Yes, I’m still on that silly cloth diapering kick. Lots of research. I love research. I should have been a scientist or analyst or something. ;)

There are a lot of opinions and a lot of ways to do things. A lot of my friends on the forums who do cloth diapering didn’t start until after the baby was 3 months old. That was my initial feeling too. But I’m SO gung ho on this I just don’t want to do disposables at all. But investing in a huge stash of pocket/all-in-one diapers for a newborn that they’ll outgrow in 3-6 months isn’t very financially doable. So here’s my current plan for a newborn:

36 prefolds at $1.00 each (Depending on the size/type. Right now I’m thinking Indian prefolds, some in preemie, some in infant size) = $40
A variety of different diaper covers, including Bummis Super Whisper Wraps, Whisper Pants, Proraps, and Stacinator Fleece. Estimate say around $80
4 Snappi fasteners for the prefolds = $10
6 doublers, 6 hemp inserts, 3 dozen cloth wipes = $80
Wahmies wet bags – 2 size small for the diaper bag, 1 wipes bag = $40
2 Swaddlebees pail liners (I think I like the elasticord better than the Wahmies elastic) = $40
Oh, plus I’m going to buy one or two of a couple different pocket dipers (Fuzzi Bunz, BumGenius, Swaddlebees) to keep on-hand for when Den will be in charge or when we go out and I want to show off the cool stuff. ;) I’m saying around $70 to experiment on size smalls.

So that grand total of all the stuff I will need to diaper my child until he/she grows out of the small size (3-6 months): $360. However a lot of this stuff can be used for far longer. The wet bags and pail liners are good for the entire time. The doublers/inserts and wipes will continue to be good for a long time, I just might want to add some more as we go. Snappis are good for the entire period. The diaper covers and the pocket diapers can be sold used for a pretty good price when they’re outgrown (or if I don’t like them) to recoup a lot of the cost (especially if I buy them used to start with). And the preemie/infant prefolds can be used as inserts in larger pocket diapers! To me that looks like a pretty decent investment.

Now I’m just hoping the prefolds are going to be as good as I’ve heard. A little more work than the pocket diapers, but certainly nothing mind-bending. (One option is folding them in thirds, placing them in the wrap, and velcroing/snapping it on. Even Den can do that!) And as long as the baby is being breastfed you can just dump the entire diaper in the wash, from what I’ve heard. (You have to wash the poop off into the toilet once they add other food to their diets, as it gets much nastier.)

Oh and did I mention? I went to Home Depot for some other project supplies and I of course went to look longingly at the front-loader washer and dryers. Turns out they have a special on, 10% off your first purchase over $279 using your Home Depot credit card, and 0 payments, 0% interest for 6 months. So Den decided we’re going to get them now!! (NOT what I was expecting!) The 0 payments for 6 months is most important, because we will have a bunch of cash coming in in August (a business trip Den’s going on) to pay it off…. we could wait until then to purchase them (what I was planning), but with 0% financing we can get them now and use them in the meantime. This makes me SO HAPPY. I will cry tears of joy when we chuck out our 20-year-old washer-dryer set we have. It SUCKS and it makes doing laundry very unpleasant.

I need to get pregnant so I can buy some diapers. I don’t think this obsession is going to go away until I get to play with them and stock up. I picture myself with my stash all clean and folded ready for baby and it makes me so happy.