How We Have Cloth Diapered On The Cheap & Why?

Hey everyone, this blog might not be applicable to all but I think some might be interested in how we have cloth diapered our son on the cheap and why.

Our Son is just about 15 months old now and we have been cloth diapering him almost from the beginning. I think I have some tips and ideas for those who might be considering it but feel that spending around $25 per diaper is a hard pill to swallow. First let me say I have never spent anywhere close to that on a diaper, and here is how I did it.

Before anyone gets up in arms about name brand diapers being so great here me out.  I purchased all of our diapers on eBay mostly one at a time at auction. They were all brand new and I have in my stash Spiderman prints, circus prints and even Mickey Mouse.  So, Yes I was still able to get cute ones too!  We decided we were going to cloth diaper very early on in my pregnancy. I had found out that on top of saving on average $2000 per year it had a lot of other benefits. Kids who are cloth diapered potty train sooner. They get less diaper rash or other infections and a lot more. I spent hours and hours doing research online on types of brands, types of design, the lingo of what AIO meant and so on. I began buying diapers one at a time like I said when I was about 6 months pregnant. It was easy and I had time to build up my staff before baby arrived.

Here is the controversial part....Yes I bought no brand name diapers, even from China...Here is why... Besides being so much cheaper, I had read an interesting article that pointed out almost everything we wear and purchase for ourselves and for our children are already made in China and you put it on or around your kids anyway. I couldn't really argue with that after looking at all of our stuff and seeing it was true. Even the US or Canadian diapers still bought and purchased their supplies from China, so there really wasn't a difference there either if that was your concern. Plus if you make sure to wash and prep the diapers before you put them on baby you have washed away all possible worries or chemicals they might have. I also was reminded that these are poop and pee catchers and will almost always be covered by clothing.  So Why do you NEED the fancy ones? NEED verses WANT is very different.

Now 15 months later you might wonder how the diapers have held up.  The answer is great! I will admit I have had to replace a few but now I know what not to buy.  I have a continued stash of 25 diapers that on average I washed every 2-3 days when he was very little, now about 2 times a week.  I use pocket diapers and love them! No velcro because I could foresee that being a nightmare to wash and separate. We use double inserts because he is a heavy wetter which are micro fiber.

I made my own wet bags. A yard of PUL costs about $10 and I found a very easy YouTube tutorial on how to sew them.  I made a huge one that I still use and was able to pick my own cute fabric and zipper.  It washes great no problem.  You might ask why didn't I sew all of the diapers myself... Well I worked full time while pregnant and was still performing and such in the little free time I had. Honestly I still felt eBay was ultimately cheaper than getting all the supplies and worth not being frustrated over a sewing machine on my rare free time.

All in all I estimate I spent on average $3.40 per diaper INCLUDING SHIPPING on each diaper. My Husband even made me a diaper sprayer out of a kit from Home Depot. Therefore I spent no more than $150 on my entire operation. We use one size (meaning size is adjustable as he grows), pocket diapers with snaps. So easy even your husband can put them on baby.

I can also say our son has had only 1 diaper rash and that was due to having diarrhea. He even tells me he is going poop already and points out when his diaper is wet!  When learning to walk having what we call "cloud butt" helped cushion him when he fell. For those that are too fancy to deal with the poop. It's really no different then the poop you clean off their clothes from explosions or wiping. It really isn't that much effort to wash diapers either. I just wash them while doing other chores no biggie. I have never had staining issues and guess what I don't even use fancy detergent on them either! Just the All Sensitive Skin detergent and sometimes Oxy Clean to soak.  I do the normal cold water rinse cycle, warm wash, cold rinse routine. I also put them in the dryer lol, shocking I know!

So all in all it was a great choice and we will cloth diaper our future children too. I could go on and on about other benefits and such but this is good for now.

Until next time.