by request: Cloth Diapering update

This marks month 9 of CDing for us. I am what I would call a casual/serious CD-er. I use cloth about 75% of the time. I prefer sposies when running errands and overnight. On our recent trip out of town we used sposies as well as it was easier. But at home and at church we use cloth and I can honestly prefer cloth. Here is what I like about them:

*Cost. I love not having to buy and throw diapers away. On average I spend about $10 a month on sposies for out and about. Last week I spent $25 for just the one week (with coupons) and it felt like I was throwing money away. I even used coupons and it was still expensive for diapers and wipes.

*No chemicals. On the off chance that the chemicals cause infertility it makes me feel better knowing she has limited exposure to them.

*The feel. Cloth just feels better than the ucky sposies.

*They are cute. Seriously, what is cuter than a fluffy butt??

What I don't like about cloth:

*They do wear out. I recently threw one away because the elastic and the velcro all needed to be replaced. It also had some small holes and it was not worth repairing. Now, I do buy mine second hand so that was to be expected.

*Poop removal. I don't like it. At all. I don't have a sprayer so I use a wet wipe to get up the bigger clumps and then I wash the rest. I was about every 2-3 days so it doesn't sit long. Some of the diapers do have stains but I haven't tried to sun them so they may come out.

*Having to change them every 2-3 hours. Sposies do last longer.

I will admit, cloth is not for everyone. But I do like them. They work for me and my family. My original reason for choosing cloth was because I just liked them. I also liked the thoughts of saving money, though at the time it was not my main reason. Then a few months ago we hit a really bad financial rough patch and I was so thankful to have cloth diapers. It was nice not to have to choose between diapers and groceries. Or diapers and paying bills. I didn't have to worry about coming up with money that we really did not have to buy diapers.

I would encourage anyone considering them to try them out. A friend of mine is expecting twins next year and I am going to let her borrow mine to try them out before she makes a commitment. If you are not able to borrow diapers there are ways to get them very inexpensively to try them out. I have covers and flats, AI2s, pockets and AIOs. I still love AIOs but am glad that I got to try many of them out before buying all of one kind.

If you have any CD questions please feel free to ask!!!