Flats & Handwash Challenge: Day 2 - Flats and Covers and Clothespins, Oh My!

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!  


Today is Day 2 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge and it's going well! This morning I let MissE run around naked for a bit and then she wore a large flat fastened with her new pair of Boingo's coverless while I did the diaper laundry from yesterday. I used my wash board and washed 8 flats, a few wipes, and 4 covers. (I only used 2 covers yesterday, but I had 2 from the day before the challenge that I usually hand wash anyway so I threw them in with this load). The flats took about 2 hours to dry, all of the covers but the fleece took about 4, and I'm uncertain about the fleece cover because I forgot about it and left it out all day. For reference, I live in South Texas in a very humid climate (about 20 minutes from the beach) and it was about 90*F today. Sorry about the terrible iPhone photos.










Today we'll go over what all I'll be using for this challenge. I have shown everything I have available that I could use, but I'll be using less than half of it. I just haven't decided what to leave out yet which is why I've pictured everything. This most certainly wouldn't be the most economical route as one would only need a few covers and 1-2 dozen flats, the wash board isn't necessary, as well as a few other accessories. Hi, my name is Frieda and I'm addicted to fluff. ("Fluff" is the common term used for cloth diapers in the cloth-diapering world.)


Diapers:
1 Dozen Diaper Rite Large Bleached Flats
1 Dozen GMD Large Unbleached Flats
3 Unbleached OsoCozy Flats
5 Diaper Rite Small Unbleached Flats
24 Green Line Soakers (not pictured because I'm 99.999% sure they won't be used)
6 Green Line Doublers (not pictured for the same reason as the soakers)


Covers:
2 EmotiBums Fleece Soakers
1 WAHM Fleece Soaker
3 GroVia Shells
4 RagaBabe Snapless 2-Step Shells
2 Green Line Fleece Inner Covers
5 Green Line Cotton Print Outer Covers
2 Wool Skirties knit by me
1 Wool Bloomers knit by me
2 My Eco Baby Upcycled Wool Soakers
1 Disana Wool Soaker


Accessories:
1 Pair of Boingo's Fasteners
2 Snappi Fasteners
Around 30 Cloth Wipes
3 Extra Large Monkey Foot Designs Wet Bags
1 Large Monkey Foot Designs Wet Bag
1 Medium Monkey Foot Designs Wet Bag
1 Small Monkey Foot Designs Wet Bag (not pictured because I can't find it)
Homemade Diaper Cream for overnight


Washing Equipment:
1 Maid-Rite Wash Board
1 Diaper Duck for soaking
Homemade Cloth Diaper Detergent
Umbrella Clothes Line (above photo)
Clothes Line (not pictured)
Clothes Pins (above photo)

Again, this is excessive and you do not need near as many covers, wet bags, or accessories to cloth diaper full time. I'm just a sucker for cuteness and I always feel the need to have too much than too little, I'd hate to run out for some reason! And just for fun, here's MissE in a GMD flat Boingo'd on with a mama-knit wool skirty and mama's favorite shirt! (Her shirt says, "Muggle" on the front in a Harry Potter font. I may have her wear it again this weekend to try to get a picture of the front.)

Edited to Add: This was how I found her when I went to bed that night:

If you'd like to see what other bloggers are using for the Challenge, click on any link below!

Flats & Handwash Challenge: Day 1 - Why Am I Doing This?

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 the heck have I gotten myself into?! As you know by now, I have signed up to take the Flats and Handwashing Challenge where I will only use flat diapers and covers to diaper my baby for a week while only being able to hand wash and line dry them. No machines allowed! (Except for hand powered ones, like a wonder wash or a salad spinner). 


This challenge is wonderful as Kim Rosas, the owner of Dirty Diaper Laundry, will donate $1 to Giving Diapers, Giving Hope for every person who successfully completes the challenge (up to $200). Now Kelly Wels, author of Changing Diapers, will also donate the same amount. This challenge is to show that you can diaper without washing facilities and with a low income. You can cloth diaper full time for about $50 using flats with a few covers, or you can lower that price by using things around your house such as flannel receiving blankets, old t-shirts, linen dish cloths, etc. You can even make your own covers with thrifted fleece shirts or pants or wool sweaters. It's amazing how cheap diapers can be! Especially in a time where you hear on the news how people are leaving babies in disposable diapers for longer than they should or are trying to wash and reuse disposable diapers in an effort to save money.


Let's get back to the topic at hand: Why am I taking this challenge and why would I want to use flats? Well, for a few reasons actually.
* Reason One is that we live in an area prone to hurricanes and I want to know that I will be able to comfortably diaper my baby in the event of a power outage with little water available while disposables are flying off the shelves of any stores that may be open.
* Reason Two is that Mister and I like to travel and I want to know that I don't have to resort to buying disposables or taking an entire extra suitcase just for diapers. Flat diapers and covers fold down neatly and take little space. Flats are easily hand washed since they are only one layer so I won't have to worry about my wash routine, and they dry quickly. This makes them perfect for travel!
* Reason Three is price. Flats are cheap! They're typically $1-$2 each. Think about it, you'll only need 1 or 2 dozen to diaper your baby full-time! I'm currently de-stashing and getting away from some of my fancier diapers and going back to basics with flats and prefolds. I like how cheap they are, that they are natural cotton, and that they wash up nicely and easily, and dry quickly.
* Reason Four is the versatility. Flat diapers really are One Size Fits All. You can manipulate that one piece of cloth in many ways to customize it just for your baby. You can make it fit any size from newborn to small child and you can adjust where the layers are to give you absorbency and protection where your little one needs it most. Again, I'd like to move away from my fancier diapers and simplify to the amazing abilities of flat diapers!


You may say that flats are boring compared to the fancy All in One's or Pocket diapers out there. Not so, I say! You can dye them (as I plan to do tomorrow or the next day) to make the flats themselves pretty. Don't forget, most of the time you'll be covering them up with a cover. You can have pretty covers! My covers are much prettier than any AIO or Pocket that I've owned. Now that we've learned that MissE's skin has an adversity to the non-breathability of PUL, we use mostly wool, fleece, and Green Line's (which are Ultrex), and I've been looking up sewing patterns to make some fleece covers and I've been knitting her more wool covers. I love it! Oh hand knitted wool, you are so pretty, how I adore thee....









Anyway, so it's not even noon on Day 1 and I've already had quite a mess to deal with this morning. We started the challenge last night by putting her in a large flat Origami folded with a small flat pad folded inside of it with a Disana wool soaker over it. It worked beautifully! But of course, first thing this morning before I could get her into a new diaper, MissE decided to... um... you know... So now I have to hand wash 2 messy flats and it's all over my only night-worthy wool cover. I guess we'll be getting by with fleece at night for the next couple of days. 


I give MissE a bath and get to work! I pull out my new wash board and fill the sink with warm water. I scrub away as much as I can by hand, then drain and rinse, then fill the sink again with hot water and detergent. I got to scrubbin'! It wasn't all that hard really, but I was worried about staining so even after they were sufficiently clean, no smell, and rinsing clear, I kept scrubbing the stained spots. I finally gave up and cleaned everything up, rinsed the flats, and cleaned the sink. I then hung the flats outside on the line to dry. In less than an hour the stains were gone! Oh the wonderful bleaching powers of the sun! I always underestimate the sun for some reason.






MissE is now napping in one of her new GMD large unbleached flats in an Airplane Fold snappi'd on with a RagaBabe 2-step shell in the Daisy print. I'm now off to try to get some housework done before she wakes up!


If you'd like to follow others who are doing the challenge as well, click any of the links below!

From Boiling to Prepped

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!


I was nervous that I wouldn't have enough flats for my heavy wetter during the 2012 Flats and Handwashing Challenge so I bought a dozen Green Mountain Diapers flats to accompany my Diaper Rite flats and OsoCozy flats. Yesterday I prepped them!
I started by boiling water in a stock pot and then I added 4 flats with a touch of Dawn dishwashing detergent. I let them boil for 15 minutes, pulled them out, added 2 more quarts of water and 4 more flats, repeat.

All natural fiber diapers (like cotton flats) need to be washed at least 3-5 times before use to get the natural oils out of them so they will absorb liquids and won't reach maximum absorbency until they are washed 10 times. Boiling your flats will help cut down on how many times you need to wash thus saving you time and water. When you boil unbleached cotton, you'll see the natural oils in the water. The photo below shows just the first bath of 4 flats after boiling for about 10 minutes.

After I boiled all of the flats, I washed them in the washing machine once on hot with detergent and again on hot with nothing added, then dried in the dryer. Drying in the dryer instead of line drying when you are prepping helps the cotton to shrink down to size. GMD flats are rather large, as shown below (unprepped).

MissE is down for the night in a large Diaper Rite flat folded into an Origami Fold with a pad folded small Diaper Rite flat on the inside of it, snappi'd on, with a Disana wool soaker over it. See you again tomorrow!

Are You Up for the Challenge?

I'm the worst blogger ever. I rarely keep up with my posts. I'll even think to myself often that I should write about something in my blog, but I usually forget by the time I have a moment to do so. Oh well.
I'm starting my blog back up because I will be blogging at the end of the month about the Flats and Handwashing Challenge put on by Dirty Diaper Laundry. For an entire week, hundreds of parents will participate in this challenge by cloth diapering their baby only in flats or upcycled materials that are one layer with various covers. Now here's the kicker, you cannot use your washing machine or dryer! You must hand wash and air dry your materials for the entire week. It can be done! Some people will be doing what probably pops up into your mind, using your hands to wash in the sink or the bath tub, but many people will be using hand-powered washing devices such as a camp washer (which is basically a bucket with a plunger), a wonder wash machine, or even a wash board.
Strangely enough, I am very excited about this challenge! I keep falling in and out of love with my flats and I'm glad to have a reason to fall back in love with them. I mean really, what's not to love? They're cheap, absorbent, all natural, wash easily, dry quickly, take up little space, versatile, one size fits all, etc. I'm not sure why I keep using my "convenience" diapers over them.
I will be making a camp style washer and if I don't get around to it then I'll just wash in the bath tub, no big deal. We will be using some Diaper Rite flats and OsoCozy flats with a wide variety of covers that include wool, RagaBabe, Green Line, GroVia, and fleece. I have some snappi's to fasten with along with diaper pins but I doubt we'll use the pins, I may order some boingo's to try out. Also, here is my Pinterest Board about cloth diapers that has some useful links that would help with the challenge.
We will also be going out of town during this challenge with family so that makes this a little more challenging lol. But we will figure it out. Never give up! Never surrender!
Just some background, MissE is a heavy wetter and still nurses frequently through the night. She will be 11 1/2 months old at the time of the challenge (my, how time flies!). She's one of those "alligator death roll" type babies during diaper changes.
I will likely update this post with some pictures soon.
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!

Yarnia

I finally got around to knitting the longies for MissE! This was the whole reason I wanted to learn to knit in the first place! I thought they turned out pretty cute, except the pocket is a bit off. I can't wait to knit her an entire woolie wardrobe!

I also spent the weekend dying yarn with kool-aid! It was so much fun and I can't wait to do some more! Of course, all of the yarn I dye will be used to make diaper covers for MissE.

And it is done!

Whew, finally! The holidays are officially over! So much work went into it this year for Mister and myself. I'm actually still working on a few knitted items that will be very belated Christmas gifts, but better late than never!

Here's a bit of what I've done:

And I'm working on an illusion knit scarf for a friend of ours as a belated Christmas gift that I would show you, but I made up the pattern to it and I'm not finished with it yet. I'll also be working on a sleep sack with a newborn night cap for my cousin's baby and a pair of fingerless gloves for a friend for a belated Christmas gift.

MissE made out like a bandit for her first Christmas! I'll try to remember to update this post with pictures of that later. I have to run for now, just wanted to post something since I haven't posted in about a month!

Burning a Hole in my Pocket!

Man, Christmas is draining when you wait! I usually have all of my shopping done before Thanksgiving but this year we didn't get it done until a few days ago (not quite "done", still have a few more things to buy).

I need to get back on board with my knitting, too, if I'm going to finish these gifts in time! I've been spending all evening looking at/drooling over/obsessing about cloth diapers. I need to get my head back in the game!

I have been on a flats and prefolds kick for about a week now. If I'm at home, that's all MissE's been wearing. I've been saving the AIO's and AI2's for when we're out and about. I did score a few medium RagaBabe's this week though! Woo hoo! Finally had to pack away the smalls. They haven't fit her for weeks, but now it's to the point that they're leaking every time, so onto building our medium stash!

MissE's had a terrible teething rash the last few days and it always looks better when I put her in a flat or a prefold or just let her have some naked time. She gets lots of naked time (I'd post a cute picture, but I don't want her bare booty circulating around the internet). Here's one of her in a prefold today instead:

Also, found some cute pictures:

Because I don't wear paper/plastic chemical-laden underwear...

Awesome! If I hadn't already wrapped our gifts, I totally would've used newspaper!

Yeah, we fail on all accounts. Especially if you count browsing the internet as reading...

(Vintage Breastfeeding Advice from Australia)

That is all...