*cloth this time around

I love to see clean, colorful stacks of freshly folded diapers.

I was pretty good at using cloth diapers with Vera [look how cute she was!] - especially from 6-7 months on. However, I never used them at night and I would often use a disposable if we were going to be out of the house for a while or if I just felt like it. I was a little more determined with Edie, since I had all these diapers that I'd already bought! I also received a few new ones as gifts, bought some nice used ones on diaperswappers.com (some I think weren't actually even 'used'), and borrowed some extras for the newborn stage. Ok and I bought 2 expensive ones for nighttime use. For the first few months I would still use a disposable at night and sometimes during the day. I finally decided I needed to go all or nothing to really reap the savings.

So several months ago I made a little challenge for myself [usually a good way to get myself to do anything! I am a little competitive you could say]: mid-May I had one pack of diapers and told myself that I couldn't buy another until July 1. I started using them verrry sparingly - like just at nighttime. Then one night I didn't have one to use! I'd even searched in the car, the strollers, under the bed, etc. And guess what?! It wasn't that big of a deal! I'm not saying she smelled super fresh in the morning, but it hadn't leaked and I was doing a wash anyway. After that I bought some diapers when we were at Lake Tahoe [though I also used some gdiaper compostable inserts we were given - they are great!] Then I *challenged* myself to not buy any more wipes. I mean $6 for a pack that lasts ... a month? That's 2 lattes :) I already have a lot of cloth wipes that were given to me, the wipe solution, a wipe warmer - but was often using disposable because it's slightly more convenient. You throw it all in the washer together anyway. So now I don't buy wipes except for the diaper bag. I will admit that laundering has been a bit of a hassle. We have really hard water and a very small front-loading machine that doesn't use a lot of water. It's taken a lot of experimenting to see what gets the diapers the cleanest. I think I figured something out, hopefully it will keep working until she potty-trains [hopefully earlyish like Vera!] So that's my long story. I doubt anyone is reading anymore, haha. I like to have it documented.