old school is the new cool

{pj rockin' his new ikea flats, sans cover}

I love telling people how far cloth diapering has come. that modern cloth diapering is nothing like your grandma's cloth diaper. but the most ironic thing about it is that my favorite cloth diapering system is as old school as you can get. flats + wool.

so as crazy as it sounds, I'm going to be taking one more step in the old school direction next week by committing to the flats and handwashing challenge* hosted by dirtydiaperlaundry.com. yep, that's right, for the week of may 23rd through the 30th I will be handwashing my diapers. crazy? yes, a little. but I'm excited to try!

here are a few of the rules:

You MUST use Flats.

You MUST handwash them. How is up to you. (bathtub, sink, large wash tub, portable non electronic washing machine, or camp style washer (bucket and plunger- think churning butter)

You MUST air dry them. (indoors or outdoors, makes no difference)

You MUST limit your number of covers in rotation to 5 or less.

You can use any detergent you want. (Keep in mind that you still want cloth safe detergents)

You can still use your nighttime diapers but I ask that you try to make flats work. Maybe try a prefold wrapped in a flat.

You can use disposable liners.

You CAN’T use a diaper sprayer. I thought long and hard about this one, but at an average cost of 40.00 this is one diaper accessory that is out of range for many families. Dunk, swish, flush, or scrape!

{image via}

okay, I'm good with using flats. I use them almost exclusively anyway. (yes, even over my more "high-tech" diapers) and line drying? no problem. I try to do that weather permitting already. but no diaper sprayer?? I am in love with that thing! but I'm a big girl, I can handle the dunk + swish for a week (because honestly, it's really not that bad. I swear!) but I do have to say I will miss spritzing my dipes...

I'll be blogging about it all, so you won't miss a thing. don't worry! I'll also go into a little more detail on why I choose (and love!) cloth diapering my son as well as some general cloth diapering info, because people have been curious. so get ready for some fluff people!!

::check out why other mammas are joining the challenge::

*recently I have read news articles about low-income families reusing disposable diapers because they cannot afford to buy more. scraping out poop and putting a soiled diaper back on a child is such a huge health risk! now I know that in some circumstances cloth diapers aren't realistic for a low-income family due to a myriad of reasons, but I wanted to see for myself how realistic it would be for me to handwash my diapers. because I know if it came down to it, I would rather handwash diapers every night than use disposable diapers on my son for a prolonged amount of time. it is that important to me. I am also doing this so I know how to handwash the cloth so I would feel comfortable doing it in an emergency situation. plus, I just like a challenge!