You touched what?!?!

If you've ever had to change a baby's diaper, you know it can get messy regardless of the type of diaper.  So I find it funny that some people think that cloth diapers are yucky.  In my opinion, they're not any more gross than disposables and they don't sit in a land fill.

Today is Day 4 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge and everyone is talking about the handwashing.  I mentioned earlier that I always wash out the little guy's diapers by hand so this isn't a huge stretch for me.  I've been lucky this week -- I've only had to wash one poopy diaper so far.  It wasn't bad either -- just dumped the solids into the toilet and rinsed the diaper really well before adding it to the others to be washed.

Yesterday I did a larger bunch at once and I did find that easier than washing after every change.  It took a little longer but I got them done at once.  Today I washed 5 first thing this morning and hung them out on the line.  I also washed his longies and lanolized them.  It was sunny today so the diapers I hung out at 8:40 this morning were dry by 2 PM.  I washed another bunch then and hung them out.  Unfortunately, while I was fixing supper this evening it started to rain and the second group got a little damp.  So they're hanging up inside now, but will be perfectly dry by morning.

So back to handwashing.  My process is pretty simple.  I rinse under running water very thoroughly.  I feel like this rinsing is the most important part.  The diapers smell clean after rinsing, before using any detergent at all.  Then I fill the sink with hot water, add detergent or soap nuts (I've been using soap nuts upstairs and detergent downstairs) and then dump in the rinsed diapers.  I knead and swish for a few minutes before draining the sink.  Then I rinse each diaper individually under running water.  I wring them out really well and then they're ready to be hung up.

I've been using such hot water and wringing out so many diapers that I have a spot on my right thumb where I rubbed the skin clean off!  Poor me, right?  :)  No big deal, I just had to adjust how I hold the diapers when I wring them out.

So that's my washing routine.  Not much to it.  I might adjust if I was doing more at a time.  Today I washed twice and even with the rain, didn't run out of diapers.  Tomorrow is our aquarium trip so it should be interesting!