Cloth Diapers- Saves a "Crap"-Load of Dough

Let me start this note by saying, Kids are no joke expensive. The formula, the toys, the clothes( these are actually surprisingly cheap), and the diapers all begin to add up as one helluva major monthly expense.

Most of today's couples are forced to put their children in daycare or hire a nanny. Some are lucky enough to have family that can lend a hand when needed.  Me and my wife are not so lucky in that field. Not saying that we don't have family to help but everyone works and family is not always a choice when looking for help. Me and my wife have always said that she would stay at home with the baby so we don't have to worry about hiring out child care. This meant that only one of us, me, would be returning to work to support the household...wait let me re phrase that (sounds like i never had a job). My wife would be a stay at home parent to take care of our baby while i worked.

With everything needed for a baby and only one salary coming in, things can and do get VERY tight. We have made every sacrifice to try to offset the incredible expense.

Heres the brief list:

• Got rid of one car and now share. (Family friendly Subaru Forester)
• We moved into a cheaper one bedroom rental
• Canceled our cable ( never watched TV anyway) and only have Internet
• Got way cheaper cell phone plans
• Canceled gym membership
• No longer go out to eat, except for Chinese which we cut back from every Friday night to just one or two times with only one or two items.
• We even bought a portable washer to cut down laundry costs

There are other cutbacks made that are not listed above.

Even with the cutbacks, we still were cutting it close. And then we saw it.

The DIAPERS! The damn diapers were adding up. Not only were they sucking the life out of our account , they were also ruining the environment so we had the grand idea of cloth diapers. Sounds easier than it is.

There are tri-folds, all in ones, two in ones, slip covers, pocket, Velcro and then we have the inserts! Bamboo or hemp? Terry cloth or cotton? This one makes coffee and that one comes with luxury options.

I'm sure I have the list above COMPLETELY wrong but still, why so many!!!

Switching to cloth diapers have yet to yield a savings due to the initial start-up cost but I can see it on the horizon. We are estimated to save . You can cut your startup in half by joining any number of groups that will sell you their USED cloth diapers. They are of course cleaned, but still...ew.

The startup cost of going cloth is not just financial. A lot of prep time goes into these things when you purchase them new. 4-6 wash cycles to allow the inserts to become absorbent. This is much easier, of course, when you have your own washer and dryer, which we do not, sort of. As I listed above, my wife actually purchased a portable washer/ dryer so we could cut back on the cost of laundry as well.

Remember in my past post ("My Wife has Seen the Light Side...") when I told you that my wife has fully embraced my geek flag and allows me to fly it proudly? Well, she has continued this by getting a Doctor Who themed diaper.

Here's Emilia with her #tardis diaper and Sonic screwdriver. She's a #whovian already! #DrWho pic.twitter.com/OEGBRiETqw

— Chris Jimenez (@jmez87) August 4, 2017

The cloth diapers do come in a huge array of patterns which makes them much more pleasant to look at.

Now the cleanup is not so pretty. When the baby makes a doodoo, you will not be able to run away as easily like you can with disposable. There are liners that you can use so all you need to do is roll the poopie up in it and then flush it in the potty. If you don't have a liner well then your just up shit creek and you need to use your paddle to slide the dookie into the toilet. I have a strong stomach so this is much easier for me than my wife. She gags at poop. (It's hilarious!) You will need a separate bin to put these bad boys in because that can create a very potent conflict of interest amongst your other wearable items.

As far as saving money with a new baby, I would suggest that you let your friends and family know that you want to use cloth diapers prior to your baby shower so you can get started right away. If we had started from the beginning we would have saved a ....shit load of money. HeHeHe...