I haven't quite decided if I am a fan of this title, but I am giving it to myself anyway. I am the diaper queen! Why? Well, you might remember my recent post entitled Excellent customer service from Bum Genius Cloth Diapers. In it, I described some of the savings from buying our favorite cloth diapers second-hand and doing the repair work ourselves. Let me elaborate...
I found a mom online who was willing to sell her stash of 25 pocket diapers for $20. The only catch was that the velcro needed to be replaced. I discovered the wonderful people at Cotton Babies (who manufacture Bum Genius diapers) were willing to send me replacement velcro and elastic for each diaper for free! Free! FREE! I detached the old velcro and my wonderful mom did all the sewing.
I found another mom looking to unload her stash of 10 Bum Genius pocket diapers. Because her diapers were in much better shape, we agreed on $30 for the set of 10. Cool. No detaching or sewing!
Then, as if all of the above is not good enough, yet another mom had a stash for me (and she replied to my ad on Craigslist, so there was basically no work on my part in finding her)! She has a good number of diapers that she will pass on to me for free! She said they are just taking up space, and she wants to get rid of them and give them to me for free. (Did I say they are free?!)
Of course, I already had my own little stash of about 10 diapers. I paid full price for about half of these; the other half were purchased new on sale both online and at The Nesting House.
Let me do the math, just for fun!
I spent a total of $50 for about 45 used diapers and about $130 for my own little stash of 10 diapers. That's $180 for a total of 55 diapers, which will serve us well when little number two gets here! But this is my favorite part of the math! If I had purchased all 55 diapers brand new at retail price ($17.95 each), I would have spent $987.25!
That's a savings of $807.25! If a penny saved is a penny earned, I think I did pretty well with over $800.
So, yes, I realize I am bragging a bit, but that is not the only purpose of this post. I am also hoping that this inspires others to shop around and look for bargains. Craigslist and local parent listservs are great resources for baby bargains. Not only can you save money buying second-hand baby items, but doing so decreases trash in landfills. Saving money and the environment is definitely the way to go! It wasn't that difficult for me, and I'm impatient - when I want something, I want it now. A little bit of patience and money will truly pay off!
Showing posts with label Cloth diapering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cloth diapering. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
My Life as a Stay-at-Home Mom: Bodily Functions Gone Awry
When I was 25, I couldn't bring myself to say the word "poop" - it seemed like a silly word for an adult to use, and I couldn't think of any conversation in which using the word would be appropriate. For the last year, I have said the word daily, probably numerous times a day. I have cried over poop and rejoiced over poop. I know. It's ridiculous.
Be that as it may, baby poop is now a daily part of my life. I clean it, wash it, and wipe it daily. Our use of elimination communication (EC), otherwise known as infant potty training, makes my coexistence with baby poop bearable, most of the time, but as you will see in today's story, not all the time. Our use of cloth diapers requires disposal of number-two in the toilet, which actually makes washing the diapers much easier. Using cloth creates an extra load of laundry every three days or so, but other than that, it's not much hassle. Of course, there are the occasional disposables, and the only complaint I have about those is the smell. Ewww! Can't throw them away with the regular garbage, or the entire house will reek within 45 minutes. So much thinking about and managing of just one of our lovely son's bodily functions!
When I was feeling tired and ill during the first trimester of this pregnancy, I couldn't think about washing diapers or ECing Luke. There was just no way I could manage it. For about two months, we were almost exclusive users of disposables. And poor Luke, who had grown accustomed to using the potty or toilet several times a day, was now going in his diaper. I did feel terribly guilty about this, but I assure you, there was no choice in the matter. I simply did not have the energy to life him to the toilet, keep him there, then clean it all up when he was done. So Huggies made some money from us, albeit, not for long.
Chris is a huge fan of EC, which is actually kind of funny, because upon first telling him about babies on potties, he laughed like never before. It didn't take long to convince him of the benefits, as Luke would often have dry diapers and would only go when put on the potty. Seeing is believing, I guess, and witnessing a little baby respond to a cue to pee or poo is truly an amazing sight, regardless of how basic it might seem. So while I was sick, Daddy was the lone ECer, and he did everything he could to keep up the good habits on the weekends.
Now that I am feeling better for the most part, I am trying to offer Luke the potty more often. Today, Luke awoke, and I changed his diaper, without offering the potty. Clearly this was a mistake, because within a couple minutes, I recognized the red face, distant stare, and glassy eyes that accompany a number-two. This is always the dilemma: should I rush off to the potty and let him finish there OR should I simply let him go in the diaper and change it when he's done. This was a freshly-laundered cloth diaper, so I decided to try to "save" it, and we ran off to the potty.
Quick Mommy, unfasten diaper and plop son on potty. Within seconds, the boy was going . Hooray! We saved a diaper! Luke knows when to get up, so I began the clean-up process as soon as he motioned to get off, only to find that a minute later, our poop machine was still in action! There was no time to put him back on the potty, and he was standing on our bath rug, so I did the only thing a mom thinks to do in such a situation: I put my hand right in the line of fire to catch the stuff and save the bath mat. Yes, I had myself a hand full of poop. It was completely gross, and was as unglamorous a moment as I've ever had.
I couldn't help but wonder if I should have just let Luke poop it out in the diaper, considering the mess I now had to deal with. Unfortunately, the bath mat does need a good scrub, despite my best efforts at catching the mess. I then had to deal with snatching Luke away from the surprise in the potty while attempting to wash my hands and get him clean. It was all a bit of a fiasco, really, and a situation I'd prefer to never encounter again, although I know with certainty that I will.
So there you have it, one small example of the glamour and luxury of my life as a stay-at-home mom! (Sarcasm intended!)
Be that as it may, baby poop is now a daily part of my life. I clean it, wash it, and wipe it daily. Our use of elimination communication (EC), otherwise known as infant potty training, makes my coexistence with baby poop bearable, most of the time, but as you will see in today's story, not all the time. Our use of cloth diapers requires disposal of number-two in the toilet, which actually makes washing the diapers much easier. Using cloth creates an extra load of laundry every three days or so, but other than that, it's not much hassle. Of course, there are the occasional disposables, and the only complaint I have about those is the smell. Ewww! Can't throw them away with the regular garbage, or the entire house will reek within 45 minutes. So much thinking about and managing of just one of our lovely son's bodily functions!
When I was feeling tired and ill during the first trimester of this pregnancy, I couldn't think about washing diapers or ECing Luke. There was just no way I could manage it. For about two months, we were almost exclusive users of disposables. And poor Luke, who had grown accustomed to using the potty or toilet several times a day, was now going in his diaper. I did feel terribly guilty about this, but I assure you, there was no choice in the matter. I simply did not have the energy to life him to the toilet, keep him there, then clean it all up when he was done. So Huggies made some money from us, albeit, not for long.
Chris is a huge fan of EC, which is actually kind of funny, because upon first telling him about babies on potties, he laughed like never before. It didn't take long to convince him of the benefits, as Luke would often have dry diapers and would only go when put on the potty. Seeing is believing, I guess, and witnessing a little baby respond to a cue to pee or poo is truly an amazing sight, regardless of how basic it might seem. So while I was sick, Daddy was the lone ECer, and he did everything he could to keep up the good habits on the weekends.
Now that I am feeling better for the most part, I am trying to offer Luke the potty more often. Today, Luke awoke, and I changed his diaper, without offering the potty. Clearly this was a mistake, because within a couple minutes, I recognized the red face, distant stare, and glassy eyes that accompany a number-two. This is always the dilemma: should I rush off to the potty and let him finish there OR should I simply let him go in the diaper and change it when he's done. This was a freshly-laundered cloth diaper, so I decided to try to "save" it, and we ran off to the potty.
Quick Mommy, unfasten diaper and plop son on potty. Within seconds, the boy was going . Hooray! We saved a diaper! Luke knows when to get up, so I began the clean-up process as soon as he motioned to get off, only to find that a minute later, our poop machine was still in action! There was no time to put him back on the potty, and he was standing on our bath rug, so I did the only thing a mom thinks to do in such a situation: I put my hand right in the line of fire to catch the stuff and save the bath mat. Yes, I had myself a hand full of poop. It was completely gross, and was as unglamorous a moment as I've ever had.
I couldn't help but wonder if I should have just let Luke poop it out in the diaper, considering the mess I now had to deal with. Unfortunately, the bath mat does need a good scrub, despite my best efforts at catching the mess. I then had to deal with snatching Luke away from the surprise in the potty while attempting to wash my hands and get him clean. It was all a bit of a fiasco, really, and a situation I'd prefer to never encounter again, although I know with certainty that I will.
So there you have it, one small example of the glamour and luxury of my life as a stay-at-home mom! (Sarcasm intended!)
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