Cloth Diapering Is Not A Big Deal

We started our diaper service, and not early enough I tells ya! The local business is run by a working mom called Baby Go Lucky.  She drops off and picks up all the diapers.  I just paid for a full months with $80.  That means I don't have to ever run to the store for diapers, which is a pain and it's spendy with this girl going through about 18 diapers per day with all her liquid consumption.  I put the dirty diapers out in a bag around 8pm on a Tuesday night and then when I open the door next there will be a fluffy clean giant bag of diaper prefolds.
Myth 1.  Diapers stink and cloth diapers are yucky. Nope.  I haven't had a smell issue even with my own cleaning of prefolds. Disposables stunk up my kitchen garbage worse with all the food decomp than the cloth diapers in the bathroom with a bucket and bag of their own, a lemon orange scent disk in the enclosed diaper bin, and my pumpkin marshmellow scentsy.  Kitty litter smells ONE HUNDRED TIMES WORSE, and we try to clean that daily.
Myth 2. It's expensive.  Not for me.  There are couture diaper covers out there.  The average first years is about $1200 for disposables.  I have $190 invested in diaper covers at a liquidation garage sale of a closed local business.  I did the cheaper prefold option.  Some mix match of covers.  Some white and plain, some used gently and on their last leg, some quite fancy with animals or flowers and kitties, some all-in-twos, some wool covers.  It is not a very consistent system, but that doesn't matter.  I paid at most $8 for a cover and at least $1.  My favorites so far is the $1 one and the $8 one!  I bought the infant prefolds that Grace outgrew with her recent weight gain.  I bought wet bags ($30), some wipe solution ($35), and was given cloth wipes.  Haven't bought disposable wipes yet! Out of pocket: maybe $350 and it will be $19/week after this next month for diaper service.  That $19 ($380 for 5 more months) covers so much TIME doing laundry, the electricity, and the best part! no need to invest in the size up of prefolds!
Myth 3.  It's messy (messier than disposables). Well that depends. Poop is poop is poop is poop.  Doesn't matter, it gets on your hands.  I am buying a diaper sprayer for when poop is more solid after solid foods, that makes it really easy.  No soaking in toilet. I also have liners, thin sheets that will be disposable and you just grab those with the poops inside and plop them in the toilet.  For now, I just put the whole schabang in the cloth diaper bin! No cleaning!  When I was cleaning them I just through them in the washer too.   So yes, there is poop floating around in the washer, that is until it's immediately rinsed away and then washed and then extra rinsed.  We cleaned them with clothes and everything and nothing is gross about it.  I get poop on my clothes anyways. Disposables are supposed to be emptied in the toilet and not tossed in the trash- I don't want to immortalize Grace's poop to be here on this planet in a diaper for much longer than she is alive! She is organic, so is her waste and it should go back to the earth as it should.  Now, I have used disposables.  I had to for my sanity.  I have no guilt about this, because I can't be perfect.  But if I can, I don't use disposables if I have the mind to cloth diap!  So diapering period is messy.
Myth 4. Diapering with cloth is hippy or for the poor.  Wrong.  There is a wide spectrum of thrifty to glitzy in cloth diapering.  It is natural and organic or it's synthetic and designer.  It is $8-$30 per cover.  There are inserts, prefolds, flats.  There are covers and all-in-ones and all-in-twos and wool covers.  There is such a wide range because there are all kinds of moms.  Moms who spend all their money to make their babies buns look cute.  It's a hobby for these moms, or an obsession really!  Then there are moms that hybrid. Some disposable, some cloth, all convenience.  I think that's me.  Then there are no-nonsense mom's who diaper like it's nothing special.  Not to save the planet, not to purposefully save money.  She isn't about convenience, she is about what's best for her baby and just getting the plain old job done.  Crunchy granola moms are honorable (and sometimes overacheiving, all power to them!) and never let disposable anything touch their baby's buns.  They like organic, American made, even Mother made. They like that it stays local, it stays out of landfills, it is soft and nice on baby.  These are all reasons that are somewhat emphasized in each mom depending on their taste, but they are all great reasons.
Myth 5.  Cloth diapering is hard when you are active. Yes.  It is.  You have to have a system so it is easy and then you don't think about it.  Disposables take up less room and cloth weighs more.  You drop disposables in the trash and you have to carry dirty laundry home.  But IF cloth diapering is what you want it simply is not a big deal.  It just is what you do. Two words: WET BAGS! This solves the issue.  Keep extras in the car, back ups are ALWAYS GOOD!  Other option? Use different systems jut for traveling.  Day trips may be fine for prefolds and covers.  Traveling for trips may take up a whole suitcase if you have all-in-ones for an infant.  So gDiapers with their covers and some flushable inserts is the best option for traveling for me.  Some moms might do disposable.  Some may have laundering options.
Myth 6. Disposables are easier. Wrong.  Ever think you are going to have enough diapers to last till the end of the week and you are out Wednesday and have to run to the store and buy full price because your scheduled Amazon Mom shipment won't be there for a week?  I have.  Pain in the ass.  Disposables have a reputation for diaper rash.  Grace doesn't have diaper rash with cloth often, and much more with disposable.
One thing I think is not disputed? What is best for baby.  Cloth.  It is soft.  Chemical free.  It is safe and reusable.  It doesn't wick moisture FROM the baby's skin.  It is a better option.  One option many mom's don't know about? Elimination Communication... watch babies ques (I can't figure Grace's out) and put her over the toilet.  I've done it once.  I would be over the toilet all the time with Grace.  This would be best.  No waste on baby.  But eh, I haven't figured that one out.

I just cleaned a diaper in less than 2 minutes.  And I just plain like it!