Moving While Cloth Diapering: Is It Really That Bad?

At the end of May my husband had an interview for a job in Kentucky. Later that day, he was offered the job and accepted (of course). After that, it was crunch time because the process moved very fast. He had to get a certain security certification then we had to pack up and move from our home in Bloomington, Indiana to Kentucky. Normally people are concerned about the logistics of moving their entire family to a new state. Things like finding a new place to live, moving all belongings, coordinating traveling (in our case three vehicles) and settling in. There’s so much to think about. The first thing that went through my mind, “Oh my gosh. What will I do about all my cloth diapers?!” I was backed up on diaper laundry, like horribly backed up so I wasn’t sure how moving while cloth diapering would go.

I had two loads that needed folded then more in the wetbag that weren’t quite read to be washed. Then there was the anxiety of where I would put them. Do I put them in the U-Haul with the rest of our things or put them in one of the cars? My husband’s car is tiny, so there wasn’t enough room for all the diapers. I ended up putting the clean, folded diapers (in their organizer) in the back of the truck. I took the clean unfolded ones in my FIL’s car with me. The wetbag that was not even half full, I stuck with the other laundry that I didn’t have time to wash.

Now luckily the drive for us was only about two and a half to three hours. So I didn’t have to worry much about diaper changes in between Bloomington and here. The one issue I did have was trying to decide which diaper he would wear. It had to be absorbent enough to last the three hour trip but also not a nighttime diaper, because those needed to be saved since we didn’t have a washer at first. (Gulp. I know! Frightening.) Now, I know I could have just used disposables for a few days, but I felt like that was such a waste of money. Even though we didn’t have a washer, I knew we could manage. I do have some Flip disposable inserts I could have used, but I didn’t want to open them just for a short trip. I imagine we may need them in the future for a vacation or something. I ended up going with the Tots Bots Easy Fit Star as our car diaper. I changed him into the Star maybe 30 minutes before we loaded up in the car and changed him right when we got into our new home. He didn’t leak at all so I was pretty impressed, but I also knew the Star was up for the trip.

The two biggest stress inducing thoughts were out of the way. We were finally in our new home, safely and began unpacking. Then the thought of no washer and dryer started to make me nervous. I had a lot of laundry to do, but I also knew we would need to wash diapers sooner rather than later. I also was reminded shortly after we started unpacking, that I needed my diaper sprayer – like, now! Two new things to stress about, because unpacking with two kiddos isn’t stressful enough. I had my husband grab the diaper sprayer to hook it up so I could use it immediately. However, the way the toilets were set up, there was no way our sprayer (which we made ourselves) was going to work. Great, so I have no washer, dryer or diaper sprayer. Fantastic!

After a long night of unpacking and trying to organize, we decided that was it for the first night. The second day, we went out to look for a washer and dryer and luckily, we found one that we thought would work perfectly. However, I was a little bit nervous because it didn’t have an agitator in the center. *Gulp* The salesman assured us the agitator wasn’t necessary and that we would be happy with this set. He did show us one with an agitator in case we wanted that one. I chatted with my husband and said we could give the nicer one a shot. (It helps that they have a 30 day return policy if we were unsatisfied.) Tuesday our washer and dryer were delivered and later that day we went out to get the part we needed for the diaper sprayer. So that evening I had everything I needed set up and ready to finally start diaper laundry again. By this point, I really needed to wash my diapers! I managed to wash over SEVEN loads of laundry (regular and diapers) in one single day. That was a ton of work. But the most important part was trying to find a new wash routine.

The washer we ended up going with is an HE and it has a million different settings on it! I don’t think I have ever been so intimidated by a washing machine in my life. When did things like washing laundry get so complicated?! But once I started playing with the different settings, I realized I was just making it harder than it really was. A few tweaks here and there and I managed to figure out a great wash routine with our new washer. I’ve been washing diapers here now for a little while, I think I’ve done around 3-4 loads of diaper laundry in our new washer. It’s been pretty great. The washer is so huge that a full load of diaper laundry in our old washer is hardly a small load in this one.

I have to say though, my favorite part was that our new dryer has FLUFF DRY! No more worrying about my diapers when I need to toss them in the dryer to soften up because there’s no heat!

So, overall, I have to say that moving while cloth diapering was not as much of a hassle as one would think. Now granted, I moved a pretty short distance away so it’s not as bad as it could have been. But honestly, I would do it even if we were moving all the way to California. I really would only need to plan accordingly for diaper changes and pack the absolute most absorbent diapers in our stash.

Have you dealt with moving while cloth diapering? What would you say your biggest concern was? How do you feel your experience went and would you do anything differently?

0

0

0

13

Share on Pinterest

0