One of the most common questions when considering cloth diapering your child is the laundry. Don’t you have to do it all the time? Doesn’t it take up a lot of your time? Doesn’t it use up a lot of water and thus cost money? These are some common questions that I myself had and that I have encountered since writing my last post about cloth diapers.
When I first started to cloth diaper, I just had the ten or so diapers that I bought through Jillian’s Drawers. So with those few diapers, I ended up washing them every day. I also didn’t use cloth diapers at night, which kept down the amount of washing. Since the average diaper can cost around $17 each, we didn’t want to buy a lot in case it didn’t work for us. After a month of just having these few diapers, I started finding some on sale online and slowly built up our stash. We now have about 15 diapers, which is a reasonable and manageable amount but I am always looking for deals to add to it. With this amount I am able to do laundry every third day and also to use the diapers at night. So this week I washed our cloth diapers (by themselves) on Monday and Thursday.
My Washing Routine:
1.Brief soak diapers in cold water for about 15 minutes.
2.Pre-Wash in cold with a teaspoon of detergent (currently I use Charlie’s Soap)
3.Wash in hot with cold rinse with about a tablespoon of detergent
4.Use Second Rinse option on washer (if available)
5.If warm weather, take diapers outside and air dry them. (The sun is a natural brightener and bleaches out stains). If not warm outside, place in dryer under medium heat.
Mostly, the washer and dryer do all the work and I just have to remember that the diapers are in there!
With regards to our water bill, I have not seen a dramatic increase in our bills. I’m sure it has gone up a bit but not enough to give me pause. In Downers Grove, we pay for our garbage pickup so it has been nice that we haven’t had to purchase more stickers for the garbage since we have begun cloth diapering Baby C. I remember with Miss M we were having to put the garbage can out every week filled with diapers. This time around, the garbage goes out usually every other week like it had been before Baby C was born.
Overall, with the right amount of diapers and a little extra time in your day, washing your cloth diapers is pretty straightforward and easy.
Please ask more questions! I love to help pass on my little knowledge to interested parties.
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