Cloth Diapers - 2 weeks in...

So, first off - cloth diapers are addicting!  Once you make the switch and get into the groove, you want to add to your stash and try different things out (well, I do at least).

We're two weeks in and doing great!  DH's even stuffed a diaper or two and voluntarily put it on Noah! What's even more surprising is that he changed a poopy diaper and actually rinsed it out instead of leaving it for me!! I'm floored!! And as if it couldn't get any better, I went to change him this AM and realized that he had cloth diaper on him when I didn't put one on him at the start of the night.  DH did it all by himself!  (Noah ended up in a disposable because all the cloth ones were in the wash).  So, needless to say, things are going well!  Daycare has even commented on how easy these diapers are!

Our stash is almost exclusively BumGenius 3.0 one sized diapers although I ordered two MonkeySnuggles one sized, three MonkeySnuggles fitteds, and a FuzziBunz one sized and am waiting for them to arrive.  Plus we have a few gDiapers floating around here with reusable and disposable inserts. I still need to get a cover for the fitted diapers and I hope to one day know how to knit well enough to knit a wool soaker or two for little man (basically wool covers which breath better than the waterproof ones do - great for summer time here at home to let his little bum get some air)

Half of the stash - the other half is in the wash or at daycare!

So, in case you're still not convinced that cloth diapering is easy and worth a shot think about this.  Aside from the obvious green benefits there's a cost benefit too to cloth.  Figure it this way (i'm calculating based on Noah's average right now)

We use 7 diapers a day (give or take 1 or 2) x 365 days a year = 2555 diapers a year! (yea, i realized the heft of that when I was walking a 10lb bag of diaper trash to the can every week!)

If I get my disposable diapers on sale they're about $.20 a piece.  So, 2555 x $.20 = $511 in diapers for the 1 year.  Multiply that by the 3 years he'll probably be in diapers and we're $1533 in diaper costs - for one kid!

For the stash I have now here's the run down:
12 BumGenius 3.0 one sized diapers @ $18 each = $216
2 MonkeySnuggles one sized @ $18 each = $36
3 MonkeySnuggles fitteds (seconds) @ $18 each = $54
1 FuzzyBunz @ $18.00 = $18
5 Hemp inserts for my gDiapers (which were all gifts) = $25

Grand Total = $349  for his life time in diapers (plus maybe hundred or so for replacement soakers etc down the road)! You can even do it cheaper than that with exclusively prefolds and covered or getting more used.  I went for the more expensive yet more convenient and more like a traditional diaper with the pocket diapers.

Not to mention the space in a landfill you save and the fact that I can use these for our second child and then sell the ones that are in good shape when we're done using them (yes, there's a market for used cloth diapers and it's not as gross as you think!). 

 I just wish I'd done this sooner! I can't believe how many disposables we've gone thru (at least 500 in his first 12 weeks) and how much that has cost us (over $150!).