If you saw yesterday’s blog post, then you’ll know I’m taking the Flats and Handwashing Challenge this year. We’re diapering Ingrid in flats-only this week and laundering/drying them by hand.
Today I want to show you the stash I put together. My goal was to use the most affordable options I could find, without having to make or sew anything, or buy costly accessories. In this way, I felt that I could more strongly make a case for cloth diapering even if you have a tight budget.
Here are the supplies I chose for the Flats and Handwashing Challenge:
- Six waterproof diaper covers – a mix of Kawaii covers from Nicki’s ($7.95 each), Diaper Safari and Imagine/Nicki’s brand covers ($9.95 each). No, Kawaii is not a favorite, but they fit decently and get the job done. They’ve also added a few new prints (like the insect one below).
- Fourteen flat diapers – a mix of 10 flour sack towels ($5 for a 5-pack at Walmart) and 4 bamboo flat diapers (you can buy them individually at Nicki’s for $3.85 each). I sprung for bamboo to hopefully ensure nighttime success. We’ll see….
- Eighteen assorted cloth wipes (cut up flannel receiving blankets, old wash clothes, etc.)
- Plastic trash can ($4)
- 5-gallon bucket ($3 at Lowe’s)
- Plunger (already have)
- Detergent (already have) and Calgon water softener ($5.61 from Walmart.com)
TOTAL:$98.30 to diaper a 22-month-old, and washing every other day
I’m really glad to have kept my “test stash” under $100, as I think this helps make investing cloth less formidable. The truth is, you can start for even less than this, as little as $50, if you were committed to washing every day and bought the diaper covers used.
Initial thoughts on our experience so far:
- The regular “flour sack” kitchen towels don’t work for overnight, even when doubled, which I anticipated. Tonight I will try the bamboo/cotton flats instead.
- I’m planning to launder every two days, so Wednesday (tomorrow) will be washing day.
- To make sure everything is going to be easier to wash, I’m making sure that I “shake out” the saturated flats when I remove them (padfolded) from the cover. Otherwise, all those layers aren’t going to get very clean.
- Mild surprise that Ingrid hasn’t had any rash or redness from the saturated cotton fibers after naps and nighttime. I’m not using any type of liner.
If you’re taking the challenge, or have any questions at this stage, let me know!
I would be curious to hear how it works out with 2 bamboo flats! I love using 2 large birdseye ones (I wish more brands would offer larger sized flats! I bet the same size ones I use in hemp or bamboo would be awesome!)
I’ll definitely let you know in the morning LOL
Carolyn, are your birdseye diapers more or less tightly woven than a “flour sack towel”?
Yes, absolutely a tighter weave (my FSTs are practically see-through). I bought the FSTs to use as diapers but hated them – they’re scratchy and not as absorbent as the standard sized flats I bought around the same time. Then I bought large flats and loved them even more, so my standard flats and FSTs are all used for drying my hair (and the flats are more absorbent than the FSTs for that!). I think FSTs are one of those awesome diapering products if you’re on a super duper budget, but for absorbency, I don’t understand the hype. They’re better than Gerber prefolds, but if you have the few extra dollars I’d go with actual flats!
I am inclined to agree about the flour sack towels – they aren’t very soft and not nearly absorbent as a cotton flat. In the Challenge this week, I’ve realized they are only useful if doubled up. Why go through the trouble when you could do just as well with 1 large good-quality flat? I’m actually doing a post on FST soon. Thanks for all the useful feedback! ~Anne
I always thought about adding a few covers and FSTs to our “open in case of emergency!” bags, because it seems like they would be so much easier to keep clean and dry if the electricity was out for a few days! Luckily, we’ve gotten to potty training without having to brave a natural disaster.
I love that your doing this. I’ve been reading a few peoples post and I love how people are showing how easy cloth diapering is!
I am curious to find out how well the bamboo flats work. I love our flats for traveling and to keep on hand in case of emergency. But I don’t have the best overnight solution without using some sort of hemp inserts. Bamboo flats might be the answer to my emergency stash (especially since I live in tornadoes Dixie Alley).
Leigh, I absolutely love the bamboo flats and would definitely recommend them over flour sack towels in terms of absorbency. Ingrid wore doubled up bamboo flats for nights 2 and 3 of the challenge and they held everything just fine. ~Anne
How are the flour sack towels working for day?
She can barely go an hour in one, so they are only useful doubled up. I much prefer the bamboo flats and think they are definitely worth the 3 bucks and change. ~Anne
Now that you have done this a few days, how is your daughter bum? My mom’s first question when I told her we were cloth diapering was if her grandsons bums would get rashes from being in wet diapers. I normally use a pocket which keeps the moisture off, but am wanting to move more toward prefolds and flats.
Surprisingly healthy! LOL Seriously, though, I was worried about irritation and rash since we aren’t using fleece liners. No problems, though, with just the bamboo and cotton flats against her skin. ~Anne
I have a few bamboo terry loop flats from a wahm shop. I love them! Mine were way more than $3 though! Is that a normal price for bamboo flats?
Thomasina, I think the ones from WAHM shops (like Stashify and Sweet Iris) are made from a more expensive type of bamboo fabric. The ones I bought from Nicki’s look just like a cotton flat diaper but are a blend of cotton/bamboo. ~Anne
I love being able to cloth diaper for cheap, it can become easily addicting but you don’t NEED a ton of diapers!
I’d love to know how the bamboo works overnight… We still haven’t found anything that lasts long enough.
I have never tried FST at flats, but I’m interested in trying them to see how they compare to other flats.
A reasonable cost, for sure. Look forward to hearing what the best night time solution turns out to be.
FSTs can be so hard to find that are tightly knit and not scratchy so we mostly use flannel. Also husband cant always tell which (clearly different to me) towels are for the kitchen and which go on the bum so i hide them at the bottom of the basket and only wash day is delayed
Loking forward to seeing how well bamboo flats do at night, I’ve been thinking of ordering some from Nicki’s.
Love our homemade flannel wipes, really just 2 layer washcloths in fun prints
I’ve never tried or really looked at doing bucket plunger as only way to wash so how do you do that?
I agree with you that most flour sack towels really aren’t like the real thing; in fact, I’m working on a post about that very thing. Today, I’ll be posting my wash routine so be looking for that! ~Anne
I’m using flour sack towels as my stash for this challenge as well. I’m really interested in how the bamboo flats work for you!
I am curious how the flour sack towels compare to the cotton birds eye flats. I see lots of people use the flour sack towels, so they must work…
I use flats all the time except for naps and overnight. They are my go-to diapers.
We use flats daily. They are unbleached osocozy cotton flats & Thirsties wrap duo covers.
I’m curious to know how the bamboo flats hold up for nights. So they absorb a lot more than FST?
Absolutely, Danielle. My post from yesterday includes a sliding scale of absorbency so you can see where FST’s stack up compared to bamboo. There’s quite a difference. http://bit.ly/1WH0IBh ~Anne
I attempted a weeks of flats and covers, but ran out after half the first day. I guess I didn’t anticipate how many I’d have to have. We went through them a bit faster than normal inserts, though we didn’t need to use the dryer. I’m now a believer in flats!
It is interesting this year that I keep hearing people not liking the absorbency of FST. I always only heard love from people but I wondered if they were really as good as flats. It helps me know not to waste money on any for my heavy wetter
Denise, like you I often seen them recommended, but I can see how the absorbency might be disappointing for someone who’s just starting with cloth, or just doing the challenge for the first time. I always recommend a better quality flat, if the family can spare a few more dollars. ~Anne
I wash everyday right now and we have two in cloth. I would love to have more but it just isn’t in the budget and honestly it isn’t too exhausting to have to wash everyday.