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Diapers, Diapers and More Diapers

© Debbie DeSpirt

Join my family on our journey to eliminate our debt over the next year. Our family had a difficult time in the year 2000 with some unexpected bills. I am a stay at home mom with a 3 year old son and a seven week old son. Even with our big debt, we have decided it is better for me to stay at home raising our angels and to think of creative ways to reduce our monetary debts.

The first step in getting a handle on your debt is to consolidate all your bills. We consolidated all of our debts from our credit cards to our line of credit. The line of credit had a decreased interest rate by 8%. This alone will save us numerous dollars each month on interest. Consolidating your debt also allows you to see the true picture. When the big number stares back at you, just accept it. Try and not worry too much, in time the debt will be paid off even if things look bleak.

With a newborn in the home we spend approximately $80.0 CDN on diapers a month. I have decreased this amount to approximately $20.0 CDN a month by diapering my child in cloth diapers. As well, I clean my child's bottom with vaseline which saves us about $15-20.0 CDN on baby wipes. Originally I used store-bought baby wipes with my oldest son, I then went to homemade wipes when my oldest was about 6 months. With my youngest son, I only clean him with a little bit of vaseline and a kleenex. I am impressed with the results. When he gets a little older, I may need to go back to homemade wipes but that will only cost about $5.00 CDN a month.

Diapering a child in cloth or non cloth is a big issue facing many families. Disposable and non disposable diapers have many advantages and disadvantages. One must chose which advantages tilt the balance for their lifestyle.

Diaper Challenge:

CLOTH: Advantage: Environmentally friendly, inexpensive Disadvantage: Time-consuming, messy, inconvenient

NON CLOTH: Advantage: Convenient, Easy, Quick Disadvantage: Expensive, environmentally unfriendly

For our family the cost of diapers was the weight on the balance that made us change to cloth. Cloth diapers are a little more awkward to put on and not always the most pleasant job but with our savings I can endure the inconvenience. At night time and on long excursions we opt for disposable diapers for convenience.