Day 4: The Dreaded Handwashing - My Wash Routine

Today is day 4 of the Flats and Handwashing challenge and today we are covering our wash routine.  Hand washing was definitely the most daunting part of the whole challenge and like any wash routine mine has been developing and evolving as I go. As of this posting I have only washed my diapers 3 time (once a day has been working well) and I don't think I have repeated the exact same steps each time but I have been learning a lot as I go. 

 

 

The Tools

As my picture above (taking on the first day) shows I am just using a bucket purchased at Lowes for $5 and a Mobil Washer that I purchased on Amazon for about $20.  I originally had a lid for my bucket with a hole in it so that I had a "camp style washer" but I have found that I don't get a lot of splashing and its just easier to see what I am doing without the lid.  I am also washing in my bath tub so that I have easy access to water and a drain.  One adjustment that I did make on the second night was replacing the handle of the Mobil Washer to an extendable handle.  As you can see in the picture above the handle is very short and it required me to bend over a lot and caused strain on my back.  We had an extendable handle in the garage that I found and it screwed right in (you could also use a broom or mop handle that screws).  This handle was easier to hold, easier on my back and kept my face away from the bucket. (sorry for the terrible pictures, I was taking them on my phone late last night but I wanted you to be able to see the height difference). I haven't tried an actual plunger but overall I am really happy with my Mobil Washer, I can hear the water being pushed and pulled through the diapers and they have gotten really clean (even after a huge poopsplosion).

 

The Wash "Cycles"

The basics for any wash routine (hand or not) is a warm rinse, a hot wash followed by a warm/cold rinse and I have been keeping to this basic tenant.  I start with warm water (bath temperature for my kids) and fill the bucket so that I have a few inches over the diapers.  I then plunge (even though its not a plunger, it's the same motion) about 30 times.  I dump this water and refill with the same temperature, plunge another 30 times.  I then let my diapers soak in the warm water for about 30 minutes.  After the soaking is complete I dump the water and shake a tablespoon of powdered Tide on top of the wet diapers.  I fill the bucket with hot water (as hot as I can get it) and then plunge about 100 times.  I then let my diaper soak again in the hot water for 30-60 minutes.  I dump the hot water and fill the bucket with warm water again (one time I also added a tablespoon of white vinegar but I didn't really feel like it made a big difference so that's optional).  I plunged about 30 times and then dumped the water.  I continued fill the bucket with warm or cold water after that and plunge about 30 times until I didn't see any more soap bubbles.  Between each "rinse" cycle I would wring everything out before putting it back in the bucket and I think this helped things to rinse faster.  Each night it takes about 3-4 rinse cycles to get to the point that I don't see any more bubbles.  Once I am satisfied that everything is rinsed well I dump them all into the tub and wring each piece, shake them out and put them back into my bucket to carry to my drying rack. 

 

 

Overall (from start to finish) my washing takes me about 90 minutes.  Actual hands on time though is approximately 20 minutes so the majority of the time is spent soaking.  I have been really happy with my wash routine.  My diapers have been very clean, I don't find it to be particularly hard or time consuming.  Probably the only thing I don't like is that my flats are not as soft as they are out of a dryer.  After 3 nights of hand washing I would say that it is actually easier and less gross than I expected!

 

Day 2: My Flats and Covers Stash

Whew! I survived the first day of Dirty Diaper Laundry's Flats and Handwashing Challenge.  It was easy using flats and the first night of hand washing them wasn't as bad as I expected.  As I commented yesterday, I enjoy trying different diapers and therefore have a lot of different kinds in my normal stash.  I tried not to buy a lot of diapers for this challenge but I also wanted to try a few different kinds of flats so that when I did my trial I could have different ones to compare.  I especially wanted to make sure that I had traditional flats, speciality flats and then other materials that are used by a lot of people as a flat (e.g. Flour Sack Towels and Receiving blankets).

 

The Flats in my “Stash”

I have heard a lot about using Flour Sack Towels (“FST”) by people that want to cloth diaper but also save money.  I actually have a ton of these in my house because I love to use them to dry dishes but I bought a set of 5 at Wal-Mart to use specifically for the Challenge and my Diaper Trial.  They cost $5 for a set of 5 towels, so $1 per flat.

I have also heard people recommend using receiving blankets that you already have laying around the house.  Most people find that (especially once baby is a little older) they have an excess of receiving blankets.  I wanted to try these out as well so that I could compare to the actual flats that I would be using.  I had a pack of 5 that were still in the package.  I found them a few months ago while cleaning out my daughters closet and realized they would be perfect for the challenge.  I looked up the price and they are about $10 for a set of 5, so $2 per flat.

Next I knew I wanted some traditional flats to try out.  I had heard in a lot of CD chat groups, blogs and message boards that Osocozy makes great birdseye flats, so I knew that Osocozy flats had to be included in the trial.  I have 12 Ososcozy birdseye flats that cost about $2 each. 

Last I wanted to try some bamboo flats, especially for night time.  I love bamboo inserts for my diapers and because I have not previously used cloth diapers on my girls at night I knew that bamboo for night would be necessary.  I have 2 Imagine Bamboo Flats that are $26 for a set of 6, or about $4.33 each. 

 

The Covers in my “Stash”

As I said, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on flats and covers that I may not use again so for my covers I used 2 that I had already, borrowed 2, bought 1 and made 2 more, for 7 total covers.

 

I already owned a Thirsties cover size Medium ($10) and a Bummis cover size small ($13).  I purchases a Sweet Pea Cover ($11) about a month before the Challenge.  From a friend I borrowed a Blueberry Capri Cover ($17) and a Thirsties Size 1 cover ($11).  Lastly I made two covers from PUL that I had already from other diaper projects but all the materials for (about $8 each).

 

All together I have 24 different squares of material that can be used as flats (plus 4 “half flats” that I will cover tomorrow) and 7 covers.  After the first day I would say that this is more than plenty flats and covers if you are washing every day (which is easier when hand washing).  In total, if you bought everything at full price, the cost of the stash I am using is $125.