Complete cloth diaper overview

I know I've written about this a lot, but I'm going to write about it again. I've gotten a few requests to do a detailed post about exactly what I have and exactly what I do. I think that's a good idea, because although I've done it before, a lot has changed. So, here I go...

As far as my 'stash' goes, I have a pretty big one. Truthfully, I don't think I need quite this many to even cloth diaper twins, but I've still spent under $400 on everything I've got, so comparatively to some CD addicts, I'm doing really good. I've got...

• 4 Thirsties Duo Wraps size 1 (diaper cover) - These fit from about 6lbs-15lbs. I sadly didn't use them much with the girls because I didn't have good prefolds when they were tiny. I discovered my love for them later, so I'm excited to use these when Mangel-baby #3 comes along. And NO, that wasn't an announcement...

• 4 Thirsties Duo Wrap size 2 (diaper cover)- I don't use these as much as I should. They're great covers, but I kinda like Flip covers better and since I wash every other day, I usually have Flips clean if I want to use covers. These are the ones I need to sell... Anyone want them? ;)

• 3 Flips one size covers- The reason I like these better than Thirsties, is because they're a one size diaper, whereas Thirsties are a two size system. That shouldn't matter because I already purchased them, but for some reason I'm weird and it does. I just have too many covers. If you were diapering one baby with only prefolds and covers, you'd need 2 dozen prefolds and maybe 5 covers. I have 7 covers, but they're definitely not the only diapers I use.

• A dozen regular size prefolds- I pair these with the covers. You want about 4 prefolds per cover, so if you do the math with this part of my stash, you can tell it's WAY off. If I got rid of the Thirsties covers it would be just right. 

• A dozen infant size prefolds- These are currently stuffed in my Sunbaby pocket diapers. When baby #3 comes, I'll use them with the smaller covers I have and will purchase some more, because a dozen ain't gonna cut it for a newborn. 

• 6 BumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers- I like these a lot. Sometimes I wish I had more, but overall I'm happy with this many. 

• 4 BumGenius 3.0 all-in-one size medium- They don't make these anymore, but cottonbabies still has some on clearance. I like them, but the inserts aren't that big and they take FOREVER to dry. Forever. It's annoying. 

• 4 BumGenius 3.0 all-in-one size large- The girls are currently fit in both the medium and large 3.0s, so we actually do use them a lot. But again, I hate how long they take to dry. 

• 2 gDiaper- I don't like them. My girls pee through them in a matter of minutes. I hear that they work great for little babies (so get the smaller sizes) but once they start eating solids, crawling around and sleeping through the night, you need something more hefty. They were gifted to us (hopefully she's not reading this....) and they're the last diaper I reach for. I'll admit, they're suuuper cute, but I can't get them to work. I should probably sell those too, but who would buy them after a review like that? 

• 2 dozen gCloth- These are the inserts that go with the Gdiapers. They're hemp and that's a super absorbent fabric, but these one....are lousy. I used to use them as doublers to make my pockets a little more absorbent, but truthfully, they hardly get used. 

• 10 Sunbaby pocket diapers- I've written about these a bunch, but basically they're good, cheap diapers. The inserts didn't work for us, so I stuff them with prefolds and we use them around the house. I've got an older version (3.0) and they are pretty small. The girls are already on the biggest rise and only have two snaps to go until they completely grow out of them. I know growth slows down drastically after the first year, so hopefully we get more life out of them. At $5 a diaper, I can't complain though!

• 1 Kawaii pocket diaper- It's been months since we've use this because one of the middle snaps doesn't work and it drives me nuts. One the girls are big enough for the biggest setting, we'll give it a try. It doesn't bug me too bad though because I got them for free for spending X amount of $ of Kelly's closet. 

• We've also got 5 Flips stay dry inserts, 3 organic cotton inserts and 2 thirsties hemp inserts. I love them all. They hold a ton! The last two are perfect for overnight. 

So, that's what we've got. It's enough to do laundry every other day and still have several diapers for the girls while we do laundry. Hopefully because we have a larger stash, we'll be able to use them with our other kids without replacing too many. My stash is also pretty gender neutral with the exception of 2 purple and 2 pink diapers. 

As for what we do, here's our most updated and permanent routine. (Ok, I shouldn't say permanent, because you never know when something could change, but I'm pretty sure we've got a solid routine.)

Once you figure out what works for you, cloth diapering is easy. I promise it is. All we do is take off the diaper, either dump or spray the poop in the toilet (if there is any poop and most of the time there isn't), take out the insert, put it in the waterproof wet bag, and put on a new diaper. It takes about 3 minutes if I have to spray, but only about a minute and a half if I don't. 

Once the bag is about half full (that happens over other day) I dump everything into the wash (remember, there's no poo on any of the diapers) and run a cold rinse. We just got a new washer and dryer after ours spewed oil on everything and the new washer has a singular rinse cycle. I LOVE it! So, I do a cold rinse, and with no soap and then do a regular hot wash (so hot wash.cold rinse) with 2 TBS of Tide powder. 

When the wash is finished, I usually take out the covers and pocket diapers, turn the all-in-one diapers inside out (it helps cut down on drying time, but they still take longer than everything else...) and dry everything (prefolds and inserts) on low or medium heat. I keep the covers on top of the dryer and they're dried by the time everything else is. The reason I don't put them in the dryer is that over time the PUL (waterproof lining on the cover or pocket diaper) wears out and since we want 4ish kids, I want them to last as long as possible. I've also laid everything out on our back porch to let them dry in the sun and they come out WHITE! The sun works great! 

After they're dry, I stuff the pockets with the inserts, tri-fold the prefolds, and stuff the covers with either a prefold or insert. That way, everything is ready to go when it's time to change a diaper. Folding literally takes 15 minutes and I usually do it during nap time or when everyone is in bed and I'm watching TV. 

That's it! It really is so much easier than I thought it would be and definitely easier than people told me it would be. I remember getting into a conversation at work about my plans to cloth diaper and boy did I get flack! Everyone thought I was nuts and they all made bets on how long I would last. Here it is a year later and we're still going strong. I don't have to soak them in bleach like everyone said. I don't have poop all over me like everyone said. My house doesn't stink (although, I'll admit, if that bag gets left open, it gets reeeeeeally smelly). I don't feel poor. It never was that we couldn't afford diapers, but I've always felt it was silly to throw something that expensive away, even if they are peed in.

I don't know why, but I really have become... passionate? about cloth diapering. It makes me feel accomplished (probably because nobody thought I could do it) and makes me feel less guilty for not financially contributing to our family. Yes, I know traditional gender roles would have me stay home, but I've always been one to pay for things on my own. You don't get paid for being a mom and sometimes that bothers me. By cloth diapering and saving anywhere from $50-$80 a month, I feel like I'm doing something that leaves us with a little more wiggle room and a little money to pay extra on our car payment, or to go out to eat every once and a while, or to buy a new outfit for one or all of us. I really does make me feel good. 

Sorry this post has no pictures. Maybe I'll update it with pictures later today, but for now, I just wanted to get the post up. I had someone email me a few weeks ago asking for a post like this and I don't want her to think I was ignoring it! So there you go! Hopefully I covered everything. It's been a trial and error experience, but  what I've settled on has been pretty simple I think.

Let me know if I missed anything!