Cloth Diapers

      

          Since I'm quitting work and we'll be cutting our income almost in half we've been looking for ways to cut down our expenses. Shocker though, having a baby is not a good way to cut down on expenses!  
         When we found out we were pregnant our 'Disneyland trip' fund from babysitting turned into 'baby fund.'  (Rough hit, I love Disneyland! :( but I guess I'll love baby too.... ;)and Disneyland isn't going anywhere.) Luckily, we have lots of family and friends who are insanely generous and have helped us, along with baby fund, to comfortably stock pile everything we need for baby. 
      In addition we were super blessed to be able to get on medicaid & WIC.  That was/is a little hard on my pride, but has been a huge blessing.  I don't love depending on, or making others support us, but it really has been a huge help.  Two students who work full time and really are doing everything we can to make ends meet...that's who those programs are for right? And its not permanent...   So anyways, we don't have to worry about doctor appointments or hospital bills for baby for another year or so. All in all, if everything goes well with breast feeding, we really won't have to pay anything for baby besides diapers and clothes...for the next 6 months.  Doable, right? 
       Well, I don't think we really realized how expensive diapers are until we jumped on a buy on get one free type of promotion Babies R us was doing.  Close to $50 dollars for maybe a 2-3 week supply?  BAHHH!!  Baby!!  Stop pooping!!
         I had looked into doing cloth diapers pretty early on in my pregnancy, liked the idea of saving money in the long term, but at the time we lived in an apartment that shared a washer and dryer with 7 other couples and was coin op.  Plus the idea of cleaning off the poop/pee as opposed to just tossing it...Ya, I didn't really give cloth diapers much of a second thought. Until a month ago when I realized how expensive those disposable suckers are. 
      My rude diaper awaking at Babies R us, coupled with the fact that we now live in an apartment with our very own washer and dryer (and the fact that I really hate spending money) quickly revived my cloth diaper desire.  
         I researched like crazy. There are so many different brands, prices, types of diapers, types of inserts, detergents, ideas for washing, opinions and price ranges connected to cloth diapers. Damon, being the amazingly supportive man that he is, said the choice was up to me. He would support and help out with whichever I chose to go with.
    In the end, this has just been a super long winded way to say we are going to try doing cloth diapering!  We have our first 12 covers and 18 inserts and we have 12 more covers and inserts on the way. 

Let me just say, I adore my diapers. They are so super cute (even Damon loved them), and if all goes well (which it should!) it will save us sooo much money! Plus, a lot better for the environment, which really wasn't a factor for me. But it is a good 'after thought' plus.
        We received lots of disposable diapers from baby showers and family, which is great! Because, I'm a little nervous to cloth diaper. Its a lot of 'new' all at once! Figuring out how to be a mom, handle a newborn and do a constant cloth diaper routine right off the bat...I think would be too much for my sanity.  Especially because newborns go potty ALOT.  So, we are going to use all our disposables first which will give baby and me some time to grow into everything. 
        

Also, Washing the diapers? Super important. Can't speak from experience yet, since today is official the first time I am washing my diapers (which is just the pre-wash, in prep for baby.)  Everything I've read though, says top loaders are best for cloth diapers, which is a bit of a boo, since Damon & I have a front loader. Also, Utah has really hard water, which is another boo. Figuring out a washing routine and laundry detergent that works for us hopefully won't be too hard and I'll get it down first try. Really don't want to have to strip down the diapers. 

Super cute and unused but ready wet bag to hold the little guys. 

You'll all just have to stand by and see how it all turns out!