people, i am handwashing the diapers this week

I have taken the Flats Challenge (aka #flatschallenge).  Flats, for those of you who hate the earth and all that is good and pure, are large squares of cloth that, when folded up, are Superty! Great! For! Catching! Crap!

Oh stop being horrified. You had to know that I would mention crap if I was writing about diapering.  Right?  Except for the new people, maybe, and new people?  I have a tendency to overuse the CRAP word.  

So.

There are people who re-use disposable diapers.  And that is way disgusting.  I'm not being all Judgy McJudgerson here, and calling PEOPLE disgusting.  I'm just saying that shaking out the crap and slapping that wet thing back on the backside of a real live person I had expelled from my places is just not anything I would ever do.  I'd sooner duct tape the short person to the toilet.

Wait... duct tape the short person to the ... why didn't I think of that eight years ago??? 

Stop. I am neither actually considering duct taping people to the can, nor am I wishing I'd already duct taped my progeny to the can.  Really, people.

In order to prove that people with no money and no washing machine can cloth diaper, Kim from Dirty Diaper Laundry threw down the gauntlet.  Use only flat diapers and covers, and handwash.  Now people, I'm telling you STRAIGHT UP that there is no way on God's Green that I would ever actually handwash crapcatchers with my ACTUAL HANDS.  Oh. No.

So.  I went to the local purveyor of all things hardware-related, and got me a 5 gallon paint bucket with a lid, and a plunger.  And I batted my eyelashes all pretty and The Mister drilled me a hole in the lid of the bucket so I could make my very own butter-churn-ish-diaper-washer.  It's pretty great.  (cost: $11)

And then.  I looked in my basement and found the box of old receiving blankets I had stashed away.  Because honestly, people, receiving blankets seem like a really great idea when you're about to birth a short person, but they are pretty much useless.  

Unless you find yourself in the #FlatsChallenge.  Then you wash those puppies up and fold 'em just so and stick 'em on the backside of the nearest non-toilet-trained individual in your home.  Except Grandma.  Don't try to use receiving blankets to diaper your grandma.  They're WAY too small ... or Grandma's poop is way too... 

Oh, never mind.

So.  I spent $11 making a washing machine, and $0 on diapers.  I have two or three Snappis ($6 ish) that I'm using to keep things all pinned up, and I'm using two Thirsties Duo Size 2 covers ($14 ish each) and three wool soakers that I made from two thrifted sweaters ($2 each, plus 20 minutes).  I already had the Snappis, the Thirsties covers, and the soakers, so this has been a pretty inexpensive experiment.  If I had purchased everything new, I'd have spent just shy of $50.

Pictures tomorrow.  Honest.  This isn't like the last time I posted and said I'd post something the next day, but then I didn't because of the things and the stuff and the excessive amount of time I spent vomiting.  

Oh, right.  I didn't tell you about that.  You're welcome!