After spending $34 for one case of diapers a few days ago, I decided it is definitely time to switch over to cloth diapers. I am really, really excited about this!!! My friend Abbey started using cloth diapers for her daughter a few months ago and her posts about the subject convinced me that when Menininho was born, I would go that way as well.

I decided that I would wait until he was about 3 months before switching over, mostly because by now he is going through significantly fewer diapers than he was at birth. By the time everything I ordered last night arrives, it shouldn’t be too long before Menininho is 15 lbs and can fit into them (probably by the beginning of June). The only downside I’m seeing is that Menininho may not be able to fit into some of his pants anymore, as Abbey pointed out that most baby pants are made to fit disposable diapers, and cloth diapers are a little more bulky.

I asked around a lot before deciding which cloth diapering products to go with, and here is what Mark and I ended up choosing:

Chinese Prefold Diapers

Bumkins Diaper Covers

We bought 1 dozen diapers and 4 diaper covers (NO diaper pins needed!). They’re sized for babies 15-30 lbs, so I think we’ll be getting a lot of use out of them. Since the diapers can’t be washed using regular detergent (or even Dreft), Abbey found a recipe for making her own laundry detergent. It comes out to about $0.01 a load! So, I plan on using that too. I’m really excited about all the money we’re going to be saving with this switch, and I hope I can stick it out (especially once Menininho starts solid food…). Since I’m not helping bring money into the household right now, I figure my job is to help us be smart with the money we have.

Wish us luck!