Negi was born in 2012. We got a lot of diapers for our shower. My grandma would surprise us with another 1000 count box of wipes or a box of Sam's Club Huggies size diapers. Oliver was born 13 months later in 2013 (our dear Halloween baby), and after several months I told Eric we couldn't keep doing this. Groceries or diapers, entire bill or partial and diapers... diapers are EXPENSIVE. This is even after we went to Meijer brand (which worked alright, though admittedly not as great as Huggies for us) and only bought the bigger packs that worked out to be the cheapest per-diaper. We were still spending $75-100 every month on diapers, and that's assuming the boys didn't have a tummy bug. When Negi was aware of himself peeing = wet diaper, he'd rip that off and run away, and as you can't put a soiled diaper back on him just because "it can hold more," that upped the daily diaper usage a LOT.
We spent soooooo much money on diapers. However, the boys were nowhere near pottytraining. So, when browsing Craiglist one day, I came across an ad for a couple of BumGenius diapers, it seemed absolutely brilliant. $40 later I had my first two diapers with towel-like inserts (two microfiber inserts each), some disposable inserts that I could just throw away, and two full rolls of liners. Eric and I did the math and figured out that even incorporating a part-time, every-other-day cloth diaper routine we'd cut our disposable diaper usage by half. So that's what we did-- we were still buying disposables, but it was going down to $50-75 per month.
Then I scored a giant lot of 30 diapers from a lady in Grand Rapids, about an hour north of us. It was a huuuuge box full of all kinds of pocket diapers with all different inserts, prefolds, flip covers, and more, all in absolutely adorable prints. It was all new stuff, but if I'd bought it outright and hunted down all the brands it would've been over $250. I got it for $100. Our full-time cloth diapering adventure began!
My mom was supportive, especially after I showed her some of the diapers and how easy they were. My grandma was very skeptical, especially when we announced Izzy was on the way-- "I'll get you newborn diapers," she said, giving me a pat on the shoulder. "Washing and wringing them out was terrible when your mom was a baby!"
Cloth diapers are different now. Yes, if you really want, you can do the ol' prefold-and-covers style that your parents and grandparents think of when they hear "cloth diaper." Or, if you are like me and Eric, you can get pockets and all-in-ones with stay-dry material on top of ridiculously customizable absorbent materials. Did I mention how cute they are? Because they are ADORABLE. I didn't realize how gross a pee disposable diaper was until I didn't have to deal with it anymore.
Let me tell you how easy cloth diapering is.
How to put a pocket or AIO cloth diaper on a baby: you put it on exactly like a disposable diaper. Tight around the back and legs to prevent blowouts, secure with snaps or velcro. (we have mostly snaps because certain children learned to rip off the velcro early) Done.
Where to get diapers for the best price: always check your local resale pages. Craiglist is my best friend, and there are awesome Facebook groups. Even just a "hey any cloth diaper lots for sale?" post will get you tons of options.
What to do with a dirty cloth diaper: in our house, you throw it down the laundry chute with the other laundry, and then when I go down and sort out the clothing I put it in a small basket to the side. When that basket is full (usually every 3-4 days now), I wash 'em.
What to do with a POOPY diaper: the question everyone seems to cringe at. When you have a breastfed baby, you can literally just toss the diaper in the washer and be done. It dissolves, and is not nearly as gross as a lot of other stuff that goes through the washer (thank god for soap and hot water). As kids get older, you have to get the poop off first-- I honestly just dunk it in the toilet and swish it around, then run the tub a little and scrub it against the bottom of the tub until all traces are gone. Diaper sprayers do the same job, but I'm cheap. ;-) Then it goes down the chute.
How I wash diapers: Our area has notoriously hard water, but we luckily live on the very outskirts and I haven't had any problems with even tinted water (the mineral can build up in your diapers even as you wash them and cause them to hold on to stink and stains). If you do have problems, there's facebook and other websites that troubleshoot that. I've never had to strip my diapers, either! I throw them all in the washer and do Round One (which is technically a rinse'n'spin with the optional extra rinse'n'spin, all on cold to get smell and stains out), then add Purex Free and Clear and do Round Two (which is a hot full wash cycle with optional extra rinse'n'spin. You have to make sure to get all the soap out or again, stink and stains will build up!). Then into the dryer on medium with everybody until it senses that it's extra-dry. SO EASY.
It took me about a month of tweaking my routine to figure out how to avoid stinky diapers right when they peed or ones that smelled awful even straight out of the washer, but it was well worth it. Now that $100+ we used to spend on diapering three kids every month is spent on bills, food, or even trips to Target with the boys. I get to bond with other moms about cloth diapers. I have a legit hobby now, oohing and aahing over cute prints or sweet new solids. I've even won a couple in free giveaways!
Cloth diapering is simple, easy, fun, and a huge moneysaver. Even considering the diapers I've picked up over the year, year and a half since we started, we've saved realistically thousands. I'm working on cloth wipes too, but need the time to serge up the edges (or rather zig-zag around the edges because I certainly can't afford a serger right now). The ability to just toss those in the washer and not have to pick out disposable wipes (because those WILL eff up your washer if you aren't careful) is awesome.
Now, I'll leave you with my recent weekly stash shot. These actually aren't all of them, but they are the pockets and AIOs that see the most use and thus are in regular rotation. Any questions, feel free to ask here or on IG! :)
