Cold Washing Final

So last week I said that I was going to dial up the heat of my wash to my warm setting and keep all the other variables the same. Well, me being the co-ordinated and non-klutz that I am I knocked the entire container of Charlie Banana Soap into the mop bucket. Which was full of water. of course. So I went back to my favourite detergent, Country Save.

I still rinsed and soaked my over night diapers in water until wash day. I did a cold rinse, a long warm wash with 1 scoop of Country Save dissolved in a bit of warm water and an additional cold rinse.
This week I had no stinkies at all.  So I am going out on a limb saying that hot or warm washes are the best way to get your diapers clean without any fuss. Now that being said if you are only able to do cold washes try these tips to help tweak your wash routine.

1. Rinse your diapers well before storage
2. Try a wet pail for your prefolds, inserts, flats and some fitted and use a dry pail for anything with PUL.
3. Don't delay washing for longer than 3 days because the smells and stains really get set in and can be stubborn to get out.
4. Don't wash more than about 18 diapers in a load.
5. Use the longest cycle you have available on your machine, and use the soak function if you have one. If you have no soak function try letting your machine go a few minutes and then stop it so the diapers can soak in the detergent for an hour or so.
6. Use an appropriate detergent. My favourites in cold washer are Charlie Banana Soap, Nature Clean liquid, Nature Clean powder, and Country Save. (I was really not blown away by Tide Coldwater)
7. Make sure you rinse well because at colder temps the detergent can be harder to rinse out
8. Try doing 1 wash a month on hot water.

I found that the diapers that were hard to get clean were the ones made out of synthetic fibres like microfiber and fleece. Cotton, Bamboo and hemp seemed to clean out better. Now I did not focus too much on what fibres made up my stinky diapers so I am not 100% sure on it.

If you are looking at washing in cold to save money here are some stats from Applecheeks website:

Based on 2008 Hydro Quebec rates it will cost you:

• $0.38 for a hot wash
• $0.18 for a warm wash
• $0.03 for a cold wash

A dryer cycle  will cost you a grand total of $0.17 cents!

So washing your diapers every three days will raise your energy bill by a grand total of approximately $68.80 per year!

If you wash all your other laundry in cold water diapers will cost you an extra $68 a year. That's not too bad. Especially because to me, having to rewash and the extra fuss to get diapers clean with cold washes is not worth it time wise... but that's just me. If you have a cold wash routine that you have been using and are happy with the results please feel free to comment below. I would love to hear them. Please include your washer type ( top or front loader, HE or non- HE), water type if you know it, detergent and amount, type of diapers you use, and your wash routine.