This or that? Cloth vs Disposables

Cloth or disposables? Obviously what works for one family may not work for another, so I can only share what our experience has been and hopefully it gives you some insight as to what might work for your family. I know there is a lot about this topic out there so I'll be pretty brief and try to keep it more about our experience than about going into detail about cloth and it's use. 

While I was pregnant with our first I saw a few women online talking about cloth diapers and it intrigued me but I put it on my mental list of things to do as, "Think about that later". As I got later in my pregnancy and finally got around to my, "Think about that later" list I started doing a bit of research. After looking at the financial side of it we decided to give it a try. I will admit, the environment played very little into our decision, but that was an added benefit. 
After a little more research I decided to go with Gro-via's All in 2 system. We purchased the "Live" package, which can be found here: Live Package. It is currently listed for $394 but I can tell you we paid less than that. I think we paid closer to $300 if not a little under. It was a big investment at first and it was tough to make the plunge when we wouldn't know if we would like them. 

Cost of cloth: If you cloth diaper full time you could spend anywhere from $100-$600 depending on what system you use and what kinda of deal you get. It's difficult to estimate the cost of washing because everyone has a different wash routine. I can tell you that we didn't notice more than a $5 increase in our electric bill, but we often line dry our diapers. I spend about $15-20 every 3 months on detergent.
Cost of disposables: Again it really depends on the brand you use. One site suggests $2400 from birth to fully potty trained. Baby Center suggests that it will cost $72 a month to buy disposables. I think it is possible to spend less though if you are using generic. If we use disposables for a month I think we'd spend about $40-$50. 

After our daughter was born we discovered the pros and cons of cloth for our family:
Pros: - We had already made our one time investment, so we were not running out and spending money on diapers every week/month. - Washing was super easy for us, especially since she was EBF. Toss them in, wash, rinse then dry (I tended to take advantage of that Florida sunshine to get rid of stains).  - They were cute! It was June, in Florida so it was nice to use it in place of a diaper cover over a disposable.  - The All in 2's were just as easy as disposables. We unsnapped the insert, threw it into the wet bag and snapped another one in. We have a mostly a velcro system which made them even more disposable like.  - She very rarely got diaper rash.  - When they start eating solids we use something called flushable liners that make solid waste very easy to deal with.

My cute bald baby girl in a matching cloth diaper

Cons:
- They were big on a newborn. I was so determined to use the cloth that I put them on her right away and they were just too big and bulky for her. It took her awhile to grow into them.  - They were a bit more work. Instead of just emptying the trash we had to throw them in the washer and then put them back away in the drawer when we were finished washing/drying them.  - The upfront cost was a bit steep considering we didn't have a lot of extra money laying around.  - If we ran out we couldn't just go get more, we had to make sure we had enough clean ones to last us until the load was washed and ready to go.

Now on to disposables:

SOURCE

Pros: - Can easily just throw away (especially those really dirty ones!) - Take up limited space - Do not have to wash (kind of the same as can throw away) - Are not bulky
Cons: - The sometimes have caused a rash on our children - They cost more in the long run - They are bad for the environment - I wasn't able to match them to outfits :) - We personally have had more leaks with disposables than cloth

The Mama Mama Verdict? 
We prefer cloth. BUT We no longer prefer the All in 2 option. We enjoy using prefolds with a cover. I wish we would have started with this route. They are less pricy and less bulky.  With that said... we do use disposables sometimes. They are convenient while out and about when we don't feel like messing with a travel wet bag, they are convenient in general for traveling. I know some people use cloth while traveling, it just isn't for us.    ____________________________________________________________________  If you like my blog please click the image below.   There is nothing to sign up for, just click and you are done. Thanks!