Have you saved $$?

I agree with Tamryn.  Keep it simple and if you use them on multiple children.  Don't get wrapped up in the I gotta have the next cute print then your good.  Unfortunately I should take my own advice on that one:(

 Yeah, you could buy a stash of flats and one size covers for under $200.00 but a) I don't think that is what most stashes are comprised of and b) I don't think one size covers/diapers work well for the most part. I have kept a log of my CD related purchases and I am well over the $200.00 mark and the fanciest diapers I have are workhorse without snaps. I'm not trying to be discouraging here, just realistic. Also, I don't think the resale value is as great as people make it out to be, especially when most mamas are so concerned with poop stains and the like.

I know my sister has saved money and she started using cloth with her 3rd DD; but all she has used are PF's and covers - either Thirsties or Bummis, and has not really tried anything else. She told me, why try something if what you have works (wish I would have thought that at the beginning of my adventure)

I tried a few other options but came back to flats and even with a NB I preferred flats. So flats are doable and even if you decide on sized covers - 4 covers in each size (is how many I have on hand) S, M, L - it still is not too much and would save money quickly.

I think it all just depends on what your preferences are for diaper and cover.

stegmanjessica wrote: If I'm being honest? NO, I haven't saved money...but it's all my own fault.  I was pretty addicted to buying/selling cloth diapers for a long time, and finally settled on the cheapest stuff! I LOVE prefolds, flats, and Green Mountain Diapers Workhorse Diapers..and a few PUL covers. You can do cloth SO stinking cheap, to the point that you would start saving money in just 3-4 months even with a full stash of flats and PUL. HTH! Right now my stash is as follows..and very simple/versatile. Dozen prefolds 2 Dozen Flats Dozen Workhorse diapers Dozen covers

After outgrowing the full stash of yellow workhorses, this is pretty much what we've moved to.  We do have a pile of BB AI2s for travel and hubby likes them.  I almost wish I'd been braver and tried flats from the beginning.  The fold intimated me but I've found it really is quite simple... and a super cheap diapering option!

I think we are saving money overall.  A box of diapers is about $20  here, changing every 2 hours, thats at least $40 in diapers, plus the cost of wipes a month.  We live on an army base so our BAH covers our utility use (for now, thats changing) so I'm not sure of bill increases or not.

I spent around $700 on cloth diapers for DD1 (we started with prefolds/fitteds and covers, then switched to pockets and still used sposies sometimes, maybe 1/4 of the time? - night-time and rashes and traveling, etc) and will probably spend about $500 on DD2 (brand-new stash of prefolds and covers, and I don't plan on using sposies unless it's an emergency situation).

I was able to sell DD1's prefolds, fitteds, and covers to another mama but could not salvage her OS pockets. Now with DD2 I plan on taking really good care of my stash so I can use it on one more child making DD3 or DS's diaper expense close to $0! But yes, even with my first DD, I think we saved a lot of money.

Now, I have not noticed the water or electricity bill go up at all whether I'm washing cloth diapers or not. I do try to hang dry most of my stuff as I can though, but that's more to be eco-friendly than anything else. :)

But you know, even if you spend $2000-3000 total, it's like the same as you'd spend on sposies from birth to PLing but you did something good for the earth and for your child. So, I think that's fine too.

We definitely have and we're at 8 months.

We have mostly Bummis Prefolds which we got in the box (we asked people to get us that as a shower gift instead of diapers) with the giant wet bag, liners, cover, etc. We also have a few thirsties pockets and EasyFits for sitters. Overall, we've spent at the most $300 on diapers/detergent/accessories, and then were gifted a bummis box. We bought everything new because my DH is creeped out by used diapers. My son went though 19 diapers a day for the first 2 months (that's not counting the diapers he soiled before we even finished doing them up. So it wasn't hard to save money quickly.

I keep a running tab on my diapers, and even after buying a whole stash of BG3.0s for DD and then giving them away to my SIL so I could buy a new stash guilt free I have saved money. Between 2 kids I've spent about $700-800 CDing. This is compared to the price tag of what I would have spent PER child until PLing and my DD PLed before her second bday.  I could have spent way less, but I too have tried a bunch of different things. I do think that most things resell pretty welll, and I disagree with mommas being so finicky about poo stains. I've bought diapers with faint stains on them, and while I try to keep my own diaps stain free it doesn't bother me to buy stained diaps from another momma (unless they are horrible).  My water and electricity bill hasn't gone up very much either. 

I keep a running tab on my diapers, and even after buying a whole stash of BG3.0s for DD and then giving them away to my SIL so I could buy a new stash guilt free I have saved money. Between 2 kids I've spent about $700-800 CDing. This is compared to the price tag of what I would have spent PER child until PLing and my DD PLed before her second bday.  I could have spent way less, but I too have tried a bunch of different things. I do think that most things resell pretty welll, and I disagree with mommas being so finicky about poo stains. I've bought diapers with faint stains on them, and while I try to keep my own diaps stain free it doesn't bother me to buy stained diaps from another momma (unless they are horrible).  My water and electricity bill hasn't gone up very much either. 

Since DS2 was 6 months old (when I started CDing), I have spent about $400 on cloth diapers and accessories. That includes a cloth diaper package from Jillian's Drawers (the $10 trial...I ended up keeping all of the diapers because I loved them...so about $155 for a mix of pockets, some prefolds, covers, a Snappi, and a hybrid), then I bought two dozen prefolds from GMD at around $30/doz (don't remember the exact amount and they've gone up since I purchased them), five Thirsties Duo Wrap covers at $12.25 each, two more BG 4.0's at $17.95, a pail liner and wet bag at $16.50 each, and three Kawaii pockets at $10 each. Plus a few things like creams, detergents, an extra Snappi, and wool wash when I was trying out wool (but I crocheted my own wool soaker so that cost me about $5 in wool yarn and a crochet hook with a 50% off coupon). I made my own cloth wipes out of old receiving blankets, so cost for wipes was $0. I haven't seen a difference in electricity usage with washing and drying diapers (electric dryer), and we are on a well so no increase in water costs. I do still keep a small package of sposies around for church, babysitters, and bad rashes or when I'm feeling lazy and that usually lasts 2-4 weeks, so about $12 a month for the past twelve months is about $144. Grand total about $544.

For disposables, when my DS1 was a baby, we bought the expensive Pampers Swaddlers for the first 3 months, and changed him probably 10-12 times per day (before every feeding). So around $70 per month for the first three months, total $210. After about three months we switched him to the Costco diapers, which cost about $40 per box of about 200, which we went through about one per month, at a conservative estimate. So from 3 months to when he potty trained at 2 years and 9 months old, that's $1200. That doesn't include wipes. We mostly used the Costco wipes, at I think $18 per box, which we went through every 2 months, so probably a total of about $300. Grand total about $1710.

So yeah we've definitely saved money with cloth diapering...$1166 so far is quite a bit in my book.  DS2 isn't close to potty training yet, but I don't foresee needing to buy any other cloth diapers before he does, as he is a similar size to DS1 and he remained the same size in diapers from a little over a year old until he potty trained. And all of my diapers are still in great shape. I had to convert one BG 4.0 to snaps because the Aplix came off, but otherwise they're all looking like they'll last until potty training. I might need to buy more rash cream and detergent, but that's a small expense.

Hoping to try for baby #3 in a few months, and I'll need to get a stash for newborn to 6 months old if the Lord blesses us then. My goal is to spend no more than $300 for prefolds, covers, and a few fitteds for the early weeks.

oliverandedie wrote: No. And I've been called on it. But, you totally could save money if that was the intention, and you had willpower and no internet connection.

How true!

Hah, I just realized my comparison wasn't really fair as I only compared from when DS2 turned 6 months old against DS1's entire diapering costs. So, knocking 6 months off the beginning on DS1's diapering costs, we spent about $1323 on disposable diapers and wipes, so a difference of $779 so far.