There. I said it.
But I'm not quitting. Saving Money + Pride = Still Cloth Diapering.
Warning: this blog post uses the word "poop" eight times. Proceed at your own risk.
I still use cloth diapers, but I have a confession. I just ordered some disposables. They are so convenient for travelling, nights, babysitters, and whenever I feel like it. Rather, don't feel like it.
Heidi's never made a Big Mistake when we're out shopping or at church. I'm so grateful. I'm pretty sure she's doing it just to be kind to me. Because... what do you do? Just pack the poop home? Ew.
Now all of you are going to think differently about me. You'll look at me and wonder... has she got poop stashed somewhere?
Some nights I'll let Heidi sleep in a disposable diaper just for the luxury of feeling dry all night. She doesn't complain about wet diapers, but I like to feel like a good mom sometimes. My babysitters have been so kind and I hate to give them a baby in cloth diapers. Sometimes I hate to give myself a baby in cloth diapers. So I cave and use a disposable, which is ten times more expensive. That sounds more awesome than "I save sixteen cents per diaper." Here are my stats for Overall Cost of Things for My Daughter to Pee On.
Cloth Disposable
Each Diaper 1.85 cents to wash 18 cents to purchase
Diapers per day 10 (two at a time) 5
Cost per day $.19 $.90
Cost per month $5.70 $27
Time in diapers 18 months 24 months
Overall Cost $103 $648
(Of course my assumptions are probably crazy. I don't know exactly how many diapers I use every day, I don't know exactly how many I wash at a time, I don't know exactly how long Heidi will be in diapers and I don't know if cloth diapers really will potty train her six months earlier. And my math is possibly off. My good ol' noggin is getting rusty.)
Anyway, the point is that cloth diapers are cheaper for me than disposable diapers. I really don't understand why moms say they LOVE cloth diapers. (Amy, Keri... would you like to comment?) The work involved in disposable diapers are shopping (which is fun) and taking out the trash (which my husband does). The work involved in cloth diapers is laundry (which is not fun) and scrubbing poop (which is also not fun). Heidi is sometimes shaped a little more funny than other babies, and she doesn't stay as dry at night. Putting on cloth diapers are a little more complicated than disposables, which gives me a disadvantage in the wrestling match. And, honestly, sometimes I lose.
Let's try to find the silver lining... I don't have poop sitting in bucket in my baby's room. I have my system down for poop-scrubbing. (Wipe the poop into the toilet with toilet paper, Rinse/rub off the remaining down the sink-sorry Wymount maintenance people- Soap the stain, Scrub, Rinse, Squeeze, Repeat until patience wears out. I discovered the Squeeze step recently, which is the secret to my success. I also found that Dial soap works better than Ivory to get poop out.) Okay. More silver linings... less smelly trash. Less work for my husband. Food for my ego. Connection with the Earth (See? Even scrubbing poop has a silver lining.)
So you can get me some disposable diapers for Christmas. Heidi's a size 3. Until then, I'll enjoy my savings and my connection with the earth.
