Eliminating the Monthly Expense of Diapers

by Sally
(Madison, WI, US)

We had our first child when we were both grad students. As you can imagine, money was very tight.

One of the best things we did to save money was to use cloth diapers. We were very surprised at how easy they are to use these days.

There were no pins or plastic pants like my mom used. Instead, their design is very similar to disposable diapers – you can just wash them. There is a wide range of cloth diapers as far as cost and usability.

These are also not the diapers you buy in the baby aisle of your local super store. The diapers I am talking about come from diaper retailers.

There are a lot online, but our favorite is Nicki’s Diapers. When people think about disposable diapers, they are usually weary of how to use them and how to clean them.

We found cloth diapers just as easy to use as disposable. Most of them come with snaps or Velcro that functions just like the fasteners on most disposable diapers.

You can buy them as one piece that includes the diaper and the liner, or you can buy liners and covers separately (which is the most economical way to go).

Regardless of what you choose, they are not more inconvenient than disposables. The process of changing diapers is the same regardless of weather you are putting on cloth or plastic.

One disadvantage to some cloth diapers that we found, especially the least expensive ones, is that they are a little bulkier, and it can affect how some clothing fits. It hasn’t kept us from clothing our daughter, though.

The other major issue people are concerned with is how to wash the diapers. There is no rinsing required if the baby is breastfeed (another very cost-effective thing if it works for your family) because breast milk poop is water soluble.

If you use formula or feed solid foods, you may decide to do a pre-rinse in the toilet. We do not rinse in the toilet, instead we add a rinse cycle to the beginning of our wash in the washing machine.

This works for our family, but you need to make a judgment if your child develops diaper rash. A typical diaper wash begins with a cold rinse to remove bulk material.

Then you do a hot wash with half the normal detergent you would use for regular clothes, generally with a perfume and dye free detergent. Lastly, do a final rinse in hot water. They can either be dried in the sun or in the dryer.

The sun will also remove stains – which will happen. It sounds like a lot, but the reality is that you set the washer and walk away.

You only wash every 2-3 days, and I found that it takes less time out of my day than driving to the store for emergency diapers.

If you don’t have access to a washing machine or prefer not to handle the poop yourself, a diaper service is an option that is still less expensive than disposable diapers.

As penny-pinching parents, eliminating the regular expense of diapers saved our pocketbook!