Flat Diaper Stash for 2

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I’m participating in the 2017 Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Cloth Diaper Revival. This event focuses on the very real and viable answer to cloth diaper your children.

We’re already two loads of laundry in, and ready to show off our flat diaper stash. Did you check out my toddler washing his diapers? It was totally cute, and totally not helpful, but I’m working on relaxing on that and just letting him have fun.

There’s no right way to build a flat diaper stash. Your flat diaper stash can be anything. If you’ve been hopping around the other Flats and Hand washing blogs and social media accounts this week (don’t forget to check out #flatschallenge on Instagram), you’ll notice our flat diaper stashes all look different. For some families it’s about the ultimate budget stash – how cheap can you go? For other families, its about using what you already have or trying out new products.

While I love to #tryallthediapers, I tried to restrain myself this week because I can try a new flat diaper anytime of the year, but this week I challenge myself to build a reasonably economical cloth flat diaper stash. My challenge to myself is to use low-cost products or re-use other household items for this challenge. This jives best with my personal goals and ambitions for the challenge.

For my toddler, I opted to do a $100 flat diaper stash. His flat diaper stash consists of 5 covers I purchased second hand (and new) for about $75/80 (Sorry, Canadian costs drag) along with receiving blankets and t-shirt diapers. Throw in a couple diaper pins, and we are good to go.

 

Flat Diaper Stash for Little Miss

As for my youngest, I took a different approach to her flat diaper stash. She’s only 3 months new, but she’s already a chunk. We’ve outgrown most of our newborn cloth diaper covers, so we’ll be taking advantage of smaller fitting one-size covers and our Blueberry Newborn Capri. We will  trying out Flour Sack Towels because these are frequently touted as a reasonable economical alternative to microfibre. So far, I’m less than impressed with absorbency, but we will keep working on it.

Here’s what her stash looks like:

• 3 Packages of Flour Sak Towels (Walmart Canada) = $6.88 x 3 = $21
• 3 Daytime Flips = $15
  I bought 2 second hand for $5. 
• 5 Assorted Covers (Various Price Points) = $90
  GroVia Shells, Best Bottom, and Flip (Find them at CozyBums in Canada, or Diaper Junction in the USA)
• Snappi’s = $1
• Boingos = $8
• 
Approximate Cost: $150


Yes, you can totally do it cheaper! The second hand market is amazing place to buy covers for $10-15 or less! The covers I choose for this challenge I purchased mostly new, but I just love them so much. I choose to use what I had rather than scavenge for cheaper cloth diaper covers. My Best Bottom fits her awesome, and the GroVia shells are a favourite.

What about those Flip Daytimes? I really wanted to keep my stash economically reasonable. Retailing at $10.75 CDN at CozyBum Diapers, they aren’t very budget-friendly. But I needed something with better absorbency than a FST and might work for nighttime. I picked a couple off the BST last year for cheap, and then bought one new (that’s why they only cost me $15).

Other Related Materials

Aside from diapers, we have a few other things we are using this year for the 2017 flats and hand washing challenge.

• Cloth Wipes – Simply Dad is less than impressed, but our flannel cloth wipes save us a ton of money on disposable wipes. I used $5/meter flannel and sewed a double-sided wipe. ($5-10)
• On the Go Wetbags – A wet bag for out and about is awesome to have. I have a few DIY ones, and recently won a GroVia Zippered wet bag. It’s amazing and I love everything about it. ($20)
• 5 Gallon Bucket for Washing – We’ve opted to use a bucket for washing this year. I picked this one up at Lowe’s for $5.
• Plunger – We finally found a reasonable plunger at Superstore for $10. (I have this one on Amazon, it was cheaper at the store!)
• Gloves – a must for keeping hands nice and dry. I had a pair under the sink.
• Detergent – I’ll use what I have on hand.

 

Last year, I also used a hanging wet bag, but not this year. I’m opting to keep dirty diapers in my wash bin. I hope this gives me a better visual of when I need to do diapers. Follow our Flats & Hand washing Challenge on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

What is the most creative way you’ve diapered a baby? Do you have a favourite flat diaper brand?