Questions about flats and laundromats

[Collinsky]

I'm going to be doing cloth diapers for my upcoming baby -- something I haven't done for five years, since we moved to an apartment with no W&D. I tried continuing with cloth, but ended up giving up. We used prefolds with covers then.

This time around I'll be using flats, since our number one priority is ease of laundering/drying. I was wondering if I should get another material (like hemp) in addition to the birdseye flats that I have, or if I need to get some fleece liners as well? Are there some covers that work better with flats than others? (Again, ease of laundering is paramount!!) And if we're only washing dipes once a week, how many diapers and covers will I need to be really comfortable?

I really need tips for being successful washing cloth diapers once a week at the laundromat, which is necessarily a bit different than being able to do them every 2-3 days at home. For instance, "extra rinse cycle" means running it all through a whole wash a second time - which takes time and money. My Dh does the laundry, and I need it to be as quick and easy as possible!

We *might* be able to do two loads of diapers a week, but it would be tricky and that starts to get expensive. We already have about 6 other loads each week, so this is all added to that.

Some have suggested the little countertop washing machines (like you would use for camping, etc) but I have heard that they don't get soiled diapers clean enough. I'd like to hear others' experience with them - it sounds ideal, but if it doesn't work for what I need it to do then it's not really worth it.


Thanks!

[rachelsmama]

When I use flats (travelling) I usually use at least two at a time. The outside one is birdseye flat (works well with a Snappi), and is folded fancy to get a good fit. The inside (or two or three) on is folded into a rectangle and acts as a doubler. For the inside I like to use cotton flannel, although any flat will work, including recycled t-shirts, or sheets. If you have a little room you could bring them home wet and hang them to dry instead of paying for a dryer, one of the nice things about flats is how fast they dry.

[colsxjack]

I did prefolds at the laundromat. I would also do it once a week. We had 4 dozen for the infant stage, and now at 10 months our DD goes through 3 dozen a week.
I gave up with the washing and drying of them (on top of all the other laundry), because they took quite a bit of effort and cost. It was costing between $10-14 per week, depending on if I had to put them through a second wash. And prefolds do take quite a bit to dry. And then there was the hour or so it took me to rinse out and get all the diapers and wipes ready before I even went out to get laundry done.
I could probably do it all now, but in the newborn stages it was so exhausting.
We decided to go with a laundry service for prefolds. It was more per week, but very little work. We put a bag of dirty diapers on our door step and a fresh bag shows up. Very nice!

As for washing. We used a wet pail for the poppy diapers and a dry pail for pee ones. Then before laundry I would dump out the water, refill the pail and swish all the dirty diapers around to rinse them well. Then I would take them and do laundry.
I would use two washers and warm water. I would use scent free detergent and vinegar in the rinse cycle to help rinse out the detergent. Every third week (or if there was a smell residue) I would put them through a second wash cycle. When it was hot out I would line dry.

We are moving and going to have a W&D so we are canceling the service and going to do our own again.

[blizzard_babe]

We use (used? We're kind of PLing round these parts, but diapers happen, too) plain flats because, while we have laundry in our apartment (duplex), we are on limited, truck-delivered, expensive water. No liners, no nothin'. Just flats, folded up like prefolds, pinned. Usually under wool, sometimes in a PUL cover. If the kid is a heavy wetter, use another flat as a doubler.

I strongly suggest a sprayer that attaches to the back of your toilet. If you spray off the poopies REALLY well, and have lots of flats, you can totally just do diapers once a week.

Another idea... do you have anywhere at your place (indoors or outdoors... flats dry FAST) where you could rig up a drying line? Then, the money/time you'd be spending on an extra rinse would be won back by not paying for drying. We've talked about rigging up eye-screws in our spare room and threading a clothesline through them... just never got around to asking our landlord if it was OK, never mind actually DOING it . I think there's something kind of cool about the mental image of our spare room with diapers hanging, back and forth, wall-to-wall .

[Collinsky]

Thanks all! Diaper service is out of the question, it hasn't been available in our area for years now.

We just got a diaper sprayer, and I think we're planning to get one of the Wonder Wash portable washers... I figure even if it doesn't get them *all* the way clean, it will get them *mostly* clean, and then that makes the laundering a million times easier. We can't hang a line, but can dry them on a rack indoors. The fast drying time is definitely a plus for flats!

It's looking like 4 doz for the newborn stage is the running figure, and that sounds reasonable.

[LightForest]

I'm really interested to hear how the Wonder Wash works for you. I also live in an apartment and am expecting a little one this summer. I'd love to save that laundry money! My big hesitation with the Wonder Wash is that it does not spin any water out of the fabric, so you'd have to wring them out. I noticed that there's a portable "dryer" (well, it really just looks like a glorified electric salad spinner) that costs about $85. I wonder if something like this would help with drying time??

[Happiestever]

I presoak the poopies, and scrub to lessen the staining, and dry pail the pees LOL.
I pay to wash as well and I use a dryer ball filled with vinegar. I also use a rack in the house to dry them. Oh how I dream of having a washing machine at home. SIGH.

[junipervt]

I washed at a laundromat 1x a week for over a yr w/o any problems and I used a mix of pfs, fitteds, pockets & aios. Used 3 top loader washers & did 1 hot wash cycle w/ Allen's naturally liquid (small bottle lasted me 6m). I did spray all poopy diapers off w/ a diaper sprayer before they went in the pail & used fleece topped liners in all diapers that were not already stay dry. This made it much easier to get the poop off.