Anyone cloth diaper full-time using a laundry mat?

[earthyamber]

Hi!

I just moved in to an apartment without my own washer and dryer and I am due in November. I want to cloth diaper and I really want to cloth diaper full-time. This is my 3rd child and I have never cloth diapered before. At our apartments we have a laundry mat so I don't have to travel to do laundry, but I do have to pay.

Has anyone done this? Did it work? Any advice?

Thank you!

[cmhermes]

I live in an apartment, too with laundry facilities onsite. I hand wash for the majority of the time and then wash in the washer/dryer once a week. It's worked for us. It's timeconsuming, but worth it.

[iOliver]

I just moved into an apartment with laundry two floors down from where I am, though we don't have to pay. I'm still not looking forward to having to go so far and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth to get one load of diapers done :/ But I really wanted to cloth diaper so I'll suck it up :P

[junipervt]

I washed at a laundromat while cding DD ft for over a year. it is do able.

a while back I answered a bunch of questions for someone who was considering washing at a laundromat. hopefully my answers can help you


You said you had a sprayer, which I also plan on getting. I would plan to wash every other day or as close to that as possible I do have a couple of questions though. #1, do you need to spray the poo off of EBF dipes?yup. It's really not that bad Or can they just go through one cycle as is? nope you would have to do a prerinse or run an entire other cycle if you don't have the option of a prerinse
#2 I was planning on just using a natural detergent, would you recommend anything different if you are only doing one wash cycle w/no extra rinse? I use Allens naturally liquid. I think it played a huge part in my success at washing at the laundromat. You only need a tiny amount & a small bottle lasted me 6m! It is clean rinsing, so does not leave any residues that you would have to later strip out. Lots of natural detergents have things like plant oils that can cause build up in your diapers
#3 after you spray off the poo, do you just put it in the diaper bin until you wash it, and if so, do you ever have problems with that kind of mildewy smell that can come from wet stuff sometimes?we spray off poo then squeeze out the water & throw right in the bucket. we did squirt a bit of bacout in the bottom of the bucket when we were only washing 1x a week. no mildewy smell or mildew stains


other stuff that we did:
-used 5 gal buckets w/ lids (from the hardware store) as pails. super easy to lug to the laundry & dump in the washer. then wipe out
-wiped down washers & dryers before I used them w/ a mix of vinegar & water
-only used top loaders & only filled them 1/2 full so the diapers had a lot of room & water to move around in
-let the washers fill a bit before I added diapers
-bleached microfiber inserts about every 4-6m


I took home all covers & pocket outers to dry on a drying rack. Also only ran 1 dryer cycle then hung any that were still damp on a drying rack.

[Sharlla]

i did, iwould rinse dipes in bathtub and wash at laudrmat once a week
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[marielizabeth]

We do it. I give each dipe (pre-folds) a quick cold rinse in the tub and ring it out, then do laundry every four days or so. I do one hot wash with Tide Free and extra OxyClean, then another hot wash with no detergent at all, then dry on high for an entire hour. We also use liners, so there's not much poop on the diapers at any time. It's a bit of a pain, but I just can't deal with throwing away so many disposables. Plus, cloth diapering is fun and there are so many cute covers

[boomer78]

We do! In a coin operated washer/dryer in our apartment building. I do a quick rinse in the tub and then wash on hot (cold rinse) with detergent and then another hot cycle without it. Dry in the dryer (it seems like our landlord has cut the time down to 45 mins) and then line dry. I wash diapers every 4 days or so. Yes, it's extra work and $ but so far it's worth it.