Flats and Handwashing Challenge 2014 Day 4 #footwashingrocks

I think, for some of us, the challenge should be called "Flats and Footwashing Challenge"

So, for the casual reader learning about cloth diapers, or laundering in general, I took this week as a chance to test my abilities at such a task: doing laundry with my feet.

After all, feet create the best wine, so, why not washing the best diapers?

MY FOOTWASHING ROUTINE

First time I knew about this technique was due to another blogging mom, who did all her laundry in a small appartment without any equipment.

The technique is very simple: you turn your bathtub into a washing drum and your feet into agitators. That's it. Of course, since you get very wet, a bath comes with the package.

What I was not counting on, and I should have, is a couple of little helpers. Well, inf fact, a Tiny one. Apparently having small pieces of fabric inside the bathtub is just as fun as having rubber duckies, and he's old enough to be aware of water and not to try drinking it or lying face down, so I've allowed him to come in. What does he do? he plays! (and subsequently, agitates, hehe).

So, for the "washing" part, I start like any other shower, filling the washer with water, setting up a load, and having the water hot at that point, jumping in, the only difference is that I empty the wet bag first. Easy enough?

Tiny Guy follows and we do the usual shower routine, but I stop the drain, so the tub gets filled with the water I use for showering. After some 3 or 4 minutes of bath, I reach out for my Zote soap inside its baby sock and turn the handheld shower into "massage" mode, aiming it at the soap. Suds immediately start appearing in the surface of our little pool. Tiny Guy loves that. Bath continues as usual, but I constantly remind myself to "Stump my feet and mov'it to the beat". Tiny Guy is at this point doing the heaviest work (a.k.a. having fun!).

At some point, I pull up the drain stopper and start finishing the bath for both of us. Reach a towel and get out. Tiny Guy keeps playing and I have to stay there until the water is gone. Then comes the tough part. I try picking up all the pieces and placing them on top of the bath chair, but Tiny Guy keeps pulling them down, so I turn on the cold water and aim the shower towards 4 or 5 pieces, rinse them directly and wring them. They are very small, so that takes me no time. I go to the drying rack and hang them.

I do that 2 or 3 times until Tiny Guy has decided to finally come out, I wrap him in a towel and leave the rest of the pieces inside the washer (only as a bucket) soaking in water, for later rinse and wringing.

Now, that's when we get into trouble. Yesterday, I had left the remaining flats (mostly sleeves cut down from t-shirt) inside the washer that had been full with the bathroom mat. Came in the morning to do the rinsing and wringing and Tiny Guy followed. He started tossing them back in the bathtub, I started picking them up. This cycle continued until I simply lifted him and sat him on top of the washer. Little Guy came in, liked the idea, and climbed to sit besides his little brother. So this is what I had in front of me while rinsing and wringing:

On other matters, I nearly quit yesterday, Tiny Guy's bum was red as a tomato, eventhough most of the day I had used pockets (stuffed with flats). I concluded that the inside of Flip Covers should never contact the skin, unlike the Real Nappies ones, they have the plastic exposed, and these flats are not long enough to cover it, so no more Flips for the rest of the week.