Answering Cloth Diaper Questions

Lauren over at How Great is your Faithfulness asked about cloth diapering.  I tried to write her a response, but blogger said my comment was too long.  So, I posted it here instead (plus I can do links here).

1. What brand cloth diapers do you use, and why did you pick that brand?  We use bumGenius 3.0s and the organic All-in-Ones.  They're super easy and tried and true.  We also use Charlie Banana (a new brand) because I got them for free...and love them.

2. What were your start up costs and what did that give you?  Originally I spent $300 on 12 bumGenius AIOS and 5 GroBaby diapers.  These were a combo of sales and ebay purchases.  I have since added 6 3.0s, 1 Green Acres Design and 2 Charlie Banana diapers.  My grand total investment was $400 for 26 diapers.


3. How many diapers do you have?  12 bumGenius AIOS, 5 GroBaby diapers (considered all-in-two or hybrid), 6 3.0s (pocket diapers),  1 Green Acres Design (pocket),  2 Charlie Banana diapers (pockets, 1 one size, and 1 sized).  Grand total of 26.

4. How often do you do laundry?  At first I was doing laundry every 24 hrs (only 12 diapers on a 2-3-4 month old).  Now I wash every 2-3 days with 26 diapers on a 5 month old.  I was afraid the extra laundry would make me give up on cloth, but it's really not that big of a deal at all.  I'd MUCH rather do an extra load of laundry than throw out all those diapers.

5. Has there been any costs in up keep? The only cost of upkeep is detergent.  We use Rockin' Green detergent but have switched to using it for our clothes as well.  We go through about a bag a month for 3 adults, 1 infant, and the infants diapers.

6. Why do you cloth diaper?  Originally it was to save money with strong environmental influences.  Now it's that and because it's better for his skin, less chemicals, cuter, easier (no running to the store), and just makes me happy.

7. What is your estimated savings by cloth diapering? I've never done the math, but a few sites have.  http://www.diaperdecisions.com/cost_of_cloth_diapers.htm this is a good site for comparing costs.

Here are a couple of links to posts I've written about cloth diapering.
http://makingofamodernmommy.blogspot.com/2010/07/cloth-diapering-cheat-sheet.html
http://knickernappies.blogspot.com/2010/06/no-looking-back-new-mother-explains-how.html

P.S. For what it's worth...those running newborn poops are SOOO much easier to clean up in cloth than disposables since the cloth absorbs the runny part.