We're planning to put up the crib this weekend (squeeeee!). Still trying to figure out how to fool Andy into thinking it will be fun :p
Besides decorating the nursery, my latest obsession has been cloth diapers. Before you roll your eyes at me and mumble under your breath about 'how long that will last" let me tell ya, I've done my research and put a lot of thought into this. First of all, if you know me you know that I love to be frugal and thrifty. Of course, I know that my baby will need diapers, but spending all of that money on a piece of plastic/cotton that will get thrown away and contribute to waste seems like such a, well....waste! When I first started looking into cloth diapers I became totally overwhelmed. There are so many options! And of course, if you're a 'cool' cloth diaper mama, you have to use all of the abbreviations, "AIOs, fitteds, OS, PFs". Ugh. Nearly scared me away. But I read and read and even went to Modern Natural Baby in Ferndale (of course) for a little demo. So my plan is go to old school and use prefolds with covers...just like my mom did when Jesse and I were babes. Prefolds are your typical original cloth diaper, kept in place with a 'snappi'
Swell, I know. But how do you keep it from leaking? That's the fun part...covers! These are waterproof and come in all kinds of cute colors and patterns.
Adorable, right?! The neato thing is that you can get 'one size' covers, which have multiple snaps so the diaper can grow with baby! Like this:
Besides a nice stash of prefolds with covers, I will have some All-in-ones for Poppy as well. These are idiot proof and basically function exactly like a disposable diaper, except instead of throwing it away, you throw it in the washing machine and use it again. These are a bit pricier, but can be found on sale and in excellent used condition for a great price.
Ta-Da!
What else do you need to cloth diaper? Not whole lot. I diaper sprayer is nice, but not essential. It hooks up to the toilet so you can spray off the poops before you throw the diaper in the dirty pail. You also need a washer and dryer, laundry detergent for sensitive skin, and the motivation to do more laundry than you ever have in your life.
So now let's talk cost. The average cost of dipaering a baby in disposables for 30 months is between $1,500.00 - 2,000.00, assuming you are paying between $.17-.33 per diaper. The cost for 30 months worth of prefolds and wraps is about $250. Add another $500 over the course of those 30 months for laundering/energy costs and accessories, and we have a grand total of $750.00 to cloth diaper. That's a savings of anywhere between $750.00-1250.00! Let's be realistic though. I am going to add some of the more expensive All-in-one diapers to my stash because they are easy (for the babysitter!) and oh-so-cute. So let's add another $250.00. Well lookie there, we are still saving $500.00-1000.00. Oh but it doesn't stop there, friends. You see, these diapers are reusable for our future children. Yes, that's right. We will not have to buy more cloth diapers for our next babies...which is going to save us literally thousands more dollars. Enough to pay for a trip to, oh I don't know, Disneyland? AND, any diapers that are still in good condition can be sold at resale for upward of 50% of their original cost. Eat your heart out, extreme couponers.
Oh, and did I mention we willl be saving the earth, one perfold at a time? Yeah, that too.
Oh, one more thing! Crazy legs. They go perfect with adorable cloth diapers (or without!)and are unbelieveably cute:
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