Sticker Shock on CD Orders - Page 2

[Talula Fairie]

I don't think I have ever spent $200 in one month on disposables, even when I was using G diapers on both my girls. I think it was about $150 for them both. If I use cheap regular disposables like Luvs purchased at the dreaded Wal Mart (ok, that's a pretty shameful thing to admit on MDC, isn't it?), I could get them both diapered for a month for about $70. I think I spend about $50 a month on diapers and wipes right now diapering one of my kids.

[Beauchamp]

How many months will the PFs last? (as in the size, not the durability) I have the orange-edge newborn, yellow-edge smalls, and "infant" size. (dozen of each.)

Is this enough?

I am going to have to do a little more math to show DH that cloth is not super expensive. He does agree with my other reasons (the amount of trash generate, plastic/chemicals next to baby's skin) but it would be best if I can show him we are saving money. I guess I shouldn't have bought the cloth wipes, but rather cut my own from fleece or something. (I don't sew...)

[NaturalMindedMomma]

I never spent 200$ a month on sposies. 1 20$ box of luvs gets me through a month with my 2 year old. Sometimes I have to get into another box, but rarely.

However cloth diapering can save money and is good for the environment. I see it as an investment in my DD's future. Does that make sense?

[Swandira]

I've never heard of anyone spending $200 a month on disposables, even if you factor in disposable wipes and wet bags and stuff. I spent about $75 -- $100 a month while this third baby was in disposables, and that even includes the gas to run out to Target in the middle of the night when I ran out. I bought the Target brand wipes in the soft packages, though, and sometimes didn't use a wet bag -- occasionally I would throw away a diaper while we were out instead of bringing it home with me.

I'm still pretty sure I'm saving money over time -- significant money -- by switching to prefolds and wraps, and I'm certainly saving a lot of trips to the store, which cost me more than just money.

I do find CDing causes diapering to take up noticeably more of my time, but I may get that time back through earlier potty learning. I don't mind, though. Time spent on my baby is worth spending.

[Nillarilla]

I spent about 80 per month on diapers for ds when we used sposies. That includes wipes. So I guess I would have spent about 2500 for his entire time in diapers if I had continued that way. I spent about 1000 on cloth with cute dipes and such. These would have lasted through dd as well but I lost my large and med sized stash somehow. Even with having to replace that I will still save a lot of money over the course of time plus I can sell the diapers that are still in good shape or pass them on to someone in need. If you replace the elastic in the pockets they will be like new again. I wouldn't go with BG personally if you want them to last through more than one child. The velcro doesn't last and one size diapers wear out faster. I have a cousin who bought a 12 pack and now wants to sell the whole lot of them for sized dipes with snaps. I say get a wide variety of 12 different dipes because you never know what you'll like or what will fit your baby best.

[married2thearmy07]

Congrats on the new addition and good luck on your HB! I LOVE cd'ing! It is so easy. And I don't think you spent too much! It seems like a lot all at once but I have spread my "shopping sprees" out a bit to help with the cost.

[trauerweidchen]

Originally Posted by Beauchamp

How many months will the PFs last? (as in the size, not the durability) I have the orange-edge newborn, yellow-edge smalls, and "infant" size. (dozen of each.)

Is this enough?

I don't really know (as this is our first), but I tried to do a lot of research to determine a good "starter set" for us where we could wash every other day or so, and I ended up with one dozen each of the NB orange edge GMD prefolds and periwinkle edge GMD prefolds (no longer available, but they had a few dozen left on closeout a couple of weeks ago), and two dozen of the yellow edge prefolds. I chose these similar sizes (the periwinkles are between the orange and yellow edges in size) because I don't know how big our baby will be. I probably splurged a little bit, but I wanted us to have a somewhat easier time starting out since we're new parents, and I know I can use the little dipes later as doublers, not to mention for subsequent children. I also felt that GMD diapers hold their value fairly well from what I've seen of people reselling them.

I'm making some of our covers out of wool but also bought some covers to try different types out (Litewrap in NB size, Bummis super snap, BSWW, and Thirsties). We'll see how it goes... I'm hoping to be set for about the first four to six months, give or take, but that is based only on GMD's ranges and admittedly is going to depend entirely on the baby.

[Beauchamp]

Originally Posted by trauerweidchen

I ended up with one dozen each of the NB orange edge GMD prefolds and periwinkle edge GMD prefolds and two dozen of the yellow edge prefolds.

Thanks for answering. I have been worrying over this! It sounds like we are almost in the same boat, except you have one dozen more PFs than I do. (I think my Cotton Babies "infant" size are a lot like your periwinkles.) We are even trying some of the same covers!

I will see how I do with the PFs, and possibly order more yellow-edge (and later on, the medium reds) if the PFs go well. If they are tricky, I may order some Fuzzi Bunz or some Bum Genius 3.0.

This is our first baby, too, so it's hard to plan ahead without buying way too much. (at least for me!) I tend to worry I won't have enough.

[zonapellucida]

I have cringed more than once..... even ehen purchasing from clearance $100 *poof* for 7 or 8 dipes (fitted and maybe some wool wash. It is expensive and I have NEVER spent that in a month on sposies. A few dozen prefolds and not CMD a couple snapies and a couple covers is REALLY all you need. It is when you get coaught up in the GOODMAMA craze or feel you HAVE TO have dipes fo0r Hyena cart that you start getting excessive. It really makes me ill when I see some of these stashes that are worth thousands becasue it goes against what CDing is for--saving money (hangs head in embarassment but at least I bought second hand)

[VroomieMama]

My DH and I did our math by comparing cloth diapers and plastic diapers since we're expecting twins 2 months from now. We figured that we'd spend about 200 dollars per months on plastic diapers for our twins and we realized that its such a waste of money knowing that those diapers will be used once and be left in landfill forever whereas buying cloth diapers will be expensive to start with but in long run, we'll save a lot of $$ because we're going to use them more than once and we can sell/give them to people who want to use cloth diapering in future.

[Redaphrodite]

$200.00 is great c/t what you will be saving in the long run. I shopped around and found this great site www.littledumper.com if you use a code spring2009 you receive 10% off your purchase plus free shipping. Every penny counts. But using cloth use save in the long run. I've already paid off my $400. FB bill and will be alble to use it on our next bundle due in July. Plus you can resell them and get some of it back too

[Latenightanarchy]

Originally Posted by zonapellucida

It is when you get coaught up in the GOODMAMA craze

yikes. Ok, ok, I'm not totally obsessed. But I have a few GM. I just really like them. Really. On a brighter note, after reading some of the health articles on the CD sites (yep I know, can be biased) but seems the money is only a small part of it. Yes I would LOVE to save money on dipes, but a healthier baby is a much more awesome priority. Plus happy and healthy baby makes happy moms! So there's my guilt justification.
Examples:

http://nickisdiapers.com/pages/HealthConcerns.php

http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/why-...ealth-reasons/

I spent about $500 on my starter pack which included 6 goodmamas, 24 prefolds, a couple BG AIO OS, and a little beetle (LOOOVE IT!) And of course nb covers and a $45 custom woolie. I really don't know how any of these dipes work yet b/c I'm still waiting for LO to be born and the only one who's worn the dipes is the teddy bear!!!

[srs]

I definitely had sticker shock in the beginning, when we switched to cloth when DD was 3 months old. It turned to glee about 15 months later when I realized that she was still wearing the same diapers (medium sizes last forever, IME). I bought a few more here and there, but it was basically just stuff I wanted, not anything we actually needed.

It's rare that we use a diaper these days, but they all still work pretty well and are ready for any more kids we may have.

And there is nothing like that feeling of sailing by the diaper aisle at the store.

[skolbut]

Yeah, the sticker shock is crazy!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE cloth though. So much nicer once you get used to it. Plus way cuter. I'm not afraid of toilet water so I dunk and swish. Just doesn't bug me (I live with my disabled grandma and have to empty her commode too so I'm just at a point where I can't get grossed out by poo)

With sposies, I could go 2 months on one bulk box of pampers... used coupons/sales so that I NEVER paid more than 20 cents per dipe (that was my rule). My ds1 is NOT a heavy wetter at all, so some days he only went through 4 dipes!! DS2 is a very very heavy wetter and even so I've never spent more than 50 bucks a month on dipes for him (196 dipes in a box for the little ones... that's a lot!) I'm not sure how people that spend 200+ a month on sposies are making that happen, even paying full price.

I did the math and I've spent more on CD than I did the entire 21ish months in sposies... but we didn't choose cloth because of $$ reasons (although it is nice not to have to budget for dipes).

With multiple kiddos, though, if I had done cloth from day 1 we'd be way ahead in $$. If you're having more than 1 cloth is the way to go!!

[DevaMajka]

I've spent almost $800 (that includes wipes and other accessories). That's for a complete stash, from birth to PL'ing. IIrc, I had a decent stash at $500ish, and I probably could have stopped there (but kept rationalizing ).
There actually is a point where spending more money to get more cd's is actually more cost effective, because you wash less often.

I calculated it out, and figured that $600 to $800/year would be the minimum for sposies (and honestly, I'm not one to use cheap brands if I don't like the fit), so $800 plus $200-$300 for washing (for the entire 3 years or so) isn't too bad.

I tend to wait to buy stuff in outlets and on clearance, so I feel pretty good about what I buy usually. I really dislike the feeling I get when I pay full retail for cd's though- it seems like so much money, for so few things.

I do really prefer giving money to WAHM's than to P&G or other big corps, I feel good about the environmental aspect, and CD's are really fun to buy. lol

[skolbut]

Originally Posted by DevaMajka

I do really prefer giving money to WAHM's than to P&G or other big corps, I feel good about the environmental aspect, and CD's are really fun to buy. lol

Yes!!!!!!! I love buying locally! Plus, cloth is so cute!

For us, we didn't just look at our out of pocket cost. If that was the bottom line, we wouldn't cloth. We looked at carbon footprint to manufacture (cotton is renewable!), to use (he machine with biodegradeable detergent and air drying when possible vs GARBAGE yuck), and recyclability (RESELL which (ew) you can't with sposies... or use as rags -- my mom STILL has my old pf's as rags!!!!

My BIL and I actually remarked last weekend how it's cool to see my pf's start to fray, it shows they're breaking down naturally, lol.

We used the checks and $$ ppl gave us to buy clothes/sposies/gifts for ds2's birth to fund cloth.

[Gena 22]

Originally Posted by srs

I definitely had sticker shock in the beginning, when we switched to cloth when DD was 3 months old. It turned to glee about 15 months later when I realized that she was still wearing the same diapers (medium sizes last forever, IME). I bought a few more here and there, but it was basically just stuff I wanted, not anything we actually needed.

It's rare that we use a diaper these days, but they all still work pretty well and are ready for any more kids we may have.

And there is nothing like that feeling of sailing by the diaper aisle at the store.

:

I'm a huge fan of cloth dipes, it's been a really rewarding experience. Our twin girls have been CD'ing full time for almost 10 months now. And it is so great to look and see that the same diapers are fitting them now as did a while ago. My DH loves his fitteds, and I can see the appeal, but I'm a PF girl (with my awesome inserts.)

Anyway, by far the hardest part of CDing was getting a stash organized. I spent a crazy amount on dipes and accessories (love my potty pail!) Love GMD and sold the Cotton Babies PFs almost immediately. With twins there's just no time for fussy dipes. So I ordered bit by bit, being ruthless about what I wanted to keep and what I didn't. Now I have a bigger stash than I really need, but it comes in handy occasionally.

For my twins, I spent about $1400. Some of that is for a stack of covers I never use, so if I had been smart I could have cut costs. And I got a good supply of fitteds, which can expensive. But divide that in half ($700 per baby) and it seems I'm in the right ballpark. I did the math and figure that's about what I'd spend on disposables.

So the savings is when you use the CDs on another babe. But it's so worth it, they really are better quality and in so many other ways.

Voorie Mama, have a CD baby shower! That's what I wish I had with my girls.