Cloth Diapering Tryout - Day 1

I have spent the last few weeks researching all things related to cloth-diapering. I asked friends for their input and found out that those who choose cloth diapering, love it. In fact, some are borderline fanatic about how awesome they think cloth is.

There are several reasons these folks choose cloth diapers for their little one:
-environmentally friendly
-more natural
-less expensive

I really like all of these reasons, but I have been most intrigued by the economical advantages that cloth diapering offers. I was surprised to find out that most of my friends pay off their initial investment within 4-8 months. I say "investment" because deciding to cloth diaper does take quite a bit of funds up front. Most people spend at least $300-$400 and some much, much, more. Despite the high "start-up" cost, within the first 8 months, they "break even" in terms of what it would have cost them to buy disposable diapers. After that break even point, it's just money in their pocket. When I consider the monthly cost of diapers, we do spend about $50 a month. That's a lot of money over the last three and a half years.

Now, with #3 on the way, I am seriously considering converting to cloth. How seriously? Well, I purchased a small stash of bumgenius diapers for $5 each to use on Chandler during the weekends. He will still continue to wear disposable diapers at day care, but I'll get a chance to see if cloth will really work for our family before we make an investment bigger than $50.

Today is our first day - wish me luck!