Cloth diapers saving tips
10 Ways to Cloth Diaper on a Budget
As more and more people look into living "greener," they're learning that what's good for the environment is also often expensive for the wallet. One such environmentally-friendlier purchase involves the cloth diaper, which contains fewer chemicals and produces less waste -- no pun intended -- than its disposable counterpart. The diapers themselves aren't necessarily more expensive, but the additional items, like inserts to trap all that "stuff" baby makes in his pants, and extra loads of laundry can add up over time, leading many to seek cloth diaper saving tips.
To avoid scaring away new moms trying to live on a budget, a post on the The Parent Vortex blog on BlogHer, lists 10 ways to save on cloth diapers. They include asking for hand-me-down cloth diapers, opting for less fancy inserts or liners to absorb liquid, cleaning your baby's bottom with cloth wipes and using less detergent for washes. If you monitor your "extras" with cloth diapers, you can save a few thousand dollars a year. One cloth diaper company estimates between $1,100 and $1,500 in cloth diaper saving tips.
Are you a parent who has cloth diaper saving tips? How much money did you really save in the end, and were there extra headaches in using cloth over disposable.
"Washing diapers doesn't have to be any more expensive than washing a regular load of clothing. Prefolds often take more time in the tumble dryer to get fully dry since they're so thick and absorbent, which can be more expensive if you have to run the dryer twice to get them dry all the way. An alternative is to hang them to dry, or if they're too stiff and crunchy after being line dried, toss them in the tumble dryer when they're almost dry to soften up."
