If you are not familiar with the Flats & Handwashing Challenge, go on over and visit Dirty Diaper Laundry and find out! I’ve completed this challenge once before and I plan to find out if this challenge is something I can complete with more than one little in diapers.
Since April is closing out, I need to start preparing for this challenge. I don’t think I can leave this one to my procrastinating days since I’ll have more than one baby depending on being diapered. I will need to get out and buy some more cloth in order to have plenty for the girls to be clean and dry during the day. I currently have Flip covers which I purchased on sale from Cotton Babies. I plan to pair these with a combination of previously owned flats, receiving blankets, and some new FST towels from our local Wal-Mart. (I believe the FST towels are available online but it’s much cheaper to get them in-store.)
Overall, I think I can break down my spending to the following:
Flats: $25 (dozen)
Flip Covers: $5 ea X 4
FST Towels: $15 (12 towels)
Plunger: $1 (From the local Dollar Tree to “hand wash” my diapers in an old bucket.)
That’s a total of $61 to diaper an infant, a one year old, and a potty trained toddler who still needs a diaper overnight for accidents. I think that’s pretty frugal. I think my husband can appreciate frugal. If we ever decide to live off the grid, he’d be proud of my diapering skills. 😉
Now you may be asking yourself “Why on earth would she be doing this?” It’s quite simple, I’d love to one day help educate my local community (which sits in a large low-socioeconomic area.) I want local families to know that diapering their babies can be frugal and attainable no matter the circumstances. I currently have my hands very full but one day my babies will grow. One day they will be independent and I’ll be able to reach out to the community with everything I’ve learned during my cloth diapering days. I hope to pass on this knowledge on to even just one family in need. If I can do that, then this challenge will have served it’s purpose.
As the wise Kim Rosas said in her blog:
“As always the heart of this challenge is to shine a light on the fact that there are families struggling to provide clean diapers for their babies and to offer an alternative solution not often discussed when the major media outlets cover these stories. There are diaper banks that can help families get started with cloth diapers for free or little cost. If you know a family or are a family in need please visit Giving Diapers, Giving Hope– the longest running nationwide diaper lending program that ships to any approved family in the US. I encourage anyone touched by this challenge to donate to their organization and help them provide more diapers to more families.”
So if you’re feeling brave today, join me! Sign up today. 🙂
~Norm
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