Flats and Handwashing Challenge - All Ready!

Over the last several weeks I've seen several Facebook posts from other cloth diapering moms and various cloth diapering groups about the Flats and Handwashing Challenge, but until yesterday I didn't really pay much attention to it.  The purpose of the challenge is to show that it is possible to cloth diaper babies on an extremely limited budget and without the use of laundry facilities.  We are all feeling the pinch of difficult economic times,  there are families out there who cannot afford diapers, and disposable diapers are not covered by government assistance, food stamps, or WIC.  Parents stretch the amount of time that their babies go without diaper changes, and in some cases scrape out and reuse diapers - both very unhealthy practices - to try to conserve their disposable diapers.  Using modern cloth diapers is far less expensive than using disposables through the diaper years (a few hundred dollars versus a couple thousand), but an even less expensive option is available - flats.

Flat diapers are large pieces of cloth that can be folded and pinned onto baby in a variety of ways, and require a waterproof cover.  The flats I'm using for the challenge are actually 30"x30" flour sack towels that I bought from Target for about $1.00 each - cheap receiving blankets would also work.  I will be using our GroVia AI2 shells as waterproof covers for the week, they retail for $16, but I recently bought some seconds quality ones for $8 each.

The washing is the fun part... I can honestly say I've never handwashed any diapers, but I will be this week!  Like many families participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge I have made a camp washer using a 5 gallon bucket and a plunger.  I also prepped my flats the old fashioned way, by boiling them.  I will also be hang-drying all diapers this week, so I've got to  be sure that I keep enough diapers clean and dry because throwing them in the dryer is not an option.

The Flats and Handwashing Challenge is due to begin tomorrow morning (Monday, May 23rd), and end on Friday, May 30th.  We started a bit early though so that I could go ahead and wash Addisyn's normal diapers tonight.  Using our normal overnight diapers was allowed by the challenge rules, but I've decided to use flats ALL week, so tonight I put Addisyn in a flat diaper with a prefolded diaper inside for extra absorbency.  The diaper is MUCH more bulky than the GroVia AIOs that we typically use at night, but that's okay.  Fingers crossed that we won't wake up with any leaks! :D