In case you are thinking about using frugal home cloth diapers and seem a bit intimidated….don’t be.
Frugal Home cloth diaper option saves time, money and is healthy. Keeping babies dry is important in the first few months after birth. Cloth diapering helped me to be more organized, disciplined and efficient.
Homeschooling, homemaking and many other daily responsibilities can make this diapering seem impossible. But, quite the contrary. Cloth diapering helped me to keep a schedule, take care of a newborn and homeschool.
Before I completely went in with cloth diapering I had to plan. Believe it or not, you can run out of diapers if you do not have enough. Diaper pails will become unbearable if not cleaned, and daily washing is a must.
None of these negatives kept me away from cloth diapering. Prior to buying any diapers here are the steps that I took.
Frugal Home Cloth Diaper Inventory
First, deciding how many frugal home cloth diapers will be needed is necessary. A good rule of thumb in the first few weeks is to change them about every hour to hour and a half. Cloth diapers do absorb well, but baby will still feel wet. Wet babies do not sleep well.
After about the first month, I moved my babies to being changed once every two and a half hours unless it was necessary. Scheduling my diaper changes with breastfeeding was imperative. Prior to my purchase of cloth diapers with my third son, I made sure we had enough.
Cloth diapers have come a long way in the past twenty years. The covers are so cute, and Velcro instead of pins is a game changer. On wash days, I did use regular prefold’s with pins. They worked well and I didn’t have any problems. On those days, I used a regular cover for extra protection.
My cloth diaper inventory was expansive. Every frugal home cloth diaper brand that had been made, I had two of them. For me, this was important to know what I liked best versus what worked best for my baby.
I did not have much luck with newborn diapers because the first month or so is unpredictable. My luck with cloth diapers came after the six week mark.
Cleaning Cloth Diapers
Cloth diapers were easy to keep clean, and the pail did not have a horrid smell. Here is how I kept the pail clean:
Changed and dumped the pail daily.
Wiped out the bottom daily with a Clorox wipe.
Sprinkled baking soda in the bottom to help with the smell.
Here’s how I kept the diapers clean:
First, I rinsed them if they had any stains. I used our wash tub in the basement.
Then, I sprayed a stain treatment on the stains.
Finally, I let them soak for an hour before washing.
I did not use a special detergent and never have. We make our own laundry detergent. Arm and Hammer mixed with Fels Naptha soap and Borax work well. Most of my laundry bases are covered with this detergent.
Washing machines have moved in a good direction as far as technology goes, so I wasn’t worried that my diapers would not be clean.
Using Cloth Diapers Daily
My cloth diapers held up very well. Some of the prefold’s were still in good condition for my fourth baby. I did have to go and buy some new diapers’ when we had our last baby, but some of those I still have.
My pro with cloth diapers is the fact that I never had to run to the store for diapers. They were always ready to go. Using cloth diapers was simple and easy. None of my babies had any rashes or skin irritations that derived from cloth diapers.
Cloth diapers helped me to stay in a good routine with baby. I ran my breastfeeding schedule and diaper changing schedule simultaneously for about twelve months. This helped me immensely with discipline. My older children were homeschooling and as new mom of four boys I was in uncharted territory.
Cloth diapers offer so much more than saving money. They are all natural and work best for baby. We worry about so many hazards in this world, but forget what is in disposable diapers. Most of what the gel is made of is unrecognizable to the average person. These chemicals cannot be good.
Choosing to try and utilize cloth diapers is a decision that I do not regret. Sign up for my newsletter to receive more posts!
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