Cloth Diapers

We're using cloth diapers with Patrick. Technology on this front has progressed a lot in 22 years since my youngest sister wore them; just google "BumGenius 3.0" and you can see for yourself. It's as simple as putting on Pampers, thanks to velcro. Spraying the solids off the diaper takes a little extra effort, but thankfully all our toilets here have a little sprayer next to them.

My initial impetus to use cloth diapers was that I didn't want to have to remember to continually order diapers online - the local brands aren't very good and the import Pampers and Huggies are super expensive. So, cloth seemed an easy alternative, especially since we have Sarwary and Shabu to help with the washing! I did the math (no surprise) and figure the break-even point was between 6 and 9 months, depending how many vacations we took where we would use disposables. Given that William wasn't potty trained until after two years, a financial incentive also presented itself.

This week, the main benefit of using cloth dawned on me. Our garbage removal service at the apartment building has, for some reason unknown to me or anyone I've asked, stopped. Thus, all the household help now must take the garbage out. And, with lack of municipal garbage collection service, all the trash is now flung over the fence of the empty plot at the end of our block. I'm now quite happy we have cloth, because otherwise every time I turned onto our lane, I'd have to think of all the rotting poopy diapers of Patrick's. Super gross.