Cloth Diapering: The Decision to Go Cloth

When we first found out we were pregnant, we decided that it would be best that I stay home with him or her.  Daycare is pretty expensive and we thought that it was just the right move for our family.  Well with one income and a baby on the way, I started thinking about how we could save money.  I mean little ones cost a lot.  There's just no way around that.

Enter cloth diapers.  A few years ago if you had asked me about cloth diapering I probably would have turned my nose up at the whole subject.  I mean who wants to touch poop and have to deal with all that extra laundry?! But times change and so do people.

The initial thing that drew me to cloth was the money savings.  I didn't realize that it can cost $2,500 for disposables PER CHILD.  That's literally money thrown away.  Cloth is an initial investment up front but then becomes cost effective the more children you have.  Average most families spend about $750 to cloth diaper their first child.  Then with each additional child that cost is reduced because you should be able to reuse your diapers (given you take care of them).  Josh and I plan to have more kids so this works for us :)

Thankfully getting Josh on board with this idea was a piece of cake; his mom had cloth diapered, his sisters had cloth diapered.  Really it was just a natural progression for him.  I think he was even a little amazed about how easy it was compared to the last cloth diaper he changed (think diaper pins and prefolds).

Convincing others was a little bit of a challenge.  I mean I understand.  I was once there too.  Disposables are just an assumed part of raising a child.  Everyone gets them at baby showers and comments about how many you're going to go through!  Luckily there does seem to be a shift towards cloth in society over the last few years.  More cloth diapering stores are popping up (one here in Fayetteville) and its just easier to get started.

Overall I think you got to do what's best for your family.  Cloth is an investment in both money and time but for us its worth it.  I look at it as just another way that I'm helping our family save for the future.