I am starting a new series - The Top Ten Ways I Save Money at Home.  Today is the first post in the series.  I have shared some of these ideas before, but given the current economic situation I thought some of you may be interested to hear more details.

My number one money saver is using cloth diapers.  For the past two years I have always had two and sometimes three in diapers.  I primarily have used the old fashioned pre-fold diapers with plastic covers over them.  A little while ago someone gave me some used diapers with snaps that are terry cloth.  They work very nicely, but I am not sure I would have spent money to buy them.  I tried making diapers, but did not have much luck.  I was leary about spending money on a pattern and having to keep making new sizes.  I will say that the "fancy" ones I was given have snaps in 3 locations so they fit most size bottoms.  However, they still need plastic covers.

I still use disposables when we go to Church, out to the store, and at night.  The reason I use disposables at night is because my kids have very sensitive skin.  Their skin "burns" from the urine if their diapers get really soaked.  During the day we change them frequently so it is not a problem, but at night I leave them in their wet diapers all night so diposables work better.

For two kids, I figure that this saves me approximately $60 per month.  This is a guess since I never calculated it.  I figure homemade wipes save me about $15 per month.

I make homemade bottom wipes the following way.  I use a special color of wash cloths that I buy at Wal-Mart.  The are fairly inexpensive - $3 for 9.  I have found that they last about 6-9 months before needing to be replaced.  Right now mine are blue so that everyone knows we don't use the blue wash cloths for anything but baby bottoms. 

I make liquid soap out of my homemade soap but grating it and adding hot water.  I don't measure but would say about 4 cups of hot water to 1 small bar.  I then store this in a plastic container in the cupboard.  You could use a cheap handmade bar if you don't make your own soap.  At our health food store they sell the seconds for about $0.70 per bar.

When I need to make some wipes, I put some hot water in a bowl (about three cupes for 18 wipes).  I add about a cup of my liquid soap and a squirt of baby oil.  I dip in my folded cloths and ring them out.  I store them in an old diaper wipe box from the store wipes.  If you have a diaper wipe warmer they work great in one of those.  I wash these when I wash the diapers.

We have a five gallon bucket with a tight fitting lid that is in our bathroom near the nursery.  When we have a soiled diaper we rinse it in the toilet and them place it in the bucket.  The bucket has water with a splash of bleach in it.  We wash them every other day.  For wet diapers, covers, and the wipes, we have a hamper near the changing table we store those diapers in.

When it is time to wash the diapers, I poor out the bucket in the laundry sink.  The soiled diapers get scrubbed with a brush we use for only this purpose.  The wet diapers go straight in to the washing machine.  I then add the soiled diapers which have been scrubbed and rinsed again.  I wash the diapers in hot water with a second rinse.  I use regular laundry soap and vinegar in the rinse cycle.  I do not bleach the diapers when washing them.  I line dry or put in the dryer based on weather.

I hope you find this helpful if you are considering cloth diapers.  Next time I will talk about using rags and homemade wipes instead of buying them from the store.

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Posted by HopefulHeart77

My computer has a caching problem so it took me awhile to realize you were updating your blog but my computer was going back to the same old page. Sorry! Thanks again. One more question. Where do you buy your diapers?

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