another reason I like cloth diapering

like cloth diapering? Let me rephrase that ... I LOVE cloth diapering! Since I've been doing it for 3 years and 3 months now I BETTER like it. I was recently reminded of my love when I left the kids w/ a babysitter for half a day - 1:30 - 8:00. I left her with paper diapers and during that time he was only changed twice!! I was appalled when I got home and counted the diapers I had left out - what?! Now, I'm not upset at the babysitter ... if I had been I would have chastised her immediately ... no, I'm just upset that paper diapers give the "illusion" of the child not needing to be changed! I would do it too! With cloth diapers if the kid is wet, you better change him! I can go a bit longer with an AIO than a regular cotton diaper but I still try not to!

Usually at home I use prefolds or fitteds so that I'm forced to change him more frequently ... part of this is so that he doesn't get comfortable in the pee - ick! When I'm out and about I use the AIO's so that I can go a bit longer ;) Another reason I like it - and this may sound very gross - but when I flush the poo down into the toilet I get to see how my baby is eating/digesting his food, I am intimate with my child's poo - and I'm ok with this (on most days)!

And how about the cost?! Well, I haven't bought a new cloth diaper in at least 9 months - maybe more - and I haven't purchased a paper diaper since December! How about that in savings?! I do buy paper inserts from time to time (makes the poo easy to dispose of, esp when out and about) but other than that my diaper-buying is very minimal.

I STILL use Charlie's Soap and I LOVE it! We use it for ALL our laundry because the actual washing machine has to be free of any other detergents for it to work properly and that would just be too much of a hassle any other way! If you ever decide to try it please give them my name and I'll get some free soap out of it - what a great company! I've also called and emailed Charlie's Soap with questions and they are VERY helpful over there!

Besides Charlie's Soap I also use Oxy Clean Free when washing my diapers - which I buy at Target every couple months or so .... as you can see my costs really ARE minimal!

Today is diaper day so I better get back to that load I have in the washer and get it hung up on the line to dry!

I have a washing machine again!

In case you didn't know, and you probably didn't, my husband has been taking our laundry over to his mother's house almost every day for the past 5 months. It has been a laundry nightmare over here! Because I don't have control of the laundry, it has been an unending pile that is never put away because he brings it home in the evening and I spend the next 3 days trying to get it all put away! But we finally have a washer! The last straw was this morning when I took Ellie's nighttime diaper off and she was RED all over. I knew it was the detergent that Chris used on the last load of diapers and I was over it. I told him this morning that I needed a new washer so I could go back to using Charlie's Soap (which I love - and is good on the little kids bums) and I was surprised that he had it purchased (used), delivered and installed by 7pm tonight!

I've already done a load tonight and plan on washing ALL the diapers tomorrow (over and over and over again; since that is what it takes to make sure all the other detergent residue is completely out). But I am not complaining! I feel like my life can be back in order (or at least a small portion of my life).

thank you Chris!