Washing cloth diapers with an HE machine can be tricky. I bought an HE machine 1 week before my daughter was born, since I knew we’d be using cloth diapers. And doing laundry at my mother-in-law’s wasn’t going to cut it anymore once baby arrived.
If I had to do it again knowing what I know, I could have saved a lot of money and just purchased a used top-loader for $100. I wanted an HE machine, because they are better on water usage and electricity. I didn’t know that they are not as good at getting cloth diapers clean! (our machine doesn’t have an option to adjust water level the way a top loader does).
It has been a continuous battle with keeping our diapers smell-free and really clean. And as a cloth diaper advocate, I don’t want people complaining that my own daughter’s diapers are stinky!
I finally figured out how to get a really good clean wash with my HE machine. Since washing machines are all different, you really have to experiment with your own machine. For example, it’s easy for someone to say “just do an overnight soak”, but what if your machine doesn’t have a setting to choose a soak? Everyone has their own washing routine that works for them and their machines. The secret is to find out what works best for you. Learn how your machine works. I never actually took the time to sit in front of my washing machine to see what it actually does. I think I have found my secret, finally! Here is what I did:
#1. Put 2 tbsp of Rockin Green Classic Rock into machine (normally I only use 1 tbsp)
#2. Select a wash cycle on HOT water with soil level “high” (I didn’t select “pre-wash”, which I normally do)
#3. I sat in front of the machine and watched it work. I got a glass of wine and got comfy. My husband found me down in the laundry room watching the washing machine with a glass of wine and I had to explain my experiment to him so that he didn’t think I was going crazy. (Unfortunately, I think he still thought I was a little crazy even after I explained to him what I was doing. But whatever, guys just don’t get it! I’m not weird ok? I swear.) I watched it fill with water twice. I couldn’t believe how little water it uses! No wonder my diapers weren’t getting super clean. After about 12 -15 min. I decided it probably wasn’t going to add any more water, so now was my moment to hit “pause”. I was done my glass of wine, and I went to bed.
#4. Morning: the machine had automatically shut off overnight. I turned it back on, added no detergent, and selected a hot wash again (no pre-wash, it didn’t need it after soaking all night), plus an extra rinse. I went to work.
#5. Came home from work and went down to my laundry room to inspect the diapers. I stuck my nose into the diapers and smelled as hard as I could. I smelled…NOTHING!!! Woohoo!!
I’m thinking I will probably only have to do this trick once a week to keep stinkies at bay. My diapers weren’t very stinky, only a little (my daughter only wears diapers overnight now). For really stinky diapers, Rockin Green just came out with a new product, FUNK ROCK which is specifically formulated to combat the stinkies. I was going to try it next, but now I don’t even need it!
Next time I do the overnight soak trick, I won’t have to sit in front of the machine and wait because now I know what my machine does. I can just turn on the laundry and set the oven timer for 12 min. and then run down to the basement and hit pause when the timer goes.
Oh, and Rockin Green is phosphate free and tree hugger approved !!
It comes in YUMMY flavours, I mean SCENTS, too! (Keep it away from the kids, they might want to taste it…I must admit I’m a little tempted every time, it just reminds me so much of Lik’M Aid! The scents definitely make the laundry experience a little more FUN! )
-Smashing WATERMELONS – yummm!
-Rage Against the RASPBERRIES – yummmm! (can you tell I’m a fan of the sweet stuff)
-The Plain Green Tea’s
-Lavender Mint Revival
-Mighty Mighty Marshmallows – I haven’t smelled this one yet…!
-Motley Clean
-and Bare Naked Babies for when you want something scent-free
*Rockin Green says you only have to soak for 30-60 min. Partially the reason I did overnight was because it was late and I wanted to go to bed, not stay up late waiting for the laundry!
This is what a bag of Rockin Green laundry detergent looks like:
Rockin Green Soap Classic Rock
You can also try Rockin Green Hard Rock, which is a formula specifically for areas with HARD WATER.
A bag of Rockin Green Soap will do about 45 loads of laundry for a top loader, and 90 loads of laundry for an HE machine.
This is what a bag of Funk Rock looks like:
Funk Rock - the ammonia buster!
Rockin Green also has Magnetic Measuring Spoons. These are such a great idea. You can stick one right to your laundry machine so you don’t have to worry about losing it, plus you can keep it in your laundry room so that you don’t have to use your kitchen measuring spoon.
Magnetic Measuring Spoon / Laundry Scoop!
