Thank you for this! My washer broke today and I knew your channel would have these instructions!

There are a lot of handwashing videos out there. My wash routine seems to be longer than most. This routine isn’t perfect. Im not saying that this way is perfect or the best. Maybe you can tweak this to what works best for you. One thing I’ve realized is that we tend to over complicate the washing process. Different things work for different people. But hopefully this can give you an idea of what handwashing *could* look like. This routine got my diapers SOO clean when I used to handwash. It is more work than other handwashing videos I’ve seen. The thing about flats is that they’re super forgiving even if you don’t have a great wash routine. Flats are awesome! I do prefer a plunger with a wooden handle. I’ve broken so many plungers in the past. The plunger I have comes in 2 pieces. I’ve tried drilling holes into plungers before and it ruined them over time. Don’t cheap out on a plunger. I went through so many. Ive also realized that you don’t want to overfill your load if you’re using a 5gal bucket. That can also cause your plunger to break. Plus it’s 10x harder to plunge a crap ton of diapers at once. Splitting the work into multiple loads can suck but it’s not as hard to plunge and it’s much more gentle on your plunger. I bought a fancy camp style plunger but it’s HUGE and doesn’t fit into a 5gal bucket lol. Keep that in mind! Also, I suggest getting a plunger strictly for diaper plunging. One for clogged toilets and one for diaper laundry ❤️

That was waaaaay easier than I thought it was!

@JaysNest

5 жыл бұрын

It’s a little repetitive but super easy 🙌🏼

Girl, You rock!

I'm curious why the cold water. Thanks for the video. I understand more than the other that I've seen

Omg I NEEDED this video I've been using too much detergent, so it's been taking me forever to clean our diapers! Thank you soo much for this!! Also, why don't you use water softener for your cold wash?

@JaysNest

5 жыл бұрын

I just did it to get any extra soap residue that may have been left on the diapers. Sometimes they feel slimy before doing the cold wash, so I opted for nothing for the cold wash.

My washer has a ring from my black work clothes and I don't trust it today. So following the hand wash it is. Lol I mean I do a cold rinse before dry to pail. (Stain management) then 2 hot washes in the washer so this makes sense to me. I usually do 2 rinses though. I finally get to do a follow through with this video. 😂

Hello again….this is a great video! Question…I’ve been told water needs to be a certain temp in order to kill off bacteria (now that’s in using traditional washing machines) not a concern for this plunger method? I’m guessing not cuz you’ve used it ….but I trust your insight, thanks 😊

hi! i have a couple questions ☺️ are the cold pre rinse & last rinse necessary or can i use hot water for every cycle? also, i used this routine today (all hot cycles), but noticed a verrryyy slight smell to the inserts (4 layer bamboo, 4 layer hemp, & 6 layer bamboo/hemp) before i hung them to dry. i used 2 tablespoons of tide free & gentle powder with each wash cycle. any suggestions?

This is great! You don't need a special detergent? Where do you find water softner? Is that just a 5 gallon bucket?

@JaysNest

5 жыл бұрын

For water softener I use borax or calgon depending on what’s st the store. I’ve found it at Walmart. And yes! A 5 gal bucket

@s4r4b34r

5 жыл бұрын

@@JaysNest sweet thanks!

I'm hand washing cat diapers. The shells are plastic and the pads are cotton. This seems like it would be effective for my needs. Thoughts? It's a 5 gallon bucket with about 2 gallons water? What detergent do you like?

I wonder, what is it that is in some detergents that is bad for cloth diapers? I use Arm and Hammer. Do I need to buy new detergent?

Hi so do you just rinse it once?

How often do you wash-Daily? Every couple days?

@JaysNest

5 жыл бұрын

With handwashing- definitely every day. I machine wash every 2-3 days.

thanks for sharing!! why wait 5-10 min in between plunges? and why two hot washes?

@JaysNest

5 жыл бұрын

I honestly don’t have a great answer for that 😂 I did this routine in 2015 when I had to hand wash and it worked for me. I’ve seen that some people don’t do the second hot wash. I found that my diapers got really clean that way though. There are a few different ways to handwash but this is always my go to method.

@lifeoflex2406

5 жыл бұрын

Jay's Nest hahah okay, well thanks for the reply, I love watching your videos! I was asking about the second hot because I use a small portable washer and do one hot wash in that. So I was comparing the wash routines. I’m still new (4mo in), so I love hearing about different methods!

@JaysNest

5 жыл бұрын

You can absolutely do 1 wash! See if that works for you. If you find a slight smell on your diapers with 1 hot wash in a few weeks then try add that extra hot wash to see if that helps ❤️ Wash routines sometimes need small tweaks and adjustments. And that’s okay!

@ustartsomewhere

4 жыл бұрын

Dumb question but we will be doing prefolds and prefolds turned into fitted. Will this wash routine work just as well for that or is this only suited for flats and covers?

Can i do this with prefolds? My diapers arent getting clean. We have a newer he maching no agitator and i absolutely hate it!! I have to strip them now😣 then imma do a new wash routine

@aosorio260211

5 жыл бұрын

SAME exact situation. Our new washer has no agitator and my prefolds now are starting to smell after my girls pee in them. I’ve stripped my diapers with grovias mighty bubbles thinking that’d help but it didn’t. After they get peed on they smell. I know it’s because the HE washer. I do a rinse cycle, then the actual wash and then an extra rinse. We don’t have hard water either 😭

@jessannchittum9360

5 жыл бұрын

@@aosorio260211 i did mine this way yesterday i can tell a huge difference! no smell at all on them when i did it that way. I just ordered the mighty bubbles bc my lo keeps getting a rash so imma try that and switch my washing to the bucket and see what changes. I dont have hard water either. I had detergent buildup tho. I even got a new agitator for the washer and still the same i just dont think they can clean as good and deff dont use enough water.

@JaysNest

5 жыл бұрын

Oh absolutely! You can do it with any diapers. Flats are just the easiest to wash and dry. Prefolds can take days to dry and are harder to wring out. And actually this is too much soap for flats lol. This routine would work better for Aios and microfiber because this was my routine when I used those things (in 2015, this was my actual routine). But I found out that using this routine with flats is a little too much detergent. So play around with the amount of detergent if you’re handwashing prefolds

@jessannchittum9360

5 жыл бұрын

Iv done this 3 times so far and i love it! I stripped them and started doing this and no issues anf no more rashes!! 🙌 I used way less detergent. I use liquid tide plus have soft water so at first i used way too much even when I added the tiniest bit. Lol my husband said you sit in there and plunge diapers 😂 girls gotta do what shes gotta do lol

One week before my due date and it looks like my broken washing machine is bringing me here!! (again! I've watched both your bucket videos but never attempted) Wish me luck!! 😫😵

@TheHippieDips

3 жыл бұрын

I'm already cloth diapering my 20 month old now, so I have her diapers on top of the soon to be new pooper!😅

@JaysNest

3 жыл бұрын

What kind of diapers will you be handwashing? I actually think you can use less detergent than recommended here, especially if you have flats. This was my actual routine when I hand washed in 2015, but I had microfiber aios & microfiber inserts. They’re a little harder to clean. Your water hardness level will make a difference too, but don’t be afraid to mess around with detergent amounts. During the flats challenge it sucked using too much detergent because it takes awhile for it to wash out 😂 which isn’t fun lol I’m sorry your washer broke before your due date. Of all Things! lol Wishing you luck with yourself hand washing experience 💖

Would the amount of detergent change depending on if you're using liquid or powder?

@JaysNest

5 жыл бұрын

That’s a great question! I’m honestly not sure. I’ve heard some people say that you need less powdered detergent but I really don’t know if that’s true or not. I’m sorry that’s not more helpful. I’m just not 100% sure on the answer. I don’t want to mislead you

@jessicajohnson4648

5 жыл бұрын

Jay's Nest thank you so much!! Very curious on hand washing and planning to do the flats and hand washing challenge this year so trying to figure things early lol

So we don't need to soak for main wash?

Did you dye your flats? Can you make a video on how you do it?

@JaysNest

5 жыл бұрын

These flats I did not dye myself but I do want to dye ALL of my flats. So that video will probably come out when it warms up again in a few months. Though i have seen people use snow to help dye their flats. I like that idea. I might try that. But I’m hoping to do it sometime in the spring. I’ll share my process once I get it going ❤️ I’m tired of looking at my white flats and I can’t afford a whole stash of $20 dyed stretchy flats (I wish lol).

@atlsfinest1000

5 жыл бұрын

Yes! I’ve ice dyed prefolds before and they turned out beautiful.

@missymissie

5 жыл бұрын

I would LOVE to a see a video for tie dying flats!!÷

If you hung the hand wash indoors does your load feel crunchy? How do you not get crunchy dry laundry. With hand wash and air dry in or outdoors

@JaysNest

3 жыл бұрын

Yes I find that hand washing and air drying leaves natural fiber diapers to feel crunchy. It’s pretty normal for that to happen You can rub your dry flats against each other to soften them up. Just hold them in the hands and start rubbing them against each other. For whatever reason it helps out. It’s not fool proof. Dryers really make diapers feel so much softer

@starwish2467

2 жыл бұрын

When hanging laundry inside, it will often be stiff. I hang my wet clothes on a bar hanging across the shower. But, I have a small 6" fan in the room, facing the shower. I turn the fan on high, and let it blow on the clothing. The breeze by the fan, is just like the natural breeze outside. The movement of the air helps the clothes soften as they dry. Maybe the 'crunchy' clothes is because you used too much soap, and soap remains in the fabric. I have a small, plastic bottle, which I put a Tablespoon or two of detergent in, and top with warm water. The warm water breaks down the 'gelatin' thickness of the soap, making it go further, and rinse out more completely. Too much detergent not rinsed completely can make clothes get dirty faster, fade the color, and make doing laundry harder than it needs to be. Plus, using less detergent for each load, makes the container last longer. And THAT saves you money.

@sarahwilsonbenitez7109

2 жыл бұрын

I've noticed some of my inserts (I have a crap ton of every type available lol) come out a little more stiff than others.... NO biggie, my son doesn't notice any difference and if it's in a cover touching his skin, I just use a fleece liner on top so he feels soft... BUT THE ENERGY AND $$$ WE SAVE BY HANGING DRY.... kinda one main reason we Cloth lol) is by far more worth it If I resell, I usually do an extra wash and dry the inserts ONLY 1 TIME so the buyer is satisfied

What is the purpose of waiting?

How many diapers do you wash at once?

@JaysNest

3 жыл бұрын

I like washing no more than 8 diapers at a time in a bucket of this size. If you use a plastic tote then you can fill more diapers in there! Too many diapers can cause more work because it’s harder to agitate. And when it becomes harder to agitate it puts a lot of wear on plungers. Couldn’t tell ya how many plungers I broke in 2015 because of the agitation 😅

If I have soft water, should I be using less detergent?

@JaysNest

2 жыл бұрын

100000% yes. This was my routine when I used microfiber aios& pockets (2015) … but with flats I realized this is way too much. Especially for those who have soft water. I’ll need to remake this video again. Start with 1/2tsp and add more if you need it. It’s a pain to get the excess soap out if you use too much soap lol you’ll be wringing and rinsing forever

@Chrizzteene

2 жыл бұрын

@@JaysNest In your opinion, is it easier to get rid of detergent buildup in flats and preflats versus inserts? I'm dealing with detergent buildup as I bought secondhand cloth diaper inserts and didn't realize that they had detergent build-up in them. Now all my inserts hav3 build-up and even after using a pressure washer it's still there. I'm wondering if flats would just be easier to clean (and I'll buy new this time instead).

@JaysNest

2 жыл бұрын

@@Chrizzteene yes 1000000000% This is why I switched to flats. They are very forgiving and super easy to reset after wash routine issues! It’s saved me a lot of hassle over the past few years and it’s one of the main reasons i advocate so hard for flats

@Chrizzteene

2 жыл бұрын

@@JaysNest I just want to say thank you for taking the time to reply to me! I really appreciate it :-)

Why hand wash over a washer machine?

@JaysNest

5 жыл бұрын

I don’t hand wash anymore. In 2015 I hand washed because I had to. The agitation on my washer broke and my diapers weren’t getting clean. So for several months I used this method. This specific video is actually a clip from a different video I uploaded in 2018. I did the flats and handwashing challenge in 2018. The Flats Handwashing challenge is where I handwash diapers for a week and document my experience. No washer and no dryer. It was started in the early 2000’s by a page called Dirty Diaper Laundry. I’ve had a few people recently ask about my handwashing routine that I used in 2015 and also in 2018 for the flats challenge. I decided to upload this for the people who asked ❤️ Handwashing definitely makes me realize how lucky I am to have an electric washing machine.