Best CD setup for very small apartment with shared coin-op laundry?

[Astrea]

My husband and I have been using a cloth diaper service for our 3mo daughter. However, we'd like to switch to washing our own. We have friends who will be giving us all the actual diapers we need (not sure what type but I suspect prefolds) and we already have a good complement of Bummis covers. I'd like advice on how to actually set up our own CD system.



Some of our special issues and questions:
- Right now we have a diaper pail from the diaper service that we will have to return. It uses a deodorock and we do not rinse the diapers at all--just toss them straight in the pail. What kind of a pail should we get? Can we continue to do this and just toss the diapers straight into the wash (no solid poop here yet) or do we need to do some kind of rinse and soak system like my parents had to do with me (and that my dad says was really gross)?

- We are in a 1-bdr apt. Our changing table (actually a dresser) is in the living room and our diaper pail lives at the end of it, right next to our kitchen table, so we need to get some kind of a system that is totally odor-free (except when you open the pail, obviously--we've found that lighting and then blowing out a match takes care of the smell in that case) and compact. There is no way to fit the pail in the bathroom!

- We only have shared coin-operated laundry machines 2 floors down. They're older but they seem to get the laundry fairly clean. I plan to hang the dipes to dry outside. I usually get Ecover detergent from Costco. Is this OK for cloth? Should I add vinegar to the mix or anything else?

- Has anyone ever had trouble with neighbors complaining about them washing cloth diapers in shared machines? I was worried washing our own CDs would gross out the other tenants, which is why we initially went with a service

- How often should I plan to do laundry?

-Anything else I should be thinking about?

TIA!

[durafemina]

I was in your situation with dd. I just had a dry pail in the bedroom. Washed the diapers (they were mostly fitteds with some prefolds later on) every 3-ish days (when the pail was full!). I did one hot wash in the coin-op machine and that was always enough. I think very occasionally I did a second wash with no detergent to ensure they weren't building up residue.
Nobody ever complained about us washing diapers (but this was only ever with breastmilk poo).
It worked really well for us - even though the laundry was 7 floors down. Good luck

[inky leeuhhh]

we are living in a small apt with no washer, but i do get to at least wash at my moms. she lives right next door, on the same property even. anyway, i just keep a small dry pail in the bedroom where i keep the diapers. i dont do anything special to them (bf poo). i have never had stink issues with the cheap little kitchen size garbage can thing we use. its just a plastic one with a flip up lid. there is only a smell for a brief second when i open the lid. we do laundry about every other day, but if i was using a shared laundry id try to aim for 2-3x per week. the washer we use is not full sized either, so that adds to our loads that we have to do. i agree with the pp who mentioned washing and adding in an extra wash with no soap on occasion to keep build up at bay. as for other people being grossed out, id just get a pail liner to keep in the pail and just dump things in and toss the bag in on top. people probably wont even notice youre washing diapers. and if they have a problem with it, oh well. lol.

oh, and one thing that has worked for us has been having half our stash ai2s with extra soakers. the soakers take up less room in the pail than a fitted or prefold. when a diaper is peed in, i wash out the shell by hand and hang to dry if damp. toss the soaker in the pail. if the shell has stayed relatively dry, i reuse it without washing first. if there is poo i throw everything in the pail regardless, but she only poos once a day so that isnt a huge issue. ive just found this to save some room when ive had a busy week where i wanted a lighter laundry load. hope it makes sense, lol. prefolds and covers are still our fav here though!

[MommyMad]

Since I'm in your same situation in that we have access to coin operated laundy machines in our building, I'm really interested in the responses to this thread.

My concern about doing the wash with hot water without a cold prerinse is that the CD's stains will set in.

I'm not sure where you're located, but with NY's hard water, I was told not to use vinegar, but that a teaspoon of fresh lime juice in the last rinse would be good.

For a pail, as PP indicated, a tall garbage pail is good. One with a foot pedal would make our lives even easier. I'm still debating whether or not to buy one or just stick with having a liner/wetbag on the bedroom doornob instead. I've also read that sprinkling a bit of baking soda in the pail helps with the odors.

My plan is to do laundry every other day, if not daily. This brings a question up that I'm sure you'll also have. How many CD's do you generally wash in a load?

[Astrea]

Thanks everyone--please keep the advice coming!

Here is some extra info that may help:
- My daughter is formula-fed (hope that's OK to say, I know MDC is pro-breastfeeding, asit should be) because we adopted her with less than 2 days' notice and I was not able to prepare to adoptive breastfeed. Hence, she has very, very, VERY stinky poop!
- I now know that we will for sure be receiving 21 fitteds. I would prefer to only do FULL loads of diapers, because our laundry costs $2 per wash. I think we will end up tracking down more diapers in order to facilitate this (maybe another two or three dozen). I expect we'll be doing laundry every 4 days or so. I guess that means we'll need a decent-sized diaper pail.
- Also for financial reasons, I hope to be able to pull off just a regular hot cycle wash, and hang the diapers to dry. Is it OK to hang dry instead of dryer dry?
- Our "change table" is in the living room so I prefer to keep the diaper pail there as well.
- What do you think of this pail? Would it be worth the $$?
http://bouncingbabies.ca/item_86/Diaper-Pail--14L.php

[katie9143]

i recommend natural fibers for laundromat washing. there is no way to keep others that use too much soap from building up on your diapers and you will likely have to strip often and perhaps boil every once in awhile to avoid leakage, smell and rash. cotton boils up best and releases soap better than microfiber and other synthetic fibers. have you seen the wetbags that hang on door knobs?

if you get another doz or so of prefolds, then you can use the same covers as you do your fitteds and you would have them when you run out of fitteds and they dry faster. the only issue i see with line drying fitteds is that they tend to take longer to dry than pockets or pfs and inserts. i usually just wash my covers in the sink and hang to dry.

[Astrea]

I'll definitely stick with natural fibres--thanks. I prefer those anyway.

I have seen the hanging wet bags, but I'm concerned about odours. FF poop = stinky.