Frugal Friday

Well...this is my first time participating in the Frugal Friday linky round-up hosted by Life as Mom (be sure to check her out for more great Frugal ideas!!!) That being said I'm thinking about cloth today....mainly cloth diapers. I used cloth diapers with Kessa for quite a while and really liked it. I had the really nice cloth diapers that are basically exactly like disposables except you wash them. However, by the time she out-grew those great diapers I had found out I was pregnant with Zeke and decided I didn't want to tackle two in cloth (not really sure why...not really much extra work! lol) Anyway, we recently made the transition BACK to cloth for both of them and I'm so thankful that I did! Theses aren't ALL frugal reasons, but here are the main reasons I switched back to cloth. (oh, and this time around I found a GREAT price on e-bay for some new covers and we're going old school with just covers and flats.)

1. Do you KNOW what they put in disposable diapers to make them so absorbant?!?!?! PVCs and SAPs (Super Absorbant Polymers, if you've ever had a diaper "explode" on your little you know what I'm talking about.) Now here's the scary part...they used to use these in tampons...and they stopped doing that in the 80's due to their link to Toxic Shock Syndrom...and even worse...in Europe it's ILLEGAL to use them in diapers...and yet I was still putting them on my babies's tooshes 24 hours a day!

2. I'm not a big "green" person but I do believe that God has created us to care for and nurture the earth...conservative estimates say that disposable diapers make up over 70% of the world's non-biodegratable waste contributed to landfills since 1970. (and did you know that you're "supposed" to dump poop out of disposable diapers before tossing them?!?! Me neither...tiny tiny print on the end of the bag that you probably threw away says so!)

3. (here's where we start getting frugal) I have two kids in diapers so even when I get the BEST deal in the world on diapers I'm still paying around 14 cents a diaper (and let's not even talk brand name diapers!) On average, if I buy the cheapest diapers I can, I spend $14.00 a WEEK on diapers...and around $8 ever month to month and a half for wipes...and $6 every two to three months for a diaper genie refill (we only use it for poopie diapers.) Now that's we've got back to cloth I spend $30 for 6 covers, which might push it here and there, but will be enough for both my kids until they are potty trained.

4. I spend nothing this time around on the flats because I already had them (but if you go buy them we're talking like $20 to $40 for a pack of REALLY nice flats.) The great thing about flats...NEVER have to replace them because your kid outgrows them!

5. I'm even using cloth wipes this time, which honestly I find easier because I can just shove it in the diaper, it all goes in the same pail and I'm done with it. I spend nothing on these because I simple cut down old flannel receiving blankets and did a finishising stitch around the edge. That's it. I'm going to be keeping them in home-made wipes solution in a old store-bought wipes box.

So, if I've done the math even close to right instead of spending around $62 a MONTH on diaper related "stuff" (that I didn't even feel comfortable using on my babies' anymore!) I spent around $100 once and I'd say... $7 more on water than before (I line dry the diapers so that's free too!) So....from $62 to even, let's say $10 in case I had to dry some in the dryer. I'd say that's DEFINETLY a FRUGAL FRIDAY.