Cloth Diapering Helped Save Our Finances

When we decided to start a family, my husband and I agreed that I would stay home with the baby. My job didn’t pay enough to justify the extra expenses of day care anyway. This was going to mean living on a single income and a very tight budget. But at the time, I don’t think we fully realized how tight. When I began researching the major expenses of having a baby, diapers were the one thing everyone talked about: they were expensive. I couldn’t imagine how we were going to come up with enough money to keep buying disposable diapers every week.

I decided to search for other options and I found information all over the internet about cloth diapers, in spite of the fact that no store I’d ever been in carried more than Gerber prefolds. My research began when I was only one month pregnant and within days I knew that cloth diapers were the best economic choice for us and I never looked back. I ate up all the information I could find on the subject. My days soon revolved around the benefits of pocket diapers vs. prefolds and snaps vs. Aplix.

My daughter is now nearly 18 months old and we almost exclusively cloth diaper. We have an eclectic stash of prefolds with Bummis and Thirsties covers, Thirsties Fab Fitted diapers, Thirsties Duo diapers, bumGenius Deluxe AIOs and bumGenius 3.0 One-Size pocket diapers. Thank goodness we do because I don’t know how our finances would have survived otherwise. Due to the economic downturn my husband’s income has remained stagnant, but every other bill we have has increased. I conserve electricity, bake my own bread, shop consignment sales and line dry my cloth diapers. Then my husband developed a clinical depression resulting in increased medical bills. There have been months were I only had about $40 a week for groceries and other household supplies, which doesn’t go very far in this part of the country. But every time I change my daughter’s diaper I say a little prayer of thanks that we use cloth diapers. When I go to the grocery store and see the aisles piled high with boxes of disposable diapers with their equally high price tags, I breathe a huge sigh of relief that they aren’t on my shopping list.

Cloth diapers helped save our finances and protect us from the increased cost of living during difficult economic times. Spread the word, and help other struggling families discover the financial benefits of cloth.

My name is Bethany and my husband, Rob, and I have cloth diapered our daughter Althea (18-months) since she came home from the hospital. I love writing, knitting and, of course, cloth diapers. I have a blog called The Laundry List (http://thelaundryblog.wordpress.com/) where I talk about writing, budgeting, cloth diapers, parenting, and other aspects of my life as a SAHM/WAHM.