went poop, I had to keep it in the wetbag until I reached the hotel for the evening. There was no way I was going to dunk, swish, and flush in a rest stop toilet! Blech!!!

I am finding things a lot easier to deal with now that I have my diaper sprayer and my big bathtub to do my washing.  I am sick with a virus, but stopped vomiting, so I decided to continue in the challenge. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a push on through type of person and I just did not feel right about quitting!

While traveling, I used the dunk, swish, and flush method. That did not work very well for me as my hands (and the rest of my skin) are super sensitive and it started drying my hands out. Handwashing without the use of vinyl gloves was also hard on my hands. My eczema breaks out very easily when I use soap or detergent, so that was a bit of a challenge. I can't use rubber gloves as I am allergic to latex.

Luckily, I have vinyl gloves here at home and I am using those for the rest of the challenge. Getting home to my nicer flats that I bought from All Together Enterprises when I lived in Utah has been wonderful. They were awesome enough to run to their store and bring some flats to the Great Cloth Diaper Change last year when I asked about if they were selling any at their booth.The flour sack towels from Walmart are working fine, so I plan on using them still and only using my other flats at night because they are bit bigger and have a bit thicker of a weave.

Another challenge has been figuring out the amount of detergent to use. Two scoops of Charlie's Soap was WAY too much. Today, I used half of one scoop and it went a lot better. There were still bubbles, but I felt that the diapers still got clean and rinsing them was so much easier! The octopus hangers I got at Ikea did not work out very well as I don't have anywhere outsideto hang them... yet! It is on my honey-do list. I went to Walmart and just got the heavy duty drying rack. It was $17.97 and well worth the money. I will use it even after the challenge is over.

Since the flour sack towels are not a thick of a cotton weave, it has been challenging getting just one to work for my son. I really need to use two at a time to get a good thickness so he doesn't pee right out of it. I have been trying to make one work, since I only have 15 of the towels. I really don't want to wash every day, but as the challenge goes on, I am finding that I need to wash every day for multiple reasons.

1. I can use two at once, creating a thicker diaper for my son.
2. There will be room on my drying rack for all of the diapers!
3. There won't be as much to wash, even doubling up, if I wash every day instead if washin every other day.
4. Washing time will be decreased.
5. I won't get close to running out, as I am now, while I wait for the flats and covers to dry!

The above picture is using the Jo fold, but I modified it a little bit. Instead of folding in thirds, I folded in sixths. Basically, I folded each side twice, then folded over each other in the middle. It makes it trim and won't hold a blow out poo very well, but it is thicker for my heavy wetter.

Last year, I had my diaper sprayer the entire time and I had my camp bucket and plunger for washing. I think that spoiled me a little. This year has been harder and I have learned a lot more.

How is handwashing going?

Thursday was day four of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry. I arrived home last night, so no more traveling! Handwashing just got a whole lot easier and so did hang drying! I have the Octopus hangers from Ikea and I can just put my flats and covers on them and hang it out outside. Since I am in Oklahoma and we now have nice weather, my flats and covers should dry in no time!

Handwashing in the hotel was a challenge, especially since I had to hang dry in the bathroom and then pack it all up to get in the car again the next day. Last year, I used a five gallon bucket and a plunger to do my washing. I definitely prefer that over solely using my hands. I also had a diaper sprayer for the entire challenge last year and I did not have one for the beginning of this challenge. I am very spoiled and I missed my diaper sprayer A LOT!!!

I am very excited to be home now, for many reasons, and have access to items that make this challenge a bit easier. I think saving up for a diaper sprayer is something I would definitely want to do in any financial situation. I really do not like dunking, swish, and flush.

We got home really late, so I did not handwash. I woke up feeling very ill this morning, so I am not sure how much longer I will continue doing the challenge. Vomiting causes contractions, and being that I am 34 weeks pregant, I do not really want to have those yet! I really do not want to quit, as someone in a poor financial situation would not have that option, no matter how sick they were. The spoiled part of me says to take it easy and the other part of me feels like I need to push on through, just to prove I can.

I have a medium size wetbag full, so there will be quite a bit to wash. I do have a 3.5yr old son who is a busy busy busy boy, so I am considering child labor and enlisting his help. He would be ecstatic to get permission to use a plunger to his hearts content in a bathtub full of water, bubbles, and diapers... my husband may find himself involuntarily enlisted in the diaper washing as well!

My busy boy!

 If I start feeling a little better as the day goes on, I will handwash tonight. In the mean time, I am keeping my little man in flats and covers, just in case!

This years participant!

Handwashing in the hotel...

Day three of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry was on Wednesday. It was an open topic day, so I thought I would share my experience from handwashing in the hotel Tuesday night.

I decided to rinse the diapers while I was taking my shower, since they were just all pee. So, no pictures of that!!!

I then soaked the diapers in the tub with two scoops of Charlie's Soap. I used as hot water as I could. WAY too much detergent! You can see that by the amount of bubbles in the picture.

 After it cooled down, I swished the diaper around and wrung them out.

 

The, I ran the water in the as  sink as hot as I could stand and I rinsed the diapers and covers. This took FOREVER because I used way too  much detergent. I don't think I successfully got out all of the detergent, but it got to be 2a and I was exhausted.

I then wrapped the covers in a towel and wrung them to get out moisture, and then wrung the flats out, hung over the shower rod, the towel rod, and any other available surface, and went to bed!

 

In the morning, the flats were barely damp and I ironed them the rest of the way dry. The covers were still damp in places where the fabric was double layered, so I took a blowdryer to those.

Traveling went well today, despite my son having diarrhea from a virus he picked up at my sister-in-laws house. It was messy, but I never had a leak, thank goodness. One of the many reasons I love cloth diapers! I *almost* never get blowouts.

How did I prepare?

Today is the second day of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry. I headed out for home this afternoon. We will see how this goes! I have a medium size wetbag half full that I will be handwashing in the hotel sink tonight. I then will let them hang dry overnight. I want to then use the iron to finish drying them in the morning if they are still damp.

I didn't really prepare for this challenge as I normally would've, since I didn't decide until the last minute to participate. Since I was 1200 miles from home and forgot to bring my flats, I went to Walmart and bought 15 flour sack towels. I had my covers, pin, Snappi, and Boingo with me, since I was going to use prefolds my family already had. One of my sister-in-laws had some Charlie's Soap she was no longer using and gave it to me. I normally would use Eco Sprout.

You may wonder why I have three different fasteners. Well, depending on what fold I use, I have different prefernces for what fastener I use.

Jo fold: I use a Boingo or Snappi
Diaper Bag fold: I use a pin
Pad fold: I don't use a fastener.

For night time last night, I used two flats and did the pad fold. It worked great! I am also finding that the pad fold works best when we are traveling in the van. He lasts a little bit longer. I stop every 60-90 minutes anyways, as I am pregnant and need to stop that often to use the restroom.

So far, things hve been going great. I am planning on taking pictures tonight for washing. I will post tomorrow on how it goes.

Why did I decide to take the Flats and Handwashing Challenge?

Today marks the beginning of the 3rd annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry. I participated last year and learned so much! I loved flats so much by the end, that I got rid of most of my prefolds and started using flats on a regular basis. Last year, I had two in cloth diapers full time, which was quite a challenge. This year, I only have one in cloth full time, but I still have some challenges. I am traveling for about half of the challenge.

I am currently in Utah and I will be leaving for Oklahoma tomorrow. The next three days, I will be doing the challenge while on the road and staying each night in a hotel.Plus, I am 33 weeks pregnant, traveling with four children, a cat, and a dog. This could get interesting!

You might wonder why I am willing to participate this year as I have so much going on, only a sink to handwash in, and no real plan for drying my flats and covers. Well, I learned  so much last year about how ANYBODY, no matter their situation, can cloth diaper, that I wanted to participate this year with all of my challenges to prove even more that it can be done.

Cloth diapering is an option for everyone. I grew up poor... there were times our heat and electricity was turned off and my family slept together in the living room in front of the wood pellet stove. There were times we lived off of beans and rice for weeks at a time. My mother managed to cloth diaper my brothers and me.

I was a single mom for the first seven years of my son's life. I barely made ends meet. I cloth diapered with the cheap Gerber prefolds, pins, and plastic pants that you could, and still can buy, at Walmart.

I know what it is to struggle. Though my family does not struggle now, I still choose to cloth diaper for the health of my children and to prevent the horrible disposable diaper burns and rashes that every single disposable diaper I have ever tried on my children has caused them.

I want to raise awareness that cloth diapering is a viable option for anyone and everyone. It is better for you budget, better for your child, and better for the Earth.

I forgot to bring my flats when I left Oklahoma for Utah, I went to Walmart and I bought 15 of the flour sack towels.They came in packs of 5 for $4.98. That is pretty inexpensive!

 I decided to use the Jo fold today. This fold works best for my little man.

 I just bring the middle together in thirds.

 As you can see, we had some adjustment issues.

 Pulling up the middle and adjusting the Boingo made a huge difference.

 Here it is with a Thirsties Duo Wrap Cover in size 2.Very trim!

On Monday, the 3rd annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge, hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry is coming up this Monday, May 20th! It runs from May 20-26, 2013. I participated last year and I still use flats a year later. I even got rid of most of my prefolds and switched to flats most of the time. I am signed up to complete this challenge again this year, but I am not sure I will be participating.

My biggest challenge is that I am currently visiting family in Utah and I will be driving back to Oklahoma in the middle of the challenge. Plus, I forgot all of my flats at home... I am considering hitting up Ikea and getting some of the hand towels there as they are recommended to use as flats. I have PLENTY of covers with me, so that is not a huge deal. I may even go for the cheapies at Walmart or Target, since I have plenty of flats at home and could reuse whatever I buy for unpaper towels.

Being 33 weeks pregnant, I am wishy washy, but I think I am going to go shopping today and take the plunge and do this challenge while traveling. At least it will give me plenty to blog about!!!