Why "Fluff Fanatic"

Well, the name is pretty obvious... I'm a fluff fanatic!  However, I feel like the blog name needs a little more explanation... I first learned about cloth diapers from my friend who had 5 kids (she now has 7 =D)... she was using Cotton Babies' Econobum prefold diapers and covers.  She also had some of Cotton Babies' bumGenius one-size diapers for when babysitters/church nursery workers needed to change a diaper.  I fell in love with the idea of cloth diapering then (it was almost 6 years ago) and it was SO easy!  I didn't decide to cloth diaper for the environment, although there is a significant impact on the environment by using cloth; disposables are estimated to take around 500 YEARS to decompose in a landfill, yuck!  (Also did you know that the Pampers bag recommends you dump the poo in the toilet before you dispose of the disposable diaper in the trash... I don't know anyone who does this!)  I didn't decide to cloth diaper (at first) because of the health benefits to our child, although there are many including keeping baby's bottom dryer and keeping chemicals from disposables away from my baby's sensitive bottom!  I mostly decided to cloth diaper because of the cost savings.

During the first month of our DS' life, we used disposables.  I had some cloth diapers, but we lived in an apartment that didn't have a W/D for the first two weeks; then we moved to my mothers for two weeks before moving to Alabama.  (I also didn't have the right size cloth diapers, I didn't buy infant size (oops!))  In that four weeks we used approximately (yikes!) 365 diapers (about 14/day for 4 weeks)... We used Pampers Swaddlers, with an average cost of $0.25/diaper, for $91.25/month. (*note: everyone's diaper usage varies depending on their child, we really did use about 14 diapers per day  because our DS is a heavy wetter and he didn't like pooping in a wet diaper, haha!) According to Pampers, they expect you will change about 10 diapers per day on a newborn, therefore about 280 diapers per month, average cost of $0.25/diaper, for $70/month.  Either way, that's A LOT of money!  For $70/month you can get anywhere from 25 prefolds (at $1 each) & 5 covers (at $9 each) to 7 pocket diapers (at $10 each).  That's A LOT of cloth!

In our stash before our DS was born, we had 6 one-size pocket diapers, 36 regular prefolds and 10 covers.  I had bought ALL of them on either sales or seconds and had only spent about $160.  That's less than two months worth of disposables in our house!  Since then I have added to our stash (spending about $80 to get 8 more pockets, 18 prefolds (in infant size!) and 6 more covers).  All in all, I've spent about $240 on our entire stash and have more than enough diapers to do laundry every two or three days.

Since our DS was born, I've become even more of a fanatic!  I have found so many great companies that have great cloth diapers and I have found some companies that have GREAT deals on their diapers (for brand new, not seconds or preloved).  I can't wait to try them all out!  Besides, there are SO many CUTE prints out there for cloth diapers!!  =D

For more benefits of cloth diapering check out The Real Diaper Association's diaper facts.