Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Frugal Failure

I am throwing in the cloth diaper!

I had absolutely no problem with the dirty work. The stuff that makes most cringe about cloth diapering didn't bother me. My problem was the number of times a day I needed to change Cora's diaper.  In comparison to how often I change disposables it was a pain the butt.  When I would wait too long with the cloth - everything got wet! Her clothes, sheets, furniture. Washing diapers saves money, washing everything does not.  And for the record it was my fault not the cloth diapers - they are remarkably good at holding a lot - I just tested their boundraries way to  much.  

You see when I was a younger mom I heard an older mom say that she doesn't use that many diapers. She figures if one can hold all night - one can do the same all day. So barring poops her (older) baby wore 2 diapers in a 24 hour period. I thought to myself - "ewww I will never do that" ...........................ummm ....well guess what

drum roll please.... 

Now I do.

Maybe not always as extreme as 2 per 24 hours - but as soon as the pooping all the time stops - constant diapering does too. So in my frugal mind the cost of disposables (I never pay much more that 15 cents a diaper) is totally worth it.  It also helps that my babies suffer from constipation and only poop once a week or so.

So how about you? 

Cloth vs. disposables?
How often do you change your baby's diaper?
Do you change your younger children less often than you did your first? I don't think Benjamin ever knew what a wet diaper was - and surprise surprise he was the hardest to potty train!
Are you stuck on a certain brand or are you like me and stand with the calculator in the diaper aisle EVERYTIME?

PS. My cloth diapers on are craigslist - email me if you want the posting - i'd prefer not to link


15 comments:

My name is Andrea said...

Disposable all the way. My stomach is too weak for cloth. I am old enough to remember life without disposables, I think only my youngest bro even had them available. I remember the diaper pail in the bathroom filled with bleach...I remember changing diapers and "dumping" the, ahem, contents, into the toilet before putting it in the pail...
Fortunately, "green" wasn't so in when I had babies and didn't feel the cloth pressure! :o)

I used Luvs...if I was able to get great sales, I preferred Pampers. The regular Huggies, not so much. But those premium Huggies, I loved, just couldn't justify the expense...for one year and then again for about 5 months I had 2 in diapers at a time. The generics leaked too easily and I had to change too often, which in my opinion negated their savings, cuz I had to use more. But Luvs, oh how I loved Luvs...they were almost exactly the same as Pampers, but cheaper. The only thing I hated?? Barney was on them.

Did you ask for a novel??

Amanda said...

YOu don't even want to know about my diaper use. You would cringe. And I am a Diaper snob. I stick with my brand.... And My guy has at least one poop a day still maybe 2. And when we are on the lovely antibiotic we have about 5 a day.

Janie said...

Did you know that Pampers makes luvs - so they are very similar. I have noticed that the generics have improved greatly since even Benjamin was born. I have no leakage problem at all with ANY off brand I have used with Cora. And from my post you know I am giving them a run for the money. In fact I like many generics better than name brand (well better than huggies specifically)

I am a diaper snob for a little bit in the beginning. First its hard to find newborn diapers in generic (possible but hard) and mine are most prone to rash then so I did go with pampers sensitive - but only for a minute LOL

I do feel the pressure to be green although I have to say its pressure from myself. I am feeling very guilty getting these diapers ready to sell. I am still thinking... wait, stop janie you can do this

Janie said...

Oh one more thing Andrea, cloth diapering nowadays doesn't require water pails - dump solids in the toilet then straight to washing machine. Wet pailing breaks down your diapers especially the all in ones.
I used a waterproof laundry bag to put them all in then washed the bag along with the diapers.
You have to have a top loading washer though to use the soak setting

Meredith said...

I'm with Andrea...I remember "swishing the diaper out" for my younger siblings...one of the reasons I decided I would only have 2 kids....guess that didn't work out for me. And yes, when Rebekah was a baby, I changed her every two hours, plus....with Jacob, last night I realized that he had had the SAME diaper on ALL day long. He brought me a diaper last night and told me he had poop at about 6pm. I checked him and said "no poop, just LOTS of pee!" And I totally use generic diapers!

Ryann said...

I am a disposable all the way and I have noticed that Tim gets changed way less than the girls. Sometimes it probably is just twice a day! I do feel a bit guilty when he starts to leak though:) Have to admit that I solely use Huggies-I just find that with boys they work the best and I can't get any generic out here.

Gary Church said...

I am a Target brand diaper snob. For the size 3 diapers, they are .13 each ... for the size 4, they are .15 each. That's the every single day of every friggin' week price, lol.

Ryan goes through 4 diapers a day, Ashley used 5. I change them when they are 1. poopy, or 2. about to start leaking. lol. :D

Hallie said...

I am going through lots of testing on my own, and so far I prefer the Huggies sung and dry the best for Logan (but I've only trid Huggies and generics, pampers are next on the list). Carson is pretty easy still, he can wear any brand, but Logan is so active and on the go, that most of the diapers (including huggies natural fit) droop and leak as soon as they are wet. And yes, the younger 2 get changed far less than Tyler did. Morning, after naps, once during the afternoon and before bed. If even that often. Unless poopy, those get changed right away.

Nikki said...

I could never use cloth diapers. Ick. I would probably throw up. I throw away CLOTHES that are poopy because I just cannot stomach washing it out, unless it's a SUPER expensive outfit (like over $50), it can be replaced. I stick with Pampers. I only bought the pampers sensitive until he was big enough to fit in the Cruisers, as I've tried huggies, luvs etc and I hated them. I'm probably one of those wierdos because Austin is changed every 2-3 hours (unless he's dry). I just know that I wouldn't want to sit in pee, even small amounts, so I don't make him. And I used to work at a day care where dipaers were changed every 2 hours on the dot, so I think it's sort of imbedded in my brain. You're a much braver woman then me to even try washable! But maybe when I have a few more I'll loosen up a bit :)

Kleanteeth said...

I used Pampers. My kids crapped the heck out of huggies and I was sick of getting pooped on me so I switched. I used an occasional Luv, but they would leave little pee soaked white balls on their buns, you know what I'm talking about? I'm way more picky about the wipes. Generics don't hack it ever. Doesn't make sense that Ben was the hardest to train. You'd think that never having had a wet diaper, he would hate it and avoid it. My cloth, ewwyuck. Wash a load of poopy nappies and then wash a load of dishtowels and clothes? I'd envision myself wiping crap on my countertops. Probably dillusional, but in my head.

Janie said...

I don't make my babies sit in diapers heavy with pee. I just don't change every two hours - I change when necessary. Cora has no skin probs whatsoever. Modern diapers wick away the pee. Not to be gross but its the same as maxi pads - they don't get changed as soon as something is on them - but when they need to be changed. I can do it - so can my kids.

I bet I could live off the money wasted on name brands.

And Kristi, rinse, hot wash, another rinse - nothing left yucky in my washer. Just ask the millions of people who are returning to cloth diapering.

Bethanne said...

I do Costco disposables...can't stomach cloth. I change less because, well, Jax doesn't care about being gross (while Leah would tell me with just a tinkle that she needed a change).

Amanda said...

I didn't think you would let Cora sit in a ton of pee:) I guess I am just over sensitive myself about hat stuff I treat my kids like they are too. but I don't change a diaper unless it is pretty wet! I am probably paying.15 cents more a diaper than you. But Since I use about 5 diapers a 24 hour period now it's worth it to me. I love ya Janie---I probably shouldn't have posted that--it sounds rude now that I look back over it:( SORRY:(

Abby said...

I think I was a lazy mother from the start, so Peanut gets changed as often as Peawhistle did, even when she was new. Peanut poops about once a day, so that gets changed no matter what. I change him when he wakes up in the morning, before he goes down for his nap, after he wakes from his nap, and before bedtime. And in case he poops that isn't near one of those times. I don't think the 2-in-24-hours thing is realistic though since your baby is eating/drinking all day and thus producing waste all day, whereas during the night he/she isn't.

My kids have very long torsos like I do and the only brand that doesn't wind up being hip-huggers on them is Huggies. Sucks that it's an expensive brand, but I've tried all the others, including the ones who claim to be for long waisted kids but turn out to be lying. So there you have it.

Janie said...

I don't think the 2 in 24 is realistic either. It just made me look again at how often I was changing my kids. I used to work really hard to see if they needed a change - you know smell, pinch, etc. I figure now I can follow their clues and my nose - no need to change unless either of us have a problem. I find it to be much less than it used to be.

My kids are hard to fit too I just go up in size in the cheapos - I never really pay attention to the weight they say it will fit.

14 cents a diaper yesterday for size 4