It's been a while since I've so much as thought about using cloth diapers. It's not that I've stopped doing it. On the contrary, it's because it's so natural, normal, and habitual at this point! Cloth diapers are as much a part of having a baby as nursing, feeding, and any other diaper change! I almost can't imagine using disposables anymore! It's wonderful and freeing to think that it's become such a part of our habits!
Just for the fun of it, I tossed down a few numbers recently, just to see how we're looking financially for having used cloth diapers. I considered how often we change the baby, how many diapers are in a pack, how much disposables cost. I've even estimated the cost to toss in a load of laundry at a laundromat (though it's probably cheaper for us), how many diapers fit in a load, and about how often detergent needs replacing. I figured we'd probably be pretty close by now, but we probably haven't started saving yet. It's only been a couple of months since we've gone to cloth, right?
Well, I was completely wrong. First of all, it's been about five months since we went exclusively to cloth diapers. I've calculated in pretty much everything we've bought, including a probable over-estimation on yarn to make longies and shorties. While it may not seem like much, at this point, we've already saved ourselves about $100! That's $100 more in our pocket than we would have had to spend on diapers! When we hit that one year mark, we're talking close to $400 that would have gone to companies such as Pampers, Luvs, Huggies, and store brand products, possibly more as the prices of disposables go up with size and by the brand name. If you take into account buying the smaller packs in emergency cases, like all the times I forgot the diaper bag didn't get restocked on my way out the door where small packages were picked up instead, the savings surely escalates even more!
Not only are cloth diapers so easy and convenient, but I know the diaper bag is always stocked. I always check to make sure there's extra cloth diapers and a cover, if need be, in the diaper bag. I always restock the moment I walk in the door when I'm pulling out the dirty ones to drop in the bin for cleaning. I've never really had any worries of needing to go buy more diapers last minute or, given our financial situation is tight, having fears of needing to scrape up change to buy more. In a worst case kind of way, it's cheaper to scrape up quarters for one load of wash than it is to buy a pack of disposables, and that only matters if our own washer and dryer aren't working.
I've had so many people I know tell me "I could never do cloth diapers! They're just so gross!" These days it makes me want to laugh and say, "I could never do disposable diapers! All that that wasted energy to produce them, all that money wasted, all that space in landfills! The idea is just appalling!" I'm glad I've gone over to the dark side and started using cloth. The only thing I regret is not doing it sooner!
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