Farm~School~Life

Showing posts with label Challenge. Show all posts

Today is day 3 of the #Flatschallenge from Dirty Diaper Laundry.

I am really enjoying the challenge, even if it means staying up a little later to handwash diapers.

The whole idea for me is to show others that you can cloth diaper on a budget and without a washer or dryer (if needed) and while having other commitments. I hear a lot of moms say, "I would cloth diaper if I stayed home but I work." Well news flash I have a full time job, a 7 year old who plays baseball at least twice a week plus has Cub Scouts one night a week, I lead a group of 5-10 year olds on Sunday nights at church, and my husband farms full time and expects me to help out when and where I can. I'm not trying to "mom shame" anyone but if you are struggling and need to diaper your children cheaply there is a way to do it...no matter your schedule. As the farmer would say, "You just need some want-to."

Feeding a baby calf last night after a 10 hour work day.

So how did my first washing go?

On Monday night I washed the day's diapers. I had 10 diapers. It was a combo of flour sack towels and flannel flats along with 2 covers and 4 pockets I sent (stuffed with FST) to my mother in law. I will go into my wash routine later this week but really it wasn't bad. The flats that hung as they would on a line outside were dry this morning however the ones on the "drying rack" were not.

How do I handle child care while doing flats?

For one you should know that my childcare consist of my mother-in-law, my husband and one of my closest friends. While I'm not going to say any of the above love the idea none of them buck it either. For my husband and MIL I send FST stuffed inside of pocket diapers. This makes it easy and quick to change the farmboy no matter if they are at home, the silage field or the milk barn. When my BFF keeps him I sent flats and covers. The flats are already pad folded and ready to load into the covers but she knows if she wants she can use any fold she is comfortable with. Honestly I'm about the only one who uses various folds and a snappi. If you want your childcare provider to use a certain fold because it works better you just need to take a few moments to show them how to put the diaper on and be sure all the diapers are prefolded. It makes life easier on them if they aren't trying to remember how you make an origami fold or did you say a j-fold?

So what about that DIYs you mentioned?

Part of my flat stash is made up of homemade flannel flats and homemade fleece covers. The flats are simple and quick to do and you can even do them if you don't have a sewing machine (they just might not last as long). The covers require some basic sewing skills and a machine. However there is an option even if you don't have a sewing machine for a cover.

Check out these tutorials

DIY Flannel Flats
DIY T-Shirt Flats
Fleece Cover
NO-SEW Fleece Cover

I hope today's post gave you some encouragement on trying flat cloth diapers. Come back tomorrow to see how I make flats work while we are out and about.

Until next time may God bless you & keep you!

Caci

Hi & welcome if you are visiting from the DDL link up!! I hope you enjoy my little space on the blog sphere.

I'll begin with some honesty...I am a blogging slacker from time to time and honestly yesterday got away from me before I remembered. Today we are going to do Day 4 & 5 of the Flats Challenge in one post :)

Day 4's topic was: What is your washing routine?

Day's 5 topic: Flats experience, Fav Folds & What's working (or not).

Don't expect there to be a distinct answer for all the above. I am going to address all the question as I go expect for my favorite folds which I will cover at the end.

My washing routine is quite simple until we have a mishap. Which just so happens we had on Monday evening, that really presented itself Tuesday. Monday was a CRAZY day around the farm.

Farmer is in the middle of chopping silage and the farm baby had to hang with him some.

After spending some time doing that he got to haul cows with the Farmer as well...

which he loved but his unchanged bottom revolted against it. (read TERRIBLE ammonia burn)

TBT: Hauling cows with Daddy in winter

Why was the Farm Baby with the Farmer and not Momma...

well cause Momma had the Farm Boy...

Picking up 4-H project chicks,

Checking cows with the kitten in tow,

Getting the barn ready for 4-H project #3 to arrive Sunday,

Playing ball,

and attending a Young Farmers & Ranchers committee meeting. Oh and did I mention I went to work for most of the day Monday as well...

You see farm life often means you divide and conquer :)

So how do I have time to handwash???

Well simply I do it all along. I don't have one huge allotment of time each day to dedicate to washing diapers but I do have 5 minutes here and there.

My 1st step is filling the sink with cold water.

While it's filling I empty all the pocket diapers out and swish them around in the cold water.

(Yes there is a microfiber insert in there...the Farmer grabs whatever is available to use).

I let them soak for a few moments while I usually tend to something else. Sometimes this is 5 minutes...sometimes it's 5 hours...just depends. After the 1st cold soak, I boil some water in my kettle, drain the soak water and let the tap water heat up.

Once the water is hot (my kettle isn't ready yet) I use a broiler pan and scrub my diapers using Zote, while filling the sink with "hot" water and a little blue dawn. Once I'm done scrubbing diapers and the kettle is done I poor the super hot water over the diapers and let them soak again.

Once they have soaked again (at least 5-10 minutes) I drain the water and rinse all the diapers clean.

I then hang them on our back porch/laundry as it gets great sunlight but is still protected from all the elements. Typically my diapers are completely dry within 3 hours or hanging them up (expect last night due to the rain and cooler temps).

My wash routine also took a little longer last night as well. And in favor of complete honesty...I'll tell you we used a disposable for one change because Farm Baby's bottom was BAD...he needed some HEAVY DUTY diaper cream that I didn't want in my diapers...I was so tempted just to throw everything in the washer with some bleach and then the dryer, to fix our problem. After thinking about the fact that I'm sure there are moms out there who face this situation without the luxury of a wash & dryer 10 feet away...I figured I would find another solution. So I boiled all the diapers to ensure any ammonia build up was completely gone.

Once diapers are dry I let the boys twist, scrunch, and wring them to make them soft again.

After we play laundry ball for a few...I then fold anything I am going to fold so that it's ready for the next diaper change.

I love the......

pad fold (because how much simpler can you get)

Origami Fold (My ABSOLUTE favorite fold)

Happy Anteater Fold

and occasionally the Kite Fold

Overall the challenge is going well. I don't mind the hand washing and really could see us doing away with many of our pocket stash for flats and covers over the next few months. They take up so much less space than our pockets.

How's the challenge going for you? If you aren't participating are you a CD mom?

Until we meet again...

Caci

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

I hope your day is full of bliss and uninterrupted potty breaks.

I have decided to take the Flats Challenge that begins today.

It was started a few years back by Kim of Dirty Diaper Laundry to test her commitment to keeping her kids in clean diapers. I know many people in our world, country and even in our county don't make enough to make ends meet. There is no federal assistance program for diapers (not that I believe there should be) but because of that some people take extreme measures to squeeze every last dime out of a diaper...down to reusing disposables. This challenge was created to show that where there is a will there is a way. You can cloth diaper your child from birth to potty training cheaply using things you probably have around the house or can pick up for less than $25 (the cost of a large pack of Pampers).

We make ends meet, occasionally we use disposables, and have a working washer & dryer...so why am I participating in the challenge? To show folks you can do it, if you want! You don't have to reuse disposables or leave a diaper on too long. Also I feel that I am in a unique situation..many of the moms I have seen are participating in the challenge stay at home, I on the other hand work a full time job outside the home, run an Etsy shop, help on the farm, have multiple volunteer commitments and an older child who has school and extra-curricular activities. (Please don't think I am discounting the value of a stay at home mom or her time...I'm just in a different situation) I want to someone who feels like they can't to know no matter how much is going on in your lives you can accomplish this. Even when ends barely meet and time is sparse you can diaper your baby without disposables and modern conveniences.

So there you have it. I pledge for the next 7 days to only use flats, no washer, no dryer on this little bum. Through church, t-ball, work, committee meetings, and a 12+ hour round trip to only use flats. If we can do this in our crazy family...you can too! Are you willing? It's not to late to join...check out the rules here and come ride the crazy train with me!

Until we meet again!

Caci

So this year I have set 14 goals for myself. If you want to check out why I picked these 14 read this. We are 8 weeks into the new year and I thought today would be a great day to check in and see how I am doing!

1. Pray about everything!

I still don't prayer nearly enough but each day I TRY to make sure I am in prayer. I haven't been using my notebook as well as I should so I plan to pick that back up. For me it helps to have a list so I know what I need pray about.

2. Study Scripture Daily.

The last 2 weeks have been terrible. I haven't been studying nearly enough. Funny I have found myself to be more irritable and unorganized...i don't think it was just a coincidence

3. Tithe 1st, not last.

Still working on this one but we have been tithing more often. It is officially now the 1st item in our budget as well!

4. Memorize 12 verses of Scripture

I need to step my game up!

5. Organize my life.

HaHaHa...not even sure we can call this a work in progress! I have updated our billing system on the computer but that it about the extent.

6. Declutter Our House

I have started this process. I actually have taken off LOADS of stuff...but it just seems to multiply. I had originally set up rooms for each month and while I have worked in those areas I wouldn't call them complete. I did start in the boys room and made a good deal of headway but still have a LONG LONG way to go. I did just purchase a new book I am hoping will encourage and inspire me in this task!

7. Set a daily schedule and stick to it!!

Definitely need to work on this one! I have overslept 4 of the last 5 days!

8. Pay off Debt!!!

I am excited to say I have made a huge dent in this area. I have multiple accounts with a zero balance!!! Next month I should be able to add 2 more accounts to that list! YAY!! I am hoping to start the envelope system with my next paycheck. So we shall see...got to get all my ducks in a row KWIM.

9. Put at least $1000 in our savings account for a rainy day fund

Not there yet but we do have some funds in our savings account which is exciting!

10. Put at least $200 extra into each of the boy's savings account.

I have a plan for this but we will see how it works out. Still need to open the baby's account instead of just letting it sit in his jar at the house LOL.

11. Do a family outing once a month.

We did do a family outing in February for William's birthday. I mean we went out for lunch...that counts right??

12. Exercise 3 times a week and include the boys as often as possible.

This goal has been hit or miss. Some weeks are great...others are not. Hoping to improve as the weather gets warmer. I have been working toward getting healthier and you can read more about that in the Thin Down Thursday feature on the blog.

13. Go on a date night just William & I once a month

We have yet to do this but we did get a 2 hour time slot one afternoon just the 2 of us...that counts right?

14. Post 60 blog post, plus keep our social media sites updated.

So far this is probably my most successful goal. This post here means I'm 1/3 of my way to posting 60 times this year. I have also been making sure I post regularly (at least once or twice a week) on our other SM sites!

So there you have it...my 8 week check in on my 14 goals. Did you set goals for the New Year? Are you still working on them? Or have you tossed them?

Until next time

Caci