Wednesday, May 8, 2013

I Just Signed Up for the Flats and Handwashing Challenge!


In the 3+ years that I have been cloth diapering I have never used flats! I bought some teeny tiny newborn prefolds to try when I was pregnant with Isaac but had pockets and aios to use so I never gave them a shot. I've just always been very comfortable with my stash of mostly pocket diapers and haven't had any real interest in trying flats.  Until I heard about the Flats and Handwashing Challenge! 

The Flats and Handwashing Challenge was started by Kim over at Dirty Diaper Laundry. This is the third year of this challenge but I only just heard about it last year. I found it very interesting. You can only use flats for diapers and you have to hand wash all the diapers! The point of the challenge is to raise awareness of the many families around the world who struggle to provide diapers for their babies. But this challenge shows that it is very possible to use just a few flats and a simple bucket to cloth diaper your baby. 

The challenge starts May 20 and lasts through the 26! Seven whole days of hand washing diapers! It's going to be tough! But I am excited to do it. I think it will be a great learning experience! I'll be blogging about it all the way through! I am purchasing some flats today and I also plan to make some flats out of t-shirts like Kim shows in this tutorial. My husband is going to make me a camp style washing machine with a big 5 gallon paint bucket and I'm going to give it a go! 

I'm very excited to do this challenge! I hope it raises great awareness, even within myself, about the struggles people face every day just to diaper their kids. I hope it shows people who are skeptical about cloth that it is very possible even on the smallest of budgets! If you are interested in taking the Flats and Handwashing Challenge, visit Dirty Diaper Laundry for all the details!

Do you or have you used flats before? Have you ever hand washed your diapers? I'd love to hear your stories or any tips you might have! 

5 comments:

  1. We use flats, but I haven't tried hand-washing yet. I've heard they clean up very easily, though, since it's just one layer of fabric. That's great your husband is part of the project!

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  2. I think this is a fantastic idea for spreading awareness, but I'm just not up for it at this stage in my life. Good for you and good luck!

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  3. I'm still debating on hopping on board! I've never actually used flats for anything other than burp cloths...

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  4. I could NEVER commit to handwashing anything. Good for you! I just have too many more important things to do. Plus my washing machine might get offended lol

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  5. I'm doing it too! I use flats all the time but have never handwashed. But I think it's a really important cause so I'm giving it a shot. Good luck!

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