It's So FLUFFY!

When I first ventured into cloth diapers, I was overwhelmed.  How many do I need?  How do I wash them?  How hard is it going to be?  Questions, questions.  The biggest issue I could think of was the initial cost.  Being a family of one income, it was a little discouraging to say the least.  I was determined to do the damn thing though.  Where there is the will, you will find the way.  So we started out with just enough to get the job done.  I wrote a post about the beginnings... how I laundered them, what we were working with, etc.  Then I realized my faux pas with the wrong detergent and found my way to the best (in my opinion) detergent, EcoSprout.

Now here we are just 4 months into wearing cloth diapers.  I'm still using the EcoSprout in our wash routine.  There are a million and one wash routines too.  If you thought it was hard to decide what kind of diapers to buy, wait until you try to figure out how to wash 'em!  I have a specific routine that I follow, but I have found that every one has a different routine and it's really trial and error to find what works for you.

The routine: We have hard water and a front loading HE washing machine.  Double whammy.  As I stated before I use EcoSprout to wash our cloth and their customer service was awesome with helping me work out a wash routine that worked for us.  I first put them through a "quick wash" using 1 Tbls of detergent on a warm wash/cold rinse plus extra rinse.  If I don't have any poopy diapers (and sometimes I don't because Rowan doesn't always poop every day) I'll do this cycle on hot.  Next I run them through the "white" cycle using 3 Tbls of detergent on a hot wash/cold rinse plus extra rinse.  I wouldn't have to use as much detergent if I had softer water.  I've never tested it, but a quick Google search turned up several results.  When it was warm outside I would hang everything outside to dry/sun.  The Sun is amazing at getting out those stains.  Now that it's turned cold, I have to resort to using the dryer.  I separate the shells from the inserts and dry the inserts on high heat.  I will either hang the shells inside on my handy dandy rack from Wal-Mart (though when I bought mine in September they were only $10) or I'll put them in the dryer separately from the inserts and dry on the timed dry for about 20 minutes on extra low heat.  This has been our routine for about 2 months now and I've had no need to "strip" the diapers.  The only time we have any ammonia (or other) issues is with her over night diapers.  I don't change her over night and in the mornings, she does have some ammonia, but it's not been a large issue.

Now when we started, we had a minimum of diapers.  I was gifted one FuzziBunz One-size and a 12 pk of Gerber pre-folds.  We then purchased 3 more FuzziBunz One-size, 6 Tiny Tush Elite One-size, and 2 EconoBum covers.  Our total cost at that point was a mere $178.  The problem is there are so many brands out there that I couldn't stop obsessing over which one to buy next.  I was trying to keep costs down, but OH MY GOD HAVE YOU SEEN ALL THE CUTE CLOTH DIAPERS???  I would love to try one of everything, but the hubs would kill me.

**NOTE:  Any cloth diaper makers/companies out there that want to gift me a sample of their product??  I'll gladly use them, review them, and tell the world about your awesomeness!

Hasn't stopped me from trying though...  hee hee.  So... here is our new total stash of fluffy fluff-tastic-ness!

+ 6 FuzziBunz One-size (1 gifted-cotton candy, 3 purchased at $19.95-buttercream, 2 purchased on clearance (the old style) at $12.95-choco truffle & crushed berries)
+ 1 FuzziBunz Perfect Size-medium-$12.76-watermelon
+6 Tiny Tush Elite One-size at $19.95 (but they were buy 5 get one free)-white
+3 Kawaii One-size at $9.75 (two suede-sage & light blue, one microfiber-purple)
+4 Diaper Rite One-size (1 as a Black Friday freebie-bubble gum, 3 purchased at $7.75-black, electric carrot, electric lime)
+4 EconoBum covers (1 as a BOGO offer with prefold insert-white trim, 2 purchased at $8.95 (cover only)-zinnia,white, 1 purchased at $9.95 with prefold insert-ribbit trim)
+1 Thirsties Duo Wrap cover purchased on Black Friday for $8.00-size 2-warm stripes(+$1.00)
+3 Diaper Rite Prefolds in Small, unbleached at $1.59 each
+11 Diaper Rite Prefolds in Medium, unbleached at $2.07 each
+12 Gerber prefolds (gifted and not pictured)
+1 large FuzziBunz diaper pail at $21.95-white
+1 small PlanetWise wet bag-$9.50-Think Peach print
+1 small/medium drawstring wet bag with a Black Friday sale

The pockets...

 The prefolds and covers... (minus the Gerber ones 'cause after I got the Diaper Rite prefolds I won't be using the Gerbers)

 Extra microfiber inserts of various shapes and sizes...

 Two small wet bags...

Ro rockin' her Thirsties Duo Wrap cover.

So far our grand total is just $366!!  This is approximate because I'm not counting shipping.  But seriously?  Less than $400 for (on average) 2 years of diapers?  Yay!!!  I am so excited to be able to cloth diaper my baby.  I wish I had known more about it with my other two children.  In an effort to just get the word out about using cloth diapers I'll be writing some reviews of the cloth that I have been using.  Anything new I'll give 2-3 weeks of use before giving an official opinion.

I should mention that with the exception of the Tiny Tush and the first 3 FuzziBunz, I have purchased all of our diapers from Diaper Junction.  I highly recommend them.  They have great customer service, competitive prices, and super fast shipping.  Check them out if you get the chance.