I have been seriously looking into cloth diapers the past week or so. I have really really really wanted to make it work. And I know if I were willing to make some major time and money sacrifices, it could work. Greg and I cringe thinking about all of the diapers we'll be adding to the environment. But here's where we get in trouble with cloth diapers -- we use a laundromat (and they are not cheap in this area), and our future has so much unknown as to in what part of the world we might even be living. So I bore down this afternoon and did the calculations. Hands down, for the first six months at least, cloth diapering will be extremely more expensive, almost even double the cost (mostly due to having to use a laundromat and thus needing to buy more in quantity as well as pay more to wash each time). And that's why I'm sad. Should we find ourselves in an apartment with an option to buy a washer and dryer (or even better with one included) after baby boy is born, I will definitely recalculate and hopefully be able to make the switch. But until then, we'll be making our awfully large contribution to the diaper waste in our country... *big sigh*
Of course, if you have figured out a way to make laundromats and newborns and cloth diapers work for you, I would love to hear about it (unless your solution includes a cheap laundromat, going more than twice a week, or being okay with the excessively higher cost)!
7 comments:
Have you looked into diaper services? I thought about that for a while...
Hmmm. We are cloth diaperers. But can't say I would be doing it in a laundromat. Not fun. I do highly recommend it otherwise.
If you get a new apt. with a washer/dryer, you'll still save money! We started when C was 5-months old and have saved SO much!
I'm so sorry that it isn't working out. BOOO but i totally understand why it isn't, too. Sucha bummer!
Huggies has an organic diaper called Huggies Pure & Natural. You might look at the cost of these if you want to be alittle more green. They don't have a newborn size but I've bought them a few times and I really like them. They are more expensive than the regular ones but you might check it out.
Hi I was just browsing through random blogs so I hope you don't mind me crashing yours to add a suggestion. I haven't tried it yet but it has good reviews so I am ordering to use with my cloth diapers (We use Bumgenius 3.0 and Happy Heiny pockets if you want to know) anyways it is called a wonderwash and then there is a table top spin dryer. We have a washing machine but this will use a lot less water and almost no electricity ( the washer is hand crank) so I thought it would be great for diapers since I wash them a lot to save us some $$$. Anyways ennough of my rambling. Here is the link and there are good reviews on youtube plus they're fairly inexpensive. http://www.laundry-alternative.com/washing.htm
Good luck
BTW we started with disposables and (although everyone thought I was crazy) I love using cloth.
Wow and wow. A baby and cloth diapers! I am soooooo excited thinking about you being a mommy!!! We were looking into cloth diapering as well but someone advised us to wait until Noah is out of the newborn poo stage. Whew, am I ever glad for that suggestion! The first three months of mommyhood were more difficult than I ever dreamed. I was exhausted and was very thankful that my "free time" wasn't spent washing diapers. I was also surprised by the smell, even though I was nursing! It's hard enough washing out his clothes when he has a blow out; I am soooo thankful I don't have to revisit diapers after I take them off Noah! Plus, our apartment washer and dryer are not energy efficient - they use a lot of water for extra rinsing and I have to run the dryer at least twice, but usually three times.
Anyway, I was sad to let go of the dream of cloth diapering and the opportunity to do something nice for the environment, but now that Noah is here, I am a HUGE FAN of disposables. Maybe one day, we'll be in a place where cloth works for our family, but for now, I have found a long list of positives for using disposables! :) Hugs to you sweet friend! :) Amy
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