Why I'm doing the flats's challenge

Quick link back to the rules.



You may be wondering why I'm so nut-so to take this on but I figure when we're moving washing in a washer will be difficult and I don't want to take a bunch of dirty diapers with us.  I am taking this on May 23-28 to prepare myself for our visit to Oregon to find somewhere to live and for our actual move and the days leading up to it and the first few days until we have a washer and drier.  I also have been hand washing wool for a while now so I'm not so weirded out by washing diapers by hand.

I also highly recommend to click the button and view the article mentioned.  It's very disturbing that mamas are reusing disposables.  I agree that it's child abuse to leave a child in a diaper-cloth or disposable for hours on end.  It's beyond disgusting to reuse disposable diapers.  This challenge will hopefully be picked up by the media and show that it is possible for low-income households to make cloth work-I mean they had to before disposables came along right?!

I'm of a strong opinion that disposable diapers are a luxury and should be one of the first things cut out of a budget when trying to make ends meet.  You can totally make it on Gerber prefolds or flats if you have to or make your own diapers out of flannel or t-shirts, etc.  That's another reason why I wanted to take it a step further and make my own flats.  I am buying a package of Gerber's.  I have 2-3 dozen already that we use for burp cloths (and I refuse to use them as diapers too-that's why I'm buying some JUST to be used as diapers).  There ARE organizations out there to help low income families with cloth diapers-Cloth Diapers Foundation is one example.  I have donated diapers to them before when they were Miracle Diapers.  I donated a bunch of Fuzzibunz to them because we couldn't make them work for us.  This organization helps give cloth diapers for just the price of shipping to those in need.  They are a rental and they encourage families to put aside that money you would have been using for diapers to buy cloth diapers of your own.

Another place to look is Diaperswappers.com and buy used.  It's not ideal but I don't have a problem with using used PUL covers because I feel like I can get them clean enough and if it were my baby sitting in a sopping wet diaper or using a used diaper that someone is re-selling I would get over myself and get used diapers.  Craigslist often has them as do local sites similar to that (in Utah KSL.com has a classifieds and no one uses Craigslist).  Freecycle.org is another place to ask for diapers or materials to make diapers or old t-shirts.  You can get used wool sweaters on Freecycle or at a thrift store.  PUL is available at JoAnn's and you *can* get buy with just a few covers.  I wouldn't recommend metal snaps or anything except Touchtape or Aplix (do not use the velcro you buy at JoAnn's on diapers).

Gerber plastic pants are OK-they're not ideal but they're cheap and OK to use.  Walmart carries diaper pins or you can purchase a Snappi online (much better than pins and they do last much longer than the manufacturer says as long as you take care of it).  SO in this economy I really do believe you can do cloth on the cheap and have them not be super time consuming-washing probably takes about 10 minutes and you can let them soak in a tub or sink for a bit.  Flats air dry quick so you could get away with 2 dozen (I personally wouldn't do less than that because with my kids we would go through over a dozen a day in the first few months or longer).