Tips for Washing Cloth Diapers in the Laundromat

For almost an entire year I had a washer and dryer in the home where I was living. I loved it, I was use to normally having to do laundry in a laundromat. However when my son was 11 months old we moved into a very nice apartment complex that didn't have a washer or a dryer in the unit, thus we would be washing our laundry in a laundromat and more importantly we would be washing our cloth diapers in one. For the last nine months I have been washing my cloth diapers in a laundromat and along the way I have picked up a few good things to know and thought I would share them.

One of the first things that I mentioned to my landlords was that I cloth diapered my baby and would be washing cloth diapers in the laundromat. Thankfully this didn't concern or bother them. I politely offered to do my best to wash my cloth diapers when the laundry room, which had 10 washers and 10 dryers, would be least busy, the apartment complex had 100 apartments so I assumed that it would be best to wash the cloth diapers when fewer people were around. The landlords explained that I didn't need to worry about when I washed them and that I didn't have to do it during the times that the laundry room wasn't busy, but told me that week days and early mornings were the slower times. Now whether or not you want to wash your cloth diapers when there are not many people around is up to you, but I think that it is important to mention to your landlord that you will be washing cloth diapers if you put such things as vinegar in when you wash them to make sure that your landlord allows this in their washers.

One thing that can make it challenging to wash cloth diapers in a laundromat is that you often can not customize settings, usually an addition rinse or soaking is needed when you wash cloth diapers. If you need to soak your cloth diapers get permission to hold the washer lid slightly up, by placing something under it for the time that your cloth diapers need to soak. I did this by placing a clean and folded cloth diaper under the lid once the water filled to the top, and taped a sign on the washer lid that read, "LAUNDRY SOAKING, PLEASE DO NOT LIFT LID." This way no one would lift the lid and let the clean cloth diaper fall in or start the cycle before my diapers soaked enough. Thankfully as far as the extra rinsing went the washers that I used gave you an extra rinse if you put an extra quarter in.

Despite the bit of extra work that goes into washing cloth diapers in the apartment complex laundry room I am still glad that I am doing it. However I will admit that the next time that I look for a place to live, if my son is still in diapers, that I will once again try and find one that has a washer and dryer in it for added convenience for washing my cloth diapers.