Day 5 complete and I barely noticed the challenge! :)

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!

 Yay! Day 5 coming to an end and wow... I barely even noticed I was doing the challenge today. It really is just 2nd nature now :) This challenge isn't near as dirty or hard as I anticipated it would be! I didn't even think to pick up the camera much today, so many of these pictures are repeats :)


Here are some tips I have come across while preparing for and participating in this challenge.

I am so thankful for the idea of agitating the flats/covers/wipes/soakers with a plunger!!! It works wonderfully!! This is the new "camp washer" my husband made for me :)

I am happily using laundry tarts. It does not create suds, so I don't have to do tons of rinses and it is all vegan! It also smells super yummy.

I use my phone to time my rinses and washes. Without it, I would be very tempted to stop early. I rinse 3-4 minutes, wash 5-6 minutes, then I do a super quick and extra rigorous rinse and I finish with another 3-4 minute rinse.

Receiving blankets do the trick!! They have super cute designs and work as well or better than any pocket diapers I have tried. I will actually be getting rid of many of my pockets when the challenge is done!

Keeping the pins stuck in a bar of soap is a great tip. I don't lose them, they slide in the diaper easily and I imagine it keeps them fairly clean :)

I have been using my swish stick (from gdiapers.ca) to scrape poop into the toilet and then to swish the flat in the toilet. I then use the stick to hold the flat up in the water stream as I flush the toilet for a little pre-rinse!

Yesterday, I came up with the idea of saving the water from my final rinse to use as my wet pail water. If anything, it may have a bit of detergent in it so it works out great!

I am thankful that someone on the facebook group talked about the "pad-fold." I use it almost exclusively, even though I love using pins... this fold is so easy for dad and big sister to do when they need to change a diaper!

Wow! I am so thankful that I finally tried this "sunning" thing everyone talks about! Every stain that has remained on the flats after washing has come completely out after some time in the sun. This particular flat, the staining came completely out through a closed window, on a CLOUDY day!!! It had already dried overnight in my home and not one bit of stain came out... then a small amount of time by the window and GONE! I will definitely be using this tip with my diapers from now on!

During my trial run a few days before the challenge started, I was a little turned off by the extreme stiffness of the flats. I was very thankful for the idea to scrunch them and shake them and squeeze them to get them soft again. It works very well! I have also heard you can iron them but I really haven't used an iron much in my life, so I didn't try that tip lol

I forgot to take a picture but it was a very windy day today, so I got to break out my clothes pins!! I attached the flats, wipes and the covers with the clothes pins and they didn't fly away! Up to this point, I haven't needed to use anything to fasten the clothes to the drying rack :)


Check out how some of the other participants did on day 5 of the challenge below :) Looking forward to day 6!