Zephyr Hill

A Family Blog

How To Start Cloth Diapering for As Low As $20

by 3 Comments

This post contains affiliate links.

Feel like you can’t afford to start using cloth diapers? Yes, you’ll save money in the long run, but do you balk at the up front cost? The average, no-frills starter collection may seem really daunting, even at just $100 or $200.

So I’ve gathered together some ideas from around the web, and from personal experience. Here three REALLY cheap ways to get started with cloth. Making these work will involve delayed gratification, so patience is key. You won’t find organic cottons or silky bamboo in these budget stashes!

These starter diapers are designed to get you through about 2 days, depending on the age/size of your baby.

The $20 Plan

COVERS: Use scraps of fleece, a large fleece blanket or yardage to make no-sew diaper covers. All you need is a pair of scissors. Here’s my tutorial with photos. You can make your own pattern by simply tracing over a diaper laid out completely flat, making your pattern a little bigger to allow for coverage. Your no-sew covers can be tied closed. If you don’t have any fleece or wool to repurpose, it can be bought by the yard at Wal-Mart for just $2.97. One yard measures 36×60 inches and that yields about 3 covers. Tip: roll in the sides of your fleece wrap for better poo containment. Double up covers for naps.

DIAPERS: Purchase flour sack towels (large, flat foldable squares of cotton) at Wal-Mart for $1 each. You can get 18 for $18 or less. Go even cheaper by using old t-shirts and receiving blankets (stuff you have on hand, or grab at yard sales for 25 to 50 cents). Even old cotton towels can serve as emergency diapers.

fleece

The $40 Plan

COVERS: Buy 4 Nicki’s brand pull-on diaper covers from Nicki’s (aff). Shipping is free.

 

DIAPERS: As above, use old t-shirts, towels or receiving blankets (free or 25 cents and up).

FASTENER:  Purchase a 3-pack of Snappi fasteners ($9.95) from Nicki’s.

The $50 Plan

COVERS: Buy 4 Nicki’s brand pull-on diaper covers from Nicki’s (aff) for $27.80. Shipping is free. OR, buy 4 Diaper Junction brand basic one-size covers for $31.80.

DIAPERS: Purchase flour sack towels (large foldable squares of cotton) at Wal-Mart for $1 each. You can get 18 for roughly $18 or less.

FASTENER: Purchase a Snappi ($3.95) or Boingo ($5.50) fastener. If you buy the Diaper Junction cover, you can “pad fold” your diapers and skip buying a fastener.

Erik in a Diaper Junction one-size cover:

The “I Don’t Have $20 Plan”

If you are truly counting every penny and even $20 is pushing it, there’s still hope! Buy just 2 waterproof pull-on Nicki’s brand covers. Shipping is free and it will cost about $13.90. For your diapers, use whatever free and absorbent items you can get your hands on. That includes old towels and faded/stained t-shirts, receiving blankets, worn sheets, etc. If you don’t have any, or can’t spare any money at yard sales, post your need on Facebook and Craigslist and I can almost 100% guarantee that you will have people willing to give you some old blankets and t-shirts for free. Your last step will be purchasing some of those old-school diaper pins at Wal-mart or the dollar store (probably a buck or two).

With these two diaper covers, you can cloth diaper for 1 day, and wash the next. See how it goes. And if you like the money you’re saving, start working on building up a better stash (PUL covers, prefolds, flats, etc.).

The “I Have No Money” Plan

If you’ve read this far and are thinking “I can’t even spend $13!” then check out these freebies:

1. My free diaper resource page shows you how to find cloth diapers at zero or little cost to you.
2. These diaper charities give or loan packages at little or no cost to you.
3. Add cloth diapers to your registry during pregnancy. Nothing fancy, just the basics (covers, prefolds, etc.). All styles can be found at Wal-Mart and Amazon.
4. Please enter my giveaways, and come back for the daily entries. If you are expecting, please sign up for my monthly drawing.

What About Folding?

All my budget plans include flats or things you need to fold. Here’s how to pad fold a flat (square) diaper for a newborn, and for an older baby. You can pad fold anything (t-shirts, blankets, towels, diapers, etc.)

If you have some SUPER CHEAP cloth diapering tips, please share them here!

 

3 Things I Learned After Hand-Washing Cloth Diapers

by 1 Comment

flatschallenge7

The Flats and Handwashing Challenge ends tonight and the big question is – what did I learn?

Basically, these three things:

  • How to hand wash diapers – Or anything else, for that matter. It’s a good skill to have and it just goes to show that cleaning doesn’t require a degree in rocket science. It takes time, common sense and a little bit of trial and error. Our wash routine took about 45 minutes total plus 5+ hours for drying on the line. I have to admit it would be difficult to do this 45 minute chore every other day, with everything else I have going right now in my life (seven children, housework, homeschooling, the blog, etc.), but I know that it CAN be done. It’s just a matter of setting aside time.
  • What it’s like to use flats exclusively – It took some getting used to, not reaching for my bamboo prefolds or fitteds at night, or grabbing a pre-stuffed pocket diaper for a quick change. All-in-One diapers with velcro closure are my oldest daughter’s top choice when she’s helping me out, so it was an adjustment for her, too. It’s not that we don’t use flats; we have – for years. But only as part of a bigger rotation. It’s easy to get spoiled with all the different styles of diapers out there. I had to learn to think differently in various situations because we had to make the flats work ALL the time, whether that was naps, car trips or night time. Not all all flats are created equal when it comes to absorbency, so we had to make adjustments there, too.
  • How cloth diapering is different when you’re on a tight budget – Your style choices are much more limited, and you have to cut corners and make sacrifices. When we first started diapering 7 years ago I would have loved to have some AIO diapers for convenience but simply could not afford them. Being on a limited budget means you might have to scrounge around and make your own doublers, accept whatever prints/colors are available in the covers you can afford, and maybe even forego conveniences like pail liners and wet bags, diaper sprayers, and flushable liners.

If you did the challenge, let me know what you learned. Or maybe you’re thinking ahead to next year and your first try?

annesignature