My Adventures in Cloth Diapering - Part I

Cloth diapers? Me? Trust me, I'm the last person on Earth that would have ever thought that I'd be using cloth diapers! Remember this post? The one where I said, and I quote, "..cloth diapers...not even an option!" This was the post where I set a personal goal for myself to go green, but I drew the line at cloth diapering. Then I met Jen, the cloth diapering, green mom of triplets that lives nearby. I watched her change her trio at our house with the same ease that I change the boys' Huggies. Only my diapers go to the landfill for 500 years and hers go to the washer to be used again and again and again. She gave me both the confidence and knowledge to feel like cloth diapers were possible after all. Fear of the unknown was a huge part of what was holding me back. With lots of help from Jen, I started researching and exploring this vast, and booming I might add, world that is Cloth Diapering.

Immediately I felt intrigued, addicted, and passionate about this new challenge of cloth diapering. There is a strong sense of pride involved with this adventure. The pride that comes from knowing that I'm making a difference; I'm making the planet a little cleaner for my boys. It's liberating to be able to look at a box of $32 pampers at the store and not feel enslaved to them. As a single income family with 4 children (3 in diapers), we have many other uses for that money. It's like getting to wash a dollar bill off after you spend it and using it again instead of it being gone forever. I'm hanging the diapers to dry; saving energy, and again, money. The slight increase in water usage is a small price to pay. Want to know how much money YOU could save by going to cloth? Click here.

I still have lots of disposable diapers, and trust me, they shall not go to waste. I will still be using them at night, away from home, and when they have tummy viruses - like now. As they get older, I get better, and we no longer have them on hand, I will go exclusively to cloth.

Interested in cloth diapering? I will be listing some links on the right column that have been most helpful to me. Stay tuned...

Not ready for cloth, but concerned about the environment? Try gDiapers or Seventh Generation diapers.

My first stash of cloth diapers, cloth wipes, diaper covers, and diaper fasteners (snappi's):