Making Laundry Room CD-friendly?

DavezWife

(newbie alert)

I'm almost 12 weeks with twins, so I have lots of time to obsess over what my CD stash will be.

HOWEVER, we do intend to CD, and we're giving our laundry room a makeover next month, and I'm in the planning stages of what it needs, what we're missing, etc.

Can you tell me what makes your LR great for CD purposes, or not... like, do I need a spot to line dry things? (we live in the midwest) Do most store dirty diapers in some type of nasty plastic bucket, like my mom did 30 yrs ago with my brother? Give me the scoop on what the remod needs to include to make this whole CD thing less scary for all involved.

Thanks! 

(FWIW, I think we'll head the AIO/folded stuffed thing route, but I'm still learning about all our choices)

 

twest0508

Honestly, we didn't change anything about our laundry room, except add a new kind of detergent to the shelf, lol.  I store the dirties in a hanging wet-bag on our bedroom door (it's zipped up, so you can't smell anything).  I do have a clothes-drying rack, but usually I just dry everything together on low heat.  Hanging it up will make things last longer, though. 

lynn97

I can't think of much that you'd NEED to do to make your laundry room CD-friendly.  And it really isn't scary at all, trust me!  Some people use a wet pail but most people (including me) use a dry pail.  Wet pails are generally discouraged now as they're a safety hazard. Depending on your floorplan, you could keep your pail in the laundry room. People seem to keep them in different places. We keep DS's in his room and it hasn't been smelly or problematic yet.

 If I were designing a new laundry room, these are the things I'd want, though (for CD and non-CD purposes):

a utility sink - helpful for soaking/rinsing clothes. I think it would be especially helpful w/kids. Not necessary for CDs

built-in shelves w/space to hang clothes - we have these now in our small laundry space and they're super-helpful. We store our laundry and cleaning products on top of them and can hang clothes from them.  I've also recently discovered that I can run a clothesline from one side of the room to other, between our two shelves and line dry our covers and PUL items inside. Very handy and saves me from buying a drying rack.

additional storage - we could always use more. 

 

ambermcmullin

I only CD part time (long story) all we did differently is buy separate laundry detergent.  I keep them in a dry pail (plastic one with lid $10, it has a place on the lid for A&H nursery fresheners), try to wash every 2-3 days.  I found that the specific cloth diaper detergents are hard to find and very pricey.  I went to diaperjungle.com for tips and we now use Arm & Hammer sensitive and Naturals sensitive (when we can find it).  Both are usually at our local grocery store or Target.  I use Kissa Luv brand and usually wash them in cold water rinse first, then hot water with a little detergent a second time.  Good luck, its not that hard if you are determined and you will be the one changing the diapers (I let my sitter use disposables while I am at work - but try to use the CD as much as possible)!

leducsmith

twest0508:

Honestly, we didn't change anything about our laundry room, except add a new kind of detergent to the shelf, lol.  I store the dirties in a hanging wet-bag on our bedroom door (it's zipped up, so you can't smell anything).  I do have a clothes-drying rack, but usually I just dry everything together on low heat.  Hanging it up will make things last longer, though. 

This is pretty much the case at our house too. The only exception is that we hang everything that has PUL up. We do pockets, so the covers go on a foldable drying rack in the basement in the winter, and outside on the line to get sun bleached in the warmer weather. The inserts go in the dryer.

 

bugandbibs

We line dry everything most of the time.  The best addition to our laundry room is the hanging octopus clippy thing from IKEA (in the laundry section).  Each arm has two clips perfect for hanging shells evenly or 2 inserts.  If I need to sun, I hang everything in the laundry room and then carry outside and hang it as one unit.  We use two to have enough clips for a full load of diapers, so you need a long enough shelf to hang them side by side.  You could also hang from a retractable clothes line if you don't have a hanging shelf.

LetsBeNice

ITA w/the utility sink! Great for all things, not just CD's. I also keep a bucket in my laundry room for diapers to use as a "wet" pail and I use it to soak the diapers that have been pooped in to prevent stains (the rest of the diapers are stored in a planetwise wetbag). I have a pipe that happens to run through (our laundry room is in our basement) and I use that to hang things on, so you might want some way to line dry. I keep the folding laundry rack in there and like a PP mentioned, put all the stuff on it and then carry it outdoors. The rack is much easier to bring in and out than a clothesline...since sometimes (in the great state of MN) it can just start raining or get windy and you want to bring it all in. You'll definetly want a way to store the CD detergent away from the "regular" detergent, if you think someone else will be touching the CD laundry (my DH is forbidden from doing laundry!) so shelves would be nice. I find IKEA has some great storage solutions, so maybe take a trip there and fill your head with fun ideas!!

DavezWife

LetsBeNice:

ITA w/the utility sink! Great for all things, not just CD's. I also keep a bucket in my laundry room for diapers to use as a "wet" pail and I use it to soak the diapers that have been pooped in to prevent stains (the rest of the diapers are stored in a planetwise wetbag). I have a pipe that happens to run through (our laundry room is in our basement) and I use that to hang things on, so you might want some way to line dry. I keep the folding laundry rack in there and like a PP mentioned, put all the stuff on it and then carry it outdoors. The rack is much easier to bring in and out than a clothesline...since sometimes (in the great state of MN) it can just start raining or get windy and you want to bring it all in. You'll definetly want a way to store the CD detergent away from the "regular" detergent, if you think someone else will be touching the CD laundry (my DH is forbidden from doing laundry!) so shelves would be nice. I find IKEA has some great storage solutions, so maybe take a trip there and fill your head with fun ideas!!

Was just there yesterday! lol.

So many great thoughts, thanks a lot, gals!

luvbeingmom

Ditto everyone else on the utility sink. Get a utility sink WITH a sprayer and it will be heaven!

I had one at my last house and it was awesome. No utility sink or diaper sprayer in this house and it sucks