a sign I've lost my mind

I've decided to go with (trying my best to use) cloth diapers.

You're right, I totally don't realize what I'm getting myself into... but I at least want to try.

At first it was the environmental appeal that really sparked my interest. I very much don't consider myself a tree hugger environmentalist (if I did I coulnd't get as much joy of collecting frequent flyer miles as I do) but I do whatever I can whenever I can to reduce our 'carbon footprint'. So that's what started this whole venture, and as such the gDiaper system was the one I was most interested in. A lovely marriage between disposable (biodegradable, compostable, or flushable) liners and reusable covers. Beautiful! The cost? Not so beautiful! A friend's comment in this post, where I included a starter pack in my 'day-dream list' of items, encouraged me to really cost things out and compare against disposable diapers.

YIKES!

She was right, if I were to use only gDiapers (purchased new) and always use disposable liners, over 2.5 years it would cost me approx twice as much as using disposable diapers. And that's just absurd. I calculated that if I could cut down on costs by purchasing second-hand covers and used reusable liners while at home (instead of the disposable ones), the cost would be the equivalent to disposables.

Phew, now that's better!

But in my research and number crunching, I realized that if I was willing to wash the liners and covers, why wouldn't I consider different kinds of cloth diapering systems that are much more economical???

And if you know me, you'd know that I love being economical... I find it quite joy-inducing, really. And most of all, I. love. Bargains.

So I headed over to Kijiji to see what the lovely people of Montreal had to offer and cross referenced the options available against product reviews, feasibility, and cost calculations.

All I can say, is that there's a tonne of options out there! From cheap and simple to cute and complex, there are many different ways to wrap your baby's bottom in cloth.

Tom encouraged me to go for it. Fully supported, I dug deeper and surfaced with a few options that could really work for us. I began my bargaining with the sellers, and now we are the proud(!?!) owners of a previously used lot of (cute!!) cloth diapers to fit a child 4 months to 3 years, plus 5 unused small-sized (8-18lbs) gPants for the gDiaper system. All for a great price.

Although I still don't own any great options for newborns and am lacking a few small covers for the first few months (thus still wishing for the gBaby bundle from gDiapers), I think this approach is a great combination; we will be eased from 'disposables' (biodegradable, flushable or compostable liners plus reusable cover ~ minimal yuck) to cloth (large quantity of yuck, at times) over the first few months and own a range of styles/types to figure out which system does work for us. If we really do love the gDiaper system that much more, then I'll sell the others and purchase larger sizes of the gPants as needed (and as the bargains arise) and we'd come out even (finance wise) with disposables. However, if the cloth does work for us, then we just saved a tonne of money on diapers!!

But on the other hand, if we decide that cloth diapering really isn't for us, then we'll sell everything and just go to disposables, recouping most of our money invested in these bargain lots and knowing that we at least tried.