How I’m preparing for the Flats and Handwashing Challenge

If you didn’t read my previous post about the challenge, check it out here.

So here are the rules of the challenge:

Here are the rules:

You MUST use Flats.

You MUST handwash them.  How is up to you.  (bathtub, sink, large wash tub, portable non electronic washing machine, or camp style washer (bucket and plunger- think churning butter)

You MUST air dry them.  (indoors or outdoors, makes no difference)

You MUST limit your number of covers in rotation to 5 or less.

You can use any detergent you want.  (Keep in mind that you still want cloth safe detergents)

You can still use your nighttime diapers but I ask that you try to make flats work.  Maybe try a prefold wrapped in a flat.

You can use disposable liners.

You CAN’T use a diaper sprayer.  I thought long and hard about this one, but at an average cost of 40.00 this is one diaper accessory that is out of range for many families.  Dunk, swish, flush, or scrape!

You MUST start the morning of May 23 and end the evening of May 30.

Ok, so the flats part is not that hard (except I probably need to get some flats). I read on Dirty Diaper Laundry that you could use flour sacks towels as flats. I couldn’t find any at Target last week, but I’m hoping to go this week and try again. Target is 45 minutes away, so this is easier said than done, lol! But, as of right now I plan to participate using my old Gerber birdseye cotton flats that I normally use as burp cloths.

Covers-  I only have a few so limiting to 5 shouldn’t be hard. Actually, just thinking off the top of my head, I only have 5 that I can think of: two Thirsties Duo Wraps, one Bummis cover, and two GroVia shells. However, I don’t like the way my Bummis cover fits my little guy, so I will probably use one of my Applecheeks envelope covers instead. I typically stuff my Applecheeks but I can use it as a cover, too. So that will put me using two Grovia shells, one Applecheeks envelope cover, and two Thirsties covers.

I don’t use disposable liners so no big deal there. Baby boy does like to feel dry, so I have an old fleece baby blanket I will cut up and use for liners. I think I might can use my Bummis fleece liners, too, but I need to check the Q & A on DDL and make sure that’s okay.

I always air dry so again, no big deal there. Detergent- I’ll just keep using my Rockin Green. It is a powder so I need to look and see the best way to use it without being wasteful with the amounts I’m using. Since I have a HE machine, I usually just use one scoop per load, so I don’t want to be wasting detergent during the challenge.

I don’t use a diaper sprayer, so that’s not an issue. I am glad that baby boy is still exclusively breastfed and has only runny poop…I’m hoping a quick dunk & swish in the toilet will take care of most of it! I’m not scared of this as I used to do this with my brothers diapers years ago! The only bathtub in our house is in the hall bath, and has one of those obnoxious sliding glass doors on it. It makes it difficult for me to lean over into the tub. So my plan is to wash in the sink. I may use the bathroom sink because my laundry area is off the master bath and my deck for sunning diapers is off the master bedroom. But, it’s small…and that might get annoying. So I will probably use the kitchen sink.

Now before you get too grossed out at the thought of me washing poopy diapers in my kitchen sink, let me explain! The house we live in has a mother in law apartment downstairs. We use the bedroom area as our girls’ bedroom. We use the “living room” area as the playroom. But the kitchen sits empty and unused. So there is an extra kitchen sink downstairs (complete with a working sprayer!) that I think might work perfectly for washing diapers! The only downside for me is going up and down the stairs (stairs are not fun for me because of my PD). But it would probably only be once a day. So I can probably handle that.

So that’s my plan. What do you think? Any comments or suggestions? What covers are you using for the challenge?