Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Lazy Launderer?

A common reason people say they won't use cloth is the laundry. The laundry is already piling up, spilling out over the basket, covering the floor, and a host of random missing items have made their way into the mess. Why would anyone want more laundry to do?

Diaper laundry is not in the same category as your regular laundry. 

First, you don't have to sort it. You take your pail liner or wet bag, put it in the washer and turn it inside out. You don't even have to touch a dirty diaper. You wash your diapers-there are many ways to wash cloth, and most people have their own routines, so we won't get into that now. 

Once your diapers are washed, you dry them. I personally like to dry my diapers outside. This is a little extra work for me as I have to lay them out instead of just shoving them in the dryer, but it makes me feel better about my carbon footprint. Luckily, I live in the desert, and my diapers dry faster outside anyway.

After my diapers are dry, I have to stuff them. That means I put the microfiber insert (absorbent part) into the diaper (waterproof part.) This may take a few minutes, but I do it when my daughter is playing in the room and sometimes she helps. 
Jaelyn sitting in the basket of clean diapers 'helping' with the laundry-4 months old.
When they are stuffed, I put them into the baskets which are under her changing table and they are ready to be peed and pooped in again.

The important thing to remember about diaper laundry is that if you don't do it, you don't have diapers readily available to put on your child. You can leave clean socks, shirts, underwear and pants in a pile on top of your guest bedroom bed for a week, and nobody will be inconvenienced too much. If you run out of clean diapers, you might have a naked baby running around the house. That's okay here-I have tile.

4 comments:

  1. This is great that you're using cloth. Not only is it inexpensive in the long run by not having to buy diapers, but it also helps our landfills. It probably feels a lot better because it is cloth rather than plastic on her bottom. It's Great that you are doing this. Not to many moms out there will use cloth because it is an inconvenience. You deserve Kudos.

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  2. Thanks Debra! You are so right on many points! It is saving us a ton of money on diapers and gas to go get them! We live 15 minutes from the nearest store and with gas prices the way they are, I am glad I don't have to make any emergency runs! It's also much better for our environment and baby's bottom:) It's not an inconvenience anymore. Cloth diapers have come so far in the last ten years. We use pockets which are put on just like a disposable. Thanks for the feedback!!

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  3. I love em. People that use laundry as an excuse are just foolin' themselves! I considered the "extra" but just having a baby in general creates extra laundry lol

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  4. I agree Darcy! I didn't even think of all the baby clothes/blankets/toys I wash now:) Thanks for reading!

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