How we spent less than $300 on diapers

I've had some questions about our cloth diapering experience...was it gross, was it worth it, what are your tips? So I thought I'd give a cost benefit breakdown for inquiring minds and some of the things we learned along the way.

First and most frequent question I get, "Does it cost more? Especially with the extra laundry?"

Before Grace came along, I was doing laundry every 3-5 days. Now, I do it every other day. Have I seen a rise in our electric bill? Not really, because we hang dry our cloth diapers so I'm not running the dryer any more than I used to. It's better to sun dry them anyways because it gets rid of any staining without the use of bleach. Have I seen a rise in our water bill? Yes, it's about $5 more a month now.

There are many many types of cloth diapers out there, and the start-up cost can be pricey. The most cost efficient route are Covers ($10-12/diaper). They're plastic, wipeable, and you can use them several times before tossing them in the wash. Paired with a flour sack cloth, flat, prefold, or snap-in insert is the way we go. On the highest cost end, are All-in-ones. There's no folding cloth, stuffing, or anything involved...easy to use especially on the go. I actually don't own any of these...they're expensive, take more water to wash (which together, defeat the purpose of cloth diapering IMO), and take longer to dry. All-in-ones can be anywhere from $17-25/diaper. As a happy medium, there are Pocket diapers ($12-17/diaper) which require stuffing with a number of different inserts.

User tip:

We waited until Grace was 2 weeks old to start cloth diapering. That way, we could skip the phase where you need special diapers to accommodate their belly button, and could get used to being parents first. Lord knows there was zero time or energy for the extra laundry anyways. Once we started, we tried several different pairings with the affordable diaper covers. We started with flour sack clothes til she was soaking through them too quickly (about 5 months old) before upgrading to the thicker flats. The flour sack cloths and flats can be folded many different ways to give you extra absorbency in specific areas, so learning what fold was 1) easiest and 2) most compatible was a learning curve, and changed over time as her needs were changing. We tried several different snap-in inserts as well. I like these, they're just more expensive than flats and take longer to dry. I like prefolds as well, just flats are cheapest option and hands down dry the quickest. Downside obviously being more time spent folding these and sometimes harder to spray clean before baby's eating solids.

Our cost breakdown:

Diaper Covers ($10-12 avg) - We have 6 in rotation and they were on sale when purchased. That's 6 newborn size (which Grace grew out of at 5 months old) and 7 "one size" (one I got free!) which you can resize in many different ways until baby is potty trained. All the one size diapers were on a gift registry we created with Nicki's Diapers, our go-to CD resource, so cost for those was $0.

Total = $60

Pocket diapers ($16 with Little Bee) - I was curious how these would work as an overnight solution because Grace is a heavy wetter and the overnight inserts I use are great but take a long time to dry. I stuff them with a hemp insert wrapped inside a prefold and they normally hold her. A few times she has leaked though. So as much as I hate how giant the layers of inserts make her butt and tendency for microfiber to hold a stench, they DO work the best when paired with a cover. I got these pocket diapers when they were Buy One Get One free.

Total = $16

Flour sack cloths ($12/doz.) - we have 24

Flats ($15/half doz.)

Prefolds ($24/doz.)

Inserts ($22/half doz.) - we use these sparingly and for overnight.

Again, we put some of these on our Nicki's gift registry which brought the cost down.

Total = $85

Spray Pal is this amazing thing Mathias's and my mom wished they had when we were in cloth. It's like a pressure washer for diapers that makes clean-up super easy, especially once baby is eating solids..poo just peels off. This was on our Amazon gift registry but can be purchased for about $50.

Total = $0

Disposable diapers ($10/bag) - We don't make our babysitters use cloth (but of course they can if they feel up to it), so we've used 4 boxes of diapers, one of which I received free.

Total = $30

Isn't it messy on the go?

Yes. But that's what wet bags are for. They're pretty inexpensive and they lock in any odor 100%.

I don't use cloth on the go though, because then I'd also have to stuff our diaper bag with them which would take up alot of room. Instead, I use Grovia biosoakers. Mathias calls them her maxi pads because that's exactly what they look like. They take up little room in the diaper bag, fit right into her diaper covers, can be tossed in the trash, and are biodegradable.

Small & Large wetbag = $60

Biosoakers = $20 for 50 count bag which we just ran out of. I've purchased a 2nd bag off mom swap for $10. Win!

Total = $90

Total for cloth diapering til age 1* = $360

Total for disposable diapers til age 1* = avg $720

*without the assistance of a gift registry/friends & fam contributions

Our grand total = $251

So yes... $251 < $720

Here are my hands down favorite brands:

Flour sack cloths - just get the cheap pack from Sam's that are all white. Don't get the fancy colored/printed ones because it is made with different, less absorbent (more like repellent) material.

Flats - Cloth-eez muslin by Green Mountain Diapers

Newborn covers- Sweet Pea (used until she was about 5 months)

One-size covers - Nicki's and Imagine

Prefolds - Imagine Smart fit

Inserts- Best Bottom (I like their covers ok, but I really like the flap on the inside that Imagine and Nicki's have) and for overnight, we use a Thirstie's hemp insert with our Imagine prefold wrapped around it

Seems like alot of extra work. Would you recommend it?

Does it create extra work? Yes. But is it worth it? Absolutely. If you have the time to hang & fold extra laundry, the stomach to spray poop off diapers, and the friends/family who are willing to purchase off a cloth diaper registry to help with the start-up cost, then I say go for it! Besides the obvious cost benefit, Grace's exposure to the chemicals in disposables is reduced, we create WAY less trash, they come in cute prints, leaks are very rare, and they hold in blow outs MUCH better. I can not stress this last pro enough. Grace has literally only had 3 blowouts. Ever. And each time, she was wearing a disposable. Many times I go to change her and what I'm certain would have been a blowout and destroyed her outfit, was neatly contained. Crisis averted.

Also, cloth diapering lends to fewer diaper rashes since you often feel the need to change more frequently.

Need more incentive?

They hold their value! The covers she has just out grown still look almost brand new, so we can use them for baby #2. (And if not, second hand cloth diapers will sell on mom swap so you could actually end up earning some of your money back on these!)