I have had this post brewing in my head for weeks now. And since it came up at Annie's place, I thought that now would be a good time to actually put to paper (screen) what has been floating in my brain.
About three months ago, my beloved Target diapers changed completely resulting in a higher price tag and way lower quality. This change spurred me to make a switch I never thought I would make -- I became a cloth convert. And now that I am here, I would never go back. But before my switch -- on my seven year stint with disposables -- I had a million and one questions that were easy to answer, but the answers weren't always easy to find. So I thought I would try to answer a few of my own questions here and maybe make the conversion experience a little easier for someone else.
*I also want to make it clear, that I am in no way a diaper snob. If you think I am crazy and you are in love with your disposables, more power to you! I just want to show that the option is out there and not nearly as daunting as it might seem at first!
Before I made the switch, one thing that held me back was the high price tag of starting out. While I could clearly see the long term savings, I couldn't stomach shelling out a couple hundred dollars to start something I wasn't even sure I would be able to handle! Once I decided that I really wanted to switch, I realized a few things. First, I didn't have to stop disposables cold turkey. I could easily faze them out as I gradually up my supply of cloth. The other thing I realized was that prefolds are EASY to make. I actually haven't purchased a single diaper -- I have only purchased the covers. So while I spent time sewing diapers, I gradually acquired covers and slowly fazed the disposables out over the course of a few weeks. In total, I have spent about $50 on diapers. When I started, I was diapering two and had been spending about $60-$80 a month on diapers. Not a bad savings!
The other thing that saved me a boat load was http://www.diaperswapper.com/ where I found a nice woman selling her homemade covers for next to nothing. I think I paid $20 for eight, shipping included! I didn't discover this site until after I had purchased a few other covers here (my favorite!) and here. What I got there was deeply discounted, but none the less, had I discovers Diaper Swappers earlier, I would have saved even more!
This is long . . . I will continue later!
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