Try Cloth Diapers Risk Free

Thursday, June 24, 2010

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Just one fluffy bum, and you'll be addicted too!

Hi, my name is Jill and I am an addict. A cloth diaper addict. I am very fortunate to have a husband that is 100% behind cloth diapering. In fact, he is the one that with a 3 week old baby suggested I follow through with my instincts and order some diapers. Having a newborn with nursing issues, and various misadventures in household moving at the time (I went into labor right after we moved for my husband's work, 3 weeks early), I wanted to poke his eyes out. However, knowing through my haze that he was right, I ordered a dozen pre-folds and a couple of covers. At first I was a little...reluctant to use them. We didn't have a diaper pail, or a wetbag, or... anything. We used a Rubbermaid tub and rinsed the covers out in the sink in between uses. It made for a very small load of diapers. Once the haze cleared up a little bit, I began looking forward to using the cloth, and despising the leaky, stinky disposables. My husband, who has a sensitive nose, hated the powder stench. Having been major recyclers before, and stuck in a small apartment, the trash mounded up, and it disgusted us. We found out that we had a retailer in the local area and visited. Fluff everywhere. This odd feeling kind of crept into my veins. We bought some AIOs in small and medium, and figured if we didn't like the smalls, we could take the mediums back. Ahhh, bum genius, you got us hooked! I tried a one size pocket diaper and got that odd feeling again.

Then I found out about the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt. I found out about giveaways. I discovered free shipping, and sales, and more giveaways. I found out about being a tester and have done that twice. I held out a long time on cloth wipes, but got some free samples of solutions and decided to give it a try. Now I wish I had done it sooner! Did I mention giveaways? I've been very lucky, or handy at entering at just the right time for giveaways on several major blogs. I even won a swim diaper on Earth Day recently because I was the only one that entered! Right now I am waiting for 2 diapers that I got for doing reviews of other diapers at a major retailer (I'm sure a lot of you did this, too), and will soon use a $25 gift certificate that I won for participating in one of the Earth Day twitter chats! I also won another $10 certificate Earth Day for a diaper I've been coveting, and a credit at my local retailer's online store and got a nearly free diaper from there as well. I keep up with a lot of the cloth diapering blogs, including their facebook (and sometimes twitter) pages as well, spotting random giveaways here and there. I pay attention when I see someone posting about a fluffy giveaway, and watch their sites, if they do one, they are most likely to do another. At one point, I was entering at least 10 giveaways a day. I entered for everything I could. Now I am a bit more selective. I don't enter everything, or maybe I'll do one entry 'just because' I can't resist! I will semi-shamefully admit that I've turned on a certain cartoon with Muppets so that my daughter would watch it, JUST so I could enter giveaways or read blogs about CD'ing! It might be that that is exactly what I am doing now since she woke up early from her nap. (Don't worry, she gets lots of non-tv time playing outside too!)

I try and match my baby's diapers to her clothes if we are having company or going on an outing where they might be seen. I found out that my cousin was going to get married this summer. All the diapers I ordered recently have been snap diapers, and ones that would match the dress for the wedding. The dress has 2 colors of pink and orange and green, and yellow. I picked a blue and brown for contrast, and we'll have some other dipes with us overnight just in case. I'm probably crazy for it, but I don't want a toddler running naked through a wedding reception because she undid the velcro while we weren't looking, and I'm not covering up her fluffy bum when she twirls in her dress for anything!

The brands I currently have are:
Grand total (unless I'm missing one is....78!) I had no idea I had that many until I started counting! Right now I rotate 2 batches of BG's and the snap dipes, with the gro baby's rotating around in there somewhere! I also have around 50 cloth wipes and wish I had more! I didnt' get those until my baby was a year old and now I'm kicking myself. I have 6 wetbags in varying sizes and I think that's enough. I've gotten so many diapers now that I'm using my largest one as a makeshift pail liner for a round of dipes! If my hubby has his way, we'll have one child potty trained followed closely by another one using them, or perhaps 2 at a time using them! In fact, he insists he will do diaper laundry every day if he has to, in order to keep any future babies from having to wear un"disposables" in the hospital! However, he's happy to buy more diapers to get us through if necessary. Yes, I do owe the man some major baked goods for getting me hooked on cloth. We are a greener, cleaner, happier family for it, and I've even lent support to a couple of ladies considering or full out cloth diapering, by providing information and an ear! I blog about cloth frequently and am always on the lookout for a new type of diaper to try! Anyone have any suggestions? ;-)

Contributed by Jill S.

14 comments:

sXenerd said...

What a great article!! I am currently in love with KaWaii! They are way cheaper than BG and work better IMO. I am way new to this so I haven't tried a whole bunch of different kinds yet but KaWaii works very well for my very heavy wetter. I can't wait for pay day so I can buy more!

Mrs. Mommy said...

I am very new to CDing, and wish I had done it sooner. We are slowly building up our collection, and I even write a blog about CDing. :0) I have entered some giveaways (haven't been lucky so far, but am still hoping) and would be very interested in doing some reviews and giveaways on my OWN blog like I have seen on this and other blogs. I'm just not sure where to look for that kind of opportunity. Where does a SAHM go to find the opportunity to review and giveaway cloth diapers?

Jill said...

Since writing the post, my $25 gift card stretched (with help) to get a Softbums in powder puff (3 inserts) and a RMD in monkey print. Also won a Thirsties duo wrap in snaps-blackbird, but no idea what to put under it. Right now I'm going to scavenge one of the softbums inserts and try it out! Just got a diaper sprayer, too! Feel free to check out my blog! Thanks for the opportunity CDW!

Unknown said...

Now I'm addicted 'cause I love cloth so much. BUT "we stay broke" so I don't get to shop for Fluff whenever I like...okay rarely if at all. I've made enough purchases to cover the bum(s).
Mixing diapers seems like fun experimentation---don't you mommies out there eventually stick to ONE brand that you love the mostest?

AJU5's Mom said...

Let me just say I wish I could win giveaways! I am new to cloth, and I am on a budget right now do to other current expenditures. I can only spend about $50 a month, and there are so many diapers I want to try. But, then I am afraid I am going to buy something I don't like or doesn't work for us, and then wishing I had bought something else.

But, after 1.5 months of cloth diapering, I am definitely getting addicted!

Karen said...

I have a question. How does one clean cloth diapers with thhe tarry newborn poo in it? It's the only reason we waited for cloth for a few weeks.

Tina said...

Can I just say I'm MAD jealous of your stash!?!?! I've got 12 BG AIO organics and 5 GroBaby dipes. I do laundry way too often!!

Suzy said...

You are definetly an addict! I wish I had your collection.

PotterMama said...

78, that is an awesome stash!!!!
I JUST started entering the giveaway world...now I'm just waiting to win something!
There are so many diaper deals & coupons out there now, that I refuse to buy a diaper "full price". (without a coupon or at least free shipping).
I'm racking up my diaper dollars @ kellyscloset as well.
Our baby is due next month, and right now we have a stash of just 12, but we are getting there!
Fuzzibunz OS are my favorite right now!

Jill said...

@Mrs. Mommmy, you have to go after reviews, I haven't personally done it (yet!) but would be willing to. You have to write to companies or shops and tell them what you want to review and why.

@Ada, plenty of people shop around and then get one brand. I did the reverse, but am still content!

@AJU5's mom, we were lucky in early times to not have any credit card debt (or a mortgage, so we bought what we wanted and paid it off when we could). Now we buy one at a time, or try and earn points/gift certs through giveaways or contests. Try fanning on facebook or twitter anything with the word diaper in it! You'll get updates.

@Karen, you'd probably use a liner that's flushable, or just wipe it out with tp or a scraper/diaper sprayer. We waited for 3 weeks, but will do some combo of the above if we have more!

@Tina, I started out with just 12 and added to when I found specials- try looking for specials during holidays (Black Friday is a big one).

Katrina said...

That is so great that your husband loves them so much! =)

Jill said...

I am so glad he is willing, although he does tend to leave the 'bad ones' up to me anymore! Lol!

Njos Family said...

Love this post, have yet to win a freebie from any site, but
wil1 keep trying!

Unknown said...

I feel like I'm an addict already and I don't have nearly as much..lol