Cloth Diaper Wash Routine & Storage

One of the things that was the biggest learning curve for me when I first started cloth diapering was figuring out our wash/dry routine.

I asked around to a lot of my cloth diaper mama friends, but I knew I'd have to do a certain amount of tweeking it myself.

We have a front load HE washer and dryer. These washers use less water than top load machines. All I do is add a couple rinses and we're good to go.

I keep my dirty diapers in a garbage can with a lid. I line the can with a large wet bag. It will hold all the diapers I need for the 3 day wash routine.

I dump the whole thing into the washer, and I do a 'delicate' wash with an extra rinse, on cold.

After that, I add a scoop of The Laundry Tarts detergent and do a normal wash on hot, with an extra rinse.

Lastly, I repeat the normal wash on hot and extra rinse, but this time, no soap.

I do this wash x2

After they're all clean, I separate the inserts and wipes from the covers. I put the inserts in the dryer with The Laundry Tarts laundry ball (Birthday Cake scented!) and I dry them on hot. It takes a couple cycles to do, but they get nice and dry.

I always hang my inserts to dry. We set up a clothes line in our bathroom for days when we can't hang them outside. It's nice to be able to put them outside, but those days will soon be over, because it'll be way too cold. If it gets too hot where you live, you need to be careful of putting your covers in the sun, because it can melt the insides and elastics.

When both inserts and covers are nice and dry, I like to get my diapers ready by laying a 2 ply AppleCheeks insert in them and snapping them up.

Lay a tri folded 2 ply bamboo insert in the diaper.

For our night time diapers, I stuff the cover with a 3 ply AppleCheeks insert and then lay a 2 ply AppleCheeks purple booster over top. We NEVER leak at night, which is SO awesome! We used to leak all the time before we started using AppleCheeks!! Best diaper ever!

Stuff a 3 ply bamboo insert.

Then add a booster! 

I keep all my diapers in the top drawer of our changing table for quick access. I keep my wipes, powder and diaper cream on the stand next to my changing table.

Hard to Find/Discontinued in row 1 and 2, regular line up row 3, night time stuffed diapers row 4, extra inserts row 5.

All in all, it's MUCH less work that I initially anticipated. I really enjoy doing cloth laundry, and it only needs to be done every 3 days!