"You're using cloth diapers? Eeewwww.."

Most frequent comment when telling people you plan to cloth diaper; "You're going to do cloth? Oh, no way I could do that. It's not worth the work."

Once the decision was made that I was going to stay at home and I found out I was expecting, I immediately started asking myself "What can I do to make things easier on us financially as a family?" After all, Justin and I both agreed that while we don't mind making certain sacrifices and working hard for the past few years to put us at no debt, we don't want to "just" make it! So I started looking at all the small ways you can effectively cut the cost of living by doing a little more work!

I happened to work with a fabulous girl named Kari who was planning on staying at home with her own child! Now I could never measure up to Kari as far as all the ways she strives to save money for her family. This woman is a lean, mean, money saving, do it your self machine! Coincidently another woman that I worked with, Jennah, ended up using cloth diapers as well. I started asking her questions, along with my friend Kari and from there decided to investigate this whole cloth diaper movement myself. I attended an event in Charlotte called "The Great Cloth Diaper Change" where there were vendors for different cloth brands, Moms who used cloth diapers full time and an event to have the most people together at the same time on the same day to change cloth diapers around the country. It was a pretty fun way to learn about the cloth diaper choice and all the brands out there.

After lots of good advice, many, many questions asked of my friends that i'm sure were annoying, and some discussion with my husband, I decided to make the plunge! I went ahead and ordered all the cloth diapers i'd need. I decided to go with two brands to keep my inventory varied and so I wouldn't have to commit to one brand in case I ended up liking assets from multiple kinds. 

Now I know when you think cloth, you think of the old fashioned diapers that our grandmothers used. The kinds that were a square of fabric that had to be folded and then pinned. The baby had to wear rubber "pants" to seal in the mess. And that's what I had always envisioned when I heard "cloth diaper". But after seeing what my friend was using, going to the diapering event and seeing the brands there, I was actually AMAZED at how much they had changed over the years. I researched on the internet the different brands and types of cloth diapers and found two that I liked that were well recommended to me by my friend! I went with the brands BumGenius and Kawaii Baby and chose the "Pocket Diaper" style. 

Pocket Diapers are diapers that look just like a disposable. They have an opening on the inside back of the diaper where you put in an insert or soaker that literally soaks up all the urine and liquid mess. The inside of a pocket diaper is lined with a special material that wicks away moisture and mess from the baby's bottom and stays dry with the exception of solid waste. I have literally seen a soiled urine diaper that my friend's baby wore that unless you checked the soaker insert it was impossible to tell the diaper was  dirty. 

When you change the baby's diaper you pull the insert out of the opening in the back of the diaper or the "pocket" and put both the outside diaper (called the diaper cover) and the liner into a wetbag (a special bag made of a material that conceals smell and won't sour) until you get home! If you are at home you'd put the dirty diaper cover (the outside diaper) and the soaker liner into a diaper pail that has a bag with the same material lining it. According to how many diapers you have, you'd then wash all the dirty covers and liners in the wash. 

So, that's just a brief over view of the way a cloth pocket diaper works. I have yet to use them myself on my own child, but I have watched other moms in action with their babies. There's an abundance of things out there to make it even easier on you as a mom! Once the baby gets older and the waste more solid you can use something called a diaper sprayer. The sprayer hooks into the plumbing outlet on the back of your toilet and mounts to the wall. You use it to spritz a dirty diaper and get the solid waste out of the diaper and into the toilet before putting it into the diaper pail or wash. I personally will use mine ASAP just because I like the idea of spritzing my diapers out before letting them set in the pail. 

As far as how many you need, thats another area where Moms have told me that it just depends on how easy you want to make things. Some Moms cloth diaper with only 10-12 diapers, and they wash every day. My friend who originally gave me all my information personally had a large amount of the diapers because in the beginning she planned to go back to work full time and had to have a lot in order for her day care to let her use them. I personally have about 45 diapers! I chose to buy this many because I wanted the freedom to wash every three days or so, even though i'm at home full time. 

Along with cloth diapering I am going to be using cloth wipes. I have about 150 wipes total to work with! After doing my own research along with the amazing advice of my good friend, I decided to go with making my own solution to "dip" or "presoak" my wipes in! It's a very simply process. You just take an empty disposable wipe container and add a few drops of an EO (Essential Oil, I personally went with lavender on my friend's advice) and a small amount of Doctor Bonner's Magic Soap Tea Tree scent. Then you just add water up to the line of the container and swish it around. Drop in your wipes lastly and let them soak and set in the solution! This way they stay moist and are ready to use. From what my friend has told me this supplies you for a week at a time, but keeps you from using stale solution!

I can't tell you how many times I've told someone about the choice to go cloth and heard about how gross they think it is, or how they cant believe im going to do all that work. But I personally felt like it was a small trade to:

A.) Save us around $1500 to $2000 a year per child

B.) Use a more natural eco friendly system that's easier on a babies skin and

C.) Do a little more work for a product that I believe makes life better in general for my children and myself.

Just two weeks away from my son's due date, I've got all my diapers "prewashed" (something you have to do with brand new diapers ONLY, you wash them 5-6 times in advance in order to let the material build up absorbency) and ready to go! I'm sure there are doubters out there thinking, "Ok, when this chick actually has to do it, she's going to change her tune really quick." But anyone who knows my husband knows that once the money is invested, we're committed. There's no turning back because there is NO way my husband would let me get away with investing the money into the diapers only to quit!

SO the big question is, "How much did you invest in cloth?"

Total with purchasing 45 diapers and 150 cloth wipes we spent approximately $545.00

The additional accessories we purchased to make diapering easier but are NOT necessary to cloth diapers are:

Diaper Sprayer- $50

Spray Pal- $21.50

(an item that shields the diaper and keeps water from splashing when you spray, also allows you to drop the messy diaper into the diaper pail without touching ANYTHING, there's a link on my facebook page)

Wetbags (3)- $42.00

Diaper Pail Liners (2)- $32.00

(as far as a pail, we just purchased a stainless steel trashcan SimpleHuman brand with a push pedal opener, but you can use anything for this, a metal bucket, old trash can etc.)

So total, if you decide to go with all the extra's like we did, the cost is approximately $690.50! There are cheaper brands and styles that you can chose to adjust the cost according to your budget.

That sounds like a lot of money right? But compare it to the average cost of disposable diapers and wipes which is $1500-$2000 PER CHILD each YEAR. 

Children are often not potty trained until the ages of 2 or 3. That's $4500 per child over three years at LEAST. 

The cost of cloth is one time; $690.50 spent once, and usable for more than one child. If you have two children and you go cloth, you save an average of $3809.50 PER CHILD! That's pretty significant and in our opinion TOTALLY worth the extra work! 

Now that I've shared the details of what I have learned about cloth diapering and the journey to my arrival at the decision to go cloth, you can wish me luck on my excursion into the world of cloth! 

Before you think it's gross and not worth the work consider the amount of money it saves, along with the eco friendly aspect and the natural benefits it gives your child! I'm not saying disposable is wrong or bad, just that cloth is not what people think it is! Going cloth does not mean you NEVER can use a disposable. Several of the people I know who use cloth will tell you that they still use disposable every once in a while for a long car trip, etc. I know personally, I have disposables that were bought for us at showers that I plan to use for a long car trip where it is a little more inconvenient to change your baby while being on the road. It is all up to you and how you want to do it. I have a variety of sizes that were bought for us and so should I find it necessary to use one I know I have them and wont be needing to spend the money buying any. 

I may also find I dont ever use disposables, even the free ones I have in stock! We'll just have to see!

That being said, just wanted to share the information I have gathered about this very big decision of how I want to diaper my child. It's always good to know every available choice thats out there, and thats why I wanted to blog about this particular subject this evening. For some reason the idea of doing things differently than others and the fact that by doing a little extra work I am contributing financially to our budget even though i'm not working any more makes me feel good about this decision i've made. 

Being a parent is most often described to me as an adventure! All I can do is try to make the best choices possible and embrace all the wild and crazy things I'll go through in this journey of becoming a mother! Goodnight all!