Cloth Diapers

Well, I'll be frank:  we are primarily disposable diaper people.  We have been since our little girl was born.  Fortunately, we received a lot of diapers as baby gifts, and so we still haven't had to buy diapers.  But that day is rapidly approaching when we will (and our vacation will necessitate it sooner, because I'm not packing an entire package that I can just buy there...). 

I should also mention that, before the baby was born, I had told my husband that I would consider cloth diapers... eventually.  I never gave a specific time-frame, but was clear that it would be considered only after I had figured out how to be a mom.  I didn't need one more thing I had to figure out thrown in there.  (Kudos to our moms for using cloth diapers from day one, back when disposable diapers were too expensive for their budget -- seriously, my hat is off to them.)  (Also, I should say that I am not saying I've figured out how to be a mom, necessarily.  Just that I at least have gotten to know our munchkin enough to anticipate things :)).  So my husband had brought up the subject a while back, and I still wasn't really willing to commit to anything. 

But then the whole government shut-down scare happened.  And my little family was affected.  Or at least we thought we would be.  And I may be a touch on the alarmist/dramatic side; because upon hearing my husband was working with a promise of payment eventually, but not at the expected time, I immediately started thinking about ways we could cut back on our spending, or use the money to stock up on essentials.  Cloth diapers weren't exactly at the top of my list of ways to save money (but less expensive meals were, and if I'm going that route, you know I'm concerned...  I like food).  But then I got a call from a friend whose husband was in the same boat, and whose kids are all now potty trained.  Would I like to use her cloth diapers to save a bit of money?  And so I figured: why not give it a try?  So she gave me her diapers along with her extra money-saving tips, and I determined to try it out. 

Funny enough, my husband is not sold on them.  And it's true, they are way less convenient.  (Especially when she poops in the cloth diapers).  But they are saving us some money.  Because even though my husband's paycheck was never interrupted, thankfully, I do still have a budget we set up and agreed to use.  And so this is letting my grocery budget (where I budgeted the diapers) stretch further.  Now, I have chosen to cloth diaper only when we are home (and we're not taking them on vacation), but most days that means we use a maximum of 3 disposable diapers.  And I figured it out... If we use 3 disposables every day and cloth diapers the rest of the time, we would only use a box of Costco diapers every 2 months.  And that's not bad.

So yeah, even though they aren't my favorite thing in the world, I am grateful for the cloth diapers.  And for my friend Christina who lent them to me.

And it really doesn't hurt that tonight, while our munchkin was sporting her bulky cloth diaper (made bulkier by the extra money saving tips), I was reminded of a certain Sir Mix-A-Lot song.  Because this baby [had] back.  Hahaha.

What are you grateful for today?