Flats and Handwashing Challenge Day #5 - What have you learned so far?

Today is the fourth day of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge.  As a reminder, this is a 7 day Challenge where participants can only use flat cloth diapers and have to ditch their washer and dryer in favor of good ol’ fashioned handwashing.  We are close to 500 participants this year and many are blogging their journey.

Day 5 of 7... home stretch!

So what have I learned so far? 

1. Flats are so easy.
2. Two words: So. Trim.
3. Two more words: Pad. Fold.
4. Handwashing isn't the worst thing in the world, but boy am I thankful for my washing machine!
5. Sometimes simple is just as fun/rewarding as complex.

Not much to say today.  We are carrying on status quo and I'm totally loving flat diapers.

Flats and Handwashing Challenge Day #4 - How's the handwashing going?

Today is the fourth day of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge.  As a reminder, this is a 7 day Challenge where participants can only use flat cloth diapers and have to ditch their washer and dryer in favor of good ol’ fashioned handwashing.  We are close to 500 participants this year and many are blogging their journey.

It's "hump day" for the challenge week.  We have all (I hope!) made it half way and are on the downhill now so to speak.  It really is going so fast and its crazy how easily you can adapt.  I just read Kim's post  and I found myself nodding my head in agreement more than once.  Yes, our modern conveniences make cloth diapering a breeze compared to the old style handwashing, but anything is possible if it is important enough to you.

So how's the handwashing going?  Honestly, its much easier than I expected.  I purposefully did not do a trial run before the challenge because I thought it was going to be awful and that I would back out on the challenge.  After the first "load," I knew it was going to be something I could handle for a week.  Do I love it?  Absolutely not.  But is it manageable?  Yes.

I would consider myself a very efficient person.  Lazy? Not so much, but I like to do things well in the most efficient way possible.  Do I like to go above and beyond?  Only if its truly necessary.  That is the approach I have taken while handwashing our flats, covers, and wipes this week.  My initial wash turned out just fine. I didn't go above and beyond, and I found I didn't need to.  I had no interest in constructing a camp style/bucket/plunger washing system that a lot of moms chose to do.  I asked around on the Facebook page before the challenge if anyone strictly washed in their sink and I found many mamas who successfully had.  I took that as proof enough that I could go without a bucket washing system.

Here is my washing routine in a nutshell:

1. Rinse flats right after changing to get the pee and the poop off.  Unfold the flat and rinse under the sink faucet until water runs clear.  Store flat, cover, and wipes in a mixing bowl.  Set rinsed diapers aside until wash time.
2. Fill sink with warm water and put in all flats, covers, and wipes.  Swish around, squeeze with hands (in gloves), swish some more.  Drain water and refill.
3. Swish and squeeze a bit and let soak (time depends on what I'm doing).  Drain water and refill with HOT water and a small amount (just covering the bottom of the scoop) of Charlie's Soap.
4. Swish around, squeeze with hands, agitate, etc. for anywhere from 2-3 minutes (honestly, I don't have the patience for much more than that). Let diapers soak for awhile (time varies depending on what I'm doing). Drain water and refill with warm.
5. Swish and squeeze and immediately drain.
6. Depending on bubble status, may refill and swish and squeeze again.
7. Drain water and run each flat, cover, and wipe under the faucet and squeeze twice.  Wring out each piece until not much water comes out (again, I'm efficient and don't go overboard to say no water comes out, just good enough).
8. Snap/shake out each flat to get out wrinkles and some more excess water.  Roll covers in a towel and squeeze to get more excess water.  Put wet wipes back in wipes container, no need to dry and re-wet them :)
9. Hang flats and covers out on the line or on the drying rack.  We've been about 50/50 since the last 2 days have been very rainy.  Outside drying takes about an hour.  Inside drying takes about 4 hours.

Aside from a few red dots on the bum here and there, this has worked well to get diapers clean.  They smell good and look clean, so I must be doing ok.  In total, I think I spend about 20 minutes actively washing the diapers 2x/day.  So less than an hour of diaper care - its really not that bad at all.

I know this is a topic for another day's post, but I can't stop thinking about how much I like the simplicity of cloth diapering with flats and covers (minus the handwashing!).  I find myself looking at ALL my pockets and hybrid fitteds and wondering why on Earth I need so many (truthfully, we don't).  The last few months I have been buying adorable hybrid fitted diapers, and though I do like them and love that Mallory's bum gets more air when she is in them, I'm honestly thinking the number I have is a bit excessive.  Flats and covers just make sense.  They are affordable, easy to care for, and oh. so. trim.

Anyone else feeling this way?!

Flats and Handwashing Challenge Day #3 - How do you use your flats?

I am taking part in the Second Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  For 7 days I will be using only flat cloth diapers and handwashing them in an effort to prove that cloth diapering can be affordable and accessible to all.  You can learn more about the rules and why this challenge was started by visiting the announcement post.  This year there are over 450 participants from all over the world!


We are well into Day #3 and I feel like the week is flying by.  I also feel like we have a routine and a good system going with our flats and handwashing.  A quick recap of Day #2 finds all went smoothly.  The daddy and the nanny used the correct diapers (flats pre-padfolded into covers ready to go) and all was well.  I did a load of 5 flats and 3 covers right when I got home and it wasn't too much different than my smaller loads of 2-3 flats.  I did notice that Mallory's bum was red and splotchy so I got nervous I wasn't getting my diapers rinsed well enough, but with a little bun glaze (an amazing diaper area treatment safe for cloth diapers from Sweet Knee) she was good to go after one change.  I'm actually thinking she just pooped and it wasn't noticed/changed quick enough which happens really easy to her if she is left to sit for even a few minutes (I blame an obsession with eating mandarin oranges!)  It was warm, windy, and sunny yesterday afternoon/evening which made my drying time outside incredibly quick.  Nights have been fine - we are using a padfolded flat under a gdiaper disposable insert (our typical night time solution regardless of this challenge) so all is status quo.  

This morning I did a small-ish load of flats (4 flats, 2 covers) and had to hang them on the drying rack inside since its cloudy and supposed to rain.  It's actually not bad out right now, and very windy, so I'm thinking I may transfer them to the line to finish drying.  3 hours later and they are still damp in places drying inside.  

The question for today - How do you use your flats?  As you can probably guess, we are padfolding them and laying them in a cover 99% of the time.  This is so easy, convenient, and takes out the 2 step process that doesn't bode well for a squirmy toddler who thinks diaper changes are on the same page as fighting a fire breathing dragon.  I have tried 2 other folds once - origami and diaperbag.  Both of them worked well, but again, having to get Mallory to lay down and hold relatively still for putting on the flat and then putting on the cover is not my idea of a good time.  

Because I don't have much to say about folds and don't have much to compare the padfold to.... I will give your the top 5 reasons I love the padfold:

1. It's easy. 
2. No need for pins, a snappi, or boingos.
3. It's trim throughout.  The other folds I tried were also very trim, but the padfold is the same trimness from front to back, where as the origami or diaperbag folds had more bunching up front for us.
4. Makes diaper changes a 1 step process.
5. It doesn't matter what size flats you have, the padfold always fits.

 

Flats and Handwashing Challenge Day #2- What does it take?

I am taking part in the Second Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  For 7 days I will be using only flat cloth diapers and handwashing them in an effort to prove that cloth diapering can be affordable and accessible to all.  You can learn more about the rules and why this challenge was started by visiting the announcement post.  This year there are over 450 participants from all over the world! 

Day one is in the books and it was relatively painless.  I decided to utilize nap time (2-3 hours) to wash my flats from the night/morning for the first time.  I rinse all of my diapers in the sink even when I'm using my pockets, fitteds, etc. because I feel like it gets the pee out right away and keeps any stink or build up at bay.  With the flats, I didn't change that.  Since they were pre-rinsed, I put them in our kitchen sink in some cool water and let them soak for about 10 minutes.  I then drained the water, filled the sink with HOT water and about a tsp. of Charlie's Soap (what we use for most of our laundry, including diapers), put on my rubber gloves, and did some swishing and scrubbing.  After letting them soak for maybe 20 minutes, I rinsed them in cool water as best as I could.  I then filled the sink yet again with warm-ish water and let them soak for about 5 minutes.  After rinsing them a final time and wringing them out, I brought them outside to the clothesline to dry.  I shook them to get out excess water and hung them up.  About an 1 1/2 later they were all dry!

One hiccup - as they were drying, I went to check on them and noticed TONS of teeny tiny little red bugs crawling all over my covers and flats.  YUCK!  I quickly asked on the Facebook page if anyone had experienced that.  A few people said they had, and I even learned they are little clover mites (harmless).  Once my flats and covers were dry, most of the mites were gone, but I shook the remaining off and called it a day.

I'm not a fan of how stiff and crunchy the flats feel after drying, but Mallory doesn't seem to mind.  I also hope that I used enough soap and/or got all the soap out.  They smelled and looked clean so I am hopeful.  I guess I will have to check her little bum to be sure I'm getting all the soap out and it isn't irritating her.

I did one more load after Mallory was in bed. This time I hung them inside on the drying rack to dry over night.  It worked like a charm again and they were dry by morning.

But... aside from that, the day went well.  So onto Day #2 - What does it take? 

I realized yesterday that it honestly doesn't take much at all!  In one day I used 3 covers and 5 flats.  Mallory pooped 3 times (more than usual, but thankfully they are "plopable" these days) and never once did I dirty a cover.  I have many more covers in rotation and 3x the flats... I'm not even sure I will use all of them this week.  I'm thinking I may try to limit them and see if I can do it.

Here is what I'm using:

• 6 Osocozy flats
• 9 Swaddlebees unbleached flats
• 6 Flip covers (may not use all of these)
• 2 Econobum covers (so trim!)
• 1 toddler snappi
• Charlie's Soap
• Rubber gloves
• Clothsline and pins
• Drying rack

Thats it!  I know many people are using bucket style washers and plungers, but I really find it easy and convenient to just wash a few flats and covers at a time in the kitchen sink with my hands.  Seems like a lot less work. Though I am home most days, I work 2 days a week away from home.  Today is the first day daddy and the nanny were left to use flats.  I made sure to pad fold and lay the flats in 6 covers (I'm thankful we didn't have a limit of covers for this reason!)  I didn't want either of them to have to worry about knowing what to do with the flat, touching it, etc.  This way they look and feel just like putting on one of our typical bumGenius pocket diapers.  Easy, right?!

Tonight I will have one bigger load of flats and covers to wash since I am gone all day.  Should be interesting to see the difference between handwashing a small load vs. a larger load!  Look forward to tomorrow's update on how it went and my answer to my favorite way to use flats :)

**(Picture to be added once I am home from work!)**

Day 1: What Do I Expect to Learn/ Why I’m Taking the Challenge

I am taking part in the Second Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  For 7 days I will be using only flat cloth diapers and handwashing them in an effort to prove that cloth diapering can be affordable and accessible to all.  You can learn more about the rules and why this challenge was started by visiting the announcement post.  This year there are over 450 participants from all over the world! 

Day 1 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge is under way, and so far, so good.  My first set of flats are soaking right now, and we will see how this first attempt at handwashing will go.  I purposefully did not do a trial run because I honestly didn't want it to fail and then second guess signing up.  Being a life long procrastinator on new things, it doesn't surprise me that I went into this somewhat blindly.

So why am I only diaper my daughter in flats and covers and handwashing all of it?  I am doing this challenge because it seems like fun (yes, my idea of fun may be a little off!).  It gives me something to do as a part time stay at home mom, and it gives me something to think about and put some energy towards.  Though I appreciate and fully support the mission behind the challenge, no one but the online community and my husband will know I am doing this.  I can't say that I am truly raising awareness on my own.  If I were in the situation that many people find themselves in (broke, living without a washing machine, trying to decide between diapers and food), I honestly don't know what I would do.  Fortunately, I am no where near that place in life, but I fully understand that others are.  I am excited to prove to myself that this can be done and that it can be a reality.

What do I expect to learn?  I guess I really don't know.  The easy answer is I expect to learn that handwashing is a challenge and an inconvenience, but it can be done.  I hope to learn in some small way what a glimpse of a life less fortunate might feel like (and please understand that I know it would only be a sliver of what life must be like).

Bring it on Flats Challenge!  Here we go...

#Flatschallenge - Preparation

I remember following the blogs and vlogs last year during the first annual "Flats and Handwashing  Challenge" put on my Kim Rosas of Dirty Diaper Laundry.  I was so intrigued and thought it would be a fun thing to try some time.  Intrigued enough, I even got some flats last fall to try out. 

This year I was anxious to know if she was going to do the flats challenge again, and I was excited when I read it was on.  I signed up right away (with only a bit of apprehension). 

What I have:

• 15 flats
• 5-10 covers
• Snappi
• Boingos
• Clothes line and clothes pins/drying rack
• Charlie's soap
• Rubber gloves

Just reading that list, all the things I need to diaper my child for the week, it seems so simple.  I am so fortunate to have all the "extra" bells and whistles when it comes to cloth diapers (an abundance of pocket diapers, WAHM hybrid fitteds in adorable prints, a washing machine and dryer, etc.).  But if it came down to it, I could cloth diaper Mallory with the short, simple list above.

Even so, I have some nerves about the week ahead.  Will I be able to hand wash the flats sufficiently?  How will nights go? I know the rules say I can use a night time solution and I will definitely use our gdiaper biodegradeable insert each night - but if I'm feeling gutsy I may try without.  Will I be able to get the husband and nanny on board? 

I am excited to blog about my experience and plan to link up to other blogs.  Who knows, maybe I will even start writing here more often with a renewed interest in blogging (although with a slightly different topic).

Bring it on #flatschallenge!

What a difference a week makes

It's been a week (or a bit over) since I claimed things were feeling better, and boy, are they ever. A few days ago I was thrown into the thick of things when I went over to Trego, WI where my cross country team was at their summer retreat. The bugs were thick, the sun was shining, and the kids were awesome as usual. After getting up at 4:30am and driving 2+ hours, I was greeted with smiles and feet ready to run. I hopped out of my car, laced up my shoes, turned on the GPS, and we were off. The one thing I forgot: to ask how far we were running.

About 4 miles in, and no where near our cabin, I decided I should maybe ask how long the run was going to be. Oh, 6-8 miles, which is 3-5 miles more than I have run in almost a year. Thankfully, I was actually feeling very good after only 4 hours of sleep, and I was able to keep up and enjoy the run. The hills in the woods, the bugs, the sun beating down; it was all part of regaining what I have lost.

After stretching, breakfast, and some fun on the lake, we rested up for the second run of the day. This time the sun was a bit hot, the bugs were a bit annoying, and my legs were far more tired. I still hung with them and felt just fine. 4.5 miles later I was ready to be done. A shower, some dinner, and it was time to head home on another 2+ hour car ride.

As I pulled in the garage and got out of the car, I had to laugh. Ouch. My hips hurt from the hills. My eyes were exhausted from the day. And boy do I hate gnat bites!