we've had a case of the stinkies pop up..... amelia's diapers came out of the wash last week reeking of ammonia! ugh... so bad. i'm doing another 24/7 nannying stint this week and didn't have a chance to rewash them, but knew that something absolutely had to be done. i asked caleb to bring me some of my Rockin Green Soap and my big bag of clothespins. the family i nanny for has a big clothesline in their back yard just itching to be used.... but, no clothespins to be found. so i needed my own!
last night, i started stripping the diapers. well, actually, first i prepped the washer.... this is a "Tide Free & Clear" family and we most certainly are not. so, i ran 2 loads of Rockin Green through an empty washer before stripping. then i put all my stinkers and inserts in and washed on the Sanitation Cycle (beyond hot water) for six hours!!! luckily, i had a sleepless night, so i was able to restart the washer several times.
{um, did i just say luckily and sleepless night in the same sentence.... i'm off my rocker today, apparently}
after stripping, i needed to Rock A Soak.... i usually do this in my washer at home because i have an HE top loader that can hold water.... but here at work it is front loaders, so i wasn't able to really get a good amount of water in the machine to soak these diapers. i did the next best thing....
yes, i put those bad boys in the bathtub with about 5 scoops of the (obviously posed bag of) Rockin Green and let the detergent work it's magic for three hours. these diapers were smelling sooooo tasty {again... my word choice appalls me} after being stripped and soaked. amelia was my little helper when i was hand rinsing each diaper and insert before tossing them in the basket.
next, the diapers took another 45 minute spin in the washer for a really good rinse (more than my little hands could do)..... then off to be line dried. this part really excites me for some reason. well, for many reasons. the main one being we live in an apartment and can't have an outdoor line, and caleb absolutely despises the folding sweater racks.... he thinks very poorly of the quality but has yet to build me something better, hrmph. he also thinks clothes lines are tacky.... i think they are beautiful, what do you think?
now, those are some good looking diapers, and they smell good, too!!! what is your best method for getting rid of the stinkies? and what are you thankful for today??
I have a front loader so I have to rock my soaks in the tub as well. My husband strung up 2 retractable clotheslines in our backyard and I unplugged my dryer back in March and haven't used it since. I love clotheslines :)
ReplyDeleteUsed to love to use a clothes line, but don't even own one now :o)
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting me over at Pittypat Paperie and hope you can stop by again sometimes.
Hi April, From SelfSagacity here. Thanks for the follow, and I am following you back!
ReplyDeleteI too have a front loader all I do when needing a soak is fill the washer manually with a bucket and fill it until it covers my load you can find how I did it if you follow my blog http://confessionsofmummy.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-wash-cloth-diapers-in-he-machine.html
ReplyDeleteThis is how I do it hope it helps
Thanks for stopping by my blog! New follower of yours now :) I don't cloth diaper, but I really respect those who do! Good for you!
ReplyDeleteSo...I'm curious. Do you have hard water? All of the people who seem to be sold on RNG have hard water. I can't say that I noticed a difference. I had to use Dawn to strip dipaers this week - Rockin' a Soak didn't solve my problem.
ReplyDeleteAlso - @Diane - I didn't used to have a clothesline, but I used a drying rack. I stuck it out on my porch. So glad to have a clothesline in my new apartment!
I love my clothesline! I got my celery seed at some cooking store at the Prime Outlets. I've seen it at WalMart though.
ReplyDeleteFollowing you back! Hope you have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteGood job on the laundry makeover! Thats cool!
I boiled my inserts. I soak in Clean B and use it with every wash.
ReplyDeleteclothes lines rock. I use the sweater rack, though becasue that is what we have. I want to design a dipe one, though that allows for more air flow. That top rack isn't so great.