It’s All About the Fluff. No ‘Sposies.

November 10, 2014

Kevin and I are far from the greenest people on the block. But one of the many discussions we’ve had since getting pregnant is whether or not to use cloth diapers. We researched a little bit in the beginning, but one or two days of searching for answers and that was that. There was a lot of info out there and it seemed so confusing! A few months later, I started registering and we decided we’d just go with disposables (or sposies for all you cloth diaper mommas out there). We received one package of diapers at our shower, and I just thought about all the diapers we’d have to buy after that, because that one tiny box wouldn’t last a week! After that, I decided to do a little more research to compare costs, efficiency, brands, etc. of cloth diapers.

Here are a few great blog posts about the cost analysis. There are so many more out there! Research is your best friend for this.

Squawkfox gives a great pricing analysis from birth to being potty trained. She used 30 months as her timeline (although, who knows how long it’ll take to potty train each child). That was 7,354 diaper changes for 30 months using an average of 8 diaper changes a day (more for a younger child and less for an older). Her price point for disposables was 26 cents per diaper. This costs $2,349! And if you have two children in diapers at once, it’s even more!

Her average for buying cloth diapers was $450. It’s a nice middle ground. They can cost more or less depending on the system you choose and how addicted you are to the cute prints!

Modbots used a comparison of what it would be like to have 4 children, and that one really is a great eye opener since most of us have more than one child.

So, after much research and talking it out, we decided to go the cloth diapering route. Here’s what we have so far.

Newborn set. 12 fitted Kissaluvs, 4 XS Bumgenius, 3 Blissful Booty, 5 S Bumgenius, 2 wool covers, 7 newborn PUL covers

One sized diapers (not complete yet, but will continue stash as she grows.) 13 pocket diapers so far, extra inserts, and one cover

25 prefolds, 12 microfiber & hemp inserts, 3 covers

Our stash was all bought used. We picked up bits and pieces from different moms who had cared for their diapers really well. That’s why we have way too many covers, but they were a great deal! I also don’t know what will work for her little tush yet, so we’re trying all in ones (AIO), prefolds, pocket diapers, all in twos (AI2) , and fitteds.

I’ll update with the different diapers when she arrives and how they work for her. So far, this has been such a fun journey. I’m already an addict. Yesterday, I actually bought 4 more newborn diapers, because they were a great deal. One of our local baby stores, Soft and Cozy Baby, is going out of business. They have consignment cloth diapers, and they were all on sale! We bought 4 for just $14!! So, now we actually have 27 newborn diapers. She’ll be going through them a lot though 🙂

For all of this, we’ve spent right at $300. That’s a great deal. I’d recommend going the used route if this is something you’d like to try, but don’t really know where to start or what will work on your baby. You can always resell them, remember, so it’s at no loss to you. Plus, less diapers in the landfill and more cash to spare each more are always a plus.