Cloth Diapers : Part 2

Deciding to cloth diaper was fairly easy for us. Aaron says I’m the one who decided, but he really did get on board after we shelled out some serious dough on just TWO boxes of diapers. It really came down to money and me not being able to step down from a challenge. Since I will be working part time when I go back to work and won't be able to supplement our income as easily as before by picking up extra shifts we really had to tighten in our budget and find places to save. Plus, I'm not scared of poop. Not one bit. 

Several people have mentioned poop with utter disgust when I talk about cloth diapers, but I must admit, I’m no stranger. This may not be for the faint of heart, but I am an x-ray technologist at a major hospital in our area. I have seen things that will turn your stomach inside out. Poop, pee, puke, blood, gun shot wounds, stab wounds, foreign bodies, gangrene, open chest wounds, bones sticking out of body parts… I could go on but I’m sure you aren’t interested. Let's just say, I’m not worried about baby poop. And for the record, you folks who aren’t yet parents and think a throw-away Pampers are the key to not having to touch poop are in for a big surprise someday. Haha :)

To get started I made a list of things we'd need to start cloth diapering:

• Diapers
• Wipes
• Diaper Pail/Bag for Nursery
• Travel sized Wet Bags for the Diaper Bag
• Inserts
• Laundry Detergent
• Diaper Sprayer

Diapers

We will be using Charlie Banana pocket diapers (all in two diapers) with snap front closure and adjustable elastic around the leg holes. This is a bit more pricey than other cloth diaper routes. But we felt comfortable with our decision knowing that we wanted convenience and quality. We also knew we would like to re-use the diapers in the future. These diapers are made to fit a newborn baby to potty training toddler. Our goal is to have 18-24 diapers, we probably won't buy them all before Samson is born though, because we'll want to be sure these work for him before going all in. 

• Investment : $150 (12 diapers), approximately $300-350 for a complete stash

Wipes

These can be purchased and several people have even suggested baby wash cloths, but since I can sew I'm planning on just snagging some fabric from JoAnn's next time I'm on that end of town and making some of my own. It would be easy to use my own sewing machine, but to make them even faster, I'll probably borrow my mom's serger (Hi Mom! Thanks in advance!)   We will always have some disposable wipes on hand, but since we will already be doing diaper laundry, there is no reason we can't toss these in the laundry too. We'll have to see what works best for us but we'll either just use plain water to moisten the wipes or make a homemade spray to clean his tush with. 

• Investment : $10, still need to purchase/make

Diaper Pail / Wet Bag for Nursery

I'm still up in the air about this. I can't decide if I simply want a bag to hang on a hook, or a bag to put in a pail. If used properly, both would contain odors and mess just fine. I really like the ubbi diaper pail. It can be filled with regular trash bags for disposable diapers (no fancy refills needed) or a washable wet bags for cloth diapers. It costs a whopping $80 though, which is pretty pricey when you include buying two full size wet bags to go along with it for $25 a piece. I'm open to suggestions here moms!

• Investment : Not sure! Help!

Travel Size Wet Bag for Diaper Bag

Received a Planet Wise bag as a baby shower gift.  I'm planning on starting with two or three, but haven't purchased anymore yet. I really like the Planet Wise bag but, I've also heard good things about Itzy Ritzy bags. Any cloth diaper mommas have any other favorites? 

• Investment : $0, received 1 as a gift ... plan on purchasing one more for $15.

Inserts

Charlie Banana diapers come with two microfiber inserts and should be able to withstand normal diaper situations all on their own. It's unlikely that we will have to purchase a full set of extra inserts to find success with our cloth diapers. However, I've heard boys might need a little extra absorbency to get a diaper to last, especially at night. My cousin Jessica, who is cloth diapering a little man of her own has given me some really awesome advice and generously gifted us a few extra Hemp doublers to test out. 

• Investment : $0, received 3 as a gift ... typically run anywhere from $3-$8 a piece, depending on the material they are made of. Won't buy any more until we start cloth diapering and we find out what we really need.

Laundry Detergent

I've made my own laundry detergent in the past, so that was my first thought. Unfortunately though last year when we moved to our house outside city limits our water went from soft city water to hard country water. Our clothes simply weren't getting clean and it was much simpler to run to the store and buy a bottle of Tide versus fix the homemade detergent recipe. We have since switched to All Free & Clear and will be using it for both our clothes and Samson's clothes. However, we will be using a detergent specially made for cloth diapers to protect our diapers. We will be using Rockin Green : Bare Naked Babies Detergent. Our water company was recently bought out by city utilities and after they run the pipes all the way out to the boonies next year we'll have much softer water, so maybe I'll try some homemade detergent recipes out to save some money!

• Investment : $0, our first bag was a gift! $16/bag, which does 90 loads in a he washer

Diaper Sprayer

Not a necessity, but an awesome poop avoidance device. This attaches to your toilet and sprays the diaper clean before you toss it in the diaper pail/bag. I wasn't sold on wanting one until I found the Diaper Dawgs company. The silicone "dawgs" that they are known for act as a barrier between you and whatever funk you might come across in the diaper. Their really cool product though is the collar that they make to keep the diaper sprayer's spray contained. If you want to see it in action, check out this video (warning: this video displays real diapers with real poop!)

• Investment : $60 for the sprayer and the spray collar, we still need to purchase these

What I loved about making this list is that I can see exactly where our money is going and it's not in the trash! We recently bought a box of Newborn Huggies (88 diapers) and Size 1 Pampers Swaddlers (100 diapers) and spent $50! Holy smokes... that's just a few weeks worth of diapers. Not good for a tight budget. It also made my heart happy to think that some of these items were gifts and some our diapers will be paid for with gift cards. The generosity of our friends and family never ceases to amaze me. We feel SO loved and SO supported. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I calculated our initial investment to include 24 diapers ($350), homemade wipes ($10), 1 additional travel wet bag ($15), 1 full size wet bag for the nursery ($15), and the diaper sprayer/spray collar ($60). Any additional wet bags or a diaper pail aren't a complete necessity. I didn't factor in detergent because there are far too many variables for a first time cloth-diaper mom to make an informed calculation. Hopefully I will do an update in the future once I have some experience and will re-evaluate this list and the costs involved.

Initial Grand Total : $450