Cloth Diapers

Randy's crazy idea a few months ago was to cloth diaper baby Joseph (yes, that is his name! Weird to type it out!). I thought after going through three girls all in disposable diapers, that it would be difficult to switch and even a little pointless since we aren't planning on more kids after 4. Since it was something Randy brought up, I thought I would at least look into it and I found that from the websites and from friends that have used cloth, that they are much better and user friendly than my initial opinion.

Why we decided to go for it?

1. It is much better for the environment. I can't even count how many diapers we have already disposed of from the girls, but at least we can start now, right?

2. Cost savings. It did cost us around $400 dollars start-up to purchase the diapers. 8 Grovia and 12 grovia inserts, 12 Rumparooz, shower sprayer to connect at the toilet, diaper bag, and some extra liners. This should be all we need for the next few years in terms of diapers! No more late night trips to Target when we run out! The estimate for a year of disposables is $1000, so overall we should cover the initial cost. In addition the resale value on the cloth diapers is pretty good, I expect to get at least 30-50% of our $400 back!

3. This one may sound counter-intuitive, but we also think cloth diapers may cut down on the smell! Our disposable system is to put the dirty diapers in the garage, which is fine in the winter, but boy is it smelly during the summer. With the cloth diapers, we will keep them in a tight fitting container in the laundry room and plan on doing laundry every other day.

Here is a picture of our diaper stash:

Now that we have the cloth diapers and the baby isn't coming until June, we thought we might as well try out cloth on Eve and Lydia. Perhaps it will even get them to be potty trained quicker! Aren't they cute in the diapers! So it has been a little over a week since they have been in cloth diapers. No more diaper buying for us. To be honest, it really isn't that hard or time consuming. Rinsing the poop is a little gross, but not more than what a mom and dad already have to deal with in handling toddlers. I can see a babysitter not wanting to rinse out a diaper, but the actual taking on and off of the cloth is easily mastered.

When the new baby comes in June, we will probably still keep all three in cloth. I don't think we will even need to buy any more diapers since Eve and Lydia are only going through 5-6 diapers each per day, but I will keep you posted.

I did not think I would turn into a cloth diaper advocate, but I would recommend at least looking into it...it is not has hard or gross as it seems!