dude loves his laundry

On thursday last week we went to a cloth diaper "class" to learn about Seattle Diaper Service (the business) as well as all the newfangled things that go into modern, urban cloth diapering.

I was surprised by what I learned. A very nice man, the owner of SDS, first shared with us what sizes his diapers come in, and what sized babies those diapers go with. He outlined the amount of cotton in each diaper, and shared with us where he gets his cotton and how much cotton costs on the market (highest it has ever been since the civil war). He is prototyping, by the way, a new cotton diaper that is made locally that will be out next year.

Next, we learned how cotton diapers are laundered. Did you know that you can heat water by passing it directly through a flame, reducing energy to launder large amounts of cotton? That you only have to use 2 cups of bleach when your temperature is at a certain number of degrees (this is to wash 1000 diapers at one time), in order to get the same effect in a non-commercial, at-home machine? That you can get clean white diapers with bio-degradable soaps and that citric acid balances the pH of the cotton so that your baby's butt doesn't get all sensitive and rashy? That you can monitor your washing procedure to the target of 10% re-wash, so that you can ensure that you're not using too much or too little energy when you wash that many diapers? That a service to 1500 customers in western Washington employs 15 individuals locally and on earth day they open up their facilities to anyone who wants to come learn about the benefits of cloth diapering (when you use sustainable business practices)? And that customers are welcome to visit any time? Seriously, this dude loves his cotton, and his laundry service.

Next, we learned about how to apply cloth diapers. They are easy to do, and you can use pins or these stretchy, spiky things. You can also use bio-degradable diaper liners that are flush-able, in order to increase absorbency against the skin and reduce clean up. The service is $80/month; there is no set-up fee. They deliver between 50 and 70 diapers to your house on the same day, at roughly the same hour, every week. It comes with a diaper pail and a natural odor-catcher that's made out of essential oils. Dude loves his deodorizer as well.

To top it all off, you can buy all the plastic pants (much cuter than they used to be), diaper pins, and butt goo from the service and they deliver it the next week with your diapers. The owner ended his talk by describing his own family, their cloth diaper experience, and how important his time with his kids was (diapering - they are all grown now).

This, on the heels of a workshop at work where we discussed the importance of aligning personal passions with your job role in order to avoid burnout. I believe that this guy has figured that out. I was already pretty sold on the cloth diaper thing since my mom did it and it doesn't seem like a big deal to me. But now I feel especially great supporting a local business that's backed by personal passion.

Yay for laundry. Yay for cotton. Yay for diapers. Yay for dads.