Day 7-Sunday: What did I learn/ How did it go?

By: Jessica Dunn

Parenting and Living Our Way blog

Today’s topic for bloggers participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge is what did I learn/how did it go? Overall, the challenge went really well. My overall goal, besides to just complete the challenge, was to fall in love with the flats again and I have. I overcame our biggest obstacle, not having a good fastener, by pad folding the diapers and using Boingos at night since Emma leaves the Boingos alone at night.

I was also using the challenge as a test run to see if it would be possible to use cloth without access to a washing machine when we go camping the summer and it is absolutely possible!

The biggest thing that I learned was that my diapers are actually cleaner when I wash them in smaller batches by hand than when I wash 2-3 days worth in the washing machine. I was really surprised when both my husband and I realized the diapers looked cleaner.

The challenge also helped me overcome my dependence on disposable liners. I usually use them in every diaper, but now I know that I don’t need to. I can go back to my original plan of just using them when I’m traveling or out of the house to make poo disposal easier.

The challenge went well and wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. On days that I felt like giving up or that I was going to pull my hair out, I realized that I hadn’t planned and prepared well. It helped so much to get diapers pre-folded and ready for covers the night before. It was also helpful to wash laundry in the afternoon when my husband got home from work so they’d dry faster outside instead of waiting until after dinner when I felt rushed because I needed to hurry up and get them done so I could take over baby duty again and Robert could go to bed.

I had someone send me a message asking me what my husband like/disliked about the challenge, so I thought I’d address that today. When I asked him he said it wasn’t really any different for him because I had everything ready for him like I always do and he had velcro closures which is big requirement for using cloth. He said that he did enjoy a week off from helping me stuff diapers. He didn’t have to handwash diapers, since I took care off all the diaper laundry, like I always do, so he has no opinion on handwashing.

I would like to thank Kim Rosas of Dirty Diaper Laundry for hosting this event and for providing great resources for all the participants. I would also like to thank Kissed by the Moon for asking me to be the guest blogger this week. It has been so much fun sharing my experience with you this week. Please check us out on facebook, instagram and twitter to see all the posts and updates that I did throughout the day during the challenge. I hope that you have had as much fun following along with our journey as I’ve had writing about here.

Here’s a picture recap of our week:

About the author: My name is Jessica and I am the author of Parenting and Living Our Way blog. I am a busy stay at home mom to a 9 month old daughter who has recently learned how to crawl and is keeping me on my toes. I was invited by Kissed by the Moon to be their guest blogger for the week documenting my experience.  I am so excited about this opportunity and look forward to sharing my experience with you. If you’d like to read more about me, my family and our life, you can read our blog Parenting and Living Our Way. We can also be found on facebook. I am posting throughout the day on facebook and twitter about how our day is going, so you can follow along.

About the challenge: I'm participating in the Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  This event aims to bring awareness to the challenges that low income families face when trying to diaper their children. There are not publicly funded programs that supply diapers to families in need. Using cloth diapers and handwashing is an affordable way to families to diaper their children. Flats are the most inexpensive of commercially available cloth diapers; receiving blankets, flour sack towels, cut sheets, and t-shirts can also be used as flats making these diapers available to all families.