Baby Deals, Coupons & Shopping Tips for Frugal Parents
An anonymous asked the following question in the comments. I have a feeling a lot of others are wondering the same thing:
“Assuming not all of us here are stay-at-home moms, how do you work cloth diapering around Daycare? I know that alot of them don’t allow cloth for sanitary reasons.”
Today’s guest post is from BC reader Kristie from Atlanta:
It was upon learning our first child was on its way that the cheapskate in me reared her head. I knew that I wanted to be at home with our child as much as possible, and the only way I could do that was to spend less money. I crunched the numbers on everything from crib bedding to car seats, and when I added up just how much money we’d be spending on disposable diapers I was shocked. This cost can vary widely depending on which brand you buy and how many diapers you use each day, but a safe estimate is about $1500-2000 for a child potty trained between 2.5-3 years old. That’s not even accounting for disposable training pants! Those figures led me to research cloth diapering.
I’d seen some “modern” cloth diapers that a friend was using, and they didn’t look scary at all. They closed with Velcro instead of pins, had soft fleece lining on the inside, and didn’t need a cover. She told me I could buy these new-age cloth diapers on the internet, so I went searching for the best deals. There was a lot to choose from in many price ranges, but since my mind was on our budget we bought many of our diapers in gently-used condition on Diaper Swappers.
Cloth diapers are made to withstand heavy use and vigorous washing, so by the time one baby has grown out of them there is still a lot of use left. We built up our “stash” of diapers with less than a $350 investment by buying them this way. If the idea of used diapers just doesn’t appeal to you, there are plenty of diapers that can be bought new on a budget as well. A great resource is AffordableDiapers.com. Our daughter is 7 months old now, and we have been in the “green” on our diaper investment for a while now. Once she outgrows a diaper, I sell it on diaperswappers.com or trade it there for the next size I need. Diapers hold their value very well, and can often be sold for 75-85% of their original price. So far I have not had to invest any extra money to get bigger sizes. I just use the money I made from my re-sales!
Another way we cloth diaper on a budget is by using a clothesline. Clothes dryers are only second to refrigerators in how much energy they use in your house, so cutting back on dryer use can save you money! My husband installed a simple clothesline in our backyard made from 4×4 posts and wire specifically made for clotheslines that he bought at our local home improvement store. By hanging the diapers out to dry, we not only save money on electricity, but we also keep the diapers in better shape so that their re-sale value will remain high.
I’m sure you’re thinking “who wants to wear a crunchy diaper that was dried on a line?” Well, they don’t have to be crunchy! All you need to do is add a small amount of an all-natural fabric softener to your diaper laundry (Ecover and Simplicity are great all-natural brands), and fluff them in your dryer for 5 minutes BEFORE you hang them on the line. Your diapers will come off the line soft as can be and smelling like sunshine. If your homeowners association frowns upon clotheslines, there are many collapsible indoor drying racks available that can be purchased inexpensively as well.
On top of all the money cloth diapers have saved us, we have only had TWO diaper “blowouts” in 7 months of diapering, even throughout the exclusively breastfed days. The real elastic on diapers (or on covers if you’re using that style of diapering system) holds everything in perfectly. Our daughter has never had a single diaper rash, either. I am so glad that the cheapskate in my pushed me to try cloth diapers, because now that I’ve used them you couldn’t PAY me to use disposables! I never have to run out and buy diapers when we’re low…I just do a load of laundry.
More cloth diapering how-to videos (you’ll find more at YouTube).
Fuzzi Bunz
Kushies
Prefolds
Today’s guest post is from BC reader Sandra Peoples.
Hi! I’m Sandra Peoples, Mom to 10 month old James. Last week was our first week trying cloth diapers. Here’s our story:
I had casually been thinking about trying cloth diapers for a while. I did a little research on Cotton Babies and Prayer of Hannah. It seemed easy enough. And really, who isn’t interested when they read, “I have spent $150 total on diapers for my son and any future children”?!
On Cotton Babies, bumGenius brand diapers seemed to be the highest-rated cloth diapers. So I spent $92.70 and got six one-piece diapers. There’s no folding, covers, or pins. Last Saturday I got them in the mail. I opened the package and kinda freaked out! It said I had to wash them six times before I start, with special detergent, and can’t wash them with other clothes with natural fibers. So, Saturday I spent more time on the Prayer of Hannah site and learned about washing cloth diapers. They recommend using Dawn dishwashing liquid to wash the diapers, about a tablespoon of regular strength per load. So I washed the diapers and was ready to start on Monday.
James did great for his first day in his new diapers. I got in a good routine of rinsing out the diapers when he wet them. I’m not sure how much they can hold so I changed them more often than I do his disposable diapers just in case.
Day two however, brought a new challenge- a stomach virus with nausea and diarrhea. So my first dirty cloth diaper was a doozie! I got it clean, rinsed, and I threw it in the wash with the other diapers- a cold wash with Dawn, extra rinse cycle, and a hot wash with Dawn, extra rinse cycle. Then I hung them all to dry. The dirty one came out perfectly- white, clean, and neutral smelling!
So far I was feeling good about the experiment with cloth diapers. The websites say you need a three-day supply, six diapers a day. So I ordered the $30 starter kit from Cotton Babies. It includes six Chinese pre-folds, two covers, and one snap. Now my total cost for cloth diapering, with shipping, is close to $130.
Wednesday we headed to Babies-R-Us to see what they had for cloth diapering families. I was especially looking for a product called Bac-Out that you spray on the diapers before you wash them. On the end of one aisle they had basic cloth diapers, pins, and plastic pants for covers. That’s all they had. Looks like I’ll have to order what I need online.
Overall, we have enjoyed our cloth diaper experiment. The bumGenius diapers are more expensive, but worth it to us. I think I will order six more which will give us eighteen diapers total and put our spending up to a little over $200. But when you think about being able to use these diapers until he grows out of them, and being able to use them with future children, the cost is reasonable.
The best advice I have at this stage is to do research before deciding to invest in cloth diapers. There are lots of extras like special detergent, a hose that attaches to your toilet, and diaper pail liners that would add to the cost. Decide on your budget and stick to it until you figure out how cloth diapers will work for your family. We will definitely have more weeks in cloth diapers!
Sandra Peoples and her family live in central Pennsylvania. She and her husband Lee have two sons, David who is 2 ½ and James who is 10 months. She blogs at Today’s Housewife.
Today’s guest post is from BC reader Maggie:
I decided to cloth diaper my four-month old son to save money, period. I did not switch to be cute, or to save the planet. I simply wanted to save my wallet. I had a hard time stomaching paying a hefty $500 or more to buy fancy cloth diapers, even if it would be easy and save me money eventually. Instead, I chose to go the ultimate frugal route in the cloth diapering world–I chose to use prefolds.
Yes folks, those old fashioned squares our mother’s used are still alive. These small 11×15″ pieces of cloth scare most people to death, and needlessly so. I bought them, not really convinced I could handle them. In the back of my mind I just knew that to survive cloth diapering I would really need those fancy diapers. How wrong I was!
These simple, old fashioned diapers are truly wonderful. They are cheap, they are easy, and they work! Sure it took a few tries to get the hang of folding one, but by the end of day one I knew these were going to be to be the solution to diapering I was looking for. I didn’t even have to master using pins. They have these stretchy, rubber band like clasps called Snappis (pronounced snap-ease) that allow you to close the diaper with ease. If messing with folds and securing the diaper intimidates you, you can simply fold the diaper in thirds and lay it inside a waterproof cover.
Prefolds are sometimes confusing in their seemingly endless options – bleached or unbleached, Chinese or Indian, etc. It truly doesn’t matter what type you buy. They all work well. Chinese are a bit rougher in feel, but they quilt up “puffier” and are more durable. Indian are typically softer, and a little “smoother.” I personally prefer unbleached Chinese, but they all work so well I would use any of them.
To start using prefolds full time you just need the prefolds, a snappi or pins, some waterproof covers, wipes (cloth or disposable), and a bucket to throw dirty diapers in. You do not need anything more than that. Sure, you can get as fancy as you like, but that is the bare basics to save you money, which is what I am all about.
My only word of caution is that those “prefold cloth diapers” they sell at WalMart and Target are worthless… you must use a high quality prefold found at cloth diaper stores. Those Gerber rags do not hold much liquid in comparison to their true prefold counterparts and they do not last nearly as long over time.
In total I have spent $215 (shelled out a little at a time over three months) for a stash of diapers that will last me from tiny baby to potty-trained three year old. That’s it. I could have spent half as much if I wouldn’t have been tempted to try those darned fancy diapers. I love my prefolds and wish I had just chosen them first. In comparison I spent $3500 on disposable diapers and wipes for my older son.
My favorite places to buy prefolds and learn about all things prefold related:
If you truly want to try out some of the other cloth diaper options I suggest you read reviews of them from mamma’s who have used them at Diaper Pin. And then go save yourself some money by buying them used but in super great condition from Diaper Swappers, which also has a forum where you can ask any question you might dream of.
Cloth diapering has worked out fantastically for me. My husband loves all the money we’re saving, and I just wish I had known how easy it was when I had my first baby! Give prefolds a try. I bet you’ll like them!
BC reader and frugal blogger Elizabeth writes about finding cloth diapering information and support online and “in the real world”:
My husband and I do our best to live a “green” lifestyle, so when my friend Michelle in Dallas mentioned that she uses cloth diapers, our interest was piqued. She claimed it was “so easy!” After reading some articles online we decided that cloth diapering was indeed, the “greener” way to go, and as a bonus, we could save money. Easy? We were skeptical.
We knew NOTHING about cloth diapering. We also knew no one in town who used them, so we could never see cloth diapers in action. First, I emailed Michelle and asked how to get started. She had a lot of tips, so we started with a gift registry to save a little money up front. I researched on websites, blogs, and in magazines and decided to begin with two dozen fitted diapers. Fitted fit like disposables, but you have to put a waterproof cover over them. This puts them in the medium maintenance category and they are in the middle in terms of price as well. Now I am a quitter by nature, so $250 up front for twenty-four diapers meant I really had to commit to cloth at least until Baby Boy outgrew the first size we bought (two to four months).
We did not begin using cloth until about a week after we brought BB home from the hospital because I wasn’t sure how well meconium poop would come out of the diapers. Using cloth is just like disposables in terms of use and ease of use. However, there is more laundry to be done. We chose to use cloth diapering as our excuse to begin using a clothesline. I find this gets me outside almost everyday and saves energy on dryer use.
My husband returned to work after ten days at home with us, and I found myself spending a lot of time on the computer. So, I pulled up a web community of cloth diapering mamas that Michelle had mentioned. They use a lot of acronyms and abbreviations that left me overwhelmed in the beginning. I found a glossary of terms on the site and slowly began to understand what everyone was saying. I was able to post questions I had about what to buy next, laundry, and even about life with a newborn; and then found myself answering other people’s questions. This is also where I found lots of information and opinions on different types and brands of diapers. I’ve bought several used diapers to determine what fits Baby Boy well and what we find to be user-friendly.
Support for cloth was easy to find online, but what about in the real world? There was a local forum on the web community site, so I asked them. As it turns out, there is a “diaper chat” at a local children’s consignment store once a month during the day, and one at night at a local restaurant put on by the Houston chapter of The Real Diaper Association. Meeting and getting together with other moms (and dads!) who use cloth was a lot of fun. I met people with similar interests and we were able to swap suggestions and stories on cloth and life with kids.
Our house was not using cloth exclusively. We used disposables at night and when we were out and about. I found that cloth was easier and less messy than disposables, so we switched to cloth at night. Then, at one of the diaper chats, I saw a mom change her daughter’s cloth diaper. Instead of tossing a disposable into the trash, she had a zippered bag for the dirty diaper and cloth wipe she used. (Cloth wipes? One step at a time.) It’s called a wet bag. I tried a few outings with a Ziploc to see if I thought cloth outside the home was manageable, and it was no problem. So now I’m a proud owner of an adorable wet bag.
We are totaling under $500 spent on cloth diapers that will last for at least another two months. Some pieces will last well past that. Four months of disposables would run about $240 of name brand, on sale. Our diapers will have excellent resale value, or we can keep them for our next child and any children after that.
BB is two and a half months old and we still love cloth diapering. Finding help and support, meeting other cloth diaper users, and gradually incorporating cloth into our routine helped us be successful and turn a slightly brighter shade of green.
Elizabeth and her husband Alan blog about their “family trying to honor God, protect the planet, and save money all at the same time…” at Compounding Interests, where you can find her record of their cost of cloth to date and other information on cloth diapering.
If you’d said the words, “cloth diapers” to me when my son was an infant, I would have pictured white cotton rectangles and huge safety pins– exactly what you see in my baby pictures. The truth is, as MomAdvice’s Amy Clark says in the essential, “Cloth Diapering 101,” “The days of origami, accidentally sticking your child with pins, and sloshing diapers in the toilet to rinse them are the diapering days of our mothers.” Today’s cloth diapers are cute and easy to use.
Cloth diapering may not be as convenient as using disposables, but the bottom line is making the trade-off worth it for more and more parents. Jumbo packs of Pampers and Huggies have gone up $2 since 2006, leaving parents with about $200 less in their pockets per year. Three diaper price hikes in 24 months have made parents wonder just how high Pampers and Huggies will go. Even at on-sale-with-a-coupon “stockupportunity” prices (soon to be .23 per diaper for size 3), premium disposables cost over $500 a year. You’ll save around 30% to 50% with cloth, or $150 to $250 a year.
This week you’ll see seven guest posts from readers who have tried cloth. You’ll learn the answers to several of these questions from these experienced moms (and one that’s not so experienced). We’ll look for answers to the following questions and others:
I’ll also be giving away 10 bumGenius diapers to one lucky winner who’s interested in switching to cloth! I’ll post the giveaway within the next couple of days. Spread the word!
Recommended Reading for Beginners:
Resources:
Great Reads
What You Said…