Day 7-Sunday: What did I learn/ How did it go?

By: Jessica Dunn

Parenting and Living Our Way blog

Today’s topic for bloggers participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge is what did I learn/how did it go? Overall, the challenge went really well. My overall goal, besides to just complete the challenge, was to fall in love with the flats again and I have. I overcame our biggest obstacle, not having a good fastener, by pad folding the diapers and using Boingos at night since Emma leaves the Boingos alone at night.

I was also using the challenge as a test run to see if it would be possible to use cloth without access to a washing machine when we go camping the summer and it is absolutely possible!

The biggest thing that I learned was that my diapers are actually cleaner when I wash them in smaller batches by hand than when I wash 2-3 days worth in the washing machine. I was really surprised when both my husband and I realized the diapers looked cleaner.

The challenge also helped me overcome my dependence on disposable liners. I usually use them in every diaper, but now I know that I don’t need to. I can go back to my original plan of just using them when I’m traveling or out of the house to make poo disposal easier.

The challenge went well and wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. On days that I felt like giving up or that I was going to pull my hair out, I realized that I hadn’t planned and prepared well. It helped so much to get diapers pre-folded and ready for covers the night before. It was also helpful to wash laundry in the afternoon when my husband got home from work so they’d dry faster outside instead of waiting until after dinner when I felt rushed because I needed to hurry up and get them done so I could take over baby duty again and Robert could go to bed.

I had someone send me a message asking me what my husband like/disliked about the challenge, so I thought I’d address that today. When I asked him he said it wasn’t really any different for him because I had everything ready for him like I always do and he had velcro closures which is big requirement for using cloth. He said that he did enjoy a week off from helping me stuff diapers. He didn’t have to handwash diapers, since I took care off all the diaper laundry, like I always do, so he has no opinion on handwashing.

I would like to thank Kim Rosas of Dirty Diaper Laundry for hosting this event and for providing great resources for all the participants. I would also like to thank Kissed by the Moon for asking me to be the guest blogger this week. It has been so much fun sharing my experience with you this week. Please check us out on facebook, instagram and twitter to see all the posts and updates that I did throughout the day during the challenge. I hope that you have had as much fun following along with our journey as I’ve had writing about here.

Here’s a picture recap of our week:

About the author: My name is Jessica and I am the author of Parenting and Living Our Way blog. I am a busy stay at home mom to a 9 month old daughter who has recently learned how to crawl and is keeping me on my toes. I was invited by Kissed by the Moon to be their guest blogger for the week documenting my experience.  I am so excited about this opportunity and look forward to sharing my experience with you. If you’d like to read more about me, my family and our life, you can read our blog Parenting and Living Our Way. We can also be found on facebook. I am posting throughout the day on facebook and twitter about how our day is going, so you can follow along.

About the challenge: I'm participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  This event aims to bring awareness to the challenges that low income families face when trying to diaper their children. There are not publicly funded programs that supply diapers to families in need. Using cloth diapers and handwashing is an affordable way to families to diaper their children. Flats are the most inexpensive of commercially available cloth diapers; receiving blankets, flour sack towels, cut sheets, and t-shirts can also be used as flats making these diapers available to all families.

Day 6-Saturday: Open Topic

By: Jessica Dunn

Parenting and Living Our Way blog

Today’s topic for bloggers participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge is our second open topic for the series. I asked followers on my facebook page and members of some cloth diaper groups I’m active in what they would like me to talk about. The consensus was clear, how to fold flats, how to fold a t-shirt flat, which flats are best, and how my road trip went this week. I also had a fan send mBe a message asking how I clean my wash bucket, so I’ve decided to answer all of these questions.

How to wash & disinfect the wash bucket

This is a great question and I can’t believe I didn’t quickly cover it on day 4 when we talked about laundry. It’s actually really easy and this will work for you even if you’re washing diapers in the bathtub. You can disinfect your tub and storage bucket this way.

I rinse it out then add a couple drops of detergent and fill it with 2-3 inches of water. I put the lid on it and swirl the water around. Then I drain the soapy water and rinse the bucket. I spray the bucket with homemade citrus vinegar to disinfect it. If you have a diaper sprayer you can use that to rinse the sides of your bucket, if you don’t have a diaper sprayer, you can use your shower head, bath tub faucet, or garden hose. Use what you have available and make it work.

Citrus vinegar recipe:
Fill a jar with orange peels (any citrus fruit works), pour in white vinegar and put the lid on the jar. Let sit for 2 weeks. Drain the citrus vinegar into a spray bottle.

How to fold flats

I’m a huge fan of the philosophy work smarter, not harder. Rather than create videos for you, that probably won’t be the greatest quality since I’m just learning how to do videos, here are the videos that I found most useful. I like these because they have a bird’s eye view angle so you can actually watch the diaper being folded.

1.      The Jo Fold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw6mzxJcJm0&list=FL69hnCniexmyRRwYz1_tCdQ

2.      The Origami Fold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bpovez8_1M&list=FL69hnCniexmyRRwYz1_tCdQ

3.      The Angel Wings Fold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcAUyO5adl8&list=FL69hnCniexmyRRwYz1_tCdQ

4.      The Neat Fold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OwD9nCLZBE&list=FL69hnCniexmyRRwYz1_tCdQ

5.      The V Fold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OwD9nCLZBE&list=FL69hnCniexmyRRwYz1_tCdQ

6.      The Corners Fold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEmFylZ3VZw&list=FL69hnCniexmyRRwYz1_tCdQ

7.      The Twist Fold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keai5u2ZoGA&list=FL69hnCniexmyRRwYz1_tCdQ

8.      The Kite Fold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNff5ayzt-4&list=FL69hnCniexmyRRwYz1_tCdQ

9.      Gaynor’s Fold for Girls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cROuJ7yVRcc&list=FL69hnCniexmyRRwYz1_tCdQ

10.  Pad Fold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxxPcI843kQ

11.          How to fold a t-shirt flat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rdFsvWcPKI

12.          Mini Kit Fold for newborns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyvZMHvFMcE

Flats Comparison

I used three different types of flats for the challenge: Osocozy Birdseye flats, flour sack towels from Target, and flannel receiving blankets.

My favorite are the flour sack towels because they stay square after shrinkage, making the folds easier and faster. They are pretty absorbent on their own and I only needed a doubler or a second flat when using them for naps or bedtime. These are also the softest and since Emma diversion to different materials and textures this is a huge plus. They are also easy to fasten.

My second favorite are the Osocozy flats. They are just as absorbent as the flour sack towels. They are slightly rectangular after shrinkage, so the folds take just a little more time. They are soft, but not as soft as the flour sack towels. They are just as easy to fasten as the flour sack towels.

My least favorite are the receiving blankets. They are rectangular which means folds take longer and need some modification. They are difficult to fasten. These are best used for pad folding or as doublers. These were my go to for use as doublers.

Road Trip

Emma and I left on Thursday morning to go visit my parents for a night and so I could get my hair done. (Yes, I’m one of those crazy people who refuses to find a hairdresser closer to home; I can’t help it; Tracey is my second mom and no one else is touching my hair.) I packed all our flats and covers and loaded up my car. I had pre-folded the flats so they were ready to be put in the covers and when we got to my moms, I set up 5 changes to make it easy for her if she changed Emma. I found that using flats all day while we were out of town was easy, but I decided to wait and wash diapers at home on Friday since I had enough changes to last until we got home.

Well, those diapers were stinky when we got home. I had stored them in a wet back so when I unzipped it, I was struck by the smell of heavy pee. Yuck! I think if they were in an open bucket it wouldn’t have been so strong. I also had too many diapers to fit in my bucket and give me room for agitation, so I decided to wash in the bathtub instead of doing two loads in the bucket.

Overall, with enough planning and preparation traveling with flats isn’t any more difficult than traveling with other cloth diapers. The same is true with handwashing. If I had just take 30 minutes to do it, we would have been fan, but going a day and a half really wasn’t bad.

Cold rinse/soak

Soapy soak before agitating and scrubbing with hands and plunger

Honey, you can help me.

Scrubbing

Drain so I can rinse each diaper as the tub fills with cold water and do a final cold soak

Wringing the diapers out after the rinse

1 ½ days of flats and covers drying on the rack

About the author: My name is Jessica and I am the author of Parenting and Living Our Way blog. I am a busy stay at home mom to a 9 month old daughter who has recently learned how to crawl and is keeping me on my toes. I was invited by Kissed by the Moon to be their guest blogger for the week documenting my experience.  I am so excited about this opportunity and look forward to sharing my experience with you. If you’d like to read more about me, my family and our life, you can read our blog Parenting and Living Our Way. We can also be found on facebook. I am posting throughout the day on facebook and twitter about how our day is going, so you can follow along.

About the challenge: I'm participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  This event aims to bring awareness to the challenges that low income families face when trying to diaper their children. There are not publicly funded programs that supply diapers to families in need. Using cloth diapers and handwashing is an affordable way to families to diaper their children. Flats are the most inexpensive of commercially available cloth diapers; receiving blankets, flour sack towels, cut sheets, and t-shirts can also be used as flats making these diapers available to all families.

May Moon Mom's Night In Winner's List!

Are you ready to party? RSVP here if you haven't already! And we will be partying here!

Soft Bums Prize Pack Winner is... Jessica Dunn!

Zip Around from My Initials Inc with Marissa Winner is... Jacqueline Marie Mack!

3 Pack of Snappis Winner is... Krista Bonds!

Winners will be emailed to claim their prizes within 48 hours. Winners have 48 hours to respond or that prize will be redrawn.

Day 5: Friday- What is working for me? What isn't?

By: Jessica Dunn

Parenting and Living Our Way blog

Today’s topic for bloggers participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge is what’s working and what isn’t. Overall, the challenge is going really well and I’m not running into a lot of obstacles. Thank goodness. 

My wash routine is going great. The only obstacle I have run into is when we got home late and I didn’t get diapers washed until after dinner. I ended up having to dry them in the house because it was too windy to dry them on the line, which took longer. You can read more about my wash routine in Day 4’s blog entry.

I have plenty of supplies to diaper my daughter, but I did need to add an additional cover because daddy isn’t a fan of reusing covers and throws them in the wash bucket. Luckily, I have a supply of covers so I was able to add an additional one in my rotation.

Our nighttime diaper was my biggest concern and that has worked out really well for us. I use two flats, either Osocozy or flour sack towels folded together in the kite fold or gaynor fold for girls and fasten them with boingos then pad fold a receiving blanket to use as a doubler. I then use a Bunny’s Fluffy Bum soaker. This diaper is just as good, if not better, than our Rumparooz pocket diaper stuffed with both the regular size and newborn size soakers. It’s definitely less bulky.

Speaking of Boingos, let’s talk about those for a minute. I loved them when Emma was a newborn, but now she’s mobile and can undo them, so they really aren’t working for us for daytime.

Since our Boingos aren’t working for daytime and I can’t find our Snappi, I haven’t been able to do any folds that require fasteners during the day and go coverless at home like I had originally planned. I am only pad folding the flats and this requires a cover.

Since my only obstacle is a fastener and I am able to overcome that by pad folding, I would say this has been a successful challenge so far.

About the author: My name is Jessica and I am the author of Parenting and Living Our Way blog. I am a busy stay at home mom to a 9 month old daughter who has recently learned how to crawl and is keeping me on my toes. I was invited by Kissed by the Moon to be their guest blogger for the week documenting my experience.  I am so excited about this opportunity and look forward to sharing my experience with you. If you’d like to read more about me, my family and our life, you can read our blog Parenting and Living Our Way. We can also be found on facebook. I am posting throughout the day on facebook and twitter about how our day is going, so you can follow along.

About the challenge: I'm participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  This event aims to bring awareness to the challenges that low income families face when trying to diaper their children. There are not publicly funded programs that supply diapers to families in need. Using cloth diapers and handwashing is an affordable way to families to diaper their children. Flats are the most inexpensive of commercially available cloth diapers; receiving blankets, flour sack towels, cut sheets, and t-shirts can also be used as flats making these diapers available to all families.

Don't forget to RSVP and attend Kissed by the Moon's May Moon Moms Night In. This Friday May 24th at 5pm PST/8pm EST here.

Day 4: Thoughts on Handwashing- How am I doing?

By: Jessica Dunn

Parenting and Living Our Way blog

Today’s topic bloggers participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge is handwashing. Laundry was the scariest part of the challenge for me. I hate washing laundry as it is and I have a washer and dryer in my garage. The thought of washing by hand really scared me, but I figured it was only seven days and I can survive just about anything for seven days.

Surprisingly, laundry hasn’t been that difficult. I keep the wash bucket in the bathtub and when I change Emma, I put the diapers directly in the wash bucket after rinsing the poppy diapers. I am using a diaper sprayer, which I realized that I didn’t include on my list of supplies on Day 2’s post. I used my store credit from Kissed by the Moon to purchase it, so I paid less than $5 for it.

Dirty diapers stored in the bathtub ready to be washed

I wash diapers in the afternoon or early evening, after my husband gets home from work so he can be on baby duty and take care of Emma while I wash diapers and hang them to try. I have a drying rack that my mother in law bought me last summer after she saw my make shift clothes line (heavy duty string and dollar store clothes pins) set up under our patio cover. She decided if I was going to go green and stop using our dryer that I needed a decent drying rack. For those of you who don’t follow my blog and facebook fan page, let me give you a little background information. I decided last June that we were spending entirely too much money on electricity so we stopped using the dryer 90% of the time. I dry my husband’s work pants, and our sheets and towels completely in the dryer. Everything else goes in for 10 minutes to get the wrinkles off and then is hung to dry. Giving up the dryer for Flats and Handwashing Challenge was definitely the easiest part of the challenge.

Here is my step by step picture tutorial showing you how to handwash the diapers using a camp style washer. I wash diapers in the utility sink in our garage because I get hot water faster in that sink than in the bathtub. The added benefit is that the sink is next to the stairs leading into the house so I can stand on the second step and not have to bend over the bucket like I would have to do if the bucket was in the tub.

1. Cold rinse: fill the bucket with cold water to cover the dirty diapers and covers. Place the plunger in the bucket and put the lid on the bucket. Plunge up and down and side to side making sure to swish and mix the diapers around. Plunge for 3-5 minutes.

2. Drain the cold water

3. Hot wash: fill the bucket with hot water to cover the dirty diapers and 1 teaspoon of detergent. Place the plunger in the bucket and put the lid on the bucket. Plunge up and down and side to side making sure to swish and mix the diapers around. Plunger for 5-7 minutes.

4. Drain the hot water

5. Cold rinse: fill the bucket with cold water to cover the dirty diapers and covers. Place the plunger in the bucket and put the lid on the bucket. Plunge up and down and side to side making sure to swish and mix the diapers around. Plunge for 3-5 minutes

6. Check for suds. I take one or two of the diapers out and see if they are rinsed, if not I continue to plunge.

7. Drain the water and then wring out the diapers into the sink.

8. Hang on the line to dry.

About the author: My name is Jessica and I am the author of Parenting and Living Our Way blog. I am a busy stay at home mom to a 9 month old daughter who has recently learned how to crawl and is keeping me on my toes. I was invited by Kissed by the Moon to be their guest blogger for the week documenting my experience.  I am so excited about this opportunity and look forward to sharing my experience with you. If you’d like to read more about me, my family and our life, you can read our blog Parenting and Living Our Way. We can also be found on facebook. I am posting throughout the day on facebook and twitter about how our day is going, so you can follow along.

About the challenge: I'm participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  This event aims to bring awareness to the challenges that low income families face when trying to diaper their children. There are not publicly funded programs that supply diapers to families in need. Using cloth diapers and handwashing is an affordable way to families to diaper their children. Flats are the most inexpensive of commercially available cloth diapers; receiving blankets, flour sack towels, cut sheets, and t-shirts can also be used as flats making these diapers available to all families.

Don't forget to RSVP and attend Kissed by the Moon's May Moon Moms Night In. This Friday May 24th at 5pm PST/8pm EST here.

Day 3: Open Topic

By: Jessica Dunn

Parenting and Living Our Way blog

Today is one of two open topic days for bloggers in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge. I decided that I’d let you know how things were going so far and give you some how to advice about camp style washers and cloth wipes. Tomorrow’s topic is laundry so I’ll give you step by step instructions for how I’m washing by hand and I will have a picture tutorial as well.

So far the challenge is actually easier than I thought it would be. I had a drastic fear of flats before starting the challenge. I used them briefly when Emma was newborn, but they quickly became blankets, burp rags and nursing covers instead of diapers. We just fell in love with other newborn diapers and stopped using the flats. My husband didn’t like them because they took more time. He’s a fan of “one pieces.” Basically, if it requires a cover, snappi or boingo he’d rather pass.

I thought this would make doing the challenge difficult, but I quickly discovered that pad folding the diapers and placing them in the covers worked just as well as the other folds that we tried, so I pre-fold the diapers and have them ready so my husband just has to place them in the cover. This is working out really well for us. I have our flats challenge stash set up on our coffee table since we do most of our diaper changes in the living room. As long as everything is ready for him, my husband is fully supportive of using cloth.

So far I’m not noticing a difference in absorbency between the Osocozy flats and the flour sack towels. I haven’t used a receiving blanket as a diaper yet. I have been using them as doublers. Nighttime wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be. I have had success using two different options: a triple stuffed pocket diaper shell (1 osocozy flat and 2 receiving blankets) and 2 osocozy flats that are placed on top of each other and then folded using the Gaynor fold for girls and fastened with boingos, with a pad folded receiving blanket as a doubler and a Bunny’s Fluffy Bum fleece soaker. These both worked for 10 hours. Emma still nurses once or twice at night, but we don’t change her diaper during the night unless we have a leak.

Here’s a picture of our naptime diaper. It’s a pad folded Osocozy flat with a pad folded receiving blanket in a Kawaii one size cover.

                            Pad folded and ready                                 

Osocozy flat on top

Trim enough to stay mobile

How to make wipe solution:

We converted to cloth wipes a couple months ago, so we already have a wipe system that works for us. Although we do still use disposable wipes when we travel just for the convenience. I made my own wipes by buying flannel when it was on sale at the fabric store. I cut the fabric into 8x8 squares and zig zag stitched the edges. I don’t have a serger; otherwise, I would have done that. The edges don’t have to be finished, so if you don’t have a sewing machine, you can just cut the fabric and use it.  We have used two different products when making wipe solution, CJ’s Butter Carcass Cleanser and Crow Mountain Crafts Wipes Cubes.  Both products work well for us.

When making the solution using the wipes cubes, you heat water until it boils and then add one cube and let it melt, voila your solution is made. I use this method when I am putting the solution in a spray bottle for the diaper bag or when we are traveling.

When I am making solution to use at home, I prefer to use Carcass Cleanser. I use an old disposable wipes bucket. I place a small amount of hot water in the bottom of the bucket and add two small squirts of Carcass Cleanser, then I lightly dampen the wipes with hot water, add two squirts of Carcass Cleanser and then add more hot water, close the lid of the wipes bucket and shake. Presto! You’re wipes are ready.

If you don’t want to make your own wipes, there are a lot of commercially available wipes and you can find a lot of wipes on Etsy. I’ve tried a variety of wipes and I really like Thirsties Fab Wipes because they are 2-ply. I have a few on hand for when Emma is sick or is on medication because they help with messy clean ups and diarrhea.

How to make a camp style washer

This sounds scary, but it’s actually really easy. You need three things: bucket, lid and plunger. You drill a hole in the lid so the handle of the bucket can fit through it. Presto! You have a camp style washer. Some people prefer to drill a couple of holes in the plunger to help with agitation and water flow, but I’m doing just fine with a normal plunger.

My husband made the washer for me and it took him less than 10 minutes. I’m pretty sure half that time was finding the drill out in the garage.

Here are a few pictures of our experience so far:

Flour sack towel Bambino Mio Cover

Hanging out in the dog bed

Laundry drying in the sun 

Necklace thief

Washing laundry

Morning nap on mama Two Osocozy flats

About the author: My name is Jessica and I am the author of Parenting and Living Our Way blog. I am a busy stay at home mom to a 9 month old daughter who has recently learned how to crawl and is keeping me on my toes. I was invited by Kissed by the Moon to be their guest blogger for the week documenting my experience.  I am so excited about this opportunity and look forward to sharing my experience with you. If you’d like to read more about me, my family and our life, you can read our blog Parenting and Living Our Way. We can also be found on facebook. I am posting throughout the day on facebook and twitter about how our day is going, so you can follow along.

About the challenge: I'm participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  This event aims to bring awareness to the challenges that low income families face when trying to diaper their children. There are not publicly funded programs that supply diapers to families in need. Using cloth diapers and handwashing is an affordable way to families to diaper their children. Flats are the most inexpensive of commercially available cloth diapers; receiving blankets, flour sack towels, cut sheets, and t-shirts can also be used as flats making these diapers available to all families.

Don't forget to RSVP and attend Kissed by the Moon's May Moon Moms Night In. This Friday May 24th at 5pm PST/8pm EST here.

Day 2: How did you prepare?

By: Jessica Dunn

Parenting and Living Our Way blog

Before committing to the challenge, I took inventory of the items I already had and figured out what I would need. I had 12 Osocozy Flat diapers, 1 size 1 Thirsties Duo Wrap cover, 1 one-size Kawaii cover, and one set of Boingos that I bought from Kissed by the Moon. I also had a fleece soaker that I bought from Bunny’s Fluffy Bum. I knew this was the minimum I would need, but I wanted to add a little more to my stash, so I bought 8 flour sack towels from Target and 15 receiving blankets from Goodwill. I asked my husband to pick everything up at Home Depot to make a camp style washer.

Here is the cost breakdown:

Items	Cost per Item	Total Cost
12 Osocozy Flats*	$1.89	$21.55
Size 1 Thirsties Cover*	$12.75	$12.11
One Size Kawaii Cover	Free (item received during a giveaway from Kissed by the Moon)	$0
Boingos*	$4.99	$4.74
Fleece soaker	$8	$8
8 Flour sack towels	$3.99 for 4-pack	$.7.98
15 receiving blankets	50 cents	$7.50
5 gallon bucket	$2.78	$2.78
Lid	$1.28	$1.28
Plunger	$5.99	$5.99
Cloth Wipes	$2.99	$2.99
Total Cost		$74.92

*Total cost for items purchased at Kissed by the Moon calculated using a 5% discount for being a newsletter subscriber.

**I made my cloth wipes by cutting a yard of flannel into squares. I purchased the flannel using a 50% off coupon at JoAnn Fabrics.

That’s right! Enough diapers and supplies to diaper our daughter for less than $75. Did we need to by a plunger for almost $6? No, a dollar store plunger would have worked and would have saved us even more, but Robert plans to keep this one to have in the garage in case the utility sink backs up so he wanted to spend a little more and get one that would work for that purpose.

Tomorrow is my open topic day, so I will be talking all about how to make and use a camp style washer and how to make cloth wipes and wipe solution.

About the author: My name is Jessica and I am the author of Parenting and Living Our Way blog. I am a busy stay at home mom to a 9 month old daughter who has recently learned how to crawl is keeping me on my toes. I was invited by Kissed by the Moon to be their guest blogger for the week documenting my experience diaper my 9 month old.  I am so excited about this opportunity and look forward to sharing my experience with you. If you’d like to read more about me, my family and our life, you can read our blog Parenting and Living Our Way. We can also be found on facebook.

About the challenge: I'm participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  This event aims to bring awareness to the challenges that low income families face when trying to diaper their children. There are not publicly funded programs that supply diapers to families in need. Using cloth diapers and handwashing is an affordable way to families to diaper their children. Flats are the most inexpensive of commercially available cloth diapers; receiving blankets, flour sack towels, cut sheets, and t-shirts can also be used as flats making these diapers available to all families.

Day 1: Why did you decide to take the Flats and Handwashing Challenge

By: Jessica Dunn

Parenting and Living Our Way blog

I first heard about the Flats and Handwashing Challenge last year while I was researching cloth diapers. I was home on bed rest and spent a lot of time researching the benefits of cloth diapers. I discovered the Dirty Diaper Laundry website and really liked the idea of diapering on a budget. I have volunteered at food banks, homeless shelters, women’s shelters, crisis nurseries and job skills programs. I saw parents struggle to feed and cloth their families. I heard moms talking about wringing out wet disposable diapers to use them again because they didn’t have money to buy new diapers. I couldn’t imagine having to reuse a disposable diaper because I don’t have enough money to buy more diapers.

It wasn’t until I started preparing for the birth of my daughter that the cost diapers really hit me. I asked my friends and family’s of the kids I worked with what diapers they liked best. Most responded with Huggies or Pampers, but a few said that they used the Target or Wal-Mart brand because they were less expensive. I started calculating the cost and was blown away. I could buy a store brand economy pack of 180 diapers for about $27. I figured 365 days in a year and an average of 10 changes a day meant I would need 3,650 diapers, so I’d need just over 20 economy boxes of diapers (3650/180=20.278 boxes). This would cost me $540 for one year. Since potty learning is usually accomplished between 2 to 3 years old, I was looking at spending $1,080 to $1,620 to diaper our daughter. This was using the store brand, if we needed to use sensitive diapers or our daughter had a reaction to the diapers (different brands work for different babies) this could increase to about $38 a box and increase our cost to $760 a year or $1,520 to $2,280 until potty training. “You have got to be kidding me!” I thought to myself as I looked at these numbers. There has to be a cheaper way. That’s when I started researching cloth diapers. I learned that you could diaper you child for $300 or even less until potty training and you could use the diapers again for future children. “Sold!” I thought to myself as I made the decision to use cloth.

I have been following the Dirty Diaper Laundry blog and as soon as the Flats and Handwashing Challenge was announced I signed up. I decided to participate because I want to help show people that cloth diapers aren’t as scary as so many people think. I want to show that cloth diapers are a viable option for low income families even if they don’t have access to a washer and dryer. I’m hoping that our week long journey in cloth will help people learn more about cloth diapers and the feasibility of using them in a variety of situations. I am also using the challenge as my practice run for using flats and handwashing so I am ready when we go camping this weekend.

About the author: My name is Jessica and I am the author of Parenting and Living Our Way blog. I am a busy stay at home mom to a 9 month old daughter who has recently learned how to crawl is keeping me on my toes. I was invited by Kissed by the Moon to be their guest blogger for the week documenting my experience diaper my 9 month old.  I am so excited about this opportunity and look forward to sharing my experience with you. If you’d like to read more about me, my family and our life, you can read our blog Parenting and Living Our Way. We can also be found on facebook.

About the challenge: I'm participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  This event aims to bring awareness to the challenges that low income families face when trying to diaper their children. There are not publicly funded programs that supply diapers to families in need. Using cloth diapers and handwashing is an affordable way to families to diaper their children. Flats are the most inexpensive of commercially available cloth diapers; receiving blankets, flour sack towels, cut sheets, and t-shirts can also be used as flats making these diapers available to all families.