DAY 1 - DDL Flats & Handwashing Challenge - Why Am I Doing It???

Ikea Receiving Blanket in Origami Fold

It's officially started!!!  Today is Day 1 of the Dirty Diaper Laundry Second Annual Flats & Handwashing Challenge and I'm pretty psyched.  So what is the Flats and Handwashing Challenge?  Well I (along with several other cloth diapering parents) have vowed to used only flat cloth diapers and forgo my use of the washer and dryer so that I can hand wash all of Linc's dirty diaper laundry.  Ok, you can ask the question now.  I'm sure you're all dying to ask.  My husband's asked me a million times already.  "Why on earth would you want to do that?!?!"  Well I'll tell you why.

I've been cloth diapering for over six months now and have known I wanted to cloth diaper for over a year.  Being a part of the middle-upper class I've gone crazy with my cloth diaper purchases and have made cloth diapering more of a collection hobby than a bare bones necessity.  Yes, I know I could save a lot of money cloth diapering, but I choose not to.  Now at the same time I blog about cloth diapering.  I talk about how great it is and how much money you can save over disposables.  There in lies the problem though.  I don't practice what I preach and how can I really influence those that are striving to save money if I'm telling you all that the best cloth diapers will cost you around $35 each???  The simple answer is that I can't.  That being said, I found this challenge to be just what I needed to get back to the basics and practice what I preach ... saving money!  

My goals with this challenge are the following:

• Show that with a limited supply of money (as little as $50), you can cloth diaper your child till potty training.
• Research several different flat cloth diaper options and see which ones work the best.
• Test out several different flat folds and see which ones work the best.
• Show that even bare bones cloth diapering can be fun (Whoot!  Love tie-dye!).
• Build up some awesomely toned arms.
• Open my eyes to a whole different world of cloth diapering that I didn't think I'd ever try.

Day 1 notes:

- Last night I put Linc in a Orange Diaper Company toddler size bamboo terry flat origami folded with a Hemp Babies flat padfolded in.  Over that I put a Thirsties size 2 hook and loop diaper cover.  There were no leaks and he could have went even longer since the diaper wasn't fully saturated.

- This morning I had Linc in a padfolded Green Mountain Diapers Cloth-eez Flat size small.  Over that I put a Flip hook and loop diaper cover.  I'm realizing just how easy it is to padfold a flat cloth diaper.  Why mess with all the crazy folds when you can padfold in about 2 seconds.

- Right now I have Linc in an Ikea receiving blanket origami folded with a Thirsties size 2 hook and loop cover.  I love that I can get cute prints when using a receiving blanket!

A Little Cloth Diaper Challenge Humor For The Day:

A Few Hours Later ...

**Please note that some links are affiliate links**

If you would like to read more great posts from other bloggers also taking this challenge feel free to check out the links below.

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Flats Challenge 2012 Day 1

1. Janice @ MommaWords	2. Natalie @ The Chemistry of a Mom	3. Dirty Diaper Laundry➔Linky Home
4. 2 Sleeping Babies	5. Pollyanna @ Sew-Fatty	6. Audrey @ Peace, Love, Crunchy
7. deltaflute@Diapers and Drivel	8. Julie @ My Cloth Diaper Stash	9. Theresa @ The Outnumbered Mommy
10. Mary Ann	11. Sarah @ Life as a Wife, Mummy, Nurse	12. Maria @Change-Diapers.com
13. Staci @ Springpatchjam	14. Just Add Cloth	15. Krystina @ Inner Works of my Brain
16. Repurposed Fabric Diapers	17. Good bye Fancy Diapers	18. Christine
19. Angela @ Beau Choix	20. According to Jenny	21. East Coast Diapers
22. Christina @ Make Every Breath Count	23. C & A Chronicles	24. Michelle @ Grateful Moms of Many
25. The Slacker Mom	26. Mothering From The Maelstrom	27. Amanda @ The Fun Mommy
28. Theresa	29. Wendy @ Chic Diapers	30. Frieda @ My Ramblings: Unwrapped
31. Trisha @ Momma T and Baby E	32. MIndy @ Neck Deep in Love	33. Michelle
34. Chana @ Adventures In Fluff	35. Shauna @ The Mommy Memo	36. Tiffany Kandell
37. Jenn@Funky Little EarthChild	38. Ellen @ jelly bear boutique	39. Jenny @ Cloth Diaper Revival
40. Elyse @ Izzy and Johnny's	41. Angela @ The Natural Mamma	42. Katie
43. Little Tiny Love	44. Keemara @ NapturallyCrunchyMommy	45. Jessica
46. Amber@FluffyButtsBlog	47. Brenda - DFW Cloth Diaper Group	48. Jenney
49. Sisters 'N Cloth - From the Road	50. Cinella @ The Mami Blog	51. Work, Interrupted
52. Nichole	53. Momderings	54. Barbi @ It's Kwizsical
55. Natalie @ Montana n' Me	56. Kimberly	57. Heather @ BoRockGlaMama
58. Domestic Dirt	59. Jessica A.	60. Keila @ Babies Bottoms and More
61. Mandi aka JustOneMama	62. May Paring @ Aspiring to be June Cleaver	63. Brandi @ Shaky Mommy
64. Rachael @ Mostly Modern Mommy	65. Rebecca @ the Mod'N'Natural	66. Stefanie
67. Melissa	68. Amanda @ Making Memories	69. Danielle Ethington
70. Nicole @ FluffyBum-GreenHome	71. What did she say? Diaper oragami. Day 1	72. Kristie - Creating Chaos
73. Michelle Cole	74. Firechick	75. Rachael @ Pompa En Tela
76. NaturallyThriftyMom	77. Anu @ Mongolish Mama	78. Melissa @ Refashionista
79. Little Greenlings	80. Melanie	81. Janis @ Natural Muslim Mama
82. Elizabeth @ The Changing Table	83. Liz @ Cloth Diaper Oklahoma	84. Alitlmonkee

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