Sunday, March 3, 2013

Diaper Duty

I have been changing diapers for over 6 years straight!
For 5 of those years there have been two to four children in diapers.
 
That's a lot of diapers.
Diapers cost money.
A lot of money.
 
When my first was born, I used disposable diapers. I had thought about cloth but for a number of reasons chose not to. When number 2 came along, I continued to use disposables. I mean I had two babies under age one... I wasn't insane enough to add diaper laundry to that mix!
 
Then came Cheyenne.
 
When Cheyenne was a few months old I learned she has eczema. That caused her little bum to react badly to most disposable diapers. The only diapers I found that she could wear were about $20 for a little pack that lasted 3 or 4 days.
 
Alex was potty trained, Baillie was in diapers and Cheyenne needed special diapers. Between diapers and wipes I was spending $250 a month for my kids to poop and pee! This was rediculas!
 
Now I was adding Dakota.
 
3 in diapers and already wasting a ton of money, I realized something had to change!
 
I started with some cheap prefolds and a few homemade covers. Over the years my diaper stash has evolved to fit my preferances.
 
I now have 40+ flats (the super old school ones that look like a sheet), a dozen or more covers (Blueberry Coveralls are my favorite, Thirsties Duos are a close second) and about 20 pocket diapers (mostly Sunbaby which I like even though other don't seem too)
 
 
People ask me a lot if I really saved money making the switch.
 
Total spent: $500
for everything I've ever bought and I didn't even take off what I sold!
 
Estimated spending for disposables: $9,500
estimated $175 a month for the last 54 months and rounded up.
 
So far I have saved $9,000.
 
That's a lot of money! I have noticed almost no change in my water or electric bills either. I've also sold off what I didn't end up liking to use to recoup some of the cost!
 


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