Not your mother's cloth diapering..........

[momma4]

http://eartheasy.com/live_clothdiapers.htm

I thought I would share this thrifty way of life to you all. I could not find any other topics on this so here you go You will save "Estimates range from $800 - $1600 in savings over the 2 1/2 years, and 6000 diaper changes, of diaper use. Using a commercial diaper service, depending on which study you consult, is either comparable to, or a little less expensive, than using disposables." (quoted from site) I, myself use, fitted diapers, prefolds(fillers), flat(fillers), doublers, vinyl pants, wool covers(sweater butts made from recycled old sweaters), and I have 2 AIOs. I also use the homemade wipes. Before I started I was spending $80 on diapers a month and today I spend $0-$10(only when I get the ambision to make a couple more ) On average they cost me $3-$4 to make and this includes 3-5 good size wipes with plent of left overs to make something else. As for cleaning them I just put them into a regular diaper bucket (keep it closed it can get stinky) with pooped ones just shake into toliet and place into diaper pail. I just wash them like regular laundry with only 1/2 the amount of soap as recommended per load with a splash of vinegar for the smell. and I just dry as usual I usually dry on low heat but sometimes I forget to change the setting but does not effect the diapers. As for getting out of the house, well I make sure my son has atleast a pair of vinyl pants or a sweater butt on to prevent leaks. I also keep a plastic grocery bag in the diaper bag for dirty clothes and diapers. If I have the stroller with a basket I usually don't put it back in the diaper bag just in the basket. My son has no made a dirty that bad for anyone to say anything. He is 2 and I change him on average about 6-8 times a day. That is aprox 6 packages of 42 ct diapers if he was changed properly in disposibles. Which around here would cost us about $60 a month. I am not going to lie my son does get rashes but very rarely most of his rashes are his food allergy to tomotoes not the diapers. He just loves tomatoes though so he gets into them when we have supper UGH he is a pain LOL. Anyway I hope I am of some help to someone. any ?s please ask. if I can't answer I will try to find a site that can.

[PrincessPerky]

I am seriously thinking of going cloth with this one, and I will be ECing to make the potty training easier, so I wont be doing the diaper thing forever.

On the tomatoes try naked for a time (in an easy clean room, good advance prep for PTing and worked like a charm on DD)

Suppose I can't sew (I can't) what would the start up cost be? I have heard some outragiously high estimates.

[34saving]

I spend $30 a month on disposable Huggies diapers. My daughter is 19mo. Wouldn't she have to be in diapers forever for me to save $800 (see previous post) over the start up costs/washing/etc. of cloth? I know cloth is almost always seen as more frugal . . .am I missing something here?

[momma4]

I heard it can vary depending on how often you want to do laundry. I have not done cloth diapering with a newborn my son was like 9mos old when I started. But they say you should have 24-36 diapers for newborn. http://users.ezwv.com/~gooding/diape...ing%20Machine? this site here has alot of info. you don't even have to sew your own there are plenty of moms out there who sell their's online. Ebay has alot to offer too even brand new ones. There are ones where you can get diapers that fit from newborn to toddler to save you money

[PrincessPerky]

I think 34 savings it would depend on how soon you potty train, and weather you plan on more kids.

DS was done at 25 months so 5 mo * 30$ is err only 150 right? that means you would need some cheap 2 dozen cloth diapers to save on her, but if you had another kid you would save there too.

Dunno if you started or not yet though. I think the average age of modern traditional method trained girls is 2.5 though so tack on a couple months there (if you are waiting for her to demand it then you will save money, average age of demand trained kids is 3)

[momma4]

mine did not potty train til my oldest dd was alittle over 3, ds was 4, and youngest dd decided alittle bit before her 3rd birthday she was going to go in the potty no training involved it was strange. I am hoping since my youngest ds has been in cloth diapers for over a yr that it will help him to the next step

[34saving]

I'm secretly hoping to try to get it done this summer (her 2nd birthday is in October . . .) We'll see if it works

But I think the deal is you need more than 1 kid to get the kind of savings ($800) the previous post was talking about. Even if you started at birth and trained at 3 that's 36 months. 36*30 = $1140 That would mean that you'd have to buy and clean (for 3 years) all of your cloth diapers for $340. Seems kind of unlikely. . . . and that's compared against Huggies which aren't exactly known as the cheapest disposables on the market . . .

[momma4]

I just look at it as I don't have to worry about running to the store when I run out I just have to do a load of laundry. I have used disposibles for yrs and I find it cheaper than disposibles atleast for me. I have had 2 in diapers from 1998-2002 I wish I would have known more about cloth diapers during that time cause we were really tight on money and when I went for help for food and baby items they told me diapers were not a nessessity but never got into it with me about cloth. I don't want to argue just offering information for anyone interested.

just wondering what brand are you using that costs you only $30 a month I have a friend here who is using disposibles and she still spends over $50 a month on her's and her son is 2.5yrs. she is using store brand diapers too.

[DivaJen]

I switched to cloth for DD when she was a year old, maybe a bit older. She potty trained at 2.5 years, so we used cloth for well over a year. It's been a while now since I've thought about the cost of dipes. I can say that I was able to resell some of the covers and dipes I'd bought. In fact, I remember the MotherEase one-sizes and the Fuzzy Bunz both had pretty good resale values.

What really sold me on making the switch, however, was knowing that we weren't sending all those disposable to the landfills.

[PrincessPerky]

On the 30 a month, I bet the first couple if months were more. I know with DD and DS we only spent about 25 (Luvs) but the first months we spent closer to 50 or more. Younger kids need more changes. (actually I bet the older ones could have used more changes, but disposables are so absorbant so of course we didn't)

[34saving]

No argument on the landfill question. Cloth is the clear winner there.

When my daughter was younger diapers were actually cheaper since there were more in a pack (and she only did that which really takes out diapers every 2 or 3 days).

I do try to get the good diaper deals. My most recent was $20 for 102 size 4 Huggies. I don't think that's all that extraordinary around here, but in other parts of the country maybe they're more expensive? (Oh, I also use them until they're really maxed out. Luckily my daughter doesn't have diaper rash or anything . . .)

[PrincessPerky]

Maxxed out is prolly why you manage to spend so little. when figureing out the total savings for cloth they always go with having the disposable changed as often as the kid pees (no disposable user does!)

You may be in for a sticker shock when she decides to pt . (first classic sign of modern traditional is asking for a change, every time they use the diaper!)

[34saving]

Things to look forward to I guess . . . For now she hates having her diaper changed ever, so . . . maybe this summer is wishful thinking

[PrincessPerky]

Hating it might be a good thing, DD hated it and was trained early (15mo), DS never cared and was my later one (25mo)

link if you want it on early pting (if you start before the classic signs):

http://home.earthlink.net/~guin_dt_sales/id9.html

[34saving]

Interesting site. For a little while I considered IPT, but never did it because of the "people will think you're crazy" aspect. (We were fighting an excema battle at the time and didn't need something else for everybody to have an opinion on ) BTW, ezymes took care of the excema. Who'd a thunk it? The reason I'm thinking maybe summer is that way she could be in the yard and I wouldn't have to worry as much about the floor. (She LOVES being outside and she has lots of cute little sundresses )

[PrincessPerky]

Don't tell anyone!!! I learned the hard way, best way to parent, dont tell anyone anything! pretend you are doing just like them, keeps them all happy.

[momma4]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

Don't tell anyone!!! I learned the hard way, best way to parent, dont tell anyone anything! pretend you are doing just like them, keeps them all happy.

LOL