Saturday, February 5, 2011

Cloth diapering on the cheap

I hear it all the time how can anyone afford to cloth diaper! Now that we've been cloth diapering for 8 months or so, I don't know how people afford not to! Of course, if you have to go to the laundramat cloth diapering might be too hard and expensive, once I got my own washer and dryer I started CDing.

Okay so yes CD can be expensive and starting the stash is the hard part. My stash is probably valued at around $500 or so but I have never bought a new diaper! That is the secret; buy used. Part of the power of CD is belief in the power of soap. I believe soap can clean poop therefore I can buy used and just wash the previous baby out!

Also start small. My stash started the three used CDs on which I spent $24 including shipping. No you won't be able to drop the disposibles right away but the point is to make the transition. I was able to make a good deal on three more CDs and then a friend gave me three more and that was the start is my CDs during the day and disposables at night. With such a small stash I has to wash everyday. But at that point I had spent $50 and I was CDing almost full-time. From there it was a matter of buying/lucking into a good deal on 6 more CDs and I kissed disposables good bye.

Yes it will take time and money but it can be done. I also used Tide Free and Clear to wash. I did finally break down and buy some Rocking Green detergent and I love it but again not necessary. You are going to buy detergent anyways just buy the Free and Clear stuff and dry in the sun.

Wet bags are another nice thing but I don't have one. I toss my dirty CDs in a box. Yep, just a plain cardboard box. I am cheap. Don't need the fancy bag. I also don't have a diaper sprayer. I just shake the diaper over the toilet and wash. If it is really bad I just scrape with some toilet paper. It's not glamourous; I'm cheap.

As to washing, with my current stash I can wash about twice a week. As your stash grows you can wash less. As your baby grows you use less. I still wash about every two days because my mom (who watches Audrey) prefers my GroBabies, which are the newest members of the stash and I only have four shells and six inserts. But I can handle it.

So in conclusion, I am cheap and even lazy and I cloth diaper. It won't happen overnight but you can do it. Diaperswapper.com and thebabywearer.com are excellent sites for find good used diapers on the cheap. Play with it, you will find that some diapers will work better than others. I have 7 different brands in my stash and use about two. Ask your friends that CD if you can borrow to see what fits your baby best. You are not alone and you can do this. It's just poop and you'll have to wipe it either way.

2 comments:

  1. I started with 2 cloth diapers, one I paid for and the other one was free.. I washed them everyday and use them everyday. Then I won 2 $20 GC and that got me 4 diapers using coupons and buying 1 used one. I keep using those during the day and then I finally was able to spend some money every week just to buy 1 or 2 cloth diapers, I got really good deals on stores that were closing and that's how I have so many fuzzibunz and my diaper sprayer.. =) It can be done! you just have to commit to it.

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  2. You are so right Maybelline! People keep saying that you have spend $300 to get started but the best collections and the ones that work for your little one usually start small.

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