To Wet Pail or To Dry Pail

Two common storage methods for soiled cloth diapers are wet pails and dry pails. 

Well a wet pail is exactly what it sounds like, a pail with water and then the soiled diapers. This used to be the storage method that everyone used but now days it is really not the best way to go. A huge pail of water is not only a drowning hazard with little ones crawling around, it is kind of gross. I mean you have to somehow get the dirty diapers from the wet pail to the wash machine...
Wet pails used to be the way to go and soaking your diapers in water with a tiny bit of detergent is really effective at cutting out stains but with modern cloth diapers that have elastics and PUL or TPU water resistant layers it is not the best way to go. Soaking diapers wears down the PUL/TPU and the elastics way faster.

A Dry pail is basically a pail with a liner that you throw your used diapers in, no water needed. On wash day you simply take your liner our and toss all the diapers in the wash machine along with the pail liner and wash. I find that by rinsing soiled diapers before tossing them in the pail I have few stains and non that I can't get rid of with a bit of sunning. I love that I don't have to deal with a sloshing pail of yucky diaper water.

A dry pail keeps odours down also. I was used to pail stink from when I used a diaper genie with my first and I was pleasantly shocked to find my dry pail of cloth diapers smelled way less. For one thing rinsing poopy diapers and washing every 2-3 days means there is never a week old pile of diapers in the pail. For second a dry pail allows for better air circulation so it helps cut down odours big time. Even in the heat of summer... no smell.

Some moms find that they like a combination of the 2. They store their covers, shells and AIO's in a dry pail and soak their inserts, flats and prefolds. To me that's just too much space and work so I stick to the dry pail.