If there is one thing I've learned since becoming a mom, is to NEVER say never….like ever! If I had a nickel for every thing I said I'd never do something when I have kids, and ended up doing that thing, I'd have a couple dollars!
So, rewind 6 months, back in November. I had a friend tell me that she cloth diapered! What?! people still do that? Like, normal people? I was intrigued. She showed me the diaper and it looked nothing like a big piece of cloth and safety pins. She explained a little of it to me, and I had to know more about this. I spent weeks researching cloth diapering. I read blog after blog and watched Youtube videos until there were none left! It fascinated me! I couldn't believe I was so interested! I talked to Grant about it, and he laughed. Not because he was grossed out, but because I tend to get obsessed with something and then a few weeks later, be over it. I was going to drop everything and go gung-ho about the cloth diapering! I took his advice and decided I needed a better reason to do it.
Fast forward to now. Here I am blogging while Allie sleeps and her diapers wash in the washer! Yep! We made the switch a couple weeks ago! We haven't thrown a diaper in the trash in almost 3 weeks!
Before you roll your eyes and write me off as a crazy hippy freak who plays in her child's poo, hear me out! It's not a crazy and gross and time-consuming as you may think! I had a handful of friends ask that I do a post about cloth diapering and how it works. So, here is part one of a cloth diapering series I'm going to start! Remember that i'm fairly new at this, so I'm no expert. So, for you veterans reading this, please correct me on anything wrong!
So why did I ditch the disposables, you may ask?
-We are saving SO much money! It has been costing us $80 a month for diapers/wipes. Allie is now 8 months old. So, $640 has been shelled out in diapering alone! And she still has probably a year at least left in her diapering career! So, we would probably spend about $2400 if she were potty trained at 2 1/2.
I have spent about $450 on all her cloth diapering supplies! These diapers will last her until she is potty trained! Of course, with reusable diapers, water and energy are included. With our water, we have a base price we pay for a certain amount of gallons we use. We have never exceeded that, and Grant and I do a lot of laundry. 1 or 2 extra loads a week will not affect that. So, we are not paying anymore in water. I'm not sure exactly how much extra we are paying in energy with a couple extra loads, but nowhere near enough to exceed $2400.
The part that REALLY saves us money is when we have more kids. These diapers will last a few kids. We won't have to buy new ones. Unless, of course, they wear out or we have a boy and want a couple boy prints. Even so, a lot less than $2400 each kid.
We have decided to take the money we are saving and put it towards our student loan debt! Very beneficial for us! A penny saved is a penny earned, right?
- Babies produce a ton of diapers….no really, on average, a child will produce 1 ton of diapers! We plan on having a few kids! That will add up! And all those diapers won't decompose for 500 years! Crazy, huh? If cloth diapering means I can do my part in not filling up a landfill, I'm all for it.
There was a news clip on our local news that said our local landfill will probably be filled up and closed down in 17 years! It hit close to home! This news is what gave me the push to switch to cloth diapers!
-Aside from the economical and earthly reasons for switching, cloth diapers are super soft! Its like wearing a pillow on her bum, I bet!
I don't write this to make mothers who use disposables feel bad. Nor do I want to come across as a "holier than thou" mother. I just blog about our life…and well, this is our life now! Plus, like I said, I had more than one person ask me to do a post about cloth diapering!
So, there ya have it, we have a fluffy bum in the house! It has been working out really well for us!
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