Tell me your Charlie's routine!

[esteg0]

I've been using Charlie's soap on my clothing for a while, but just recently have started cloth diapering (my LO is 2 weeks old). I would love to hear how everyone who uses Charlie's has been washing their dipes. I have a FL washer.

This is what I have been doing:
quick wash on cold with no detergent
wash on hot with 2 cold rinses, using about 1/2 scoop Charlie's
vinegar as softener

Should I only use vinegar every once in a while? I use it during every clothing load.

Thanks for your help everyone! I'm loving cloth diapering and want to make sure I clean them as well as possible!

[brietta]

I use Charlie's and have a FL.

I do cold rinse.
Hot wash with FULL scoop of Charlie's (sometimes more because I have hard water).
Cold rinse, x2.
Line dry.

It's really important not to skimp on the Charlie's. The problem with doing too little is that bacteria has a better chance of not getting killed off, and that can cause a rash (that almost looks like a burn-- been there, done that!) or really foul smelling diapers. The good thing is that 1 scoop of Charlie's dissolves completely in a single jar of water (I've tested it!), so you don't have to worry about it being too much.

If the full scoop isn't rinsing well/easily, you may want to look into whether or not you have hard water. Otherwise, you should be good to go!

As far as the vinegar goes, I don't like using it because I found it hard to rinse out and it started irritating my kids. But if you like it, go for it! The only caution I've heard is that it can eat away at elastic, so if you have pocket diapers or covers with elastic, you may want to be moderate in your use of it.

Hope that helps!

[mommabear207]

I also use charlies and have a front loading washer.
I either wet pail or prerinse bm off then just throw it all in. I use 1 scoop charlies. occassionally oxyclean and or borax. sometimes vinegar withthe rinse cycle- if i catch it and there was a lot of wet dipes sitting.
hot wash
cold rinse
extra cold rinse

pretty close to what you're doing already. i use to cold wash only but since i've switched to hot i got rid of the strong smell that happened when ds peed.

i also sometimes use GSE or TTO but i think charlies with hot wash and cold rinse does a decent job.

[tessa67]

I don't have a FL but I do
1. cold rinse
2. hot wash with 1/2 scoop
3. extra rinse

I have found that if my diapers start to smell (I dry them outside) I watch my next washload (don't put soap in) and tons of soap comes out of the dipes. So for me the stink seems to be caused by soap not rinsed out.

[Mama_Wolf1982]

how much is a scoop? my charlie's didn't come with one.

[Past_VNE]

I don't know exact quantity, but it seems to be about a tablespoon. My green scooper is similar in size to a coffee scoop.

[leighann79]

I'm pretty sure it's a Tablespoon. I think the line inside is teaspoon and a full scoop is Tablespoon.

[schreiberwriter]

cold rinse
wash 1x with full amount of Charlies that I would use for a normal load
wash again

done!