how we came to cloth diapering

You are all wondering, why on earth would you go BACK in time, spend the time, money, water, and energy cloth diapering! I will answer these questions and hopefully MORE!

This year I started entering some blog giveaways, one featured a cloth diaper. Im not sure what I thought exactly at the time, but one of the thoughts was, that is the cutest diaper I have ever seen! I didn't care that I had no idea how to take care of it or what I was going to do if I won. Well what do you know, I won! I was so excited because it was the first giveaway I had ever entered AND won!

Construction:
When the diaper came in the mail I carefully inspected my prize, noticing the soft materials and simple construction. This diaper was made of soft fleece on the inside where it touched the giant baby's bottom. The outside was a star printed PUL (Polyurethene Laminate) so there is no leaking.

Care:
I threw it in the wash (not properly mind you!) and as soon as it came out I slapped it on the giant baby! Talk about cute! Next I noticed how simple the diaper was to put on. This particular diaper was made with snaps and was no harder to use than a disposable. In fact it was BETTER! If you have a houdini baby its going to be pretty hard to get out of a snap closure.

Cleaning: Dang, its not hard! I was almost hoping that it WOULD be! A pee diaper is as simple as unstuffing (in this case) and throwing it in the wash with a diaper safe detergent. A poo diaper is just as simple. The hubs prefers to shake and wipe over the diaper trash, but he also uses disposable wipes. I shake over the potty and do an old fashioned dunk if I ever need to but its rare! Next, throw it in the wash. Thats it!

Drying: Throw it in the dryer or hang to dry. We have the luxury of having the sun on our side with cloth diapering. The sun is a free dryer! Imagine that! The bonus of the sun is that it naturally bleaches out any stains and gets rid of germies! When we have no sun, it happens a LOT here in Washington! I hang my covers in the house and throw the inserts in the dryer.

Ta-DA! Thats it! I promise!

After I tried this one diaper I mentioned it to my cousin who offered her old diapers to me. I took her up on it and decided to give it a whirl. I had a discussion with my hubs about how my stash of disposable diapers I got from other kids at church that grew out of a pack before they finished, and my coupon stash was almost gone. My case was good. When I bought disposables I got them for less than $3 a pack! I stashed enough (as all good couponers do ;) ) to last a good while. Since I would be home for the summer on break, I could take on the "task" of diapering with cloth.

I researched craigslist, and found an AWESOME deal! This was just days after I pleaded my case. My hubs was super nervous about the price and what this new deal would bring. Im telling you, this was an awesome deal! Once in a life time type.

8 Sunbaby's with inserts
5 Bum Genuis 3.0 with inserts
3 Thirsties covers (large)

8 extra inserts for sunbaby's
12 prefolds
4 baby kick's hemp prefolds

A great starter pack for $100

We went full in right away. My hubs was a convert in a day! We haven't looked back since!