Since the economy has taken a turn for the worse, Senior and I have evaluated our bills and monthly spending's to see where exactly we could slim down our monthly budget. After all, we now have a baby and we need to save money for things like
college food.. Yes, I said food. Have you ever tried to feed a teenage boy? Yikes.
In all seriousness, we've moved into a cheaper house, we drive the car instead of the truck (to get better gas mileage) and use coupons to save on every day purchases. We also utilize our local Costco and farmers markets, when in season. We try to make things from scratch instead of buying whole as it's usually cheaper.
The other day, when I was reading Cynthia's blog:
This Adventure, Our Life, she got me thinking... Why would I spend thousand's of dollars to expose my son to harmful chemicals and fill up a landfill with a ton of unneeded, stinky garbage that will take hundreds of years to decompose? What am I thinking? Am I not trying to save money during this crappy recession? Why would I throw thousands of dollars on something that I won't be able to re-use, at all? Not for him. Not for future kids. Zip. Nada. Zilch.
After Cynthia's post, I couldn't help but start researching cloth diapers. I'm one of those people who are all about convenience but after researching, I couldn't help but worry about what I was putting on my son's skin. What I was exposing him to and what I could be causing. It's worrisome, that's for sure. I did my research and talked with a few friends, then submitted the idea to Senior. He's a little apprehensive about the idea because the last time he's seen a cloth diaper, it used HUGE
death pokers safety pins to keep them in place. The last time he changed a cloth diaper was almost 30 years ago, HA!
I showed him what cloth diapers look like, now and his response was, "Wow! Those are cool! Things certainly have come a long way since I've used them!" This makes me smile. My husband is so cute.
We've decided to try out some cloth diapers. Here are some things we're looking for and the companies we look at and their pro's and con's, according to us, of course.
* Quality! It's all about quality. When forking out all the money it takes to get our whole cloth diaper system, we want something that is going to work and provide us with something that we can use for our son and beyond!
* Simplicity! Senior isn't patient when it comes to stuff like this, so it has to be easy to use. Such as, remove the dirty one, throw it in a pail, place a clean one under his bum, secure it, done. It has to be easy. All the cleaning and "restuffing" will be up to me. Everything else, however, has to be very simple to use.
* Great Value! We don't want to fork out $400 for 12 diapers. If we're going to pay that much money, we want something that is going to last us for a long time. After all, $400 in disposables could last us about 5 months. We just want something that's worth the money.
* Snaps! I'm terrified that the velcro will wear out and I'll have to replace it after a year's use.. no.thank.you.
See bullet #2.
* Adjust-ability! My son is 4 months old, 14 pounds and 26 inches long. I need one that will fit my long and skinny babe. A must, for sure!
We're looking at the following companies but are unsure about a few things with each company, however, we do have our favorite, that's for sure:
1. BumGenius: We love the fact that they have extra inserts and you can reuse the newborn inserts for extra absorbency during the evening, if needed.
Con: Velcro.
2. FuzzyBunz: We love the snaps!!! LOVE.THE.SNAPS. Love the color pallet. Love the one-size-fits-all. Love it all really!
Con: Kind of expensive!
3. Flip: We love the colors and love the fact that they have disposable inserts as well as cloth for outings and such. Love the price.
Con: A little difficult for Senior.
(He would get confused to have to snap a new liner in while trying to change the little man. It would be disastrous. I can see it now.)
4. gDiapers: We love the colors. Love the price. Love the ability to use cloth and disposable liners.
Con: Complicated for Senior.
Do you use cloth diapers? Do you have any advice for the diapers that you use? What are the pro's and con's to your diapering system?
