It’s day 4 of the #flatschallenge and honestly, I’m not really finding it difficult at all. Blogging about it, editing graphics, that’s the hard part, haha! I’m not bothered by the diaper changes and handwashing and it’s fit into my week no problem. Although, unlike many others doing the challenge, I was every other day. Not daily.
Handwashing Uses a Lot of Water
I did the math last year, and I was shocked at how much water handwashing my diapers uses. In light of this revelation, I switched to washing every second day. So this year, I started doing that from the beginning.
The amount of water I’d be using with a daily handwash routine (for 7 days straight) is 265 litres. That is versus the 181 litres I would use total with my two weekly diaper washes (including prewash) with my HE washer. That’s no small difference.
Bucket and Plunger works great! I used bathwater from the kids’ bath for this particular prewash, to reduce water use as much as possible. I even threw in a guacamole covered t-shirt.
My Handwash Routine
Materials:
- A large flexible Utility Bucket (silicone)
- A standard wooden plunger
- Tide Powder Detergent
- My Bathtub
- A Hang-Dry Laundry Rack
Prewash/Initial Rinse:
- Place bucket in bathtub. Fill 1/2 bucket with luke warm water, about 11L
- Add 1.5 tsp Tide Powder
- Soak 5 minutes
- Do about 30 plunges
- Drain into bathtub drain
Main Wash:
- 2/3 bucket full HOT water
- 0.5 tsp tide powder (less than before because it’s still quite soapy)
- 50 plunges
- 5 minute soak
- 10 more plunges
- Drain
Rinse:
- Squeeze as much soapy water out of each piece and put back into empty bucket
- Position bucket under faucet or shower sprayer
Individually rinse each piece quickly but carefully under the running water (I collected the rinsing water into the bucket in order to remain conscious of how much I was using. This used another 2/3 bucket full of water) - Set each piece into bathtub after rinsing
- SQUEEZE the living daylights out of each piece again and place them into the empty bucket to carry to my rack.
Dry:
Hang each diaper on drying rack
Fold once they’re dry. (Everything took 4 hours indoors to dry, and only 2 hours outside)
What do you do when your teenager accidentally changes baby brother into an AIO during the challenge? You Handwash it. And life goes on!
I like how you are conscious of how much water you are using during the challenge. It’s nice to know that the HE machines really are saving the planet lots of water, & I could hand wash diapers if there was a real need.