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CDing in Apartment Laundry Machines?

490 views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  kbstanley3 
#1 ·
I plan to CD in a few months when our babe arrives, but I live in an apartment and will be using pay laundry machines. The machines are pretty straightforward: no options for a presoak or extra rinse. Each wash is $1.25; each dry is $1.00, and I'd really rather not pay an extra $1.25 just to do a cold soak or double rinse. I'll be using mostly prefolds and fitteds, and don't mind buying more diapers if it makes things easier. Also, our machines are located one floor down, but there's an elevator, so lugging a heavy wet bag wouldn't be too difficult.

What are my options, and how can I make this work? I'm absolutely sold on CDing--I just need help with the details!
 
#2 ·
Hi there mama! Im up in oakland in the same sitch with the apartment building laundry thing. We go down one floor to wash in the coin op machines too. We've been at it for 11 weeks now and its actually working quite well. We do the dipes (prefolds, fitteds and some pockets) in the whites cycle, which is a hot wash and cold rinse. Our dryers have an option to do a 50 cent dry which is only 30 minutes. So i do that. The dipes arent completely dry at the end, but i throw them on a rack on my balcony and let the sun take care of the rest (including sometimes BF poo stains).

Anyway - works fine for us without the extra rinse cycles (and saves water too!) Once a month Ive been stripping them by washing once or twice in hot without any detergent just to prevent any detergent buildup. We have enough dipes to wash every third day, so its not been too much of a pain. and i go early in the morning or late-ish at night so the neighbors dont constantly see us throwing diapers in the communal washing machines. I dont know if they'd care or not, but Id rather not make waves.

Good Luck!
 
#3 ·
we did coin laundry for a while while CDing. I found flats and prefolds easiest but fitted worked too. I toliet rinsed diapers well between changes and even wet one after prolonged wear like naps or nighttime. I washed on hot with detergent and at the time some multeam borox for smell stains and disinfecting. I both dried on hot and I used a folding dryer to air dry.
 
#5 ·
Thank you so much for the replies!

So, hot wash, cold rinse (that's the only rinse our machines offer), no presoak or second rinse. I'm thinking I'll also get a diaper sprayer to rinse out poo in the toilet. And maybe a few more dipes so I can wash a bit more infrequently.

One more question: without a second rinse, how much detergent can I use?
 
#6 ·
Use very little detergent. I just got out of this set up as we moved, and found if very... exhausting to have to be home every second day to do laundry, so make sure your DP is helping out by doing some in an evening or morning here and there. (Our laundry room had a very strict time schedule, so it made it inconvienient.)

I second the idea of doing a second "detergent free" wash every now and then.
 
#7 ·
I would definetely recommend getting a diaper sprayer if you're not going to do a presoak or extra rinse. You should be fine just doing one wash if you get the sprayer. If you have a fold up dryer rack, you could even dry in front of a sunny windowsill to help save on drying expense!
 
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