Research and Organise Cloth/Reusable Diaper Laundry Service

[nelsonic]

This isn't about Weaning ... But it is about "Baby", Leadership
and what happens to the Food when it comes out the other end ... ⏳

This might not appear to be a "BLW" issue on the surface,
because it's not strictly about weaning,
but it is about the other side of the digestive system ... 💩
and therefore it's highly relevant to other parents and caregivers.
It's widely known in Montessori methodology that cloth/reusable diapers
are vastly superior for potty/toilet-training
because they don't deprive the child of the sensation of "wetness"
the way that disposable diapers do.

It's been more than a year of reuse-able diapers with our 👶
and the experience has been simultaneously enlightening/rewarding
and sh!tty ... 🙄

The problem 💩 🙉 🤦‍♂️

I'm opening this issue because one didn't already exist and it really needs to!
I searched but didn't find anything containing a systematic approach to solving this problem.
I haven't spent as much time researching this as @iteles has. But she hasn't had time to open this issue, so here it is.

The True Cost of Reusable Diapers 💸 🔥

Each day our 👼 who is not yet fully potty-trained requires 5-7 diaper changes.
Inside these diapers we have 1-3 "gifts" 🎁 (💩) per day.

Recently had a 3-gift day: 🎉

Most of the time it's 2 ...
Each of these diapers requires "scraping" into the toilet before the diaper can be washed in the machine.
This anything from 1-5 mins as - excuse the detail - some times the excreta is more persistent.

I cannot help but think that there's a much better way of doing this.
Or at least that we could find someone else who would be willing to do this job
for (considerably) less cash than Senior Software Engineer's hourly rate ... 💭

"The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it."
~ Henry David Thoreau

If we add up all the time that is consumed on processing a batch of diapers.
It's significantly more expensive to use reusable diapers than disposables.
10 mins of my time (which I regularly spend on this in the evenings)
would easily pay for a 40 pack of Bambo Nature diapers.
We are definitely not doing this to save money!

https://www.naturitas.pt/p/mama-e-bebe/higiene-do-bebe/fraldas/fraldas-t5-12-18-kg-eco-44-unidades-bambo

obviously this issue is not the place to debate switching to disposables.
I think we need to do an in-depth study on the actual environmental cost of reusables first.

What we do need is a system that means I (Nelson) don't have to deal with the soiled diapers.
As much as I want to "chip in" and "do my part".
I feel like somehow my skills (as a top 1% in the world engineer) are somehow undervalued doing this task ...
Like getting a Micheline Star Chef to operate the french fries station in a McDonalds kitchen ...
or getting Lewis Hamilton washing cars ...

Solution? 🙏

Potential Laundry Services

Lavanderia Self Service Top Clean

The closest laundry service is "Lavanderia Self Service Top Clean". https://goo.gl/maps/QwLVyvHwvmjqLYKG6

The reviews are good: https://bussola-pt.com/173840/lavanderia-self-service-top-clean

The only 4-star review which drag down the average is from this genius who wrote: "Excellent service":

If the service is "excellent" then why did you dock a star without an explanation?! anyway ... 🙄

Mr Jeff - Laundry App with Collection service

The next option to consider is this App/Site called Mr Jeff (strange name, must mean something to someone ...)
https://jeff.com/pt/mrjeff/store/braga-saovitor/

Todo

• Contact both Lavanderia Self Service Top Clean and Mr Jeff and find out if they do diapers.
  if they do, find out how much they charge. If it's less than €1/diaper we use it immediately.
• Document ALL of the steps required to "process" the reusable/cloth diapers from start to finish.
  • Delegate this task to someone else and compensate them generously.
    e.g. 2x min wage. (cause we know it's a "crappy" job ...)

[iteles]

I have, as you rightly say, researched this extensively.

The main issue

The wash routine for cloth diapers is the main source of every cloth diaper issue from smells to rashes to leaks.

The cloth diaper groups online are filled with people bemoaning issues with their cloth diapers that turn into nothing but 'let's trouble shoot your wash routine' posts.

They depend on:

• The hardness of your water
• The detergent that you use, both type and quantity
  • This is different for every single detergent (thanks manufacturers)
  • There are a number of detergents that shouldn't be used full stop (anything with more than 5% soap will clog up the diaper fibers and anything eco and 'sensitive' will not be very effective as a general rule)
• Your washing machine
  • Whether it weighs your clothes
  • Whether it's 'eco'
  • Whether you can find a combination of programs that put in enough water and do enough rinsing for a good clean - we're talking about human waste after all
  • Top loading or front loading
• The number of days you leave between washes
• How full your wash load is
• Your ability to trouble shoot when you first have an issue and adapt
• If the wrong products are used (detergents with more than 5% soap, harsh chemicals or fabric softeners) your diapers can be irreparably ruined or require a very Laborious process to 'revive'.

Because of this, wash routines are extremely delicate beasts and trusting this to someone else with the task is tricky because the propensity to get back something that is ruined or no longer functional/absorbent is high (simply because what you're asking of them is not usual).

Cloth diaper laundry service

I have both researched this extensively and asked every group I am a part of and as of today, there is no full service in existence in Portugal that picks up your diapers, washes them and returns them to you.

They are not common enough in this country.

Most people have never heard of them and a lot of medical professionals who see babies every day have never even seen one before 🤷‍♀️

Self service laundrettes

The vast VAST majority of these have the following fundamental problems for cloth diapers:

1. 99% control the detergent that you use in the washes:

• They control the amounts (automatic in the machines)
• There is no possibility to have a wash without detergent

2. The majority force the use of fabric softeners (which destroy the absorbency of a diaper, much like they do those of towels)
3. They minimise the amount of water used in each wash cycle - great for the environment, terrible for diapers
4. There are 3 separate wash cycles required in the wash routine - this means whoever is washing the diapers is stuck at the laundrette for an age

Numbers 1 and 2 make washing diapers in 99% of self service laundrettes impossible.
Numbers 3 and 4 make it much harder.

Laundry service (not used to diapers)

There are two main questions here:

• Can you trust a laundry service to follow your instructions to the letter when they think they're the experts and know best so they can totally skip the unnecessary steps in your requirements? Especially with regards to the use of specific detergents and products? I would have a very hard time trusting a service whose sole purpose is profit to do this correctly.
  • Side note: Working out how much detergent is the correct amount for their size of machines (especially if they're not always the same) is also an issue
• Will they willingly use their machines to clean human waste?
  • Most folks don't understand cloth diapers and hygiene is often cited as a factor by those more ignorant

This could possibly work with a small family-run laundermat with extremely nice people who we could eventually trust though. Maybe!

[nelsonic]

Logging this info as an example instance of the processing task.
My only reasoning for logging is so that we can create a system. 📝
I don't mind being a "cog" in that machine ... ⚙️
But as I noted above, I feel my time might be better spent generating cash to pay someone else to do this ... 💭

Today was another 3-present day 🎁 🎉

Took me 12min 50sec to "process" the 3 diapers.
I put the the stopwatch on only when I was ready to start to not "inflate" the amount of time.

Took out the inserts and stoped the timer as soon as I put the diapers in the laundry basket:

definitely didn't take any extra time. In fact I would challenge someone to do it faster than I did.
I rinsed the liners to remove the sticky/dried bits. (#TMI...?)

3 different brands/types of diaper. #28 ... 💭

In this case (at this stage in the process) I don't think it would have been much faster if there was a single type of diaper ... where the time-suck happens is in "setting up" ("montar") the diapers. A better diaper would require considerably less "setup" time.

The ideal diaper would have an insert system that used biodegradable/flushable ultra-soft hemp liners: #29

[iteles]

Specifically on the 💩 situation there is an 'easy fix'.
We just use disposable liners.

I've always preferred reusable ones but seeing as we are back to non-ploppable 💩s, we should just use disposable liners and wash the ones that have pee only.

I will set this up tomorrow.

[nelsonic]

@iteles from your reply above, it sounds like what we need is a system ...
with a simple sequence of steps that literate (but perhaps not necessarily university educated) person can follow.

[nelsonic]

21 months later no system. no more babysitters (with university degrees!) to help. Inês is doing the diaper "assembly" herself ... again, this is perfectly "fine" for someone who doesn't value their time like a Gov Employee that cannot think of a "side-hustle" to do in their "spare" time... But for someone who is supposed to be running a company and has dozens of high priority/value tasks assigned to them for years without progress, it's a bit of a kick-in-the teeth to the person/people who are waiting for progress on those issues. 😢

For me, by far the most tragic aspect in all this is how little time it would take to define a system
and then recruit some eco-conscious person with a small child, low on cash and high on "spare" time to help.

https://www.olx.pt/d/anuncio/empregada-domstica-c-referncias-IDH0I6J.html

Literally everything else @iteles can be doing with her time is more valuable than "assembling" diapers.
As a "knowledge worker", knowing the value of your time and the Opportunity Cost of not doing the higher/highest value task, is the first thing you should think about before starting any activity.

On a personal note: Inês insists on running the washing machine at night when "electricity is cheaper":

The noise & vibration from the machine often wakes me up as it did tonight. 🛌 📳 😠
For as long as Inês has known me, she's known that I have severe insomnia.
When I am woken in the middle of the night I find it near-impossible to go back to sleep.

This has happened more times than I can count in the last 3 years as again, Inês insists on running the machine at night despite me begging her to not do it. 😢
So I've had more bad nights in the last 3 years than I can count.
And trust me when I say that ONE bad night and subsequent "unproductive" day
is more expensive to us than TEN YEARS of running the washing machine during the day when it can't wake me!!
And yet, Inês insists on doing it. I don't know if it's stubbornness or spite. But it's killing me. 😢