Cloth Diapers?!

So it's about time that I share with all of you what we got Walter for his very first Christmas...

Cloth Diapers!

 I didn't want to write this until I was sure about how I felt about them, and the verdict is: I LOVE THEM. Levi's also totally on board for them (especially when I told him how much we could save, and since he doesn't have to to the laundry for them, haha). But they have seriously been awesome.

When I had Walter I never entertained the notion of using cloth diapers on him. What I knew about them was that they were gross, stinky, and way too pioneer for me. So when my sister, Krista, and my mom told me about one of Krista's friends, Shawntae, who cloth diapers her babies, I decided to read her blog post about it and see. Here's her post if you want to read it alittlekingandiblog. Her blog is so cute. 

Anyways, that really opened my eyes to how they aren't as ancient as I had thought, so I started doing my own research into them. The site I found that really helped me with all the lingo was: Here. 

I didn't just want to believe everything I found on the web, since everyone advertises to their advantage, so I did my own math and here's what I found:

• Most kids have completed their potty training around 3 years old. 
• The average cost of diapers (from newborn to toddler) are cheapest at Costco at $0.21 a diaper.
• You need to change a baby's diaper around 7 times a day (newborns are closer to 10 a day and toddlers are closer to 5 or 6 a day)
• 7 diapers a day x 365 days in a year = 2555 diapers a year x 3 years = 7665 diapers
• 7665 diapers x $0.21 = $1609. And that is NOT including wipes (add on a few more $100).

Now with cloth diapers they recommend getting a couple dozen so that you don't have to do laundry as often. I didn't mind the idea of doing laundry a lot (since I do it all the time anyways), and I also didn't like the idea of wet diapers sitting at the bottom of a bucket for even a couple of days getting all moldy and stinky...eww. So I settled on only getting 12 (enough that while half are getting cleaned and drying, the other half are being used). 

• I settled on getting a dozen Fuzzy bunz's one size diapers from Amazon. They cost me $200 for a dozen.

• I got Rockin' Green diaper detergent for about $13 (I have found that this stuff will last me about 2 months... and I even wash Walter's clothing with it)

• With detergent and hanging-to-dry it costs me about $.35. I do one diaper load a day. Over 3 years it will cost me $383.25 

• I also bought oso cozy diaper liners for when Wally poops solids. You just flush the liner away and it minimizes, if not eliminates, the need to rinse out the diaper in the toilet. They cost me $8 each. If I don't use them until he's 6 months (when I will introduce other food into his diet), then they will cost me a total of $432. Now keep in mind that if I wanted to save even more, I could just do without and buy a $45 toilet sprayer.

• Now add up all that I will spend over three years (200+383.25+432) and you get $1015.25!

For me to use cloth diapers, I will save $593.75. Almost $600! Now that's not the $1500-2000 that the internet says, but it's still a substantial amount of money. I can also reuse these diapers for my next kids. Keep in mind, that I could do away with the liners and save $400 (and in all actuality, I won't need to use one with every diaper anyways, but I wanted to aim high). And that's closer to $1000 in savings.

THE BOTTOM LINE

So here are my reasons for why I chose to cloth diaper:

1. I can save close to $1000 over all and even more when I have more kids (reusing the diapers).

2. They are SO cute! And not nearly as bulky as they used to be.

3. They seem a whole lot more comfortable than disposables.

4. Disposables are full of so many toxins! Will they cause my baby cancer? Most likely not. But should I do all I can as a mother to help minimize his risk and do all I can to keep things I know have toxins away from his body? YES.

5. My baby can spend more time in these diapers than he could in disposables, and he doesn't get diaper rash hardly at all (and diaper rash cream is NOT cheap)...This is a picture of Walter happy, because he is diaper rash free...and he's playing with his best friend, Francis.

6. I don't have to take out one of these every other day (yes, Walter was filling the trash every other day with his diapers). Even though newborn diapers don't smell that bad, accumulated together...they start to stink. Also, once he starts to eat solids his diapers will stink a whole lot more. Many people who live in my complex store their diapers on their porches until night when they collect them all and walk them all the way to the dumpster. Diapers on the porch? Not my style.

7. We are helping to minimize our contribution to landfills.

8. The laundry takes me a total of maybe 5 minutes to do a day (of actual "me" work, not the machine cycle). Hardly anything. I just do a cold rinse and then a hot wash with detergent. I then hang them to dry.

9.  He doesn't leak as much as he did when he wore disposables. We've had hardly as many blowouts.

10.  They soothe my conscience, and most importantly, Walter LOVES them!

My Number One Turned 21

Since yesterday was my number one's 21st birthday, I wanted to dedicate this post to how much I like him.

I seriously have such an awesome husband and I feel so lucky to be his wife.

Here are just a few things about him that I love:

~He's so good for me. I can be a little overly dramatic at times, and he somehow knows just how to react and handle it.

~He makes me better. I feel bad when people only see how I'm good for him. I don't think they're aware of how much Levi has helped me to become a better person, myself. 

~He'll coordinate his clothing to mine (or Walter's).

~Levi is a person of substance. Instead of just agreeing with everything I say, he has me explain WHY I believe/think/want what I believe/think/want. I have to critically think, which is something I love. Levi's the kind of person who doesn't just do things because others do them, he does things because HE wants to, and he helps me to become more like that.

~I love how excited he gets about things (this is something I've noticed with all of the Johnson kids). He has so many great ideas and gets so excited talking about them. I love his passion.

~He's perfectly fine bumming around at home with me. I love nothing days, so I'm really REALLY happy I married someone who loves them, too.

~He has a great work ethic. I know I'm married to a man that will never be "out of work." Even if he had to get a job at McDonald's, I know my husband would do whatever was necessary to make sure we had an income.Which leads me to...

 ~My husband works two jobs so that I can stay at home with our baby. I can't even begin to say how grateful I am to him for that. I plan on getting a little job soon so that he maybe doesn't have to work as much, but the fact that he's completely willing means so much to me.

~My parents said that one of the best things for marriage is laughter, and I married a man who makes me laugh every single day. He's fun and he makes me happy.

~He comes from an awesome family and gets along really well with my family. 

~He's patient and understanding with me.

~He hates being in pictures, and yet sometimes he'll be nice and let me take one of him.

~He's willing to do anything for me.

~I am ridiculously attracted to him. He's freaking hott.

~He's the best 21 year old dad I have ever met. 

There are countless other things about this man I married that I love. All I can say is how grateful I am that he asked me to marry him. He's the best thing that's ever happened to me.

Happy birthday, love!