Flats and Handwashing Challenge Day 3!!!

So here we are on day 3 of Dirty Diaper Laundry blog's "Flats and Handwashing Challenge."http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif Things are going pretty well here. I have decided that everything I use, I want to be something very affordable, so I am using recycled wool, fleece, or inexpensive pul covers. I will post pics of the 5 covers I'm using for each baby hopefully tomorrow!

So, I never did get my plunger, so I have been handwashing 10-14 flats at a time in my bathroom sink. I'm using homemade, super economical laundry detergent, and I'm not doing anything fancy...I'm trying to be practical. If there is no poop, I use my bare hands...let's be realistic...1. urine is sterile, 2. I'm sure as mothers we've touched much worse. lol! So I let the water run through the diapers to rinse them as it warms up, then plug the sink, add the soap, and super hot water and let them soak for about 5 min. Then I add a little cool water, squish them around, scrub out any stains (if there is poop I wear gloves) and pick them up and down in water a few times...then I squeeze the water through each one individually a few times, then I drain the water, fill the sink with cold water, squish them around, and dunk them some more, then squeeze each individually again, them I hand wring each one, and either hang outside to dry, or lay on stuff in my bathroom! lol! I was running low on diapers though, and it's been raining all day, so I came up with the idea of ironing them to finish drying them, and after checking to make sure that wasn't cheating, I am happy to report that it's not, and it worked like a charm! I've done about 4 "loads" of diapers now...with two in diapers, and the fact that I'm using cheapy gerber flats, except for 3 pretty flats I bought for the baby, so I have to use at least 2 on my 18 month old, and I only have 27 diapers, that means we go through them pretty quickly!

Here are a few pictures from Days 1 and 2!!
origami fold with a pad folded flat as a doubler for naptime!

I've been doing the reverse jelly roll along the legs that was mentioned in the vlog on Dirty Diaper Laundry's blog without even knowing it was the same thing that she was doing too! I love the trim fit it gives around my kiddo's thighs! See!

A "load" of flats getting their final rinse!

pre-folded flat angel folded

pretty girl!

kite fold

kite fold again

Origami fold with a gerber flat...you can tell these are much smaller and thinner.

This is just triangle folded with a gerber flat as a doubler.

And my cutey boy in his night time flat...three flats together, triangle folded with two flats pad folded as doublers and then I covered it with recycled wool pants...I put a little olive oil on his bum, and used a scrap piece of fleece as a stay dry liner and his butt looked great when he woke up,and he was nice and dry, and his pants were dry to the touch! I couldn't believe it!


I have to say, I am really enjoying these flats, and I think I would like them even more if I had better quality flats. I am excited to have my washing machine back, not because it's that difficult, or that gross, but honestly, because I am super busy and it takes me about 20 min. to wash diapers and 15 to hang them EVERY load, and with the number of diapers i have, I'm doing about 2-3 loads a day...that's a LOT of extra time out of my day when I homeschool and have 4 kids. However, it is still manageable, and I would choose this over disposables still, even if I was working (which I'm not now, but I worked full time until my oldest was 14 months old.) Can't wait to update more tomorrow! :)