Handwashing

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!

You mean there is handwashing in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge?!

Yup.

There is.

And it is a ton of fun...

Errr......

Well it isn't horrible.

In fact, I'm pretty confident I'll have less arm fat wiggle by the end of the week!

So, how do I, you know, do the dirty?

Oh. I do the dirty well. And by hand!

Get your mind out of the gutter. I do the dirty diaper laundry. As in wash them. Duh. Sheesh.

How?
First I should state that I do this at night while Turtle-Love is asleep or entertained by our family that we live with.
I should also mention I'm not allowed to use hot water to wash the diapers because I wash right after/during/right before someone being in the shower for the night.

And I like in a house full of cloth diaper haters.

Yup. Haters gon' hate.

That's three adults - all of which are mothers, against me. My husband is pro-cloth but not feeling my handwashing duties at this time, because the challenge coinsides with "moving week". Which I completely understand.

Moving on...

To wash our diapers I...

•Rinse all diapers in luke warm water making sure to scrub any stains with a little soap.

Oh, I wash with blue Dawn.

•I do a preliminary wash with the soap applied to the stains and minimal aggitation effort
•Allow soaking

Usually at this time I am needed to assist with some household duty, or need to nurse Turtle-Love.

•Aggitate and then drain the water and wring out the flats and squeeze the covers
•Add a less than pea sized amount to each flat and work it in, scrubbing any stains well
•Aggitate them individually, as a group, repeat repeat repeat
•Add in a few scrubs per flat, specially addressing the stains

This part takes a while. It just does, I want to make sure they are clean. CLEAN clean.

•Drain the water, wring the flats
•Plug and add more water using teh water to rinse the flats as the sink fills
•Continue with the aggitating process

This is as much a second wash cycle as it is a cycle to remove some of the suds.

•Repeat
•Repeat

At this point almost all of the bubbles are gone.

•Fill sink one more time
•Aggitate each flat individually while dunking and swishing to ensure all suds are gone
•Rinse and wring each flat
•Hang to dry on teh rack

DONE!

I know it seems like a lot. It really isn't, it is just a lot to explain.

In the morning the flats are mostly dry. They are definitely dry when I get home from work. I snap and russle each one before folding it origami style and putting it in the diaper bag or setting it out for use.

This is a picture of our flats and covers soaking. For the third time because my arms were too tired... So I decided they needed a little extra soak here and there...

Also here is a picture of Turtle-Love eating pizza in bed in his flat and Thirsties cover. Life is hard!

Check out what the other bloggers participating in the challenge think of handwashing!

Favorite way to use 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!

What is my favorite way to use flats?

Uhh... as diapers? LOL

No, seriously, I use our flats for various things....

•Dusting
•Wiping my window edges with vinegar or lemon (or both)
•Soaking up 'uh-ohs' from naked baby time
•Pulling spills out of the carpet (works like a charm!)
•Runny nose catchers
•Un-paper towels


Could also be used for...
•A tourniquet
•Impromptu clothing (no judging)
•Making fabric flowers
•Momma cloth
•Napkins
•A bandana to keep the hair out of my face while cleaning
•Flags for pretend play
•Splat mats to catch flying messes during meal or art time
...

The list really could just go on. I mean, its a flat. I single layer of fabric. You could use it for anything you use fabric for.

I'm thinking, natural birds eye cotton flats will re purpose well into fabric embellishments for a friends bohemian inspired wedding...


Anyhow - here is a set of pictures from earlier today. Nicole (my good friend and our baby sitter) took them for me. I was at her house picking Turtle-Love up after work. Of course the first thing he asks of me (which I appreciate after 8 hours...) is for milk and boobies. Which takes a long time, which I enjoy after work because we can relax and reunite peacefully. He also usually falls asleep while nursing around this time, and we were headed for a shopping trip before headed home so I wanted to get him into a fresh diaper.

Which is why these pictures are of me nursing Turtle-Love while putting him in an origami folded flat. In the interest of full disclosure, the flat was already folded and waiting for me in the diaper bag.

I have to say, it was a little tricky but I feel pretty talented after that!

PS... We usually use an origami fold, but I twist at the hips and jelly roll the thighs for a closer fit

PPS... I gave up on trying to locate any of my 3 snappis. They ran away.




Check out how the rest of the flats challenge bloggers use their flats!

Supplies for 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!

Supplies
•12 DiaperRite natural flats
•4 flour sack towels from Target
•6 flannel receiving blankets
•6 Flip diaper covers
•1 Thirsties duo wrap diaper cover
•1 bottle of blue dawn
•1 wooden folding drying rack

I am able to diaper for three days on these supplies though I wash every night just in case something comes up.

Unfortunately due to our move I am unable to elaborate on today's post or really write anything at length. I apologize for this. Tomorrows post about the challenge will be more extensive for sure!

I'll leave you with a couple pictures Nicole sent me today :-)

PS... the snappi is still missing :-/

Why Am I Participating?

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!

Why am I participating?

Last year I explained how I found the Flats Challenge, and why I decided to hop on board. You can read about that HERE. Not much has changed. I'm still working towards starting a non profit that provides cloth diapering education and opportunities to low income families. I'm still advocating for cloth diapers. I still believe I can make a difference through using cloth diapers my self, showing them to my friends and teaching them all the little things you learn along the way.

I know for a couple of my friends things are really difficult financially right now. I'm hoping they will be able to see this is do-able and that choosing cloth diapers for their new babies or switching from disposables, especially flats, can ease things a bit in that department.

Let the Flats and Handwashing Challenge Begin!

This weekend we moved. Again. We had just moved in March. Ugh. Circumstances change, and so we make changes to accommodate. I spent all day yesterday vacuuming every square inch of the basement, then the dining room (our temporary bedroom) and cleaning the carpets in the basement. By the time I got finished Toad and Turtle-Love were fast asleep and I could barely stay standing to take a shower. I was exhausted but the shower rejuvenated me a bit, so as I lay in bed I hopped on Twitter to see what I had been missing over the weekend. I find a Tweet from Kim Rosas ( Dirty Diaper Laundry ) talking about using flats for the night because of the challenge tomorrow. Here is what my mind did...
Twitter... tweet tweet. ... oo picture... I'm surprised I have enough signal to get Twitter loaded right now... mmm Johnny Depp... oo a giveaway! Oh, I don't need that... man this is a lot to scroll through!... Kim.... flats.... .... crap what day is today? Crap I'm working tomorrow. Crap I have to pack the diaper bag. Crap I have to.. wait... flats... challenge.... Day? Sunday. Date? Date? DATE?! Crap.

And that is when I realized the challenge starts tomorrow (Today) and that allllll my flats are packed up. Insert unamused face here ---> -_-

I decided to deal with it in the morning. Insert sleep time. Insert me hitting the snooze button. Insert me turning off my alarm. Insert me waking up five minutes before I have to be at work. Insert the word Crap.

After fumbling around getting clothes on and brushing my teeth I remember my discovery from last night and begin re=packing the diaper bag so Toad wont have to. Partly because I want to be nice, but more because I'm worried he will forget even though I told him last night when he had to wake up to bring the giant curtains inside (different story). I find three covers, one that is a little too small, and all my other diapers but no flats. Eff. Then I realize the flats are still at the old house, in a fabric bin, in the living room. Then I also realize I stuck the flour sack towels I picked up at Target in the bag with some of our clean clothes. I dig those out, still in the packaging, and stuff them into the diaper bag along with the covers, wipes and a wet bag and tell Toad he MUST retrieve the box of flats on the way to drop Turtle-Love off. The flour sack towels haven't been pre-washed - but there are four of them and it is better than nothing.

And that is how I prepared for the challenge.
And recapping those events has made me realize I did not remind Toad that he needed to pack Turtle-Love a real lunch (instead of the snacky type first lunch we usually pack and then I feed him real lunch when I pick him up)because I am working late today. Eff.

Some days are more hectic than others.

And now.. drum roll please...

Nicole's first flat!
Looks like she may have used a diaper bag fold

Oops, I didn't pack a snappi! Errr.... where is the snappi....

Check out what everyone else has to say about why they are participating, and how the first day is going for them!

Done, but not over

Last night at midnight, we ended the Flats and hand washing challenge.

Negatives
Lets face it, hand washing diapers can get down right dirty. I spent the first few nights washing my flats in a sink with soap by hand. It took me hours! I tried different techniques each night, hoping to speed up the process. Finally I moved on to putting them in a large container, two at a time, and shaking the ever-loving-crap out of them Hah, quite literally! This significantly cut down my wash time. For my last wash, and my biggest load, I used my bath tub and my feet. I didn't time it, but it sure felt faster and easier.
I never used gloves. In hindsight it would have prevented the raw skin on my knuckles from breaking open during a poo-stain scrub down, which would have been great to avoid. Never the less, I didn't use them.
It never failed, anytime I started washing diapers my son would decide he needed me half way through. It didn't matter that I had just nursed him. It didn't matter that he was being entertained by Daddy, or Auntie, or Gramma. He wanted Mommy. I could push it by singing to him and dancing for him while I was washing the diapers, but I was never able to get through an entire load without stopping for him. If I had been alone during this process it would have taken forever. Well, maybe not. He enjoyed watching me wash the diapers in the mirror when I had him strapped on my back in the ergo.

Over all experience
I chose not to research folds. Or washing techniques. I wanted to do this as blindly as possible. I wanted to see if it was plausible to hand someone flats, give them a brief explanation, and expect it to work. It did for the most part. We had a few leaks, and I'm thankful my son is an occasional pooper. Unfortunately, every time he pooped, it got on the cover. Had I researched folds (which I'll be doing this week since I'm taking our flats camping with us next week) I may have been able to prevent this at least some.

Now I know
how flats work.
there are vast amounts of information available in "internet land" for folds and washing techniques.
receiving blankets work really well.
that I can diaper my baby in absolutely any absorbent material, and sit him on fleece until the diapers are done drying.

Its not over. Now I can help
I've mentioned before I'm working on starting a non profit that will bring cloth diaper education, especially to lower income families. Now that I have cloth diapered with the most economical solution, I'm better able to promote, encourage, advocate, and pass along this information. I cannot wait to get this started! My local WIC office was not willing to help, but I plan to contact my local pregnancy centers and birthing classes as soon as I have some materials printed. I cannot wait!

Traveling in flats: Day 7 of the challenge

I'm actually writing this post from my phone on the Blogger app so I'm not really sure how any html coding I post will work.

We are traveling up state to visit the s2b in laws. I've brought all 12 flats and 2 of our covers. We've just started our journey but I'm already nervous because I forgot the wet bag. Oh well I'm sure we can get a ziploc.

Any how, here is a picture of turtle-love passed out :-)

Hand washing with ease! Day 5 of Flats Challenge

First, check out the rules and regs for the Flats and Hand Washing challenge over at Dirty Diaper Laundry

I've done it!

Hooray!

I've hand washed our diapers, in less than an hour without scrubbing my finger skin off or using too much elbow grease! I've even done it without a bucket and plunger, or a bathtub!

Hooray!!!

How?

With a tupperware container!

So.... I rinsed all of my diapers out to get release some of the ammonia and I scrubbed off the excess poo. I filled my sink with hot/warm soapy water and let the diapers sit there soaking over night. In all reality, they sat there from 2am til 8pm. Then I wrung them and rinsed them and set them to the side.

I got out a very large tupperware bowl with a lid. We happen to call this the "bulgogi bowl" in my family because its what we use to make bulgogi in. My mom's mom is Korean, bulgogi is a Korean dish, thinly sliced deliciously marinated beef that we grill to perfection. Mmmmmmm. Man I'm hungry now. Moving along...
I got the bowl out, added some laundry soap and shot it with hot/warm water til about half full.

I washed the covers first because they take longer to dry. I put the two weren't using right then into the bowl and closed the lid. I probably could have washed 3. Once I sealed the lid, I shook the bowl with might and furry!! Haha, really, I shook the ever-loving-day-lights out of this bowl for 5 minutes.
After the 5 minutes of shaking the bowl from different directions, I removed the lid, wrung out the covers, and set them in the sink which I had filled 1/4 of the way with cool clean soap free water.

I placed 2 flats into the bowl. I shook the ever-loving-day-lights out of the bowl for 5 minutes. This was starting to be a work out! Not the I want to rip my arms off work out I was getting from the hand scrubbing I was doing previously. Nope, this was more entire upper body and cardio! Wooo! I could even isolate muscle groups by shaking the bowl differently =)
Once the 5 minutes was up, I wrung out the flats and placed them in the clean water. Got 2 more flats... you get the idea.

I should mention, after the 5 minutes of shaking, before I wrung out the flats I would inspect them for stains. I only found 1 diaper with poo spots and was able to easily remove them with a very small amount of hand scrubbing.

Once all the diapers were shaken clean, I rinsed them through twice to get rid of the soap, including a quick swish bath in standing water between rinses. Then I wrung them out and hung them on my drying rack. Done! I think I washed 10 flats and 2 covers and it took me just under an hour total. I could cut this time down if I could come up with a better way to rinse. Hmmm....

As I've mentioned before, we have 12 flats. So, saying that I washed 10 meant we only had 2 flats left. Uh-oh. No worries though, we ended up using receiving blankets which I found are possibly more absorbent, though a tad more bulky. My little sister actually came to town and was watching Turtle-Love while I washed diapers. She had to change him, with a receiving blanket, and rather than have me show her the "easy way" she wanted to try wrapping him in one on her own. Ha! she felt so bad about the way it turned out on him, she let him play naked on top of a fleece blanket with her. She figured, if she was going to get wet because she didn't wrap it right anyways, she might as well let him be naked since that is what he wanted. =) He didn't pee on her, but he did sit up by himself for 3 whole minutes!

Unfortunately, I have no pictures to share today. I will get pictures tonight tho, and hopefully a ridiculous video of me shaking the dang bowl =/ Its for a good cause right?

Big thanks to Diaper Junction for supplying my flats!
Also, thanks very much to Simple Little Baby for suppling us with 2 snappis!

Link up everyone! Check out how other bloggers embrace the challenge!

Flats day 4

First of all - check out the rules and regs for the Flats and Hand washing challenge over at Dirty Diaper Laundry

A big thanks to Diaper Junction for providing my flats, and to Simple Little Baby for providing 2 snappis!

Turtle-Love actually developed his first diaper rash ever the other night. It was my own fault. I hadn't realized he pooped (thought it was gas) and it stayed on just a little too long. Poor baby, I felt just awful. I've been putting some cloth safe diaper salve on him and he spent the evening in just a flat with no cover. That is, until I put it on too loose and Turtle-Love was in my lap and the pee ran out the leg onto me =/ Oh well. It isn't the first time and certainly wont be the last.

Yesterday we went through a bunch of flats, and 2 of our 3 covers because of poop. Today we are limited to our 1 cover, because I didn't get the other two washed. I didn't get the flats washed either so we are limited. I imagine this means we will be diapering alternatively tonight - using t-shirts and towels. I'm not sure what we will do about a cover. I think I'll just be sure to put a fleece blanket under him or a rain coat and we will stay home.

I've lost creativity for folds. I did try something different last night that worked really well. I folded the flat into the smallest triangle I could fit around Turtle-Love. Then pulled the center corner up, and the side corners across and down over the wet zone and fastened with a snappi. I just can't think of other ways to fold. Part of me wants to look some up, but the other part of me - the stubborn side - wants to rough this out. I know nothing about flats. I should keep it that way.

I've read some mom's are writing how they are biased in this challenge because they know they can go back to their washing machine. I like to think I'm not biased - we have a washing machine that I absolutely can go back to; but I know that hand washing is a reality s2bDH and I may face when we move out. I know that financially our times are hard, and they will get harder for a while. Hand washing is a close reality for us, and I'm glad to have the practice. I'm glad to be part of this challenge.

Speaking of hand washing, I mentioned I didn't do the washing last night. Nope, not at all. I rinsed out the flats and covers and left them to soak in warm soapy water in my kitchen sink while we watched a movie. However, by the time the movie was over it was late and Turtle-Love was cranky so we went to bed, I figured I could wash them in the morning. I didn't though. We got up late and I was too busy enjoying cuddling with Turtle-Love before leaving him for work. I'll have to wash them all this evening. As I mentioned before, I think we will have to collect some absorbent bits from around the house to cover him in for the evening while I do the washing. I'm certain ti will take me forever if I do them in the sink. I considering the tub. I can put them in and agitate them where they have more space to hang out in the water maybe? Or maybe I'll use a big tupperware container and load them individually and shake the bah-jee-bees out of them. Actually that is a plan. I'm going for the tupperware tambourine wash method tonight =D I'll post pics and video tomorrow!

Falts day 3: Why would cloth mommas diet?!

Today is day 3 of the Flats and hand washing Challenge! Check out Dirty Diaper Laundry for the Rules and such.

Also - a big thanks to Diaper Junction for supplying my flats free of charge! Another thanks to Simple Little Baby for providing us with 2 snappis at no cost! ♥

To explain the blog title... last night I washed flats for the 2nd time. By hand of course, in our sink. This time I switched to the kitchen sink thinking I'd have more room. Let me tell you, I don't know why any cloth diapering moms (or dads) ever diet or go to the gym. Hand washing your diapers is a HUGE work out! Then again I'm way out of shape, with zero upper arm strength. Seriously, my arms were really sore from the last good scrub session; add last night's wash to that and I was feeling the burn.

So yesterday the s2bDH failed the challenge. He used flats for 2 of 3 diaper changes. He said he couldn't find the rest of the flats - which btw were in a stack under our changing table right next to the first stack that he finished off. In the first two changes while I was at work he put Turtle-Love in the flats he was able to locate, using "the prefold" and a snappi. However the next change he put him into a disposable. UUUUHHHHHHHHHH. He found our regular cloth diapers, which I put away out of sight, while trying to find the rest of the flats and opted not to use one. =/ He meant well - his thinking was that it wouldn't get washed until next week because we wouldn't have a full load of diapers to put in the machine. Honestly, I'd have hand washed it - but I'm kinda thankful I don't have to. I was pretty upset though that he didn't just call me or text me and ask where the rest of the flats were. As soon as we got home I switch Turtle-Love into a flat.

I tried a new folding technique. I made the double triangle, laid Turtle-Love on top, pulled the center corner up to his waist, over the wet zone, pulled the left corner across his left thigh over the wet zone and under his right thigh and tucked it, then the right corner across the right thigh over the wet zone and under the left thigh and tucked it. It made an X across the wet zone for a little more coverage. It worked really well actually. Of course, I'm calling it "the X".

Today I showed s2bDH where the flats and snappis and covers were. I even provided him a t-shirt of mine to use if he runs out! His words to me: Isn't that kinda big? My response It should soak up lots of pee. He laughed at me and shook his head, but agreed.

I'm thinking tonight I'll try something different for washing. I'm also considering a soapy wet pail for the dirties instead of a dry pail, so they get a soak. Last night after their first scrubbing, I made more soapy water and left them to soak while I watched 16 and Pregnant on DVR and nursed Turtle-Love. I know, lol, I'm awful. The soak seemed to help though, they were much easier to wash for the second washing than last time.

Let us see what the day holds!

BTW here is a video (sound less) of me washing flats for the first wash so you can see my scrub method. Please excuse the crappy quality from my "HD camcorder" on my droid. And my s2bDH lack of attention to where he is pointing the camera *sigh*

Flats official Day 2

So, here we are. Today is officially day 2 of the Flats and Hand washing challenge, and of course my 3rd day using flats. I finally have the pictures from our first hand wash!

The dirties

After the first wash

Trying to rinse out all that extra soap!

Lets try to agitate the soap out...

Finally soap free!

Hang to dry =)

So that was my wash experience.
My awesome flats (Thanks Diaper Junction!) were dry by morning, though my covers took a while longer. I think it was because of the way I organized them. Tonight, I'll try something else =)

Today my s2bDH is home with Turtle-Love. He has been instructed to only use flats! I showed him how to do "the prefold" and told him if he was brave enough to try anything else to take pictures, hah!

Flats a day early.. oops! Pic heavy =)

NOTE: I've been waiting all day for my phone to finish emailing me the pictures I took of the wash process but it hasn't happened. *sigh* I wanted to be sure to post today, so I'll try to post the wash pictures tomorrow if it finally comes through.

DOUBLE NOTE: Thank you to Diaper Junction for supplying my flats!

I jumped the gun, and yesterday used flats for the very first time. I thought the challenge started yesterday. I'm not sure why, but I did. *sigh* Oh well, it was certainly an adventure!

What is the challenge? The Flats and Hand washing challenge! Go check out Dirty Diaper Laundry for all the details, but basically I agreed to use only flats and covers, and to only hand wash them, for a full week err, I guess I'll be doing 8 days. Haha, oops.

I decided to challenge my self further, and not learn any of the folding techniques, or washing styles. I wanted to "wing it" and get some raw experience that I could pass along. Yeah. Great plan. I'm so glad my child is patient with me (most of the time) =)

The flats & folds
Turtle-Love actually slept until about 2 pm yesterday! He woke up to feed twice but that was it! Even at 2 pm I finally woke him up to nurse him and change his diaper that weighed a good pound! No, I'm not exaggerating! I very well may have a super soaker! Anyhow, I put his first flat on him at 2. While he was sleeping I took my time and folded it into a plan I thought would work pretty well.

I folded the flat into a triangle, then in half to a smaller triangle. Pointed it down, and turned up the side corners to make it look like the picture.

Insert baby on the triangle, pulled up the center, pulled one side directly across, and then the other.

Then I tucked the tail into the waist area, and put the cover on. Viola! I call this "the bull". Diapered baby =)

This worked well enough, I mean it didn't leak, but at the same time I didn't feel like his wet zone was adequately covered. I needed to do better.

This time, my anti cloth sister thought she could do a better job. I let her try. What she came up with was an okay idea, but it wasn't fitting just right so I modified it into what I'm calling "the knot".

Pretty much, fold into a double triangle, then fold down to create a band on top. Insert baby, fold up the center, pull the right corner across the waist, then the left corn across the thigh, down over the wet zone, and up the back (it makes a tail).

Pull the right corner that is now on the left side back across the waist and tuck into the band. Flip the baby over and tuck the tail.

Cover, voila!

It leaked but only slightly. Maybe the fold was wrong, maybe the cover wasn't on right, or maybe Turtle-Love flooded the diaper or it was on for too long. I'm not sure.

Next we did a really easy fold, one that I showed my s2bDH so that he can use it this week.
We folded the flat into a square.

Insert the baby, then fold the front together so it makes three layers (really 3x4 layers) and a pocket. Pull the front up over the wet zone and fasten to the wings on the back with a snappi - I call this "the prefold". Of course, use a cover, and done!

This one was really successful with good wet zone coverage.




The wash
Ohhhh boy. Do NOT use too much soap!! That was my lesson for the night. =/
I used 1 scoop of Tiny Bubbles in 64 oz (2 quarts) of water in my plugged sink. I washed all the pee diapers first, saving the messiest for last.
The wash process:
Dunk. Scrub it together with itself. Dunk. Repeat til super soapy. Squeeze out excess. Move on to next diaper. Repeat.
After all the pee diapers were washed I tackled the poo diaper by first scrubbing it without soap in the toilet to get rid of the excess mess. Then I applied the same wash process, making sure to continue repeating until all the stain areas were gone.
Then I let out the soapy water and poured on 64 more ounces into my plugged sink. I scrubbed each diaper again in the plain water to get most of the soap out of each one. It wasn't working very well. I decided to use a little running water.
The rinse process:
Rinse the diaper under running water 2 times. Plug sink and dunk and scrub. Drain sink and use pitcher 1/2 full with water and my arm to make a mini washing machine and agitate the soap out. Repeat mini machine with new water. Plug sink and dunk and swirl to be sure all soap is gone. Squeeze water out and hang on towel rack.
Attack other diapers for rinse process.
When I had 2 left to rinse Turtle-Love was fussy (my mom had him) so he hung out on my back in the Ergo for the first time. I danced and sang my way to his happiness while rinsing the diapers.
The drying process:
I then neatly draped each flat and cover on my drying rack. Unfortunately, I forgot to check them this morning to see if they were dry before I left for work.

Have I mentioned today is my first day back in the office?! More on that later.

Over night
Oh yes, we were brave. We used the flat over night in the "prefold" fold. With success!!! My son usually doesn't pee much throughout the night, but in the morning during his first feed he likes to flood whatever diaper he is wearing. We had zero leaks =) Hooray!

When I signed up for the Flats and Hand washing challenge, I did not think I would be back in my office at the time of the challenge. However, recent events have lead to my working in the office starting this week. For the past 5 months I have been working from home. My s2bDH promised to use only flats while I'm at work, since he will be home with him this week. When I get home, we will see how HE did =)

How I'm preparing for the Flats Challenge

Wooo! A two post day! I'm on a roll! HAH!

So... how AM I preparing for the Flats Challenge? First - lets review exactly what is expected of me! Starting May 23rd and lasting the whole week I will be diapering with ONLY flat diapers (except at night should I choose to detour) and ONLY hand wash them and ONLY air dry them and have no more than 6 covers in rotation. See here for complete list of official rules and such.

What I'm using
Since I was stalking the Dirty Diaper Laundry blog after I learned of the challenge (hah!) I received a wonderful opportunity, and received 12 Diaper Rite flats from Diaper Junction free of cost. Thanks guys!!! I also received 2 snappis for free from Simple Little Baby after talking to Melanie at my weekly AP parent/cloth diaper meet up at Sugar Snap Consignment and getting her on board with the challenge too. Woo hoo for spreading the word! I also scored a snappi in my lute bag at the Great Cloth Diaper Change for a total of 3 snappis =) Most awesome! I also bought a pre-loved Thirsties cover (velcro) and 2 new Thirsties duo wraps (snaps) from Sugar Snap that I'll be using for a total of 3 covers. If I run out of flats for some reason I'll be using shirts, towels, etc.

I'll be washing the diapers in one of our sinks (we have a double sink in our master bath - one we don't really use) most likely with dawn, and hanging them to dry on our drying rack that I use for our diapers anyways. I'm hoping to sneak them outside in the morning for a few, but my neighbors suck.

Getting ready
I've decided not to read or watch or research folding or washing the flats in any way. I want to walk into this challenge without any information and see if I can get myself through it ... creatively. Hah. Really, I'm doing this because I wouldn't expect anyone without the resources to purchase diapers to have the resources to research how to use flats. I'm not saying they wouldn't, I'm saying I wouldn't expect them to. I've also never really hand washed anything, so this should be very interesting. I plan to wash the flats in my machine with the rest of Turtle-Love's laundry, and put them through the drier as well for the first wash (before the challenge starts). I'm justifying this because while maybe you wouldn't tote dirty diapers to the laundry mat, I see no reason not to take clean ones there. I'm going to put away all my "fun" diapers and the disposables we keep on hand the day before. Come midnight May 23rd, I'll be switching Turtle-Love into a flat and cover, and we are headed to bed.

I'm hoping we'll have gotten a video camera by then (we are buying one together as an anniversary present - our anniversary was the 11th) and I'll be able to video my first time folding the flat, and getting it on Turtle-Love =D

Reality vs the challenge
Realistically, my fiance and I live with my mother. It is just easier on us and her to share the load and keep company. I grew up very close to my mom's parents and I plan to raise Turtle-Love close to my mom, so living with her is great. Also, it gives me a break as a mom. I get a chance to go pee when someone is home! So, living with two someones gives me more opportunities and less painful bladder and kidneys XD Realistically, we could do it on our own. Things would be REALLY tight. They are tight as they are. We don't live here for free you know - we share the bills. So, realistically, we live on a tight budget and being flat broke and barely able to afford diapers at all isn't far from reality some times. These are the times I'm thankful I made room in my budget for cloth diapers, and bought them one at a time.

Realistically, after our wedding and after our lease here with my mom is up, we have plans to purchase (or rent, gotta see how it goes) our own house and "go green" as much as we can. This means we will actually have a clothes line when we move. I grew up with clothes dried on a line in our laundry room. I'm looking forward to getting away from my drier and saving the cost on energy and such. We live in a condo now, with a mean homeowners association and neighbors that complain when I put my diaper pail outside to dry after I wash it =/ *sigh* I can't wait to move.

Some how, I think I got off topic. The point, and the plan, is - I'm gonna wing it =)

better late than never... Why I'm doing the Flats Challenge

I've been away from my blog for a bit, trying to finish the semester and generally being busy with life. I promise to do better and actually blog.

Why am I doing the flats challenge?

Since the moment during my pregnancy that I stumbled upon cloth diapers my brain has been churning. I immediately began spreading the word about cloth to my friends, my family, my co-workers, my online diary community.... I crunched numbers, compared brands and types of cloth diapers and disposables. I researched the materials used in cloth vs the materials used in disposables. I was hooked, and I converted my fiance effortlessly.

Skip forward. My son was born, 5 weeks premature. We had boxes of disposables from our baby shower - no one cared that I wanted to use cloth - and no cloth diapers. At the time, I couldn't find any that were small enough for him. I waited patiently and used disposables while he grew. Finally, he reached 7 pounds. Finally, I purchased a few different types and brands of cloth diapers, and I've been building my stash - slowly but surely - ever since.

As any cloth diapering blogging momma knows, giveaways are great opportunities to build your stash! Not only that, but great opportunities to find other like minded mommas and companies that offer all the products you love, and some you never knew you needed! After liking all these great pages on my Facebook, an article appeared. We all know the one, talking about the women in New York who were reusing disposables because they couldn't afford to purchase diapers. This immediately sent me on a journey. I want to start a non profit to bring cloth diapering education to low-income families. I was also struck with something my mom has always told me, "When it comes to your babies, you do everything you can. If you run out of wipes, use the sink and a rag. A towel soaks up pee just as good as a diaper." Those aren't her exact words but pretty similar. Ironic actually, because my mom really dislikes that we use cloth diapers. Any how, I wanted to use everything I have around the house that is not actually a cloth diaper, and write about it hear on my blog. But before I had the chance, I came across Kim's entry on Dirty Diaper Laundry - The Flats Challenge. A challenge to diaper with only flats (except at night) and hand wash them all for a week (the last week of May). I was sold. Even better - since I have no flat diapers - I was actually provided flat diapers through her via Diaper Junction!

In summary I'm doing the flats challenge because I want to show it can be done. I want to be able to tell the moms I talk to once I get this non profit going that you can diaper on NO budget if you have to. As part of my flats challenge, I'm only using 12 flats, 3 covers, and clothes and towels. Not diapers, not wipes, not wipes solution. Old fashioned water and rags to clean baby's bum. And if I run out of flats, I'll be using clothes and towels.

I'm pretty much known for making things harder than they have to be - but this is the best cause I've had to be hard headed =)

I LOVE how great minds think alike... Flats Challenge!

Do you use cloth? I bet you've been collecting those adorable diapers that are a bit pricey and so much cuteness and fun and way worth it, I swear I can use these on at least 2 more kids, its TOTALLY economical!
You're right, all of that is true!
If you are already using cloth, or have looked into using cloth, MODERN cloth - the cute-completely adorable-cant wait to get my fluff in the mail-ahhh the prints and colors- ooo the minky softness-hellloooo bright and fun snaps- cloth diapers, well then you also know the start up cost, while definitely cheaper than disposables in the long run, can be really intimidating and outside many family budgets. Not to mention, washing.

Anyhow - Turtle-Love would rather be up and playing than sitting here so I don't have much time before he demands I get up. Please go check out this post by Dirty Diaper Laundry. I had already decided I would do a similar challenge before I read this, but I was going to be on my own. This will be much more effective! Join the movement people!
http://dirtydiaperlaundry.com/take-the-flats-and-handwashing-challenge-may-23-30/