Flats & Handwashing Challenge: The Beginning

Well, as most of you know, I am participating in the flats & handwashing challenge.  I am very excited to do this, to show that it can be done. It can be done cheaply and without laundry access.  Before I get into the details of what I am using, and how I am going to do it, I would like to tell you a little known fact about me.  When we started off our family life we had very little money.  We didn’t have insurance when Elsa was born, and as you know that is expensive.  The huz had just started a new job in January after losing his old one close to the time we found out we were pregnant.  We did use disposables for a long time, because we didn’t know anything about cloth really.   We also didn’t have a washer or dryer because we couldn’t afford one.  I tell you this, because I want you to know that I did not take our clothes to the laundry mat to clean them. I hand washed them. In our bathtub.  I am no stranger to hand washing, and I know it can be done.  I did it for the whole first year of Elsa’s life.  I won’t lie, to hand wash isn’t incredibly easy.  It is doable though.

Now, on to the actual challenge.  I have received 24 of the new Swaddlebees   flat diapers to try out for the challenge.  I received 2 packs of the prints and 2 of the regular packs of diapers.  I have already been using them prior to the challenge to come up with a strategy to how I am going to use them and straighten out the details.

First, they are very large flat diapers.  On the package (before they are washed and shrunk), they measure 31.5″ x 31.5″.   I also love the prints.  I prepped the diapers by boiling them.  The video on how to do this can be found here, and it is also followed with some how to wash tips.  I am folding my Swaddlebees flat diapers in a pad fold, so it works just like an insert when put inside a diaper cover.  Since I have been using them for a little while, I can honestly tell you that I LOVE THEM.  These are actually the diapers I reach for first now.  When Dixie is in bed overnight though, I put 2 pad folded flats in her cover because she will sleep for a 12 hour stretch.  Figured that one out with a one night trial and error process.  Yea, it wasn’t awesome at all.  That being said, Dixie is very comfortable in them.  They are really trim, and I can actually fit her little jeans on without the whole diaper sticking out bubble butt thing (you know what I am talking about if you use other types of  cloth diapers).  They wash up nicely and dry quickly using a washer and dryer, and I will let you know my final verdict on them at the end of the challenge as to how they worked out being hand washed and hung to dry.   I will be writing one post a day (probably short ones), about progress with the challenge and my thoughts on these diapers and their performance during the challenge.  In honor of this wonderful challenge, Swaddlebees is being kind enough to offer a 20% off discount to those of you that would like to purchase Swaddlebees flats & covers (Blueberry Coveralls and Weehuggers) from their site.  The code is FLATS2211 and it is valid until 5/31/2011.

As you can see they are quite large.

Here is a picture where you can see the patters a bit better.

(I will be posting more in detail about the diapers at the end of the challenge when I do a more official review of them.)

Now, on to the covers.  I have six brands of covers.  I have chose to use 5 different brands of covers for the challenge to see how they work out with hand washing. I will have 3 more expensive brands, and 2 cheaper brands of diaper cover for the sake of fair representation.

1. My first diaper cover choice is Rumparooz One Size (snap).  I love this cover and I have never had a leak with this diaper cover.  I did pay the price of $15.95 for this cover though as it is a print cover.
2. My second choice is a Happy Heinys  One Size (snap).  This cover has the highest rise of all my covers which is why I like it.  It does also cost $15.95 though.
3. The third choice of cover is my Mommy’s Touch One Size cover (touchtape).  I love these covers, my only beef with them is they are not wipe clean on the inside.  Other than that, my favorite part is their OS feature because it is a fold down and there is no snaps involved.  I got these at a discount price from clothdiaperclearance.com of $12.90.  I have seen them elsewhere at a regular retail price of $16.99 though.
4. My fourth choice will be our LiteWrap diaper cover in size medium (aplix). As a side note, they run REALLY large, so order a size down.  I paid $7.95 for this cover and love it lots, because it is the most trim.
5. My last choice, will be the cover I have owned the longest.  I have six of them actually.  This choice is the Kawaii Baby One Size (snap).  They do run kind of smaller, they haven’t fit on Elsa in quite some time.  They fit beautifully on Dixie though.  These have a low low retail price on the company’s website of $4.50 each.  Very affordable and work well.  My only beef is the inside isn’t quite as wipe clean as I would like it to be.

From left to right, LiteWrap, Happy Heinys, Rumparooz, Mommy's Touch and Kawaii Baby

Now, as for the rinsing and washing.  I have never owned a diaper sprayer.  I do on the other hand own a diaper duck, which costs $7.99.  I asked Kim if it was OK to use this and she said it was fine.

This is my diaper duck.  I realize that the hook is broken off, but I am too lazy to send it back.  Plus, it still works fine I just can’t hang it over the toilet seat.

For washing, I will be using my wonderful generic free & clear store brand detergent that I have been using on the diaper FOREVER.  I will be using the baby brush pictured to wash them.  It only costs $1.  It is soft enough not to damage PUL, but not too soft to get it’s scrub on and clean the flats. (I was going to use a mini washboard I found on Amazon, but it wouldn’t have gotten here on time for the challege).

I will be washing them in the half of the kitchen sink that we NEVER use.  I chose this, because it is ALWAYS covered by that cutting board and nothing goes in it.  It also has a sprayer which will be nice for rinsing purposes.

For drying purposes, I plan to hang them outside.  It is supposed to rain here all week though, so I am currently trying to figure out the manner in which I am going to hang a clothesline across my porch.  We have a clothesline in the camping gear so I will probably be swiping that one.

Last night we had our last hurrah with an AppleCheeks for bedtime.    Only Dixie will be used for this challege, as Elsa only wears cloth trainers to bed at night.  I will still have to wash Elsa’s training pants, but I have not decided how I am going to do this yet.  This morning we started off with the Rumparooz cover and a print Swaddlebees flat.  I chose this cover, because I know from experience with it I can reuse it for the majority of the day.  The only time I really have to trade it out for a new cover is when we have a particularly bad poop.  I will be writing tomorrow exactly how my day went today, and my washing tomorrow morning.  I will be able to wash in the mornings because Dixie does not use a ton of diapers at the age of almost 15 months.  Wipe clean covers are my favorite, so I will always use those first as an added note.  Dixie also has a check-up appointment on the 27th so I will be dealing with a holy mess of a doctor that doesn’t know how to deal with cloth diapers.  Dixie (I believe) is his only patient that wears cloth so he gets a little befuddled by the way it works.  Keeping my fingers crossed he will eventually figure it out.

This is how we started our morning.

So far things have been going really well, and I cannot wait to share my hand washing journey with all of you.  I will be posting a recap of each full day the day after, and at the end will have my final post with my complete review of the Swaddlebees diapers.    Good luck to all the other people participating, and I hope we are all having a good time with it.

*please read the review disclosure tab as I did receive the diapers free of charge.

If you click this link it will show all the lovely posts by other challenge takers.