In Over My Head...In Soap Suds!

I like doing laundry. It seems to be the one "chore" that neither Daddy L nor I dislike. I do not however enjoy folding the laundry and Daddy L has a very particular laundry folding style that I just cannot live up to. When we first started doing laundry together I used to sneak into his dresser drawers (creepy girlfriend?) and unfold certain articles of clothing so that I could study exactly how they were folded and try to replicate it with his freshly washed clothing. I would proudly hand over the basket of carefully folded laundry only to catch him refolding his laundry when I wasn't looking. So over time, laundry became his thing to do.

Apparently I really missed doing laundry because I have created more for myself. I decided to try attempt number 3 at cloth diapering.
When I was pregnant with Munchkin, I decided I was definitely going to cloth diaper. I bought and prepped the diapers. It lasted a day. With the whirlwind of having a new baby I just gave up and the adorable diapers went on ebay. Then just before Munchkin was two I tried again with some Bumgenius diapers but Munchkin himself told me, "I don't like these diapers!" So attempt number 2 failed.

Now with Pumpkin, I got a huge lot of diapers on ebay and low and behold, we have been doing this for almost a month and it's working! He has no complaints (ok so he only says a handful of words!) The poop is not as disgusting as I thought and the diapers are SO FREAKING CUTE!

My only problem is the LAUNDRY! I'm still don't mind doing it, I just can't seem to get it right!

The other night, after the kids had gone to bed, Daddy L opened the laundry room door to find me seated on a bucket watching the front loader spin. I tried to explain I was watching for suds. Of course it is perfectly logical. I was trying to see whether the soap has been thoroughly rinsed from the diapers. I got some chuckles and a "you've got to be kidding me!" out of that one!

Luckily he didn't catch me pouring buckets of water through the washer's soap dispenser in an attempt to fill the washer with more water than the high efficiency (meaning water SAVING) washer usually uses!

Any cloth diapering mommies out there, advice is very much needed! The diapers (Bumgenius AOIs) have developed a funky smell. I have been using Charlie's Soap. It was only after buying it that I read all about how it needs to be used. I figured I'd try to use it and see if I could make it work. BUT there are all these rules. I emailed the company who said should wash all my clothes in it as well or else wash a load of towels in their stuff first to clean the washer of "other" detergent residues. Otherwise they said I would be basically using using the diapers to clean the washer of detergent residue and my diapers would end up with detergent and poop all over them and not get clean. Now, I know Charlie's works great for many people, and it might work well for me, but at this time, I just can't commit to using just Charlie's on all of our clothing or unfortunately even washing the load of towels before my diapers. I tried one load with our store brand free and clear detergent and it took me SEVEN washes to get it to stop sudsing! I have some samples of Rockin Green but I tried a load or two and I'm not sure yet. I just soaked them overnight in Rockin Green and I'm waiting for the rinse cycle to finish. Now I'm wondering if I should get regular old Tide or even try a homemade laundry soap. Stay tuned for more of my misadventures in cloth diapering.

I may be in over my head...in soap suds.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with any detergent companies. These are solely my opinions and experiences. I paid for all of the detergents with my own money for my own use.