Back when I lived in Springville, UT, my ward at church was heavy-duty into emergency preparedness. I loved it because I, too, am heavy-duty into that sort of thing. Anyway, one week, a friend there found a deal where we could order
these guys for cheap. Cheaper than they already are.
Here, a picture from that website:
I ordered one way back then. For the past almost three years, it's been chillin in storage. But when we moved, I decided I would keep it in our laundry room just in case. I made it a goal to try it out.
It basically works like a plunger. You put the things you need to wash in a 5-gallon bucket, add your detergent, and plunge away.
Since we started cloth diapering,--which I still need to write about--I decided I would try using this washer on the dirty diapers.
So far I've used the mobile washer twice. It's worked pretty well--no worse than the washing machine. Even the dirtiest diapers have turned out as white as the ones I put in the machine. Actually, the biggest problem has been drying the things: when I hang the diapers to dry, they end up drying stiff and, well, crunchy. I searched online and found that the problem can be mitigated by the addition of vinegar to the washing water, so I tried that last night and we'll see if it worked.
The other problem has been rinsing. I put the diapers in the bucket, fill the water up to cover them, add my detergent (and now vinegar), and then plunge for a few minutes. Occasionally I reach down and rearrange the diapers, just to get them in a different position for cleaning. They turn out looking clean and smelling clean, but then I have to rinse them out. Or, at least I feel like I have to rinse them out. That makes sense, right? Neither the reviews nor the instruction manual mentions rinsing, but I feel like it's still a good idea. So I rinse each one out in the laundry sink again, squish out as much water as I can, and then hang them to dry.
We have enough diapers to last between two and four days without washing, but I like staying on top of things. There are so many things in this world to worry about, clean diapers does not have to be one of them. So if I can make this work as part of a daily routine, that would be awesome.
Although--
To go back to the rinsing thing. I rinse each dirty diaper in the sink, and I always squish some soap on it and agitate it a little with my hands just to get out anything super gross. I imagine that once the diaper actually hits the pail, it's already relatively clean. I probably use two or three times too much soap with the mobile washer, now that I think of it. That's why the rinsing thing has been so disheartening: I've been using almost the same amount of detergent as I would for a full load in the washing machine. That's silly.
I guess I'll try it again next time with less detergent and more vinegar and no rinsing. I'll let you know how it goes.
Even with the extra rinsing, this mobile washer is pretty darn portable and handy. It's also a good way to squeeze an upper-body workout into a daily routine. And at under $15, it may not be a bad investment for those a) living in a place with no washing machine, b) cloth diapering, c) wanting to save money on water and detergent and electricity, or d) all of the above.
