Cloth Diapering and (trying) to Go "Green"

I have written a few times about cloth diapering - once in the beginning to summarize gDiapers, and another time to talk about our switch to Grovia AIO's (all in one's). Since then we have switched again to Grovia soaker pads with Flip covers. In short, if you want to cloth diaper be open to trying new things, and if something about your diaper isn't working for your baby at that stage in their life then just try something new. There are SO many options.

As I mentioned before I started to use cloth diapers because they were cheap (free for me in the beginning actually), and since then they have continued to be a better financial choice. With cloth diapering you have to spend larger amounts of money at one time which can feel expensive at the time, but in one year of cloth diapering I have spent a total of about $375. That includes diapers, wet bags, cloth wipes, and diaper liners. The average parent spends $50 a month on diapers which is  $600 a year! Also, at this point the diapers that I have will probably last Lydia until she potty trains - so assuming that happens around 2 years make that $375 vs. $1200. Now, every now and then I buy disposables - for overnight or for long trips, but I still would tell anyone that if you want to save money with babies choose cloth!

So it started because I am frugal, but since then something has changed. In January Lydia got a yeast infection that was really hard to get rid of and during that time we switched to disposable diapers for about 3 weeks since the cream that the doctor gave us couldn't be used with our cloth diapers. Over those 3 weeks it hit me how accustomed I had become to washing my diapers rather than throwing them away... I just felt so wasteful! I am not saying using disposables is wasteful - it is totally a personal decision. It just surprised me how normal using cloth diapers had become to me; how making a decision to do something differently then changed what I saw as "normal".

Since then I have become a little bit inspired. I do so many things (especially around the house) because I think they are normal and it is just the way I have always done them. However, maybe if I just try to change them up I will be alright with a new normal. I would like to be less wasteful, more organic, more "green" in general. As I try new things I will let you know how they go!