My Why – 2018 Flats & Handwashing Challenge

This might just be my last-ever Flats and Handwashing Challenge. 2018 marks my third attempt at this crazy and ridiculously awesome challenge to showcase the practicality of cloth diapering and just continue the conversation about the option to cloth diaper. 

I participated in 2016 and 2017. If you want to read my archives, go for it.

I’m participating in the 2018 Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Cloth Diaper Revival.  This challenge helps showcase real solutions for parents struggling with diapering.

This blog contains affiliate links.  As a blogger, I do receive products from brands and stores. I am a brand ambassador for Omaiki. None of these products was solicited for the purpose of this challenge. I did receive Imagine Baby Stretchy Flats earlier this month for review.  It’s merely coincidence and good timing. A separate sponsored review will be published at a later time. I pride myself in truthful story telling, and honest reviews. 

Why Am I Participating?

I’m participating because flats and handwashing is something so crazy it gets people talking and talking is AMAZING.

It’s great conversation.

Let’s normalize cloth diapering and the value it has to offer.

The Flats & Handwashing Challenge is kind of like doing one of those Walks for Cause things.

We’re talking about cloth diapering and while the topic feels silly. It’s not. 1 in 3 families in the United States will choose food and bills over diapers. Canadian estimates are 1 in 5. 

Cloth Diapering is Important for Everyone.

We’re in an era where we are consuming and disposing of things at an alarming rate. I know there is a good chunk of the population that just doesn’t care. But we need to care because it’s about passing on a legacy to future generations. And even though the world looks a little wild out my dining room window, the Earth is struggling to meet our demanding attitude of consumption.

I cloth diaper because of the environmental impact of disposable diaper waste on my community. To me, there is no good in the production and disposal of petroleum products such as diapers.

I understand there is an impact on the earth in producing cloth diapers and in the maintenance cloth diapers, which is why I have started to buy only what I need and strongly favour North American sourced and produced diapers using natural fibres.

I also cloth diaper because saving money is cool.

Not only would purchasing a larger garbage can cost me money, but disposable diapers ain’t cheap. Which is why 1 in 3 families in the United States will choose food and bills over diapers, over hygiene for their babies.  Canadian estimates are 1 in 5 moms face diaper need. 

The alarming thing is that low-income people tend to pay more for diapers because they only have $20 this week, not the $40 to purchase the massive box of Amazon. Diaper costs for low-income families is often much higher than middle-income families due to their limited purchasing power. Ever tried to buy a small package of disposable diapers? 

The best part about the Flats and Handwashing challenge is we are talking about affordable ways to cloth diaper without relying on dirt cheap diapers.

You can do this without buying anything.

You can do this without spending more than $100. 

You can do this using only natural fibres.

You can do this using only new products.

You can do this so many different ways.

Stay posted for Day 2 when all the bloggers, vloggers, Instagrammer’s and people talk about what’s in their stash and how much they spent. 

Privilege.

Like many things in life, I do this challenge from a place of privilege. That needs to be said. The elephant in the room is obvious.

My husband works for the railway, and one of the perks is a good paying job which allows me the luxury of being a stay at home mom. Good paying is an understatement. I’ll never understand the choices being made or struggling families have. Growing up, I was raised by a single mom and she admits struggle, but as a child that’s never something, I felt burdened by. That’s definitely a burden she carried herself.

Just because I’m not living this life, doesn’t mean, I don’t have value in the moving the conversation forward and talking about how this could be beneficial to families.  There are so many families participating in this challenge this year who are families that struggle with affording diapers.

Check out the link ups (the other posts on the Cloth Diaper Blog at the bottom of the page), the hashtags on Instagram, and read their real stories about diaper need and why this can work.

Because this is my third year participating,  I don’t believe full-time hand washing of cloth diapers is realistic. I do believe it is possible to do it part-time and help reduce your overall costs whether it means buying fewer disposables or doing less laundry.

I’m participating because I want to start the conversation about cloth diapering.

I also want to shift the conversation from the cheap diapers from overseas purchased in bulk from Amazon to keeping diapering simple, easy and local. 

Whether you cloth diaper or not, I invite you to follow along for the week and explore this classic cloth diapering technique that is just awesome.

Find me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. If you’re also a cloth diaper blogger, I’m taking five seconds to tell you about my monthly blog hop where you can contribute recent posts and find other great blog posts. Check out the ongoing link for May here.