Cloth Diapering on the Cheap: Rashes, and other odd things

There are always odd things that come up when cloth diapering. One is the dreaded diaper rash. Some people say that you are less likely to get diaper rash with cloth. I think that depends on why your kid is getting the rash. If you child is sensitive to the chemicals that are in paper diapers then yes, they will get less rashes with cloth. If however your child gets diaper rash from having pee against their skin (like my children) then you may get more from cloth diapers. The solution to this is fleece. You simply get some fleece (from the fabric store or an old blanket) and cut it in to diaper sized rectangles and place them in the diapers. This will keep your child's skin dry and rash free. You can wash the liners with the diapers and reuse them.

For wipes I use white wash cloths. We use white because our other wash cloths are not white so we can tell the difference. I went to Target and for $5 I got a pack of 12 wash cloths. I bought 3 of these packs. Then I just use a squirt bottle of water to get them wet and wipe the baby up with them. They can be washed with the diapers just the same way. Really why not use cloth wipes when you are cloth diapering anyways right?

Some babies are super heavy wetters at night. For them it would be a good idea to get some overnight diapers. Many different bands make them. They cost a bit more but you only need a few of them. I got 3 because I do my wash every 3 days. I got the Happy Hempy pocket diapers. Hemp is very absorbent and works well for overnights. They cost $18 but like I said, I only needed 3. There are other hemp diapers that will work too.

Cloth diapering is really not as hard as it sounds and the pay off money wise and environmentally are huge. So give it a try! If it does not work out you can sell your stash and make back at least some of your money. Some websites even have a "try it" package that will let you return all or part of the diapers and get your money back.

Going to far

Well I have done it. I have gone too far in my cheap crunchiness. I have converted the family to cloth wipes for the potty. I stay home all day with my son and I noticed that we go through a lot of toilet paper. Mainly this is my fault because being a pregnant women, I pee a lot. I started thinking about how much money and trees I could save if we did not go through so much toilet paper. Then I realized that I could just do what we have been doing with my son from the very beginning. He is cloth diapered so we have always used cloth wipes. It works very well for us because we just throw the wipes in to the hamper with the diapers when we use them. They just get washed all together, no big deal. Well why couldn't I do that for the grownups? So I went out to Target and bought 3 packs of 12 white wash cloths at $5 each (I did the same for my sons wipes). Then I bought a cute basket to put on the back of the toilet for 25 cents at Goodwill and away we went. We only use the wash cloths for pee and we use each one twice and then it goes in to the hamper with the cloth diapers to be washed. We use the cloth, then fold it in to its self and set it next to the basket so that the next person knows that it can only be used once before washing. We use white wash cloths because we don't use white for our body wash cloths so there is no mix up. I have to say it has worked out really well for us. My husband was skeptical at first and my mom just laughed at me but I was right. We have cut down our toilet paper use by 70% and I still do the same amount of laundry as before. It is just a bigger load now but still not a full load. So yes I have gone to far but it still saved our family some money!