When Jarred and I first found out we were pregnant, we decided to keep things extremely simple and minimalistic. We chose this path for several reasons:
1. We want to be as cost effective as possible. We'd like to save money for Baby Murphy's college fund and we can best do this if we actively keep our spending to the necessities.
2. We live on an RV. Read - We have very little space to work with. We really enjoy living on the RV, but babies do have lots of things they need (clothes, diapers, a place to sleep, spit-up cloths galore!, etc.). We are not willing to have baby stuff crammed into every possible place for the simple fact that you cannot eat a onesie, nor can you take a shower with a box of diapers.
3. We really want to raise our children with an attitude of appreciation for what they have and an understanding that we don't NEED everything we WANT. Of course our kids will not grow up with out a few toys and doing some fun, cost enduced, activities, but I want them to understand that you can have just as much fun going to a park, playing with tupperware, and using your imagination.
Now, with all that being said... Jarred and I agreed upon disposable diapers when we discussed the matter. We haven't go a washer/dryer on board and it wouldn't be cost efficient to go to our laundromat every other day... We can buy the diapers we need, when we need them; we won't have to live with infant waste (our RV park dumptser is just across the alley), and they are much less time consuming for those who are unfamiliar or unpracticed with diaper changes.
However, we spent some time with friends, Katie and Ryan, on Sunday evening. They have a 11-week old daughter, Julie, who they cloth diaper during the day and use disposables on at night. I must admit that the amount of products on the market today regarding cloth had me somewhat dazed and confused, so I steered clear as much as possible.
After Katie helped me to understand the differences between pre-folds and flat folds, diaper covers and rubber pants, my idea wheels got to turning! The concept of cloth diapering was really appealing to me! Spend about $500 to get your stash of different sized pre-folds and diaper covers (for birth thru potty training), cloth wipes and a few connectors and you are set for this child and the future children as well! Brilliant! Especially since, on average, disposables can cost you upwards of $2000 per child...
Major drawback... you really can't leave soiled diapers for longer than 48 hours... and we don't need the extra expense of driving back and forth to the laundromat, cost of the washers/dryers (which for a load of diapers would be nearly $5.00 each time) and the hassle of me dealing with that everyday. They say new mothers are very tired and I am going to plan for that scenario...
But the subject still intrigued me, so I continued with my research. And wouldn't you know that I came across ways to handwash cloth diapers in a way that would ensure cleanliness! (It goes even farther than that!) I then came across hand-cranked mini washers that use pressure to force soil and filth from clothes (or diapers!) that fits on your counter top! Perfect for RVs! They also make these "dryers" that are actually "spinners" which can spin almost all the water out of fabrics, allowing them to air-dry in only a couple of hours!
My head is still cranking away at the doors this opens up! Jarred is still against anything but the ease of disposables... I can understand, they're fool proof and have the ability to contain blowouts a little better if you can't change the baby right away... But Jarred is also a cost-savy man.
We still have about 4.5 months until Baby Murphy makes his/her appearance and who knows, I may be able to convince him that cloth during the day, disposables at night are the way to go!
Wish me luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment