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January 8, 2011

Planning for Baby: We're going Cloth!

Daniel and I are very excited to be parents.  Our bundle of joy should be arriving at the end of January.  ( I am feeling huge and would be happy with mid January). 
The last few months we have tried to do a little stocking up for baby.  We have gathered a small stock pile of diapers, wipes, and baby wash using coupons and deals.  To us, as new parents, the pile of diapers we have looks like it should last forever.  In reality, it might last us a month.
After doing some research and talking to friends, we have decided to try cloth diapers.  I know, many of you probably think we are crazy, but we are excited to give it a try!  We will use disposables for the first little bit and when we travel, but we will mainly use cloth.  There are several reasons people use cloth diapers, but our main incentive is to save money.

What do you think about cloth diapers?  Have you tried them?  I would love to hear your opinions!

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4 comments:

  1. I did cloth diapers for a while, but I stopped when I got pregnant with my second. less laundry sounded great at the time. It's really not too bad. And it definitely saved us money. I did the math when we were starting, and I have to do my laundry at coin operated machines and when my kid was younger and needed to be changed more often than she does now it saved us roughly 60$ a month. I have 2 dozen cloth diapers and we just used the old fashioned prefolds with the plastic cover and we washed diapers about twice a week.

    We didn't do cloth diapers when she was still nursing, so I don't know how well cloth diapers do against runny breastmilk poo and blowouts. I have also heard that kids potty train faster with cloth diapers because they can feel when they are wet. I may switch back when it's time to potty train her and I may switch my son to cloth once he is eating solids. We'll see. I did the math for newborn diapers and it wouldn't save me money at the moment. Averaging 12 diapers a day (for just the newborn)means I'd have to do laundry everyday (every other day if I'm lucky) which is both expensive (and complicated for me since I have to leave my apartment to do laundry and I have two kids under two). I could get more diapers to spread out how often I do laundry, but I would also have to get another diaper pail and I don't really have anywhere to put another pail. Doing laundry everyday is more expensive than buying disposables. If you have any questions about cloth diapering I'd be happy to share. you can email me at katchkajr at gmail dot com

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  2. Thanks Katie! I will let you know if I have any questions. We are going with the One Size diapers. I have several friends who have used them and love them- so we will see!

    My hope is that the diapers will last the whole time our son is in diapers- and maybe be able to use them on our next child. From the math I have done, the cost of the one size diapers would be paid off in 1 year or less. (that is if I was able to always get disposable diapers at $.10 a diaper or less)

    We have a washer and dryer which definately makes it more convenient. I have been able to stock up on cheap laundry detergent for now, but I plan to try making my own to save money. I will be posting the results!

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  3. I forgot to mention do not use the fuzzibunz for the first few weeks. The tar like poop will ruin them. Once his little presents are more normal then you can use them.

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  4. I've also made laundry detergent. It's great. Way cheap and it lasts forever.

    I don't know how small the one size ones get, but you might have some disposables on hand at first. For the tarry poop and also because they are soooooo tiny for the first week or two. At least with the prefolds, they would have been too big for a brand new baby.

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