Flats and Handwashing: The End

Well, it's time to wrap up this challenge.  First I"d like to start by listing off all the difficulties I faced with this challenge, that I don't normally face.

1. I didn't have enough diapers when I started (of course were I expecting a new born I"d have had all my dipes made up before birth and thus always have enough on hand)
2. Little Gee chose this week to start pooping like a pro.  His normal once or twice a day poop became daily, and wasn't always 'ploppable' if you know what I mean.  He also had diarrhea for a day and a half.  That made for yucky handwashing!
3. There wasn't a single day that we got to stay home all day.  That meant every day there was a new place to be trying to change a flat while holding Little Gee down.  Normally we only leave the house once, maybe twice a week.
4. The Hubs wasn't entirely aware of this challenge, and the babysitter I desperately needed on Friday would have been freaked if she had to figure out flats!  So there were a few fitteds in the mix, which then lead to a machine washing cheat.
5. The weather was only line-dry nice two or three days!  Normally it would be humid, but at least hot and sunny, drying the flats in a timely manner.  THere were two days I had to wait all day for them to dry!

Like I said, most of these things would not have normally occured.  However I"ve been able to stand strong and use only flats and handwash for 99% of the time. Towards the end of the week, I'll admit I lost steam and got quite frustrated with the whole handwashing thing.  I think if I had no choice, it wouldn't be any more frustrating than having to do the diaper laundry in the first place:  WHICH I HATE DOING.  If handwashing diarrhea diapers every day was the only thing between me staying home with my babies, (which I personally believe is what's best and Biblical for my family) then I would be scrubbing them out on a daily basis, believe you me!

Here are a few tips if you're going to do this:

1. Register for quality flats at your shower, look for hemp or a hemp/cotton blend.
2. Ask for donations of XXL or larger shirts.  Cut them into the largest squares you can manage.  Hem/serge the edges if you can, but don't stress if you can't.  Make a trade with a friend if you can.  Offer to help her out by ______ if she hems/serges your flats for you.
3. Don't have a washer/$$ for laundro-mat?  Do another trade!  Maybe one of your friends would love to have you come in and clean house for the hour that you're there washing your diapers!  Then toss them in the dryer or in the basket to take home and put on the line!  Maybe they'd rather have a weekly free babysitter, or you could bake them a cake.  The service/item you trade for could even change on a weekly basis depending on whats needed!  I barter free haircuts for my Dizzy (who's hair grows faster than anything I've ever seen!) for a small bag of the neighbors favorite brand of coffee!!
4. Handwash as much as you need, but do consider boiling or putting them through a hot wash once in a while just to be sure all germs are gone!! I would suggest on a bi-monthly basis myself, but once a month or even every other month should be fine as long as you're prompt in washing smelly diapers.  I would always suggest doing it if there was any tummy bugs that week at all.
5. Make a Camp Style Washer.  Much easier than hand washing, and a little less 'hands on'! 

I would like to say that all in all, this challenge taught me a lot.  Here's what I learned:

1. It's possible to handwash your clothing and diapers!
2. It's easy and even less work for your diapers, really!  At least if your washer is old fashioned and requires many trips down the stairs to put it on the proper cycle!
3. On a beautiful sunny day flat diapers will dry out on the line just as fast as prefolds and fitteds will in the dryer!
4. Diapers come out smelling just as clean!
5. All you need to diaper a baby for free is to obtain cotton materials (t-shirts, towels, blankets etc), pins, soap and water!
6. If the world as we know it ends and we loose all power and electricity, I can still clean my baby's diapers!  (not too worried about that though!)

I would say this challenge has left me feeling positive about the possibility of diapering a baby for free!  There are tons of resources that can be used and tapped into.  I plan on repurposing all my old prefolds, which is quite the stash, and using mostly flats at home from now on.  I think I may even handwash them on occassion!  They will be put on the line as much as possible!  Fitteds will only be used in the nursery at church, by dad and when we're running around.  As well as overnight.  By bed time I'm just too pooped to care enough to fold and place just so!

Look forward to new products coming soon based on this challenge!  Flats for sure, and possibly prefolds, all made from old shirts/blankets!

Happy Monday!