parenting

I’ve envied the girls who had it all together, those cloth diapering moms whose homes always seem to smell like freshly baked bread. (Granted, here lately my place has smelled good, too, but that’s because a girlfriend gave us bread to bake in our own oven. And don’t I know that no one has it all together, anyway?) I never thought I’d even consider cloth diapering, like home-schooling – the sweetest tasting crow – but once I saw it done, I bought all in. My house is no more smelly, my laundry is only one load bigger (every other day), and I’ve loved it

because if anything needs a rainbow, it’s the stinky end of childrearing,

because if you ever needed less trash, it’s in an apartment,

and because if you ever needed to keep a budget, it’s with something that saves thousands of dollars and costs so much less time than you ever figured.

For anyone who thinks it’s too late to start, just know that I’m a beginner, and I just had my 4th boy. I don’t have time to add big ol hassles, messes, or smells here. Imagine! I love the planet, but if this were too hard, she’d be suffering that one more little bit because of all our diapers. After a few days of it, the whole thing feels pretty effortless.

All I do is this:

Use the One Size Pocket diapers that can be used on littles anywhere between 7 and 35 pounds. I bought most of our Fuzzi Bunz from eBay.

I found a local Cloth Diapering Community. Here in Fayetteville, Terra Tots has a class once a month that helps parents explore different options. I watched girlfriends who do it.

When a diaper needs changing, I use flannel cloth wipes sprayed with a pre-made lavender solution – also incredibly easy. The diaper and wipe go in the cutest Planet Wise Bag (I have a small one for the diaper bag, too), and that bag keeps the smell totally contained. Spraying the diaper helps with that as well, and it really is a cinch.

When the bag gets full, I run bag and all in one cold rinse, and then I run a hot cycle, adding another cold rinse at the end. We use Charlie’s Soap, and it only takes a smidge of it to totally clean everything. You can line dry in the sun or put them in the dryer. Either one.

Titus was born in August, and we’ll be saving money on our diapers by the end of December. That leaves about 2 and half years of diapering that I won’t have to purchase diapers.

Forgive me if this is a bore of a post, but I wish someone had have told me! I wish I had been cloth diapering all along.

Any of you veterans have advice to add here? Brands you love? Hurdles you had to jump?

And P.S, I wish this were a sponsored post, but it’s not. Right now you can buy 6 Fuzzi Bunz and get two free – just so you know. We also did that, and the mystery print isn’t a mystery anymore if you look at T’s hiney in the above pic!

Tagged as: cloth diapering, saving money

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