A Modest Stash for a Modest Budget

The first question I got when I told my husband that I wanted to cloth diaper our third baby was, "how much is it going to cost?". We are a frugal family, we stick to a budget, and try to keep a simple lifestyle. Cloth diapering was more of an environmental decision for me and a way to avoid nasty chemicals, so I wasn't sure how it would fit with our budget. I knew I wouldn't need a large stash for one baby, and I planned to wash every other day anyway. I spent a lot of time researching and "window" shopping on Kelly's Closet. We knew that our baby would be at least 8.5lbs and that we wouldn't be starting in cloth until his circumcision & umbilical stump healed, so I went with mostly one size diapers. I purchased two six packs of bumGenius 4.0s and earned two free diapers {Rumparooz one size pockets} with those orders. We also had a few fitteds and some smaller prefolds/sized covers. I had about 25 changes total. A simple and modest stash, yet plenty for frequent changes. Once baby outgrew the fitteds/prefolds/covers, I sold them and added a few more bumGenius 4.0s to our rotation. I've since added to our stash, including a few Flip covers & organic day flats, hemp inserts, and I've earned two free Kawaiis {love these at night}, a Rumparooz, and another bumGenius 4.0. Right now we have about 30 changes, which feels like a lot for an older baby who only uses 6-8 diapers a day!

We initially spent about $350 to start our diaper stash. I was able to sell what we outgrew {cloth diapers retain their value quite well!} and spend about $150 more to fill out our stash. If we were using our preferred brand of disposable diapers, we would have spent at least $800 in the last year. Instead we saved $300 and have a cute fluffy butt baby to boot!

Bio: Aimee is the mama to three little ones, photographer, and sometimes blogger at thefamilyofcottons.blogspot.com loving life with her husband on the Vineyard.


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