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If I had the chance to start over and build my cloth diaper stash from scratch, what would I do differently or the same, knowing what I know now (after 14 months of cloth diapering)? And how would I create my stash if I was given a $200 budget, or $500? What would I choose with an unlimited budget (more like, what wouldn’t I chose)? When Tara & Carolyn, from Padded Tush Stats, threw this topic out, I knew that I would have fun with it. Window shopping, with all of the cloth diapering experience I’ve gained over the past year, has been fun and a challenge.
I began putting together my cloth diaper stash when I was two months pregnant, so I had plenty of time to shop. I read cloth diapering blogs like it was my job! A couple of the first nuggets of wisdom I encountered were that a.) I would need to try a few different styles of diapers to figure out what worked best for us, and b.) not all styles of diapers work on all babies (it’s like finding the right pair of running shoes). I knew that I wanted to diaper with prefolds (flats intimidated more than prefolds back then), but also wanted to try pockets, AI2s, etc. I purchased prefolds new, little by little, and decided to buy pockets used.
I realized early on that pockets were not going to work for us, and gradually sold them to add more prefolds and fitteds. It’s amazing how diaper preferences change over time…and over the course of your baby’s growth. I was a staunch prefold advocate for the first year of diapering Declan, but when every diaper change became a wrestling match (aound the time he turned 1), I quickly realized that AIOs and AI2s were my ally on the changing mat, and I have been adding them to my stash here and there. Every baby is different, but the following ‘dream’ lists are based upon my experience thus far diapering D.
To simplify things, I’ll be creating my stash using just one diaper store (no comparison shopping): Diaper Junction. It pays to use one cloth diaper store because most of them have points/award systems that give you credit based upon what you spend.
Creating a Diaper Stash for $200
This task proved to be a bit more difficult than I had imagined, but it’s still no problem for me, a prefold lover. I actually plan to use flats with our next baby, now that I’m no longer intimidated, and they are a perfect solution because they fit babies of all sizes.
1 – 3-Pack Snappi Diaper Fasteners $3.95
12 – Diaper Rite Birdseye Flats $17.50
12 – Preemie Indian Prefolds $9.00
1 – Hand-Knit Wool Diaper Cover $6.00
2 – Bummis Newborn Diaper Covers $13.00
2 – Thirsties Duo Wrap size 1 $20.82
2 – Thirsties Duo Wrap size 2 $20.82
1 – Econobum Diaper Kit $49.95
1 – Rumparooz Diaper Pail Liner $18.95
12 – Diaper Rite Flannel Wipes $5.99
10 – Charlie Banana 10 Reusable Double Sided Wipes, Blue Emb.
$12.99 (these are my absolute favorite wipes)
$12.99 (these are my absolute favorite wipes)1 – 10-gallon step trash can (Target) $15.00
There’s no wet bag included, but grocery bags work just fine when you’re out and about. No frills diapering, but this will take you from birth to potty training for $193.97.
Creating a Diaper Stash for $500
Now with $500 I should really be able to create my dream stash, right? Well, I had a tough time fulfilling my dream stash for $500 (those AIOs & AI2s are expensive!)! For $500, however, I do get the luxury of having plenty of diapers for the newborn stage. One thing I wasn’t keen on was doing diapers almost daily the first 2-3 months with Declan. However, once babies are on solids, their daily diaper usage decreases drastically, and I really didn’t factor in a decrease in diaper usage when purchasing our prefolds (we have a lot…as in over 100 in multiple sizes a lot!). With D, we have way more prefolds than we can use in our current rotation because his pH changed once he began teething; this meant that I went from doing diaper laundry once per week, to doing them every 3rd day (or have an insane ammonia stink emanating from the pail). I’d rather have more diapers for those early sleep-deprived days, and this stash reflects that:
1 – 3-Pack Snappi Diaper Fasteners $3.95
24 – Diaper Rite Flannel Wipes $11.98
1 – 10-Pack Charlie Banana Wipes $12.99
1 – Bummis Newborn Pack $42.00
12 prefolds
2 covers
12 – Preemie Indian Prefolds $9.00
12 – Diaper Rite Flats $17.50
12 – Infant Indian Prefolds $18.00
2 – Thirsties Duo Wrap size 1 $20.80
1 – Blueberry Cover $16.95
1 – Applecheeks Cover $19.00
12 – bumGenius Freetime AIOs $239.40
1 – Step Trash Can $15.00
2 – Planet Wise Pail Liners $33.00
1 – Planet Wise Hanging Wet Bag $29.99
1 – Planet Wise Wet Bag Medium $16.50
1 – Step Trash Can $15.00
2 – Planet Wise Pail Liners $33.00
1 – Planet Wise Hanging Wet Bag $29.99
1 – Planet Wise Wet Bag Medium $16.50
All of this for a grand total of $493.07 – whew! What’s interesting to note is that we’ve spent around $500-600 on our current stash, but have way more options. Part of this is because we had a few of our cloth diapering items given to us as shower gifts, and cute covers for Christmas gifts. The other reason why we have so much more is because I had the luxury of plenty time to shop around; I purchased used diapers, shopped B1G1 diaper sales, and lucked into meeting a woman that was liquidating her online diaper store inventory (I was able to purchase a lot of items at cost, including our pail liners and wet bags).
My Ideal Diaper Stash (no budget)
No budget? Since money is no object, and the budget is out-the-door, the (cloth diapering) world is my oyster! The interesting thing is that I didn’t go nuts. At-the-end-of-the-day, diapers, for me, are pee and poop catchers that serve a practical purpose. I don’t like clutter, so I hate to over buy.
One area where I minimized, compared to what I currently have, is with my diaper covers. I have WAY more than I need now, so I would definitely scale back if I had it all to do over again. Other changes? One more set of my absolute favorite wipes (Charlie Banana double-sided), more (fun) wet bag options, more newborn prefolds and wool…lots and lots of wool (I.love.wool.). I scaled back on the number of larger sized prefolds I would get because I would plan to switch over to AIOs around the one year mark. This is my ideal cloth diaper stash (*drum roll*):
1 – 3-Pack Snappi Diaper Fasteners $3.95
3 – 10-Packs Charlie Banana Double-Sided Wipes $38.97
Wipes Warmer $29.99
4 – 5-Packs of Bummis Fleece Liners $20.00
Step Trash Can $15.00
2 – Planet Wise Pail Liners $33.00
1 – Planet Wise Wet Bag Small $9.50
1 – Planet Wise Wet Bag Medium $16.50
1 – Planet Wise Hanging Wet Bag $29.99
1 – Planet Wise Wet/Dry Bag $21.00
2 – Bummis Newborn Diaper Packs $84.00
12 – Diaper Rite Birdseye Flats $17.50
24 – Thirsties Duo Hemp Prefolds $186.00
1 – Blueberry Cover $16.95
1 – Applecheeks Cover $19.00
1 – Thirsties Duo Wrap Cover $10.20
1 – EcoPosh Wool Cover $34.95
1 – Kissaluvs Wool Cover $39.00
1 – Aristocrat Wool Longies $48.71
18 bumGenius Freetime AIOs $359.82
A grand total of $1,033.21. Disposable diapering can cost anywhere from $1,500-$2,000, so I’m still saving money while having my dream diaper stash. The crazy thing? These diapers will diaper all of my kids and I’ll still be able to resell many of these items when done and recoup some money (cloth diapering just makes cents). I feel I should have a disclaimer — I’ve not tried Blueberry or Applecheeks covers, I’ve just heard so many great things about them that I had to include them. Also missing? The diaper I am absolutely dying to try right now is a Smart Bottoms Smart One 3.0. I just can’t justify any more diaper purchases when we have so many diapers that go unused each rotation (even though I really, really, really want to add just 5 more AIOs/AI2s to my stash!).
Window shopping has been fun, but it makes me want so many more diapers (and another squishy baby to put fluff on)! I was surprised that I had difficulty with the $200 budget even with exclusive flat and prefold diapering. While I was pretty much a prefold-only gal (with a few fitteds thrown in for good measure), I did have a lot of comforts along with those diapers, in the form of multiple wet bags, pail liners, premium cloth wipes, wipe warmer, and way more cute covers than we have ever needed (who knew?). The biggest comfort I factored into my $500 and unlimited budgets was having the luxury of more diapers and cutting down on the frequency of laundering. What I didn’t factor in was a laundry service, but that may just be a topic for a future post…
