Thursday, November 21, 2013

For the Love [of Cloth Diapers]

Pin from Kim at Dirty Diaper Laundry



I'm pretty sure it's no secret that I love cloth diapers. bumGenius has been--hands down-- my favorite brand since I started using cloth diapers in June of 2008. We have, as a cloth diapering family, come a long way since then. We were living in an apartment- washing our diapers by hand and hanging them to dry outside the bathroom since there wasn't enough room in the bathroom for the drying rack. We have since bought a house, happily wash diapers in our he washer, and have cloth diapered 3 kids with #4 currently in newborn cloth diapers.

Ask my husband: my cloth diapers are my favorite thing.

(Which I thoroughly blame him since cloth diapering was really his idea.)

Here he is doing the bumgenius can challenge in 2012:




There are so many reasons to love cloth diapers!
Here are just a few of my personal favorites:


They save MONEY: (Why not state the obvious first)
Here is Parker, our first cloth diapered kid-- proudly sporting his limited edition two toned bG3.0 and his mommy-made bG cape in summer 2009.
I could work up a whole cloth diaper vs paper diaper cost analysis, but why reinvent the wheel? If you simply google it, a whole plethora of data can be at your fingertips- like this one.

What it boils down to: Paper diapers cost roughly $.30/diaper. That's $.30 that's literally going to get tossed away. No, thank you.

Like I said before, we started cloth diapering in 2008, when our oldest was 7mon old. We made a chart to tally off each diaper we hand washed. They quickly "paid" for themselves. We eventually stopped keeping track, but I now wish we would have kept it going.



my well loved CP obge

Cloth diapers can even make money. Some people will pay nearly double for a hard to find diaper if it's new in package. If you have the self control (which I don't) to stash some for a rainy day- it could (literally) pay off.
ie: Chelsea Perry old style elementals!




They are EASY:


Gone are the days of folding flats and using diaper pins (unless of course you want to). Changing a cloth diaper is just as easy as changing a paper diaper- The only difference is you put the soiled one into a diaper pail instead of the garbage can. (Disclaimer: You will hear a newborn crying. Poor boy was camera shy ;) Actually, he was ready to eat and wasn't into getting his diaper changed for fun)

Shout out: Thank you to my 6 year old for taking the video, my 4 year old for hand picking which diapers I should use, and my 2 year old for taking the "dirty" one right to the diaper pail. I have great helpers!

I LOVE the one size system and use it as a huge selling point when talking to people about bumgenius diapers. I never have to worry about if I have the next size of paper diapers on hand. I never have to run to the store because the paper diaper is suddenly too small (read: constant poo blow outs). It is one diaper that will last from (nearly) birth to potty training! Score.
These are the different styles of bg that we use. Newborn for the baby. Elementals on our 2 year old during the day, and 4.0s at night only. He will be potty training soon (hopefully) and will be heading into the flip trainers (also made by Cotton Babies):


They are STYLISH:

Cloth diapers are more than just diapers. They are accessories. They can easily be matched to any outfit and totally eliminate the need for those under-dress-diaper-cover-things. There are few things in life cuter than a baby in a cute tshirt, bumGenius diaper, and baby leg warmers. Have you ever seen kids at the playground (or anywhere else) and their little paper diaper is sticking out of the back of their pants? Not cute. A cute cloth diaper peeking out? Adorable. See for yourself...
Check out these beauties. All bumGenius:

They have BLESSED my life:


Dramatic? Sure. But, the cloth diaper community is really just that- a community. I have had the chance to meet some amazing moms. I had the chance to meet Kim from Dirty Diaper Laundry when she lived in CNY. I was selling some diapers in 2009 on Craigslist and we met up for the exchange. She told me about her "little" blog. Look at it now. I'm so proud of her dedication. I also had the extreme privilege of taking photos at her homebirth in Oct 2010. She is a rockstar.


I run a buy/sell/trade bumGenius facebook page in my 'spare time'. We have grown to over 7600 members!! It takes a lot of time and effort but I really do love it. My moms (and the couple of dad members) are top notch. One mom on there even threw me a little online baby shower for Baby4 complete with games and bumGenius prizes for the online guests! I felt so loved and it was so much fun.

I have also started volunteering at my local cloth diaper store- Mother Earth Baby. I do her monthly newletter, run a monthly facebook contest, and help plan the Great Cloth Diaper Change each year. Ask Lisa: I'm bumGenius' #1 fan!




Cotton Babies, makers of my favorite bumGenius brand are doing a "Mommy Blogger" Contest & I entered this article! 



photo I took for the cover photo on the bG fb group

HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Please leave me a comment saying what was your favorite reason I posted- or even tell me why YOU love to cloth diaper, or would have loved to, or look forward to... be creative!

Thank you so much. 




Baby Beckett appreciates the chance to win some new diapers
(poor boy #4 gets all the hand me downs)!

He has been eyeing the new prints:
My 4 boys happily in their bumGenius cloth diapers!

87 comments:

Anonymous said...

This article rocks! These are all the reasons we cloth diaper! Also, if it wasn't for your facebook page I would be lost. Not only do you help sell diapers you answer any questions us first timers have. Thanks for all you do!

Anonymous said...

Holly you do such an awesome job with the boys. I tried cloth diapers 22 years ago with my 1st one and stopped because i didnt like them. Mind you at the time they did have these cutes ones. They were still using the big pins and i was always scared i was going to stick her. Keep up the good work your doing.

Anonymous said...

Holly, your blog and this article specifically, are great! What I love most is that your wonderful personality shines through. I recently joined the bumGenius b/s/t group that you run and instantly liked you. It was a hoot with everyone chatting while waiting for the new prints to be released way back in October. Congrats again on baby Beckett! ♥

Unknown said...

All of thise reasons is what made me become addicted ... errr... I mean fall In love with cloth! If I had to pick my favorite reason it would be the community.. tge decision to clotg diaper has opened a whole new world. I have met sime awesome Mommas... like Holly!!!

Anonymous said...

Awesome blog! Loved it and I love BGs too!

CraftyCrunchyMama said...

Great article and I love all the reasons you chose. My favorites are the money savings and the cuteness factor.

NeoPrincess said...

Wow, my husband is not on board but I started cloth diapering Jonathan, and since found some Facebook sites to help me with tough questions. Love the article!

Anonymous said...

What an awesome post!!! I love all of your reasons! I love the cuteness! You are so right! They are so cute under a little dress and sticking out the back of their pants! lol!
We did cloth diapers with our now 2 year old starting when she was 7mo old. You are making me so excited to start cloth with our newborn in May!!

Jessica Horning said...

this is a GREAT article. I love how passionate you are about cloth diapering. I swear you are going to switch me from pampers to cloth. They are soooo cute!!!! and I could really benefit from the savings. How much do you think it would cost to start??? Thank you for sharing this with us and I love baby screaming!!!! he is adorable!! your a great mommy and keep up the great work!!!

Anonymous said...

GREAT article!!!! If we decide to have any more children, I am going to think much more about cloth diapering. My favorite part of your article was about saving money. Love that you had a little tally :)

melissa lane said...

Loved this post!! You are so inspiring!

Unknown said...

Im jealous of your chart where you notched off every time you changed a diaper to prove when you paid one off! thats a great idea :) i love your page and your group!!!

EDH said...

We LOVE cloth diapering! It has been a wonderful experience and I can't wait to cd my first newborn! My DS was 8 mo when I started and I too started with BG. It is still a staple in my daycare stash. Works great for the inexperienced.
Elizabeth Hobbs

Anonymous said...

You make it look easy!

Anonymous said...

This is great!

Ashton said...

Love Cloth! Great post. We did it mostly for the savings, and now I just love how they look in them. But really get a lot of satisfaction when I look at my grocery bill and don't see $100 in diapers for my twins! They are potty training and I'm sad to be phasing out of the cloth diapers - but obviously also very excited. Stashing ours away for the next one, whenever he/she may come.

Alicia Randall said...

We LOOOOOOOVE cloth and unfortunately I wrote this eloquent and wonderful post from my phone that didn't post! Argh! But we love cloth and I'm so glad we don't have to worry about costs or running to the store in the middle of the night. Plus the prints and colors and the little bubble butt is all worth it!

rosemary said...

i love cloth diapering because i feel good about its environmental impact, its cute, and its much easier than i thought it would be.

Anne Miuccio said...

Great read! And we used cloth diapers for both of our boys for pretty much all of the reasons you wrote about. Back then we used Dydee Diaper Service out of Syracuse, NY. They also had cute diaper covers but nowhere near the selection there is now! Loved using cloth -- your blog brought back some neat memories.

Anonymous said...

Great article. I love BG too! Love how they fit and they are stylish!!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Awesome blog, Holly! What I love most is seeing all your boys in their CDs. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Holly, you have an awesome blog! I LOVE the pics of each one of the boys in their cloth diapers! What a nice memory for when they are all grown up! Love, Mom

Sandra said...

I'm totally new to cloth diapering but I will say that Bum Genious 4.0's are my favorite diapers in my stash! They never stain and are super easy for even my husband to use on our baby!

Karen said...

What a great article. I don't have children of my own, but when I do, I will be using cloth diapers. It just makes more sense that way. They're a lot cheaper, and way more cute than paper diapers.

Unknown said...

Amazing article Holly! Great read and adorable pictures!! :)

Courtney said...

Precious! I love the photos of your four boys all in cloth diapers.

Neeta said...

I like cloth diapering because of all the fun colors and prints. It makes an otherwise stinky task (dealing with poo) a little less icky. :-)

Unknown said...

You said it perfectly! Every reason you posted is why we cloth diaper. #4 will be the first one that's CD'd from birth, I started with my first around 18 months and he quickly potty trained by 21 months. Second was about 6 months+ and we half timed with it since we didn't have a big stash. with number 3, I started from about 3 or 4 months when he finally hit around 9 pounds since we didn't purchase NB diapers. I honestly was thinking it was a waste of money since you use them for such a short time.... Well, had I known we would be having surprise baby #4, (Our FIRST GIRL!!!) I would have purchased NB diapers sooner because they really Aren't a Waste!

Anonymous said...

yay cloth diapers!

nancy said...

I think if I had so of those cute ones, then I might evven double think cloth diapering!! Great comparison, you did an awful lot of research!!

daisy boyer said...

I get so excited when you talk about cloth diapers!! I tell everyone about my friend holly who had the coolest diapers ever!!! I totally wish I was better informed when my babies where in diapers because I'd be as big a fan as you holly!!! <3 love this post!!!!

Unknown said...

I LOVED cloth diapers and that was 20 years ago! Look how they have evolved and changed. lol They are beautiful, easier and much more convenient. Mother Earth baby makes it so easy. I recommend cloth to every one of the expectant moms I am referred to:)

Jessica said...

I love to cloth diaper 1) to SAVE $$$$ 2) because it helps the environment and 3) babies look so darn cute in them! Way better than disposable diapers. YUCK! With the birth of our second son it's nice to know that diapers are already here. The one's we used for his brother are still great after 2 1/2 years of usage!

Erika Sasso said...

I still wish my husband would let me cloth diaper! Such a great thing. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

i think cloth diapers are pretty awesome, especially when it helps save on trash! i wish there were super cool ones when i was a kid!

Jennifer said...

Considering I don't have a child of my own yet I didnt think much about reading this blog entry, but am glad I did. I'm not too big on the ick factor of cloth diapers, but when it comes down to it, either route has the ick factor. With cloth there's a benefit to baby, my pocket, and the environment. Thanks for pointing this out Holly!

Unknown said...

I love this! I so wish I had more info about cloth diapers when I had my girls...maybe it's a good enough excuse to have another one...or two...

Hannah said...

Thanks to Holly my future kids (and I am still single) will be in cloth diapers!

The Leiters said...

Very good reasons to cloth diaper. And your boys look adorable in them!

Anonymous said...

Cloth diapers are such a great idea for saving money! We used cloth diapers with my brother and sister and it was so easy. So many color choices also. Your babies are so handsome and stylish with there CDs!

Unknown said...

I initially started cloth diapering back with my first child in 2006... I was cheap and wanted to be environmentally friendly. Hubby would say it was because I'm a cheapskate. haha. I went old school and did mostly flats-- Indian and Chinese.. bought 2 covers and made the rest out of wool (knit/crochet).. now though, with 4 kids its a lot easier to just do pockets. I love that I can adjust the amount of absorbency I need. :)

Anonymous said...

I honestly never would have even considered cloth diapers until your blog enlightened me! I can see clearly now the poop is gone! :) Seriously though, nicely done!

Anonymous said...

Holly this is truly an amazing story! I love you sharing of how passionate you are about using cloth diapers, I only wish I had used them when my three were little. It would have saved me so much time, not to mention money.

Thank you so much for sharing your story of how much using cloth diapers has helped you!

Alicia A. Lynch

Anonymous said...

I love it, Holly! You make cloth diapers look glamorous and it makes me happy to see how much you care about the environment AND your family's finances by using cloth. You rock!! hug the boys for me. :) -Liz

Bethany said...

We started cloth diapering for the environmental and health reasons. But now, I am so very thankful for them because hubby in unemployed. The thought of having to come up with the money for disposables makes me so glad that we have this option. Great post Holly!

Angela said...

This is a great article. I am going onto baby #5 and am considering using cloth with this last baby. Your children look adorable!

Anonymous said...

Great post!! Thank you Holly! I love the way you show how much you can save by using cloth! Your chart is awesome! Sometimes it is hard to "see" how much you can save!

Thanks for getting me excited to do cloth again with our new one coming next spring!

-Suzanne

Carrie said...

I have to admit, I am not a total lover of cloth diapering because I am a super lazy mommy, but you may inspire me on the next baby. You have shown me that cloth is not as complicated as it might seem to a newbie. And I will admit that bumgenius seems a lot better than the nightmare cloth diapers that our parents talk about. And the colors are pretty awesome :D

Jodi and Joe said...

Cloth diapering rocks! I have successfully gotten 2 people to do it and they both love it! BG is my favorite too!!!! I have two girls and to date I've ONLY spent $488 on diapers ( i kept track..OCD here). My oldest is 20 months, my youngest is 2mo. So im now basically diapering for FREE! I love your blog, i just joined your Facebook page and your 4 boys are adorable!!!!! Keep on spreading the word!!! Love love love!

Claire said...

You were the first person I knew who was my age that got into cloth diapers, and I swear if I have a second they will be a cloth diaper baby! I'm always a little jealous of the babies who have the cute cloth diapers! I have to agree way more stylish!!!

Adele said...

I love that you say they're easy. I haven't ever cloth diapered because as a child, I watched my oldest sibling use cloth diapers and it wasn't easy!! It must be advances in cloth diapering that have made them easier. And I love Beckett's name.. I have a 5 year old Beckett and have always loved the name! =)

christina ina said...

You are right: cloth diapering saves money, is easy, is stylish, and is a blessing! It took some convincing to get my husband on board, but it really is so convenient not having to run out to buy disposable diapers anymore. With an easy wash, our diaper supply is immediately replenished. I will admit that washing seemed so intimidating when we started using cloth, worrying about whether we were laundering our dipes the right way. But, we quickly got the hang of it with experience and it's so simple! bG diapers are also my favorite, and I love all their beautiful colors to choose from. I feel good about using cloth for my son; doing better by the environment, putting the best on his bottom, and sharing about cloth with other moms. The cloth community is a blessing!

Barbara said...

You know I'll be cloth diapering when that time comes along :)

Anonymous said...

I look forward to using cloth diapers. Nothing to throw away. These look so easy to use.

Barbara Markham said...

These are all great reason for using cloth diapers and seeing your happy and healthy kids sporting these stylish diapers says it all they are better for their bums and they look great too You did a great job showing and explaining all of the best reasons.

BabyRuth said...

I love it all! $aving money, trips to the store and the environment.

Tracee said...

Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Easy Stylish and save money! I'm all about saving some green and the land fills!!!!!

Cassie said...

I love it all! Love that they're sooo easy!

Unknown said...

Wow hand washing the first time! I had quit using cloth after about 4 months because off all the troubles (granted I was using prefolds and snappis which would NOT work for my sqirmy man) but I want to do better for baby #2! But seeing other people succeed motivates me to make it work next time round, thanks Holly!

Diane said...

Cloth diapers are so much better for the environment. Good for you!

Julie Bunn said...

Great blog Holly! Expecting mom's should read your blog while making diapering decisions:)

emfungi said...

Thank you for introducing me to the wonderful world of cloth diapers, and for being so patient with my seemingly endless questions. You have done it with 4 now. I think you know what you're talking about.

Anonymous said...

I love the pictures of all 4 boys in BG :) I have to say I have become addicted to BG and now have built quite the stash of a 4.0 rainbow and almost 2 freetime rainbows!

Christina Vaccaro said...

Thank you for posting this. I have always debated on whether my husband and I would consider using clothes diapers when we have kids but you have totally convinced me. Since my husband is a cheapo he will totally be all for saving money. I am definitely showing him this.

Unknown said...

LOVE this article!! Great information and FUN to read! Love your pictures! Great Job Holly! :)

Peacefulgem said...

Great article! I am seriously considering going the cloth diaper route when my time to be a mommy comes around! :)

The Mrs. said...

So much information here, what an amazing resource you've become. Rock on, mama!

Anonymous said...

Great article! Hoping that we get a chance to cloth diaper in the future!

Anonymous said...

Great info thanks!!

Roxanne said...

Thanks for this great post!!! Makes me wish i had been more diligent about cloth with my kids that didn't "need" it!! The world needs more families like the Steffens!

Heather said...

Great article Holly! I didn't really have a shot at cloth diapers since my first children were the Triplets but I give you ALL the credit in the world for doing it ( props to your hubby too) You rock!

Sheila said...

Cute post, Holly! Great overview of cloth diapers, if you ask me!

Crystal Collier said...

LOL! Who doesn't want butterflies or neon polka dots covering their rear? ;)

Kim Rosas said...

You did a great job on summing up why cloth diapers rock! And your photos are so amazing! Thanks for always being an advocate in person and in real life!

Courtney said...

Great overview, Holly! Once my eldest gets potty training mostly figured out, we're moving the little one into her old cloth diapers.

Michele said...

Great article, Holly!! Love the picture of your boys all in their little diapers. >_<

Anonymous said...

As someone who is newly pregnant, this was really eye opening to me!

Anonymous said...

As someone who is newly pregnant, this was really eye opening to me!

Becky Lloyd said...

I loved reading this! You made so many great points. My favorites were the fact that they are really easy and they save a lot of money! I always loved seeing Alessa in them too...She is going on the toilet now! Bitter sweet!

Erin said...

Great post, super cute kids. And don't forget the environmental benefits of cloth!

elise said...

way to go you eco friendly mom :) love how cute the boys are in these "fancy pants" xo

Anonymous said...

Keeps rashes away! Throwaways dont get changed often enough. I hear people say their child uses 3 diapers a day but the child pees more than that so they are sitting in it all day..yuck!

CuriousTomato said...

Completely unrelated to cloth diapers. Although I love them. I went to college in Oswego and was there for the Valentines blizzard of '07. That was a fun one! Your boys are adorable!

TrueBliss said...

I enjoyed reading your post. You have a wonderful way of letting your personality shine through what you write. I hope you don't mind me following your little family :)

Holly Steffen said...

I found out I was pregnant for the first time during that storm. It was crazy!!! I have never seen that much sure in my life!

Thank you!

Holly Steffen said...

Thrash you so much!

I don't mind :)