Cloth Diapers

picture from http://www.everythingbabything.com/readingroom/cd/why-cloth-diaper

When Maya was born, I wouldn't even consider using cloth diapers. I had this vision in my head of a 1940's mom scrubbing nasty diapers by hand, doing a million extra loads of laundry a day, and safety pinning awkward bunches of fabric around my wiggling baby. I felt like I was a busy college student that didn't have time to deal with any more than I already had on my plate.

Fast forward 5 years and we are using cloth diapers almost exclusively (except for at this moment Wren is running around butt naked). When Wren was around 6 months old I stumbled across this post at simplemom.net, and after looking into things a bit decided that cloth diapers sounded like the right choice for us. In the 4 years between Maya and Wren, my life had slowed down and I had grown up. I felt a need to go back to my roots in many ways and live a simpler (and greener) life.

Today's cloth diapers have evolved into a simple, economic and environmental system. Simplemom.net does a great job of breaking everything down so I won't go into details. But I can testify that my experience with cloth diapering has been a simple one that has saved us a lot of money. The initial cost was hefty (around $200-$300), but I bought one or two diapers at a time until we had a good stash. We've saved over $500 already and will continue to save the entire time Wren is in diapers (the estimated total savings is around $2,000). It may not be the right choice for everyone, but it was the best choice for us. But most importantly, Wren's little tush looks beyond adorable running around in the super cute diaper covers, and that my friends is priceless.