I really haven’t done much diaper prepping in the past two weeks. But the Diaper Bazaar is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER, so I had to buckle down this weekend.

Last night, I put the diapers I had previously scrubbed with Imse Vimse Wash Away Stain Soap in for one last Charlie’s Soap strip just to make sure there was no residue left behind that could cause leaks. I started the soak before we went to dinner and finished it up before bed. I left them in the washer overnight so I could hang them in the sun one last time this morning.

There was lots of sun and very little wind today, so it was a perfect day to sun diapers. I hung them up and took them outside. Some of my pocket covers dried too quickly, so I used a spray bottle with water to re-wet them (sunning works best on wet diapers).

Natural fibers can get stiff when air-dried, so I put cotton, hemp and bamboo diapers in the dryer for a few minutes to soften them up.

When everything was clean and dry, I brought it all into my bedroom to sort. I put All-in-Ones in one pile, prefolds and flats in another pile, fitteds in a separate pile and covers in a last pile. I put pocket covers and inserts to the side to deal with last.

I matched up everything I could with original pieces: Booster in the right diaper, correct inserts with covers, etc.

Then it was time to decide pricing. Things that were barely used or in excellent condition I priced a few dollars under full retail. Things that were worn but still worked well I priced at about 50-75% of retail. Things that were really rough around the edges or might need repair before long I priced around 40-50% of retail. If in doubt, I priced it a little high – I can always make deals at the Bazaar.

I saved the pocket diaper till last because I have so many and they are in many degrees of wear and tear. I sorted them into the following piles: covers in great shape; covers that are worn, but still in working order; and covers that will probably need repair soon (new elastic, new velcro, etc.). I sorted inserts into three piles: dingy, okay and great.

I paired each One Size pocket cover with a newborn and full size insert of matching quality. The great diapers I set at the highest price and went down from there.

I tagged everything with a tag gun I have, but you could use masking tape or stickers if you prefer to indicate price.

Finally, I piled everything into bags ready to bring to the Diaper Bazaar. It’s a bit bittersweet to be packing up all these diapers, but it is nice to be well on the road to potty training.  It’s also a big relief to clear so much stuff out of our house.

Part 2 in this series can be read here.

Part 1 in this series can be read here.

I didn’t get my stash pre-treated with Charlie’s Laundry Pre-Spray and washed until late afternoon yesterday. So I just piled them in a laundry basket overnight.

This morning, I threw them in the washer for a Rinse and Spin cycle just to get them really wet. Sunning out stains works best on clean, wet diapers. (If you don’t have a rinse and spin cycle, a short cold wash with no detergent will do the trick.)

Once my diapers were wet again, I got out two blankets and a sheet. My driveway gets full morning sun for several hours, so I spread the blankets out on the driveway. Side note: I also own a laundry rack for hanging, but when I hang diapers on it, not all diapers get full sun. Laying diapers on a blanket ensures that all diapers get as much sun as possible.

It was a bit windy this morning, so I put rocks on the corners of each blanket. I also tried to mix what I layed on each blanket – some heavier diapers like prefolds or AIOs, some pocket covers and inserts. The heavier items helped hold down the blankets.

I didn’t worry too much if diapers blew off the blankets. I knew I was going to wash them again: fabrics, especially natural fibers, can get stiff when air-dried, so I planned to wash them at least once more and put them in the dryer.

The pocket covers dried very quickly, and since sunning works best on wet fabrics, I used a spray bottle filled with water to wet down anything that was dry. I did this several times throughout the morning.

After lunch, I went out to check progress. About half of the things I layed out were now  completely stain-free! I gathered those up and put them aside to wash later – they had bits of leaves on them that I’ll need to remove before selling them. The other half of our diapers still had some faint staining. So I gathered those up and took them to the bathtub.

There I proceeded to scrub down the stains with Imse Vimse Wash Away Stain Soap. This natural stain remover works great on stubborn stains. WARNING: It will leave nasty residue build-up on synthetic diapers like pockets. I knew this, and had already planned to strip them afterwards with Charlie’s Soap.

As I scrubbed them down, I piled them up in a laundry basket. I’ll let them sit until this evening and start the Charlie’s strip before bed.

Right now I have everything that just needed one more quick wash and dry in the machine. Once this load is done, I can put it away as ready to sell (of course, once everything’s ready to sell, I’ll put inserts with pocket covers, match boosters to AIOs to sell as a set, etc.)

It is quite a bit of work to get used diapers ready for sale, but the higher price clean diapers earn is worth it. A stained pocket diaper might sell for $3-5 dollars, but a clean one with correct inserts might go for $10-$12. That’s incentive enough for me.

Green Bambino’s 2nd Diaper Bazaar is scheduled for Saturday, June 18 from 9-11 a.m. At the Bazaar, you can buy, sell or trade gently used cloth diapers and diapering accessories. We’ll even have Rachel Hanan, creator and manufacturer of Tailfeathers diapers on hand to meet and greet and show off new stuff!

Since my son is well on the road to potty training and baby #2 isn’t planned for quite a while, we decided to go ahead and sell our entire stash of cloth diapers. My son is one of those that stained every single diaper he pooped in, so I’ve got a lot of work to get our used diapers looking their best for the Diaper Bazaar.

STEP 1:

Gather your stash of diapers. Separate it into three piles – one pile of things that are clean, stain- and odor-free, thus ready for sale with no extra work. Make another pile of things that have stains, odors, pet hair, or anything else that means they need to be washed. Finally, put all microfiber inserts into a third pile (no covers, just the inserts).

Put the items ready for sale into a bag or box and put them to the side.

STEP 2:

Take the pile of stained diapers to the bathtub or a utility sink. I chose to spray all the stains with Charlie’s Soap Laundry Pre-Spray (available at Green Bambino). This spray is safe for all cloth diapers, so it’s an easy first step to get stains out. Spray down any stains and let the diapers sit in the bathtub while you bleach the inserts. Charlie’s Soap Laundry Pre-Spray is a safe, natural cleaner, but it is VERY strong, so use it in a ventilated area.

STEP 3:

Take the pile of microfiber inserts and put them into the washing machine. Add whatever normal amount of detergent you usually use. Add 1/4 cup chlorine bleach to the bleach dispenser cup (if you don’t have a bleach dispenser cup, fill the tub with water, mix the bleach in, THEN add the inserts). Run a hot wash cycle. When this cycle is finished, run another short, hot wash with no detergent or bleach to rinse them really well.

If the inserts have no stains, dry them in the dryer on low. If they are still stained, lay them in bright sunlight till dry.

To be continued….

On Saturday, September 11, Green Bambino hosted what seems to have been Oklahoma City’s first diaper swap. Since we had met no one that had ever hosted or even attended a diaper swap before, we knew going in that this was going to be an experiment. We asked everyone to be patient and understanding as we learned from the first event and they were.

A good time was had by all and one mom made over $200 for her gently used diapers!

However, we did learn a couple of things that will make the next diaper swap – be it ours or anyone else’s – even more successful.

First, a five-hour time window was entirely too much. In order to concentrate buyers and sellers, the timeframe should have been no more than two hours and possibly just an hour.

Second, be careful of the wind. Sellers should bring paperweights (or in this case, diaper weights ) so their diapers don’t go flying off into the parking lot.

Third, I think the term diaper swap might be misleading. I’m afraid some people might have believed that if they didn’t have diapers to trade, they couldn’t participate. It’s really more of a cloth diaper garage sale, but I don’t like that term either. If you have any name ideas, post a comment, please!

We’re currently planning to have another diaper swap or whatever-we-call-it next spring once the weather warms up. Maybe early-April, but don’t quote me on that yet. If you missed ours and have diapers to sell, Little Squigglers is planning one in Stillwater in a couple of months.

Did I take any pictures? That’s a big fat negatory. I’ll remember to get out the video camera next time!