Monday, October 02, 2006

I think I may be a little bit crazy

This weekend I started a grand experiment. It all started when my husband mentioned that the cost of diapers shot up a whole ten dollars per box at Costco. I was shocked that they would do such a huge jump in price. My brain reeled and while I was still stunned from the shock I went out and bought a bunch of cloth diapers.

I had been toying with the idea for some time but the start up cost and thought of the extra work kind of put me off. The cheap woman that lives inside of me liked the fact that I would not be throwing money away with each disposable that I used. She also loved the fact that we could use the diapers for other babies. While my brain was reeling Cheap Woman came out and took over.

So far only Harry had been changed over to cloth diapers. We have fewer disposables for him, plus we have diaper covers for him. Awhile back I picked up a bunch of them from a local recycle group. I had intended on keeping them as a sort of back up diaper plan in case of some awful calamity (this is a bit like my food collecting thing). The lot only included small and medium covers so there were not any big enough for Evan. Truth be told, all Harry has to do is gain a few pounds and even those will not fit him. This led me to bid on some diaper covers on Ebay. I got a pretty good deal on a huge lot of large and extra large covers I am patheticaly eager to be getting them in the mail.

You may be wondering how the experiment is going. Well so far not too bad. Harry did pick this weekend to poop up a storm again. Some of the covers were not as water tight as I would have liked, but I did get them for free so I can't complain too loudly.

When I told my mom I was making the switch she had a bit of advice for me. It was sweet but simple: don't put the diapers in the toilet to soak. She tried cloth diapers with my sister H who was number three of four, but number four had yet arrived. Back then it was common to put the diapers in the toilet to soak all the poo off. My sister E and I were given strict instructions not to flush when there was a diaper in the toilet. One Sunday morning my sister E forgot what my mother had told her and flushed a diaper.

I actually remembered the incident. I clearly remember having to use the potty training potty when I had to go to the bathroom. I was quite embarrassed. The savings of using cloth diapers was quite literally flushed down the toilet since my poor parents had to call a plumber in on the weekend to get things fixed.

I have figured out that I am pretty much going to have to stick this out for at least six months. Hopefully by then I will have all the kinks worked out and I will be happily saving money with my cloth diapers.

7 comments:

chichimama said...

Good luck! My response has been to try and potty train A. But Harry is of course way too young. The cloth diaper thing never would have occured to me...

Jennifer Swanepoel said...

A friend of mine cloth diapers exclusively, and she swears by it. She sews, so she makes her own and they're adorable!! I'm hoping to give it a try, I'm just not sure I'm disciplined enough! Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Her Bad Mother said...

You'll have to let us know how this goes - and if you end up doing early potty training!

Damselfly said...

Hey, great! I really like Bumkins all-in-one cloth diapers. My second favorite is Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers.

My stepmother cloth diapered my youngest brother, who is 10 years younger than I am, and I remember all too well her soaking the diapers in the toilet. Your flushing story is too funny! (Although it probably wasn't at the time, eh?)

Anonymous said...

Way to go A.M. !!
I cloth diaper when we're hanging out at home, which is a good part of the time. I use disposables when we go out. Carrying poo cloth diapers around all day didn't work out for me.........

Anonymous said...

Since Evan classifies as "medically fragile" and is older than 2, your medical insurance may pay for diapers. It would be a disabilities-type benefit, which could also include mail-order delivery, and access to a wider size variety.
Medicaid paid for my son's diapers for 9 years, and paid for pull-ups for two or three more years after that. It also paid for the chucks pads, and an assortment of diaper rash products, but not for wipes.
Good luck
Another (once in awhile) awesome mom

Rachel said...

Thanks for visiting my blog!
It's nice to hear of another mommy using cloth diapers! Other than my sister, I only know of one other mom who did it. Luckily I inherited all her diapers when they were done having kids, so I have had zero "start up costs."
I'm looking at the date on these posts, so you may be past it now (you are probably a pro with your own system by now), but my laundry treatment is a spray bottle to blast off the poo, then just toss it in the bucket to wait for laundry day. Soak buckets don't work thanks to my super-explorative son and pets. I don't use any bleach, but do a cold rinse (no soap), followed by a hot/cold cycle. If you hang them outside on the line, the sunshine bleaches out any poo stains - it's amazing! I have some pictures because some people wouldn't believe. The sun also kills the smell in the diaper pail if you leave the lid off. I love the sunshine!