26 yr old TTC #1...Anyone wanna be buds?

[Bookity]

Thanks Lilly, prayers are appreciated!

I think Fiona is a lovely name. Tell your husband that people aren't always going to think of Shrek when they hear her name. Most likely her classmates won't be aware of that movie, being before their time and all.

Thanks for offering the budget advice. Unfortunately my husband won't have anything to do with second-hand stuff (SMH!). I pointed out some cloth diapers to him in a magazine in the waiting room today. I told him that it would be a great way to save money, but only if I could stick with it because it's an investment to get started! I have a bad habit of not sticking to things though

We're reconsidering the middle name, but 99% sure our daughter is going to be Vanessa!

 

[ErikaJo85]

Try not to stress out until you get your next ultrasound...just be happy you feel her kick away


I like the name Fiona but DH HATES it so it was thrown off the list.

What is the website? We have so many cute clothes already and second hand swings and jumpers from friends of mine that all cost them about $200 that I got for free sooooooooo! Haha. We are freaking out a little bit about me taking 6-8 weeks off of work and then going back to work about 15 hours a week. We made a budget and we are GOING to make this work I am just not sure how yet. My mom says don't worry we will survive. It is stressful thinking of what is going to happen though.

 

[LillyLee]

www.diaperswappers.com

I just go to the marketplace and look for the cloth diapers I want. My DH had an issue with 2nd hand diapers and I told him, "I can buy 24 new for $400 or I can buy used for less" I picked up a few yesterday so now I have a stash of 21 and paid $150 with shipping included.

We actually don't know anyone who has kids yet so people giving us stuff isn't an option. We're also a little stressed about time off work, (especially as DH isn't working) but a lot of the ladies at work say that "Babies are born with a loaf of bread under their arm" which is apparently some Cuban phrase for "everything's gonna be fine". I say there's no way I'm giving birth to a baby and a loaf of bread so we'll see.

 

[Bookity]

That is too funny Lilly! I've never heard that before. Cost won't mean anything to my husband, I'm sure about that. Still don't know which way I'm going with diapers.

 

[LillyLee]

Yeah cost means everything to DH. Sometimes this gets really annoying, but when laid out between disposables and cloth cost wins cloth any day.

I don't think we're going completely cloth though. Will always keep disposables around for road trips/day drips because I know I won't want to carry dirty cloth around in my bag.

 

[Bookity]

That makes sense to have disposables available for those occasions, but I can see where cloth will save tons of money in the long run! Maybe I should get a few to try it out? What do you think the minimum investment to give it a decent shot would be?? I wonder how long I would have to stick with it for it to at least pay for itself before I fell away from it... Do you think there is a statistic out there for that??

I've been trying to brainstorm a middle name for Vanessa (thankfully that name has really grown on me, I wasn't keen on it at first). My husband is poo-pooing a lot of the ones I like, but I think he has agreed that since he chose the first name I get final say on the middle name. I'm trying to feel him out to at least choose something he doesn't hate!

Some of the contenders at the moment.
Vanessa Mia
Vanessa Mila
Vanessa Mira
Vanessa Lorna (my husband's suggestion... I'm not wild about it)

I liked Vanessa Noelle, but husband seemed pretty set against it.

 

[LillyLee]

Honestly I like Noelle the best. If he doesn't like Noelle then what about Nicole? I think if the middle name ended with a sound that also wasn't "A" it would sound prettier and more flowing.

I honestly have no idea about break even statistics for diapers. Most people's theory is that using them on a second child obviously cuts down on costs, or reselling them on forums (because they do go fast if kept in nice condition). I guess you could figure out how much the sposies are and how many average you would be using per day. Since you used them with DD you should be able to estimate pretty well I would guess.

Forgive my math below but this is how I've broken it down for people before.

So if you bought some of the more premium diapers like Huggies or Pampers and paid .34 cents a diaper and used 10 that day that's $3.40. Obviously if you're buying huge and in bulk like Costco it wouldn't be that expensive. (Not to mention diaper genie costs for refills if you're using those). Over 7 days you're spending $23.80 and I'm not including wipes which are like .01-.02 cents per. So however many you're going to use to wash hands, faces, bottoms, (hopefully not all at once) etc.

If you had 30 cloth diapers (to make it easy and above the recommended amount of 24) the cost of new BumGenius 4.0 (right now they're on sale) would be $434.50. I'm also figuring out laundry which there are calculators online, but average per cycle I've read is .78 cents. So just say $1.56 per load (washer and dryer) at 3 loads a week equals $4.68 a week in laundry. Since I didn't include cost of wipes and diaper genie I'm not going to include cost of detergent.

End Result: (Easiest to figure out for a year)

Disposable:
10 diapers a day at .34=$1237.60 per year.

Cloth:
30 brand new diapers at $434.50 plus laundry at $4.68 a load (year is $243.36)=$677.86

In the first year you've saved about $560. In the second year you're obviously (hopefully) going to use less than 10 diapers a day but to keep math easy just assume it's the same cost for the next year and the same laundry cost. So over 2 years you've saved $1553. I'm not figuring it beyond two years, but most people say kids potty train between 24-36 months. Math is easy to figure at this point.

 

[LillyLee]

I can totally understand that for some people $1500 over two years isn't that much money. It's about 60 bucks a month. But for someone who's husband grew up way poor and took cold showers by candlelight when his parents didn't pay the electric bill it's a lot of money. (LOL that story still makes me so sad when I hear it). I mean that's the cost of cable which (surprise, surprise) we don't have.

Not sure if you would also consider CDing you're DD1 as well, but that could be a way to get more use out of them.

Just thought of another middle name. Vanessa Giselle is really pretty. (But I've always loved the name Giselle).

Oh, and our top name pick right now is Annabelle Fiona

 

[Bookity]

Nicole is definitely a no-go name. That's my sister in law's name. Not to mention my and my husband's feelings toward her are not very warm and fuzzy (we're civil now, but she, msyelf and my brother were in a living situation that went WAY sour and that has kind of left things a bit weird between us).

Giselle does have a nice flow to it. I imagine my husband will have the same association with it that I do though. An episode of Coupling wherin people kept imitating this character Giselle. "I am Giselle, I am a French bitch!" Probably not the greatest thing to think of first when you come up with your daughter's name, LOL.

I really appreciate your input. Just that between my husband and myself, very few names make it thru the screening process. Sorry we are so picky!

I think Annabelle is lovely!

Thanks so much for the little breakdown. I know you are right about some people thinking $1500 isn't a lot of money, but we're single income now, got rid of satellite TV to save $70 a month, so I imagine saving another $60 (more if we switch DD1 to cloth too) would be appealing.

I really have to think about this!

 

[LillyLee]

Aww...I hate having negative feelings with names, but I know everybody does. DH and I go back and forth all the time because we can always think of someone we know with a name whom we dislike. UGH! It gets so frustrating.

No problem for the breakdown! Thanks for listening! Everytime I tell someone we're cloth diapering I get the weirdest reactions. People still think of cloth diapers having pins in them (which some do) but not the ones I want to use.

 

[ErikaJo85]

I still call baby Lydia Jo and DH calls her Lucia Marie....My sisters name is Vanessa Gail. I like Vanessa Noelle tho!


I tried that diaperswapper website but it was so confusing. How do I buy what I want??? lol.

My mom wants us to do cloth diapers and pay out for that cleaning company that picks them up and brings clean ones. Still need to look into it. She did that with my brother and said she saved SOME money by doing that.

 

[Bookity]

I definitely think people have a really old fashioned view of what cloth diapering is.

When I was around 12 or 13 I helped this lady in the neighborhood watch her kids. She had a son who was in cloth diapers and they WERE the old fashioned ones that you fold up and pin and have the plastic diaper cover. So at one point I knew how to fold those, but it's completely flown out my head now! Thank goodness they're more evolved now. I've seen covers with snaps and super cute designs!

 

[LillyLee]

Yeah I'm not sure how the diapering service works and if they are dropping off prefolds so you would need covers?

It took me a while to get the lingo of all the different types down but I think I'm set on going with the pockets. They are fabric outside with a fleece inside backed by PUL which is some sort of waterproof layer. Between the fleece and PUL you stuff either minky, microfiber, hemp, or bamboo inserts.

Diaperswappers is really confusing. You really have to know what you're looking for when you get into the marketplace. I know I'm looking for BG 4.0 and FB OS which stands for bum genius and fuzzibunz one size. At that point I want to see pictures and have quality such as PUL the aplix (Velcro) and elastic described. I also know that I can get them for about 14-15 new so it's got to be a significant savings buying used 11-12 or less per diaper including shipping.

The OS are nice because they grow with the kid from "birth" to potty training. And the fuzzibunz are nice because the leg elastic is adjustable and replaceable.

I can't think of anything else off the top of my head but of you have any questions I feel pretty confident that I could answer them since I feel like I've been watching and reading reviews for weeks now!

 

[LillyLee]

Wow just realized I totally didn't answer youre question about buying. If you find something you like you can ask questions on the topic or PM the person. Usually if I find something I want to buy I send a PM then comment on their listing that I've PMed them so they know what order you're in for buying. If you like their prices or want to haggle you can. I got a lady down a few dollars by buying the entire lot of 16 bum genius she had available and then they will PM you their PayPal address. Once you pay through PayPal it's confirmed and my people all shipped the same or next day.

Once I get my things in which will hopefully be this weekend I will let you both know how I feel about the quality of the stuff compared to how they described it. One thing I have noticed is that a lot of ppl selling stuff aren't selling girly colors. It's a lot of blues and gender neutral which I'm fine with but I would like some pinks too

 

[Bookity]

So what is the difference between prefolds and pockets? Which one is easier to work with? Pros/cons between the two? Are there more than just those 2 kinds?

Feel free to tell me to not be so lazy and do my own research, LOL.

 

[LillyLee]

No it's no problem, I actually really like talking about it.

Flats: a flat piece of cloth that needs to be folded and pinned with a waterproof cover put over it. The cover can be any material and can velcro/snap/pin.

Prefolds: What our moms probably used as burp cloths. The large white piece of fabric that is stitched to fold into three pieces. This also gets used with a waterproof cover.

Flips: (sometimes this name varies and it's also the name of an actual cloth diaper) Basically it's the waterproof cover (fabric outer/ PUL inner) but you can see the PUL. There are snaps at top and bottom and you snap the "liner" straight into it (or the top and bottom of liner can be tucked under little folded pieces of fabric that help blowouts stay contained) the goal with a flip style diaper is so that when it's soiled you don't have to pull a liner out of a pocket and risk touching anything, you simply "flip" the dirty liner into the pain. The liners usually aren't microfiber, but hemp or bamboo since the liner touches babies skin directly.

AIO/AI2's: (All-in-ones/All-in-twos): Best example of this is the Bum Genius Elemental or Freestyle. Basically the same thing as a flip, except the liner stays attached and so the whole thing, waterproof PUL layer and all gets dried together. These are apparently nice because you don't have to snap a liter into it like a Flip, or stuff them like a "pocket". But on the downside you're not really supposed to dry PUL in the dryer because it wears it and the elastic down faster. THe liners in these are SUPER absorbant and people say take forever to dry.

Pockets: BumGenius 4.0 and Fuzzibunz OS Elite: (there are other brands of pockets that aren't one size but I haven't done much research into them. I know fuzzibunz makes XS/S/M/L but to me it makes sense to buy something that grows with the kid). A pocket is the waterproof cover with a built in layer of fleece or flannel that covers the PUL layer. There's an opening on the back that allows you to "stuff" a liner into the "pocket". Most of these come with two inserts so you can double them up for long-term/night time wearing.

Phew, that's all I can think of for right now LOL.

 

[LillyLee]

Oh pros and cons. You're going to find people who are reviewing the types of diapers all day long. It seems like the most popular and for good resale value are pockets.

I like the idea of the pockets because I only have to work with the cover and stuff the liners into them. The covers can be hung to dry and the liners can dry in the dryer.

If you go to www.mamanatural.com she has some really informative videos on their cloth diaper setup. They use BumGenius and she also does a really cool giveaway each Thursday. Plus I just like watching her vlogs because they are usually pretty interesting.

 

[Bookity]

Wow, thanks so much for the info Lilly! You sound like a total expert already!

 

[ErikaJo85]

Diaperswapper is confusing lol! I just went to two garage sales and one was the dad who set it up and he had TABLES of baby girl clothes and it was $1 for one or $2 for three...what a great deal!!! The other sale I went to had stuff mostly priced at like $2 and up so a bit my expensive but I got soooo many cute clothes for $10! I am so pumped. I can't wait to start putting together her room but we are going to wait awhile as we only have a 2 bedroom house and our 2nd room is our guest room and we frequently have vistors!

 

[LillyLee]

So much fun!! I can't wait to start buying clothes.

Bookity I found a website with a break even calculator. Its www.diaperpin.com and you put in the cost of how much you're going to spend on cloth and accessories and then cost of disposables in your area. My break even point was 12 weeks.