Cloth Diapering- Also Known as My New Obsession (part one)

Eisley in her newest diaper- a tots bots diaper!

So my hubby and I decided we were going to cloth diaper pretty quickly after finding out that we were pregnant.  My sister in law had started cloth diapering my nephew, and it really made me look into it.  She loved cloth diapering, and told me how easy it was, and how much money you can save over disposables.  Not to mention the fact that my nephew's diapers were cute, colorful, and looked so much more comfortable for him to wear than paper disposables.  I decided to go home and do some research.  I was hooked pretty quickly.  Everything I read on all the boards and websites showed how easy and how much better for your baby cloth diapering is.

My first cloth diaper purchase was a couple of fuzzibunz one-size pocket diapers.  When they came in the mail I couldn't believe how soft and cute they were!  It was the beginning of a new hobby obsession.  Now I've got several brands and a stash of cute diapers.  I didn't buy newborn diapers because I didn't think Eisley would fit in them very long, so we used disposables for the first month.  Using disposables for a month really made me realize how happy I was that we had chosen to do cloth.  They just have so many chemicals in them and don't contain newborn poop explosions very well.  I wasn't impressed.

Now I've only been using cloth on Eisley for about 2 weeks... but my husband and I really like it so far.  It's easy, and we don't have to spend $20 a week on disposables that are going to clog up a landfill for the next 500 years.  Starting when they are still a newborn is a great way to ease into it because newborn breast-milk poop is basically liquid, and can go straight into the wash without any rinsing or other prep work.  I've had some friends ask me about cloth diapering, so while I'm no expert, I have done a LOT of research which I am more than happy to share, because I think cloth diapering is one of the best things you can do for your baby, your wallet, and the earth.  There is so much info, that this is going to require a few posts, so stay tuned!

So first things first.  The money issue.  I'm going to tackle this first because it was my main motivator to do cloth.  Cloth does require a bigger up-front investment than disposables.  Usually.  There are ways to get around this.  Put diapers on your registry and tell people how cute they are.  You'll need anywhere from 24 to 36 diapers.  You can put them on an amazon.com registry, or start one through your local or online diaper shop.  One of my favorite online shops is Diaper Junction.  They let you set up a registry, they have just about everything you could ever want, AND they let you try the diapers you buy from them for 30 days.  If you don't like them, you aren't stuck with them.  Feel free to check them out through my referral link DiaperJunction.com.  At any rate, I digress..  we were talking about how to cut down on your initial investment costs.

Registries!  The first and best way to get started.  Another way is to pick some up for free.  Remember my last post about swagbucks.com?  In the last 10 days I've gotten 3 more $5 amazon.com giftcards.  For free.  Guess what they are going to?  You got it!  Cute fluffy cloth diapers for baby girl.  It's a GREAT way to build up your cloth diaper stash at no cost to you.  I've gotten about eight diapers for free this way.  So when you're done reading this post, go read my post about swagbucks.com.  Then go start working your way towards some free diapers.  Another (less sure fire) way to try to snag some free cloth diaper gear is to enter giveaways online.  Just fan as many cloth diaper retailers and bloggers on facebook as you want, and start entering.  These same retailers sometimes do twitter parties, where all you have to do is participate and use the party's hash tag.  I've won a free diaper from a twitter party, a hand knit baby sleep sack from a giveaway, and a $25 gift card to DiaperJunction from a giveaway.  Now keep in mind I've probably entered about one hundred giveaways... but my point is that it IS possible to win free diapers and gear.

So if you are gifted a bunch of diapers, and manage to snag a few free diapers, your out of pocket expenses can be pretty minimal.  I think I spent about $150 to $200 total out of my own pocket.  A box of Huggies Little Snugglers are currently $34.99 for 168 diapers.  If you only go through 10 diapers a day with your newborn, give or take, that  $35 box of diapers will only last about two weeks.  After 3 months,  you will have spent $210.  And that's not even including wipes.  (It's so easy to make and use cloth wipes when you use cloth diapers.  I'll cover that later...)  In three months you will have spent more on disposables than I've spent on the cloth diapers that will last all of Eisley's diaper-wearing years.  Crazy, right?

If you want to do the math for yourself, there is a cost calculator on this great cloth diapering blog,
Cloth Diaper Geek.  Go Here!  I'm telling you, you'll be blown away by how much you will save over the course of three years!

Ok!  Well that is probably enough food for thought for now! We'll cover more later this week!