any cd'ing on a budget?

nillian10

i'm starting my stash for my toddler (14 months old), and hoping to start one for the LO on the way. i won't get into my monthly spending (bills, food, etc.), but i'll just say we are on a budget...between bills & saving. how did you coordinate building your stash while on a budget? so far i've only bought a couple fitteds. but i want to start ASAP with my toddler. but also don't want to be completely broke while building up my stash. any tips/help would be appreciated! TIA

J+MS

I would think the best way is to do a trial so that you know which types/brands of diapers work for your kids, that way you aren't wasting money on diapers you won't use.

I also so go basic and use pre-folds and covers your LO otw, thats the cheapest option

circa1978

My sister and her husband cloth diapered on an extreme budget - she did prefolds and covers alone for the first year, then bought some BG 3.0 seconds and some used. 

istalkgeeks

Covers and prefolds are really the cheapest way to go, if that is what you are going for. You can get two dozen Cotton Babies for $40 or two dozen Little Lions seconds for $30ish. GMD, which are usually recommended more often, will cost you more. I have been happy with both my Cotton Babies and Little Lions prefolds though.

Covers can be found used. Or you can just buy two to get started and expect to wash them daily. Also, I have gotten good deals on covers on Amazon with the Amazon diaper codes. 

Also, Kawaii are inexpensive and decently made pockets. Right now they have a sale for 12 diapers for $72 for both their Heavy Duty OS and Fun Prints.  

jesidz

We will be as well, that said we are stashing for THREE in diapers so its still a substantial amount of money but we are diapering 3 kids out of it.

 We have a 10 month old dd and twins on the way. This is what we are doing....

For Stella right now (and the twins when they size up)

18 regular cotton prefolds-on clearance at our local CD shop

24 better fit prefolds

11 Thirsties Duo Wraps Size 2's

1 Bummis Super Brite Cover (liked both of these covers bc they have double leg gussets)

Regular Tide for washing

Diaper Sprayer

1 Large Wet Bag

2 Snappis

Grandma Els CD cream

8 Thirsties Duo Fitteds for Overnight

Small and Large Hemp inserts for overnight as needed

1 Wool Cover for Stella right now (bought used from pixy)

flushable liners (got free on Amazon with the $10 gift card in the mags)

What the Twins will wear when they are tiny

48 Infant Sized Better Fit Prefolds

12-14 Covers (Thirsties, RaR, Bummis, EconoBums)

4 Snappis

Nighttime-Thirsties Duo Fitteds with the small hemp inserts from above

Fleece Soakers (made by me)

1 Wool cover each (baby girl will get Stellas and baby boy I will wait and stalk for a good used one)

For going out and about

I got 10 BG 3.0's for $10 TOTAL that I am repairing aplix on...

I also got 5 GDiapers for free, just paid shipping

 

Covers and prefolds are cheap and easy to wash and I think way easier to deal with and troubleshoot than expensive pockets or OS diapers.

 

MallratsMom

When I first started my DH was skeptical that I would stick with it so no WAY I could I spend a ton. I found used Fuzzi Bunz on craigslist and bought 12 along with some flushable liners. I paid $120 for the diapers. That is all I started with when Ds1 was 6 mo old. We rocked that for quite some time. I added a few new BG here and there. I didn't crazy with the buying until I was pg with DD and then I lost all control with diapers

bethandjoe09

The cheapest option is generally prefolds and covers.  I don't know how those would work with a toddler, but if you needed more absorbency you could also get some doublers - hemp or fleece-lined hemp (put the fleece side towards the skin to provide a stay-dry feel) are popular.  Fitteds have some nice features, but they're not the cheapest way to go.

Dr.Loretta

Prefolds and covers, and buy good condition used when you can. Almost all of our stash is used.

tokenhoser

Definitely look on CL/kijiji and consider buying used. Saves on shipping, lets you try things out and see them in person before buying.

I'm doing some prefolds and covers for our NB, but for a toddler I think I'd lean toward the Kawaii pockets. If they're used to disposables, they might not like the wet feeling of a prefold.

I've also bought some great lots off diaperswappers.com . It's a bit of a confusing site at first, but once you get in they have lots of things for sale and it's organized by diaper type.

nillian10

lrachelle80:

Econobums aren't bad and are buy one get one free:

https://diaperjunction.com/econobum-one-size-diaper.html

4 or so of those with an extra pack of prefolds would be under $50.  They aren't the BEST covers, but they're ok in a pinch.  That deal is disappearing quickly though, so do it soon if you're going to! It was on three sitees and now it's only on that one.

You could do something like that to start just getting buy, and then slowly build your stash of "high quality" diapers like GM or TT fitteds buy buying one a paycheck, etc. 

THANK YOU. do you recommend these AFFF inserts that i see on here all the time? i saw the link below this post about preordering. so i'd like to do that too if you recommend. DS is a heavy wetter at night. not so much during day.

flyer23

Prefolds will definitely be the cheapest way to go. I started at 15 months with DD, and to address some of the concerns raised, I had no problems with absorbency (and she was a HEAVY wetter -- I did have to change more frequently, though) and she wasn't bothered by the wet feeling after being in disposables for her first year plus.

I would throw in a couple of more absorbent diapers for naps/nighttime/outings... the Kawaii's that others have mentioned are a GREAT option, because they are cheap and also big for your toddler (they still fit DD now, at 3.5 years old), but they'll also fit your LO on the way pretty quickly, by maybe 2-3 months of age. Fitteds work, too, and if you already have the covers from using prefolds, the cost of fitteds isn't too bad.

For covers, if you sew at all, wool covers are very easy to make out of old sweaters. You might have some in your closet that you could repurpose, or pick some up for a few bucks at a thrift store.

Definitely look to buy used, and wait for great deals. You don't HAVE to do cloth full-time from day 1... you could always start with some prefolds/covers, and have some disposables on hand for naps/nights/outings or when you run out of prefolds. Then, you can slowly build up your stash more and more until you have enough to do cloth full-time.

anniebet619

I have an extreme budget for cding.  I did the bogo for econobum just to try em out and I think they work great.  They've only leaked once and that was at daycare so they may have not been put on right.  Compare that to at least a blowout a day in every type of disposable I've tried and the econobums seem like the best diaper in the world.  Cotton babies indian prefolds are cheap, soft and work well.  I actually prefer the birdseye flats but i'm in the minority on that.  It's mostly because they dry in minutes and I don't mind prefolding them- I just do them all at once on laundry day and they're ready to go.  DH prefers the PFs though.  I plan on getting a few things that are a bit pricier gradually.  But this is working great for us at a very low initial investment.

searcy7

I have two Kawii that I bought new on ebay for a total of $14 after shipping. and 11 diapers that I bought used these range from fitteds to AIO/AI2 and that was a total of $55 and we are making our own which is not as hard as I first thought. My toddler doesn't like the prefolds.

WaterLiIy

Buy used and buy on sale.

I have a large stash, and have never spent more than $12 on a diaper.
Check Dapa Diapers, Re-diaper and Spot's Corner (as well as the swap spot board here on TB). Diaper Pin is also a great place to find sales and deals.
https://www.diaperpin.com/forum09/announcements.asp

  

Temp206787500007404

We started when DD was close to your LO's age.  We had prefolds and some Econobum covers I bought on clearance/sale from Cotton Babies.  You can find them on Craigslist and Ebay too pretty cheaply.  Those are definitely the cheapest way to go.  A friend has given us a few BG's and some Best Bottom Diapers.  We ended up buying more Best Bottom Diapers and use them almost exclusively.  They're great, because you just need a few shells (they're one size and from what I read get really REALLY small...like 6-7 lbs) and then you can buy the inserts at each size, instead of making a big one time investment.  We have 8 shells, 20 regular inserts and 6 overnight inserts and I could do laundry every 3-4 days if I had to (but I don't wait that long usually) without dipping into the prefolds or BG's.

We've also not had a single leak with BBD's.  The leg gussets and back elastic are super snug.  I will say that the aplix is very very stiff and when our DD sits, the edge of it rubs her leg and leaves a red mark.  The skin is toughening up and it doesn't bother her one bit (I will touch it just to see if it's tender and she doesn't even blink...I'm putting CJ's BUTTer on it), but it's an issue I've heard other mamas complain about too.  The aplix is super duper strong too.  I have considered trading some of my shells out for snaps, but I like the custom fit you get with aplix.

We're also on a budget and this has been very cost effective for us.  The other biggie is just avoiding the impulse to buy the cute stuff...I want to do fitteds really bad, but I know it would not be cost effective for us, which is our primary reason for CD'ing.