And the winner is...

June 10th, 2010

ME!

I just found out I won some Rockin' Green diaper detergent. In April. And I apparently didn't check that email address so my winnings went to someone else. (In retrospect, I don't know why I gave out THAT address.)

So remember to check your email address that you gave out if you enter a contest. The detergent I'd won (Rockin Green) would have been fabulous to have in April. Instead, I ordered detergent from an online vendor and that still hasn't come. (I've now filed a claim with my credit card for that, but there was a month+ of detergent headaches in the meantime before I finally ordered from someone else.) I have the detergent now so I'm not kicking myself too much. Just would have been perfect timing back then. Ah well.

Anyway, my recommendation is to check whatever email address you give out. Most people only allow 48 hours for a response before passing along the prize.

Free Disposable Diapers

June 5th, 2010

For the sake of completeness, I should also note how to get disposables free. Free samples. Most companies offer freebies but they vary in size availability and style so it takes a little looking. A half-dozen free disposables is far less useful than a single free cloth diaper though, so I almost thought it isn't worth mentioning. However, the different disposables are cut very differently and quality varies a lot so I highly recommend getting free samples as much as possible. Pregnant? Start now. I've gotten free huggies newborn and size 1 samples, free pampers cruisers, huggies pure and natural (and they sent me 3!) and free Easy Ups.
A couple of pampers:
http://www.pampers.com/en_US/potty-kit-request
https://www.pgeverydaysolutions.com/pgeds/pampers/brandsampler-login.jsp?utm_source=ggl&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=P&G+Cruisers+Sampling&utm_term=free+pampers+sample

I couldn't find any valid now, but I walmart often has huggies samples like this:
http://instoresnow.walmart.com/enhancedrendercontent_ektid76540.aspx

7th gen has run out but will probably have more in the future:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/diaper-samples

Signing up with the companies might also work. We get a lot of high value coupons in the mail.

While I'm mentioning signing up, I'll also note that this is good for other baby items. I signed up with Gerber and Beechnut and they both sent me coupons for free food. Sure, I get emails sent to an address I rarely check (but they aren't even very obnoxious) but free useful stuff is great. Plus, we learned we didn't like beech-nut so we won't spend any money on them. :) (We really like Earth's Best: organic, lots of variety in one jar, and tasty.)

Our Current Stash

June 5th, 2010

We've been cloth diapering for a little over 3 months now. I think it's time to take stock of what we have and what we've spent. We now have

• 2 sposoeasy all-in-one diapers
• 1 grobaby all-in-two diaper system(shell, liner, doubler)
• 1 bumGenius pocket diaper
• 13 bumGenius All-in-ones
• 1 premie prefold
• 2 infant prefolds
• 1 flip diaper system with organic insert
• 1 fleece diaper cover
• 5 hemp inserts
• 2 pairs of plastic pants
• some prefolds we already had (not included in cost analysis)

Thanks to some great sales, some errors on the seller's part (who sent me free stuff to make up for it), and the fabulous "Free All-in-one with purchase of $10+" coupon (x7), we've paid about $204 but it would cost over $350 to replace. In other words, 9 of our 18+ diapers were free.

Overall, we've spent closer to $250 total since the trial cost ~$20 and detergent has cost ~$15, plus I'm still disputing the charge of the other detergent (another $14) but this isn't too bad. Now, during this time, we've still used an entire pack of disposables (~$40) but we used to spend this amount per month, so we've saved $80... that still means I'm out about $175 for the last 3 month's experiment. If my current stash of diapers could be resold for about half of what I originally paid, then I guess this is about right. It's probably not that much, but we'll keep using them so that'll close this gap.

I've also spent an additional $28.33 on undies and training pants but because we have been selected as an underwear tester for an expensive wool pair, it's over $45 worth total.



More details:

• $10 fee + $10.70 return shipping for the trial set
• $38.95 (worth $38.95) 2 sposoeasy (1 sm green with aplix, 1 med white with snaps)
• $23 ($23) gro baby in vanilla from amazon
• $13.99 ($14.46) bg pocket, pink from ebay (original cost is $17.95 - $3.49 for the insert I didn't get, no adjustment was made for this being used, though it looks new)
• $15.95 (worth $31.90) 1 M (lt pink), 1 L (White) BG AIO from Cotton Babies -- used free BG AIO coupon from magazine from a friend
• $0 (51.85) Flip single pack with organic insert, 2 BG AIOs from Mom's Milk Boutique-- originally $25.60 (paid $5.95 for a mag to get coupon for free BG AIO) but MMB forgot to mail it so they refunded my money and didn't have my AIO in stock so they sent me another and then sent me the one I'd ordered later (talk about customer service!)
• $21.95 ($48.85) 2 med BG AIOS (DK BLUE, LT GREEN), wet bag from Suburban Tree Hugger -- used free BG AIO coupon from STH - free wet bag when she accidentally canceled my order
• $23.25 ($36.95) 1 hemp insert, 1 premie prefold, 2 BG AIOs M (pink/dk blue) from Mom's Milk Boutique - paid for mag from MMB and used free BG AIO coupon
• $3.90 2 infant chinese prefolds from Sew Crafty Baby (part of a larger order for a friend)
• $14.41 ($14.95) Swaddlebees Fleece Diaper Cover (on sale)
• $13.65 detergent -- in dispute
• $15 detergent
• $12 ($27.95) 4 hemp inserts, 1 BG AIO (dk pink)-- used free BG AIO coupon, free from MMB as a giveaway on facebook
• $15.95 ($31.90) 2 L (Blue/Green) BG AIOs from Cotton Babies -- used free BG AIO coupon grom magazine from a friend
• $18.32 ($34.27) 2 L (dk Pink) BG AIOs (en route from RG Natural Babies) -- used free BG AIO coupon that RGNB supplied
• $3 plastic pants
  
  Actually paid: 249.65 = 204.65 + 15 detergent + 21 trial (+ 13.65 in dispute)
  Actually "worth": 376.93 = 361.93 + ""
  
  
  ---
  $1.73 ($16.68) Wool underwear (en route)
  $5.61 ($6.11) WhyMommy small underwear
  $6.99 ($6.99) 3 gerber training pants 18 months
  $6 ($6.99) 3 gerber training pants 2T
  $8 ($8.99) 7 pack Hanes Panty (elmo)
  cost: $28.33 (replacement cost: $45.76)

Product Tester

June 4th, 2010

I forgot to mention that another way to get free stuff is to be a tester. Because there are lots of designs for cloth diapers and those making them usually only have access to a few kids to try them on, there is sometimes a request for others to try out a product.

We were just selected as an underwear tester!

I'm ridiculously excited about this. I'd been eying these undies for a while. They're wool. Wool is supposed to be awesome but it's so expensive, I haven't tried it at all. From what I've read, I really like this company too. The reason they're redesigning their wool undies is to add a colorful strip around the top which will help use up some of their remnants from other products. They want to reduce waste as much as possible. I'm impressed. I really want to love their products so I hope these undies will be great.

Cloth Diapering and the Flu

June 3rd, 2010

We are just getting over a terrible case of stomach flu so it seems like a good time to write about diapering during illnesses. Is this something you've considered? It's not something I'd thought of.

In our case, the illness came on fairly quickly. My daughter and husband got it too, but I went from mild cold symptoms to intense illness in a matter of minutes. Fortunately, it was a Saturday and my husband was home and could immediately take over care of our 1 year old. For me, it was horrible. Fever, vomiting, headache, incredible muscle aches... and then I realized he put our last clean diaper on our daughter.

The LAST thing I wanted to worry about when I was hovering over the toilet was doing diaper laundry.

Now, I've heard from the cloth diaper crowd that cloth is better because there will never be any midnight trips to the grocery store to buy diapers when you realize you're out. I'm sure cloth advocates would sympathize with my lack of desire to do laundry but remind me that it's better than having to go to the store in my state.

But very few 'sposie users get diapers at the grocery store. Many will order online through a site like Amazon.com or Diapers.com who offer free shipping and will also send reminders or set up a regular delivery schedule. I personally like diapers.com for their unbelievably fast delivery. I once ordered at 10pm and had my kid in those diapers by noon the next day.

Anyway, the other big difference is that "nearly out" is very different for cloth and disposable users. I'd go into panic mode and consider us "nearly out" when we had 50-75 disposable diapers left. This is roughly a week. With cloth, I only have 20 diapers total so I don't do diaper laundry until I'm down the the last 4-5. I'm always within 48 hours of running out of diapers. If I got sick when we were suddenly "nearly out" of disposables, I'd just need to pop onto the computer and easily reorder. Much easier than doing laundry.

Of course, I ran into a snag this time. I was out of cloth completely and we were low on disposables. I went to order more disposables and diapers.com is out of pampers swaddlers size 3. Unusual, definitely, but a risk from ordering from somewhere. This would be a time to order from somewhere else, choose a different brand/style, or perhaps send someone make that trip to the grocery store.

In our case, I just did laundry. It was a task I really didn't want to do but the diapers had already been sitting around for days stinking up the entire apartment. (We had no poopy diapers in this mix, fortunately.) I was too congested to smell it but my husband assures me this smell was unreal. The diapers need to be washed every 2-3 days or the ammonia build up will require additional washing. Therefore, even if we had plenty of disposables to switch to, the diapers would still need to be washed for their sake.

Now, if we'd been using a diaper service, my illness would not have made a difference. The diapers would have come and gone just like normal.

Just another thing to consider in deciding cloth vs disposable.

Cloth Diaper Industry

June 3rd, 2010

The cloth diaper industry is very different from the disposable diaper industry.

Disposables are made by a handful of major companies and sold in large mainstream stores.

Cloth diapers are made by everyone and their mother. Literally. There are hundreds of different brands/styles. There are a few who have risen to the top as major name brands but there are many more that are designed and sewn by work-at-home-moms that few people have heard of.

Cloth diapers aren't generally available in mainstream stores. A couple might be there. A few pop up in boutiques. Most are sold largely online.

This means that advertising is an issue for all these moms sewing diapers. Which brings me to my next post: How to get free diapers.

How to Get Free Diapers

June 3rd, 2010

Two words:
#clothdiaper #giveaway

Go to Twitter right now and type it in. You'll see a half-dozen or so opportunities for free diapers or accessories going on right now.

Here's the deal as far as I understand it. There are many brands of cloth diapers and they aren't sold in mainstream stores so there is a challenge to get the word out to cloth users. It seems that a successful way is to give a blog writer 2 diapers: one to use and review in their blog and another to put up for a giveaway.

To enter the giveaway, you generally just have to post a comment about the product. Additional entries are gained by "liking" on facebook, "following" on twitter, tweeting some text which nearly always includes #clothdiaper #giveaway and/or #win, etc. This means that if you search for those hashtags, you can jump into the game too. Then a winner is chosen by random number. Even if you don't cloth diaper, you can play too. Once you have it in hand, you might like it. If not, just pass it along to someone who will. Free stuff is fun!

By the way, if anyone wants to send me free stuff to review, feel free to contact me. ;)