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.