Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Finishing thoughts on the flats challenge

I'm a little late on summarizing, considering my patchy blogging in the past, that I'm even remembering to DO this is a big accomplishment, so here goes. 

Seeing how easily flats dried and the more intensive wash cycle and backlog of laundry we had when we were using just fluffy fitteds, well the challenge made a huge impact.  I haven't unpacked the fitteds yet.  Carl and I have each improvised our own folds we prefer on the baby and are still using flats the majority of the time.  I have started using the pockets I had set out as backup during the challenge but didn't use.  The inserts dry in almost the same amount of time as a flat and stuffing is very easy. 

What I disliked about the challenge, really the only issue I had, was the crunchy diapers.  I tried both liquid and powdered detergent, it was just the line drying that made for the crunchiness.  And the rain was a bit prohibitive towards the end with line drying - I could hang them above the washer but we would run out of space quickly the way Elowyn pees. 

At the very least, I expect we'll be sticking with flats through summer.  Cutting from two dry cycles down to one is a huge energy impact in the house.  They get so clean and now that we have the hang of them, it's just not an issue to keep using them right now.

I'm glad we ended up doing the flats challenge.  I like feeling comfortable handwashing now, and DEFINITELY feel like I can handle it camping or traveling in general.  I do really appreciate having the washing machine back though!

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