Leah's Current Stash

**The next few days will introduce each of our own personal diapering systems - what we are currently using and how we launder. Please feel free to post comments/questions - you will see that we are each a little different. We hope this will give you a feel for the variety that exists within the cloth diapering world.**


My current diaper stash includes:
40 chinese prefold diapers, delivered weekly from a diaper service
3 pairs of vinyl pants (Gerber brand, bought at Babies R Us)
1 snappi fastener (pink! given to me by a friend)
6 pairs of diaper pins - stored in a bar of Ivory soap (pink! given to me by a friend)
I am also currently looking into using wool covers - I knit a soaker by hand and I sewed 2 covers and a pair of longies using an old sweater. The jury's still out as to whether I will continue using wool or not.

We live in an apartment without a washer/dryer. I washed our diapers in the coin wash for about a month before I gave up. I now use a diaper service for our prefolds. I share this with a neighbor, so my cost is $10/week. I use vinyl pants because they only cost $2.99 for a 3-pack and I can just rinse them out when they get poop on them, no washing required. This is a rather old school way to cloth diaper, but I must say that I really enjoy its simplicity. Even if I had a washer/dryer, I would stick with this system and just wash the prefolds myself. I would probably only use about a dozen or so prefolds because I would wash every 2-3 days (highly recommended turn-around time on washing dipes).


FYI, I put the prefolds on Samuel using the twist method. This is the easiest for me to pin and it gives him really great coverage. I was afraid that it would just lead to poop getting everywhere, but it actually does the best job for his body type, and it makes for a pretty trim diaper. I also use two prefolds at night. I just twist them together like they were one diaper. They are pretty wet in the morning, but they get the job done. I keep a pack of disposables on hand, but I use cloth even when we go out. Since we don't leave Samuel in the nursery, we don't have to worry about that (although I would use disposables if I did leave him). When we go on vacation, I use disposables - it's less of a hassle and a break from cloth for me.

Annual Cost Breakdown:
Using the diaper service –
$520 for prefolds ($10/week x 52 weeks)
$10.00 for vinyl pants ($2.99/pack x 3 sizes: nb, sm, med)
$3.00 for Snappi fasteners ($3.00 for 2 Snappis)
$2.50 for Diaper Pins ($0.50/pair x 5 pairs)
TOTAL: $535.50

Washing my own diapers –
$60 for prefolds ($20/dozen x 3 sizes: nb, sm, med)
same as above for remaining items
TOTAL: $75.50, though you do have to figure in water and detergent for washing

Seriously, you absolutely CANNOT beat the above price. It is mind-boggling!