Flats and Handwashing Challenge Day Two

This is the second day of the 3rd Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge, a week wherein we agree to only use flat diapers and hand wash them.

Supplies and Preparation Cost Breakdown

Getting ready for the challenge was very easy for us as we already use flat diapers pretty consistently. For our supplies we have one Wonder Wash that I mentioned yesterday, you can see it here below:

The instructions say, "2 Quarts warm water, 1 tbs. detergent, 1/2 full clothes. Agitate 2 mins., drain, rinse w/1 quart cool water & 1 tbs fabric softener, drain."

Washing Implements:

Wonder Wash (manual): $50

We purchased our Wonder Wash two years ago when we first got married on Amazon. We used it daily to wash our clothes every evening so you can see where I wrote instructions on it for Papa. We did a slightly different routine for diapers, but I'll cover that another day.

Washing Implements Total: $50

 

Diapers:

10 Receiving blankets: $1

For flats we are using 10 receiving blankets that we purchased at a yard sale. We were also given many receiving blankets as gifts, probably about 20 but the ten we're using are the purchased ones. I contemplated buying actual flats, but when I compared a birdseye flat to a receiving blanket there wasn't enough difference for me to justify buying them. They're basically plain receiving blankets with a slightly different weave.

Diapers Total: $1

 

A not very well folded diaper on Baby. I was in a hurry and she was squirmy, but hey, it doesn't leak and it's cute,  so win/win I say.

Covers: 

2 Econobum covers: $5 
2 Flip covers (snaps): $14
1 Flip cover (velcro): Gift!

The two Econobum covers we purchased off of a diaper swap on Facebook that were second hand but in like new condition for $5, which was a great deal. They're blue edged but neither of us mind our daughter wearing blue so there you have it. The Flip covers we purchased off of the website Cottonbabies.com during their Seconds sale and got them for $7 each with free shipping. We purchased 3 covers for $21, but we're only using two for the challenge. One lives at the neighbors house with 2-3 prefolds for when we need to change diapers over there. The velcro Flip cover we have was a gift from my sister and one of Papa's favorites, so I made sure to include it this week.

Covers Total: $19

Grand Total: $70*

Given the supplies that we have it would be entirely feasible to diaper a baby from infancy to potty training for $70, which is pretty awesome. If we don't count the washer since it's dual purpose and not strictly for diapering, we spent $20 on diapering.* All together for our diaper stash that we typically use we've spent slightly less than $200, mostly for convenience (velcro pockets for Papa!) and a few cute diapers I bought because they matched outfits Baby had (silly but I don't care!). Cloth diapering has saved us a ton of money even factoring in detergent at $17 every 12 weeks and a $2/month water bill increase only comes to about $8/month spent on diapering.