Saving Money With Cloth

Seriously, how cute is he in this Whispers cover?

Even before I got pregnant with Axel I knew that I wanted to give cloth diapers a go.  I don't know HOW I knew, or WHY I knew... no one I know has used cloth in recent years and no one told me it was a good idea. I just knew that I wanted to use them.  I spent HOURS and HOURS online, researching the best brands and the different types.  I found out that a friend of mine on Facebook used cloth, so I asked her some basic questions early on.  She gave me the link for Jillian's Drawers and suggested that I use their cloth diaper trial program.  If nothing else I'd only be out $10 to return them if I hated it.

When I got them in the mail a couple months before Axel's birth I was ecstatic.  So cute they were!  And the novelty of using them was just burning a hole in my brain.  When Axel was 2 weeks old I started cloth diapering and I haven't regretted a moment of it.

Pros:

• Better for the environment.  Did you know that disposable diapers are the third largest consumable in landfills today, and it's estimated that they take hundreds of years to decompose?
• Less expensive. Did you know that the average child can cost around $1600 for two years in disposables, but you can cloth diaper your baby for about $600 (or less!).  AND reuse for the next child?! WINNING!
• Health reasons:  You know that absorbency crap in your disposables just isn't natural, right?  I mean, that's common sense. 
• Cuteness.  Fer reals.  Cute, cute, CUTE!  Pampers has nothin' on these!

Cons: 

• Laundry.  Oh my, the laundry.  I generally wash my diapers every other day.  Actually, it really hasn't been that big of a deal.
• Up-front costs.  I'm not gonna lie - I've spent maybe $400 so far on cloth diapers.  It's a bit of a shock, but in the long-run I'm saving. And, everything that I've purchased that doesn't fit Axel now (newborn fitteds, pre-folds and covers) will fit our future baby!
• Learning curve.  G-Ma still isn't so sure about these pre-folds.  It's been a while since I was in diapers!

Buying all the goodies now, while I'm working, is definitely going to work out for me when I start my SAH journey.  I'll be left to buy wipes (unless I start using the cloth ones I made...), detergent (until I figure out if there is a way to make my own, cloth-safe detergent) and cloth-safe diaper rash cream (which I'm hopeful I won't need often!)

And, of course, I'm learning as I go along!