Cloth diapering, not chemical dependency. That may be another post, haha. I began the contemplation to cloth diaper because my good friend Natalie was doing it. She did it for the fashion, I was thinking of the budget. Any where I can find money, I am there. Noah started at about 5 months. I soon learned that Luke was not fond of the process. But again, with me being home I wanted to save that money. And seriously, this is not our former generations idea of a stinky bucket, rubber pants, and pins!
My friend ,Steph, has her own company making cloth diapers for people around the country and is quite the expert. Her diapers are awesome, but my friend Kristin made me 5 diapers to start out with. I soon realized that it was not that big of a deal. My sister in law, a young mother said, "there is no way I am scraping poop off a diaper!" After doing laundry for a large household I said, "that ain't no thing to me!" Granted the diaper sprayer makes it really easy.
After realizing that buying diapers like fuzzibunz was really spendy, and high quality diapers meant high prices, I started buying diapers on ebay. Straight from China some were! But at 5-6$ a peice it was in my budget. I bought several sets of 6 and 12. The pinks and purples I set aside (low and behold Naomi likes them much better!)
Laundering: I ruined the first 5 pretty quick, washing them in bleach and using the dryer. Elastic doesn't last long being washed every night with those components! My sister did lots of research and even taught me a thing or two, but my process has been perfected. I have an 18 qt. rubbermaid that holds a good couple days worth of diapers. The dirty ones get sprayed and put in there, and then wash time I pull the liners out, hemp liners are great, and throw them in the wash. I do a pre-rinse then wash them with Allen's soap (thanks Eva, I need to buy more!) Then I hang them dry on my dryer rack and wallah, free diapers!
We still use disposables for daddy, some outings, and overnights. I know that we are saving a ton of money though to use the cloth during the day and as much as we can. If Luke complains I remind him they are free and that is how I can afford to shop:)
So, if you are considering cloth diapers...it really isn't that bad and there are many benefits to using cloth. For your pocket book, the landfills, and baby!
29 Weeks (Eden)
4 years ago
Cloth diapers are wonderful... Thanks for the info (this and past stuff)! When we moved, I started using disposables because I didn't want to transfer my whole system to our transitional apartment (and I thought we'd just be there for a month). I've really missed them! After using disposables, I can definitely say that my cloth diapers worked so much better. My little girl had almost NO blowouts with the cloth, but oh, so many with the disposables.
ReplyDeleteWhoohoo! We use cloth most of the time but still use disposables for most outings and always for overnights. Glad to hear that the ones from China are working well--my SIL is pregnant and wanted me to make diapers for her but I just don't have time. Plus, I can't beat that price!! I recommended those to her, so hopefully she will get some. :)
ReplyDeletenice post Kate! like the links within within your post...getting to be a fancy blogger! :) just an fyi- allen's naturally has their own site and I think if you buy enough, shipping isn't that bad and is cheaper than what my local store offers. I didn't see what the price was on the link you left though...for when you decide to get more. :) even though we mostly have "fancy" "expensive" diapers (there are way more expensive dipes out there- goodmamas are "hot" and one sold on hyena cart for $200!!! they are poop catchers, right?!), I am a big bargain hunter and have bought a bunch online and swap boards, seconds sales, craigslist, etc. Plus FB has a great 1 year warranty! nice shout out to cloth! :)
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