TANSTAR -

for cloth wipes, measure the size of the facewashers in your linen cupboard.

cut out one layer thick flannelette from spotlight
cut out one layer thick cotton terry towelling from spotlight
overlock the two layers together - voila - you have a wipe

repeat dozens of times. with two bubs, i think you would be needing say 50 to start with. also depends if you wash once per day, or once every two days (how many cloth wipes you need on hand).

For washing the nappies, we little squirt the nappies as soon as they are off her butt, so the worst of it goes down the loo immed, a sopping nappy gets put in the "drypail", then when drypail is full, we transfer that bucketload to the the washing machine (using gloves). Put the machine onto "baby cycle" and the machine does the work for you.

baby cycle on our front loader machine, equates to
- pre-soak and wash (great for avoiding stains)
- wash
- long rinse (great for getting detergent residue out)
good spin cycle, which means nappies have less water in them when it's finished, so they dry faster.

we use a clothes horse indoors, don't use any clothes pegs, but do up snaps on one side of nappy, so they don't fall off the clothes horse.

some hints to keep your nappies in good shape and looking good for longer:
- use the laundry tabs on your aplix nappies
- if you ahve white nappies, wash them SEPARATELY first few times, otherwise you will get lint on all the other nappies
- i put polar fleece nappies in a laundry bag, fleece collects lint really easily
- nappies with dark outers, dark inners, i also put in a sep, laundry bag

Buy a gentler wash detergent to wash teh nappies with, why?
- to avoid nappy rash on your child
- to avoid making the nappies less absorbent
and use half the amount that you normally would.

Example of a gentler wash detergent?
- ecostore
- aware sensitive by planet ark
Both in supermarkets

i buy laundry bags like this - find "dustmite pillow protectors", pack of 4 at places like kmart, these work MUCH better than traditional laundry bags, which are mesh, adn have poxy zips that disintegrate in two weeks.

You have a great attitude, you want this to work, so it will.

you have great online resources, lots of MCN mums on this forum, nappycino and ozclothnappies forums too. you are not alone.

without a washing machine, without a little squirt, i prolly would whinge about washing mcn.

but with a washing machine and a little squirt, it's not that hard.

having a routine in place - which takes a little time to work out what suits you and your home - makes it alot easier.

NAPPY BUCKETS - you can get a nappy bucket from target that has four snap down things (a pretend lock) that is toddler safe. $16 mark.

we use TWO nappy buckets - one is in the toilet room, ready to have teh latest nappy thrown in there, after i've little squirted it.

the other one, is upside down, drying in teh bottom of the bath tub - from when i did the last load of nappies (daily) and left it there to dry (i rinse the bucket after emptying it into the washing machine).

The LIttle Squirt is wonderful, i would not be without it (got mine 2nd hand, if it broke tomorrow, i would be buying a brand new one immediately.).