The blog prompt for Thursday for was to talk about your wash routine. I actually ended up taking a break from washing and blogging that day, so I'm just running a little behind now. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I washed in my camp washer, but yesterday, since I skipped washing Thursday, I decided to wash in the bathtub to better accommodate the larger load. I also chose to wash in the middle of the day instead of waiting until night time (more on that adventure later). I'll go over my routines for both methods.
I've been going through about 8-10 diaper changes per day during the challenge. Sometimes I use 2 flats for nap time diapers so I'm washing anywhere from 8-12 flats at a time. At the end of the day if any of my covers have gotten poop on them, or if they just smell like pee I toss them in too. (If they still smell ok at the end of the day I just hang them up to keep using them the next day). At least 2 covers have been going in every night. This load size pretty much maxes out the camp washer. Too many diapers will keep you from being able to get proper agitation and the diapers won't be able to get clean enough.
If I'm being honest, I am very ready to get back to machine washing my diapers, Hand washing isn't terrible, but it has been pretty time consuming. I actually haven't done any regular laundry all week because by the time I get the kids in bed and get the diapers washed, rinsed, wrung out, and hung to dry it's been pushing midnight. It's also hard physical work if you're not used to it. Lots of bending over, churning, moving the full heavy bucket around, and wringing things out. Seriously, with the wringing! I now have blisters on my hands from wringing out all of these darn diapers. I've got blistahs on me fingahs! And then they still take millennia to dry.
But I digress. On to the wash routine!
Camp Washer Method
Presoak
Fill the bucket to a few inches above the diapers with cold water. Add a tiny bit of detergent. Do a few plunges to get the detergent mixed in and then let it sit. I've been doing this before bedtime and then just letting them sit until I can get back to them. I'd say they soak for at least an hour. When I do get back to them I'll usually give them a couple more plunges to loosen everything up, then dump the whole contents of the bucket into the tub, lightly wring everything out, and toss it all back into the bucket.
Main wash
Fill the bucket back up to a few inches above the diapers with hot water. Add about 2 tablespoons of detergent. Plung 90 times. Let sit for awhile (I usually use this time for the baby's second bedtime...). Plung another 90 times. Dump again. Wring again. Back in the bucket again.
Bucket rinse
Fill the bucket all the way to the top with cold water. I like to let it continue to run and actually overflow for a bit, plunging the whole time to get the detergent out of the fibers, Dump. Wring. Do this type of rinse twice.
Faucet rinse
I rinse each piece individually under the faucet, wring it out as much as possible, and hang up to dry
Bathtub Method
This really isn't that much different than the camp washer method, just on a slightly larger scale.
Presoak
Fill the tub to cover the diapers with cold water. Add a little bit of detergent. Mix it all around with the plunger or your hands. Let it sit for awhile. Mix it all around again, drain the water, and wring everything out,
Main Wash
Fill the tub back up to about 1/3 full with hot water. Add a little more than 2 tablespoons of detergent. Now get to washing, I didn't count plunges in the tub. I used the plunger and focused on different sections of the tub for a minute or so at a time. I also used my hands and rubbed the diapers together and on the rough bottom of the tub, One thing I like about tub washing as opposed to the bucket was that I could really see the diapers so I could see what spots needed a little more attention. Because I washing during the day while the munchkins were awake I kept getting called away so the diapers got some scrubbing, and then some sitting, and more scrubbing and more sitting. Once they're clean, drain the water and wring everything out.
Rinses
I did the rinses for the tub method the same way I did for the camp washer. Two full tub rinses in cold water and then rinsing each piece under the faucet.
Throughout the entire washing process Evelyn was dying to get into the tub with the diapers. I kept having to remind her that the water was dirty and not to stick her toys or hands in it. She did put on one of my gloves and mix them around some. I did finally let her get in during some of the rinsing. I probably ended up using 3 times the water that I needed because of her "help," but she had fun and that's what matters, right?
Drying
I really really want a clothesline! I have this drying rack which isn't bad, but it really isn't big enough. I prefer to dry outside in the sun to bleach stains and for the airflow, but, naturally, it has rained pretty much all week, After my first wash on Monday night I hung everything up, turned the exhaust fan on, and 16 hours later everything was still damp. Particularly the covers. Talk about frustrating! I reached out to the challenge Facebook group and was advised to to roll the covers up in a towel to get as much excess moisture out as possible before hanging them up, and also to not leave everything in the bathroom because there probably isn't enough airflow. That helped A LOT the next night. They're always going to take awhile to dry indoors, but I was able to find ways to get them usable in a little less than 16 hours.
Every wash routine, whether hand or machine washing, is going to take a little trial and error. I took parts of different routines and found what worked for me. As ready as I am to be done hand washing, I think I've found a routine that would work if I had to keep going.
And now it's time for me to go and finish up my final hand washing routine!
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