in the beginning, when we made the switch to cloth diapers, not only did we know nothing, we had nothing. we were starting from scratch.
the cloth diapering journey starts out expensive. but over time, i'm told using cloth is thousands of dollars cheaper than disposables.
being the determined and frugal mama that i am, i wanted desperately to stock my cloth diapering stash by getting the best bargains possible. we're now just over 5 weeks into this and i have to give myself a pat on the back for what we have vs what we've spent on cloth diapering.
here's what i've done so far that has helped...
once i decided to go with gDiapers i bought the starter kit at Babies R Us using a $5 e-gift certificate for any BRU purchase that i'd gotten simply by becoming their fan on Facebook. the starter kit only came with 2 gPants with liners and a handful of flushies. the regular price of the starter kit is either $20 or $24.99, but with the gift certificate and a coupon i only spent $15.
a few days later i had to buy more flushies (a 32-count refill) and paid full price {boo!} $15.
but then i discovered DiaperSwappers.com and i'll never ever pay full price for cloth diapering supplies again.
DiaperSwappers is a community of cloth diapering mamas swapping and selling their new and gently used stash. in just a few DiaperSwappers transactions, i invested $90 on 9 gPants with liners and 120 flushies. if you do the math, which i did but i don't want to do it again (math makes my head hurt) you will see i got a helluva steal.
and then i found SwapMamas.com.
and i'll never, ever, ever pay full price for anything if i can find it there.
SwapMamas is a community of mamas who have stuff and want to swap it for other stuff. it's all gently used or new. you know the saying 'one man's trash is another man's treasure'? this is one mama's junk is another mama's gems! it's like a virtual consignment sale. all you have to do is post what you have and what you want, sit back and wait for the fish to bite. "i have outgrown size 5 boys shoes, i want to swap for a Starbucks gift card." chances are GOOD that there's another mama out there with a Starbucks gift card who needs size 5 boys shoes. work out a swap, ship eachother your stuff, and there ya have it. seriously? it's that easy. using SwapMamas i have swapped some of my stuff for 12 gPants with liners, 4 other brand cloth diapers, 20 prefolds, and a complete stash of cloth wipes, so far. what did it cost me? probably $15 in shipping but i don't really count that because i got rid of stuff that was laying around the house collecting dust!
i have a really good stash right now, and i'm still just getting started. yes, it is a little bit addicting.
oh! and guess who used the Big Boy Potty last night?
