My pal Courtney has really been bitten by the get-out-of-debt bug! She’s inspired by Dave Ramsey and is really hitting the ground running.

Here’s just a few things she’s been up to in the last week:

• Lowered her cell phone bill by $22/month
• Canceled Netflix (around $9/month)
• Unplugged all appliances that don’t need to be constantly drawing electricity
• She’s been avoiding restaurants
• Sold a treadmill for $200
• They’re planning on selling things at two huge garage sales soon
• They’re moving in with a friend for a few months after their house sells to save money and to pay rent to the friend (helping everyone out!). They’ll put the profits toward building an emergency fund and paying off some debts, as well as building up savings for another down payment.
• They’ve substantially downgraded the amount of house they’re looking to buy next. A smaller, lower-cost house will mean a lower monthly payment, lower property taxes, and probably lower utilities. If they find they need more space later, they can always move at that time. A house at this price point (and after paying off their credit cards and saving some money) will be affordable to them, instead of a huge stretch.
• She thinks that they can be debt-free (except for a mortgage) in about 3.5 years, as well as have a complete emergency fund.

They’re doing a modified debt snowball for now. Courtney tells me that some of her cards have really high interest rates and are close to being maxed out, so initially she’s going to work to bring down those balances so she won’t be slammed with overage fees. Once those are a little more manageable, it’s time to work that snowball Dave’s way.

Here’s an excerpt of an e-mail from Courtney (printed with permission):

“My husband and I are keeping each other in check, too! I wanted to go out for ice cream last night (we have $50 for eating out/entertainment) and my husband said, NO! Eat something from the candy jar! It’s only March 10th and we’ve already spent $30 of that fund! I loved it! I really was too proud/happy and remembered the “delaying pleasure is a sign of maturity” from Dave Ramsey!

Anyway, I’m just really pumped and excited, and my husband is NOT a theory guy, so when I show him my spreadsheets he gets excited! It feels more like something tangible and not a completely unreachable idea!

I really cannot say thank you enough to you! I know all of this stuff is common sense, and I’ve had abstract ideas about what I should/shouldn’t do, but you have hellped me buckle down and put my money where my mouth is!”

—

Don’t you love her energy and enthusiasm? She’s making me want to  find new ways to save money out of our own budget. Love it! Can’t wait to write part 4.

You know, things like cloth diapers, dinner napkins, cloth shopping bags, a coffee pot, a water filter, a clothesline or drying rack, CFL bulbs, rechargeable batteries, a programmable thermostat, Diva Cups/Keepers, cloth pads, electric razors, food canning equipment, sewing machines … you get the picture.

And then there’s also things like memberships to warehouse clubs, or buying things in bulk at other distributors.

All of these things can help save you money, but there is a start-up expense, and that can be a challenge if you’re living on a tight budget.

If you have an item like this in mind but can’t afford it right away, start saving for it specifically! You can create a subaccount within ING Direct if you bank with them, or use a separate savings account with any bank, really. Even $10 or $20 per month set aside will help your cause.

Or, find something to sell and commit the proceeds to purchase that item.

I am not a financial advisor of any sort. I’m just a gal with a blog and an opinion. So Courtney (and anyone else out there) keep that in mind, k?

First, I want to commend Courtney for seeing the need to get out of debt and taking steps to get there. It won’t be an easy journey, but it will be worth it!

I suggested that Courtney and her hubby read Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover. It’s a highly positive book and I think the advice is solid. It’s also helpful to listen to his radio program which is available on his web site.

I’d like to encourage her to follow Dave’s baby steps. To start out, I hope Courtney gets that baby emergency fund of at least $1,000 in the bank as soon as possible — even before the sale of her house. Honestly, even a little more might be beneficial since it will take awhile to get to the full emergency fund step. For Courtney’s situation, I would suggest $5,000 to start out (or even more if it makes you more comfortable) so that you’ll have a little breathing room in case of job loss, insurance claim or other financial setback.

That way, you won’t need to resort to your credit cards if something pops up. Remember, even while you’re building up your savings, you’ll still be paying the minimum on your debts so they will start to move in the right direction.

Then, start your debt snowball. List your debts from smallest to largest. Here are Courtney’s:

• Kohl’s: $395.20
• Discover: $537.16
• Capital One: $725.45
• Menard’s: $2,100
• Visa: $2,530.82
• Signature loan: $2,729.23
• Discover #2: $3,500
• Dodge: $3,295.40
• Toyota: $11,503.06
• Sallie Mae: $27,379.43
• Total: $54,695.75

You might notice I listed the Dodge a notch below a credit card, even though the credit card has a slightly higher balance. I think when the balances are so close, it’s better to pay down a credit card vs. a fixed loan like a car. Especially since Courtney wants this credit card debt outta here fast!

I have a feeling she’ll be able to wipe out those first cards pretty fast. As she ticks away each card, she can then apply the minimum payment and all of her extra money to the next card on the list. It really does snowball and builds momentum like nothing else!

I suggested that she call each card company and ask for a better interest rate. She was told that her credit score was just too good, and that they couldn’t. Oh, typical of them to be jerks.

I’m proud that Courtney lowered her cell phone plan and saved an extra $22/month by doing so. Call your cable/internet provider and see if they can lower your plan in some way, but canceling it outright might be a little rough.

Next, since they don’t have a precise budget just yet, I suggested that she simply track her spending so she can get a baseline for what’s reasonable. Mint.com is an excellent tool to track your spending if you’re using debit cards. I’m assuming Courtney is banishing her credit cards from her wallet and not using them anymore — so debit cards and cold hard cash it is for you, missy!

Finally, Courtney mentioned how she enjoys buying stuff. I’d like to challenge you to sell anything you’d be willing to part with. For one thing, it’ll help with your pending move, and for another — it’s extra cash for your debt snowball! Ebay it, list it on craigslist, or hold one of the season’s first yard sales.

Courtney — do you think selling $500 worth of stuff is within reach?  If so, that’s half of your baby emergency fund right there!

Stay out of stores unless you have a true purpose. Consider shopping thrift stores. I know Bloomington thrift stores aren’t all that great, but sometimes good deals pop up!

You can take a post-it note and wrap it around your debit card. Keep an inspirational tidbit on the post-it so you’ll be reminded of your goals each time you shop.

You can do this, Courtney! And ya know what — I think you can do it faster than five years. You’ll be surprised how fast things start moving once you get going! YAY!

With my own debt journey, posting my progress to this blog has really helped me stay motivated and accountable. We’ll be checking in with Courtney periodically to see how she’s doing.

Thank you in advance for your respectful comments. :)

Here’s a little Q&A to get us started:

Tell us about yourself!

I’m Courtney, 25, married for 5 months (newlywed and lovin’ it)! I work as a secretary at Indiana University–I fell in love with Bloomington, IN while attending college and now I cannot imagine living anywhere else (except maybe for the beach when it is -10 degrees and there is a foot of snow on the ground)!

How much debt do you have?

Not including my home mortgage, which I don’t ‘count’ simply because it’s an inevitable expense because we have to have somewhere to live… GULP… My husband and I combined are $54,000 in debt!!!!

How do you feel about that number?

Overwhelmed–it is a pretty terrifying number. Now, let me say that $27,000 of that is student loans from my undergraduate degree. I paid for college on my own, worked the entire time I was in college, and still ended up with that $27,000.

Even though it’s a daunting number, I think my education was worth it. I am a secretary, which generally does not require a degree, but I am happy in my job right now and I know that I will have many options I would not have had without my degree. Plus, I’m a completely different person after having my in and out of classroom college experiences! Besides that, I feel like I need to shrink the number as quickly as my husband and I are able (and with a healthy dose of willpower and Kacie’s advice)!

How did you get into debt?

Again, most of it is college student loan debt. $11,000 of it is for my vehicle and $3,500 for my husband’s vehicle. The rest of it, I am afraid to say, is (dun dun dun) credit card debt! I was jobless for about 3 months and had $0 savings and $0 income… Guess what though? It still costs money to live! So, that’s how I ended up with a large chunk of credit card debt. My husband’s credit card debt comes from home improvements (we are getting ready to sell his bachelor pad house and upgrade to a family home) and also our wedding.

I was as thrifty in a lot of areas with our wedding (my wedding dress was brand new, but only $350 including alterations) while still realizing that we were not willing to cut corners in some areas (not inviting really important people, not having a sit-down dinner, etc). We’ve been steadily working on paying down all of our credit cards and have managed to put only a minimal amount on any of our credit cards in the 5 months we’ve been married. We probably had about $60,000 in debt right when we got married, so we’re making SLOW progress!

[Kacie's comment here: Courtney says she's making slow progress, but if she's reduced her overall debt load by about $6,000 in five months, I think they're really on the right track!]

Before you resolved to get out of debt, what were your views on debt and how did they develop? What are your views on debt now?

I think I just wanted to pretend everything was fine. Neither my husband nor I has ever made a late payment or not been able to eat a meal because of our debt, so it was really easy to ignore it. My parents and my sister have both been to court to settle credit card debts, and my sister has declared bankruptcy–I guess when I compared my situation to theirs, it seemed as though I was so much better off! I started thinking about paying off my debt and not buying anything unless I had the tangible funds (novel concept, right?!) after we got married and realized we had SO MUCH debt between the two of us!

Do you have any specific debt-related goals?

Yes! I would LOVE to not carry a monthly balance on any credit cards–that’s the biggest thing. Credit card debt gets you NOTHING. Having a mortgage and even a vehicle loan–you GET USE of those things!

Arguably a vehicle (though many disagree) and somewhere to live are tangible, necessary expenses. That $40 pair of boots I just HAD TO HAVE and put on my Discover card? So NOT worth it! We want to pay our mortgage off in 20 years (which is the longest, least tangible goal at this point) and be completely debt free (less the mortgage) within 5 years.

Why do you want to get out of debt?

Who really wants to be in debt? Did I WANT all of the things that got me into debt? Yes, I’m sure I did! But did I NEED most of them? Heck no! The feeling of not owing anyone anything and the prospect of teaching my children to value money, save up for things you want, have fun, but be responsible because things could change in a minute–is a lesson my parents were unable to give me and I grew up unequipped to really handle my own finances!

To me, if I had any money, I should spend it–because my parents always did it that way. (DISCLAIMER: My parents were/are wonderful, but I simply mean I had to fall on my own face to learn how to make a budget and I just did what I saw them do despite them telling me otherwise on several occasions!)

How will you put your plan into motion? Are you going to do a debt snowball like Dave Ramsey suggests or?

We are selling our current home and moving into a new one. We will put part of the 1/2 profit down on the new home and take 1/4 and put it in the bank as an emergency fund and the other 1/4 to pay off what debt we can. That’s the starter plan–Definitely going to use the debt-snowball method for a first little victory! (I have 3 credit cards I want to cancel that combined have just over $1,000 so this payoff/closure will be WONDERFUL!)

It sounds so “DUH” but my husband and I are going to take our lunches to work and cook and eat at home. We are on opposite shifts and so instead of cooking by myself (I find/found cooking for one sort of depressing) I would just eat out or go to dinner with a friend. We will still go out and budget for special occasions, but I imagine we’ll be saving $100/month by doing it less often, and it really is painless!

I plan to really plan out meals and purchase ingredients for those things and not just shop for whatever I’m hungry for at the moment. We have already taken steps to eliminate or lessen some monthly payments (lowered our cell phone bill and are searching for a better deal on car insurance and plan to cancel the Internet). I’m sure I’ll learn more along the way, but those are our starting block steps for now!

What challenges do you foresee on this financial journey, and how can you overcome them?

I covet THINGS–it’s wrong, it’s silly and THINGS do not make me happy! I want for nothing–I have plenty of clothes and home decorations and furniture and all of it, but man I’m such a shopper by nature! I tell my mother “I’m going to TJ Maxx” she will ask, “What do you need?” and I’ll reply, “Oh, well I don’t know that until I get there!”–I wish I was joking!

So, putting a definite stop to that has GOT to happen. I think to overcome it I will just have to say–do you NEED those crystal candle sticks or do you WANT to own your car free and clear? I’ll be the crazy lady in the aisle fighting out loud with herself to have willpower! I think the overwhelming length of time we have to go in the next (proposed) 5 years to get debt free is reasonable, but it will be a challenge! We want to start trying to conceive soon, and let’s be honest–baby clothes are SO TINY AND CUTE!

So, I’m sure that will be something we’ll address when the time comes, but as Kacie told me, “People LOVE to buy you baby stuff!” and both my sister’s have had children, so I imagine there will be a lot of generosity there!

Anything else you want to share?

Thanks super much Ms. Kacie for all the help and motivation! Now instead of shopping online and coveting a pitcher and drapes I don’t need, I spend my time analyzing my budget, searching for information on how to get debt-free and I absolutely love it! :-)

——

Coming up in the next post I’ll have some thoughts and suggestions for Courtney.

The other day, I was thinking about the time it would take for me to go to a gym. I’d have to get Johnny ready, get myself ready, and drive to and from. The prep time alone would likely take 20-30 minutes each time.

In that time, I could probably get a partial work out completed at home.

I decided to hold off on the gym membership just a bit, so that I could try some cheaper exercise options first.

At Carole’s suggestion, I signed up with SparkPeople. It’s a free social networking-type of site that helps you stay motivated and accountable to your fitness and nutrition goals. Here’s my page. Please add me if you’d like!

A long time ago I bought the Pilates for Dummies DVD*. I did the beginner’s program yesterday and I felt really good. It’s a nice introduction to Pilates and I think it will help as I try out other ones.

Abigail suggested getting workout DVDs at the library. I took a quick look at the available selection for me, and it looks like there’s a bit of a wait for a lot of titles. I might put my name on the list for some titles that I’d like to try but can’t find anywhere else.

At the brilliant suggestion of someone on SparkPeople (and reinforced by commenter Jaye) I restarted our Netflix subscription since there’s a huge variety of workout DVDs available for rental as well as instant streaming to your PC or TV. Can’t wait for it to be available on my Wii! (If you don’t already have Netflix and would like to, go throughEbates* first! You’ll get $13 cash back plus your sign-on bonus)

I’ll be able to try a variety of programs thanks to Netflix and if I find a few that will be long-term favorites I can buy them.

Several of you mentioned you like Jillian’s 30-day shred*. It should be in my mailbox tomorrow. I hope I can handle it!

Lastly, today I picked up a copy of My Fitness Coach 1* for the Wii. It has great reviews and it looks like it will be something I’ll enjoy.

It looks to me like I have enough resources to really get a head-start on my fitness. I like Jaye’s ideas to exercise during Johnny’s nap. She wakes at 5 a.m. and exercises before anyone is up — I don’t think I have that kind of willpower! Maybe once it’s actually light at that time of day. By that point, I just may be motivated to start running outside again — maybe even with a jogging stroller.

If some time has passed and I still think a gym membership would be appropriate, we can consider it again then.

Thanks again for all your suggestions!

*Affiliate link

But my son isn’t new anymore. I don’t have any excuses — I’m simply not taking care of myself the way I should.

And really, when you get no exercise (chasing /wearing a toddler can only burn so many calories for me), it’s no wonder why I am a blob.

My husband is training for a marathon in May and he’s been encouraging me to start exercising again so that I feel better and be healthier.

We’re checking out gym memberships in the hopes that we’ll go often enough for the fee to be worth it.

I’m nervous about it, though. I don’t like being tied into a contract like many gyms have you do. And even month-to-month memberships have higher costs associated with them. I don’t want us to join a place and then rarely go, you know?

If we do join a gym, we’d want the facility to have good childcare. I’d likely want to go work out during the week, and it won’t be good if I’m constantly worried about Johnny, or if he’s having a rotten time.

As expected, places with decent childcare are more expensive than places without.

I had a free day pass to one facility today. For the three of us, it would cost $119/month and that includes all childcare costs. That’s a bit much, I think, though I was satisfied with their childcare protocol. I didn’t love the facility, though.

Another place in the area would cost $70/month for us, including childcare. I wasn’t impressed with the childcare situation there, though. And the gym itself didn’t seem like a good fit for me.

We’ll be checking out a third possibility later this week. It’s a community rec center and it looks pretty fantastic online. It has a few indoor pools, some water slides and a lazy river-type of thing. It could be fun for all three of us, assuming Johnny lets us put him in the water. He has a strong aversion to baths, so we’ll just have to wait n’ see if he interprets a swimming pool as a really big bathtub.

The rec center has a rather equipped fitness center, too. Since we don’t live in the rec center’s township, we’d have a higher cost than residents. It would be $82.50/month plus childcare, which is $2 per session or $25 for the month with unlimited sessions.

I did look into the nearest YMCA, and I was disappointed at their operational hours: 9-5 M-F. What? Shane would never be able to go. And, it was $100 for that!

I think exercising as a family in the pool, and then Shane and I being able to exercise together while Johnny is in safe hands would be a good thing for us all. It’s just hard to handle that price tag!

I’m not motivated to go for a run outside with a jogging stroller. I’m not sure if I’m motivated to run at all anymore — I was active on the track and cross-country teams in high school and by the end of it, I was rather burned out. But, running outside is free. Of course, sidewalks aren’t extremely clear right now as we still have mounds of snow everywhere. And once they are clear, there’s the weather to contend with, as well as traffic and uneven surfaces.

We also have a Wii with the EA Sports Active game. It actually does put you through a good workout, if you’ll do it. Maybe I ought to play with that some more. I like the game better than just doing a workout DVD, because the game can actually tell if you’re slacking off.

So, those are the options before me.

So readers, please tell me. What motivates you to go to a gym several times per week? How do you make it worth the cost? How much do you pay? How do you exercise and stay motivated to keep going? I need your ideas!

I’m sure that upcoming years will be more expensive, but the first year of Johnny’s life was barely a blip in the budget. Here’s a few things of note:

• Thanks to our fantastic HMO, my prenatal care and the birth cost us about $280. I realize that for many people, births can cost in the thousands.
• We bought one carseat — a convertible First Year’s Trufit that’s supposed to be good from 5-65 lbs. and is good for extended rear-facing. Johnny was under six pounds when we brought him home from the hospital, and he did indeed fit properly. I do see how using an infant bucket seat for the first few months would be convenient, but we made it work. Having one car seat means one fewer item to store, and less money spent.
• Because we went the one-carseat route, we didn’t get a “travel system” with a bulky stroller. We got the cheapie umbrella stroller from Babies R Us. We don’t use it much, but it’s handy to have and it takes up hardly any space in our trunk.
• I took advantage of drugstore deals and got about 6 months’ worth of disposable diapers for around $100.
• At 6 months, we switched to cloth diapers. I spent about $400 on the diapers and accessories. We do have some disposables on hand for long trips and such. We’re also switching to cloth wipes and a homemade wipe solution.
• I was able to breastfeed exclusively. By this, I mean that Johnny didn’t use bottles. We had one bottle that came with some items at Motherhood Maternity. We tried using it a little but it wasn’t worth the trouble. By exclusively nursing, I didn’t buy bottles, pumps,  formula and whatever else that you have to buy. Someone did loan me a pump for a time, but I found it to be too much of a hassle. If you’re pregnant and are thinking about breastfeeding, do your research now! Take a breastfeeding class from an IBCLC, go to a La Leche League meeting, read “A Nursing Mother’s Companion.” Get phone numbers of lactation consultants and a LLL leader. Breastfeeding is natural, but it doesn’t come naturally for everyone (myself included!). The first few weeks were really tough, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to continue. By some work, help and perseverance, we’ve been able to continue nursing beyond 14 months. The benefits are absolutely worth it for us.
• We do a lot of homemade baby food. We’ve done some of the jarred stuff, but Johnny doesn’t seem to like it as much. I can’t really blame him. Plus, that stuff is pricey. I can cook a sweet potato and freeze it in individual meal portions in an ice-cube tray and it’s truly minimal work. Plus, it’s cheaper! Check out this site for more on making your own baby food.
• Johnny was mostly clothed in second-hand clothes or clothes that were gifts. I did buy him a few new things at retail stores, but I’ve also been fortunate to receive some second-hand clothes to borrow or keep. Also, I picked up some deals from yard sales, consignment shops and thrift stores. My favorite is the $5/bag of clearance clothes at one area consignment store. Johnny has more clothes than he could possibly wear thanks to those deals and the generosity of friends and relatives.
• We didn’t buy many toys for him. He had a few little things when he was itty bitty, but itty bitty babes don’t really seem to care about toys. When he got older, we got him a few toys he could enjoy. Some bigger items we were able to borrow from a friend (Hi, Renee!). And then we experienced the 1-2 punch that was his birthday (December 20) and Christmas just five days later.
• His birthday present from us was a membership to an indoor playground. His Christmas present was a contribution to his college fund. If that sounds stingy, well, maybe it is. But lemme tell ya, my kid has TONS of toys now thanks to family. It was a miracle that we were able to fit it all in our car on the way home! The gifts from us were intangible because our space is so limited, he lacks for nothing, and for pete’s sake — he’s one. He doesn’t know the difference. :)
• Since I’m a SAHM, we don’t pay for childcare. Yes, you could argue that there’s an opportunity cost with keeping me out of the workforce, but for our family, this is what works.
• There are plenty of free, fun activities for little guys. In our area, there are several libraries that offer baby story time, sing/sign/and play time, and others. There are meetup groups for moms and tots to get together and play. We also use a shared museum membership for some outings. Plus, at this age, anywhere we go is an adventure. We have fun at the grocery store, parks (if the weather is ok) and anywhere else we might go.
• Lots of baby gear that we have, we’ll be able to use it for future children, loan out, and finally resell.

When I was pregnant, we put $1,000 aside to buy things like his car seat, crib and mattress, diapers, and other items we wanted to have. That was more than enough to get us started.

So for now, no, I do not think it has to be costly to have a baby. I’m really irritated that someone told my friend Mrs Money that she can’t afford to have children. Yes, you might have to change your financial priorities around and make some sacrifices, but it’s worth it!

What other ways can you save money with a baby?

Well, too bad!

My first credit card — a Citi card I opened in 2004, I think, has been inactive for more than a year. We have one credit card that we still use for some large purchases (and we pay it off right away, of course). It earns us cash back, whereas my first card had no rewards program.

The old card will start charging a $60 annual fee unless I spend at least $200/month on the card, or some nonsense like that.

I think it would be a challenge for me to put that much on the card each month.

Closing this account will leave us with one credit card account only. I think that’s enough.

Our credit score is already starting to creep down, in part I think because we no longer have a car loan and don’t carry other types of debt. It’s funny how you can be penalized for being financially responsible, ya know?

We’ll still use our active credit card from time to time just to keep that active. We’d like to buy a house in a few years, and that’s the only reason I even remotely care about my credit score.

I want to get the best possible mortgage terms we can get.

OK! If your wash is $1 each and you do two cycles to get your diapers clean, and you wash them twice per week, that’s $4/week to wash diapers. Two years in diapers (I’m being generous — it might be longer than that) — is $208/year or $416 for two years of machine washing alone. You could hang dry all diapers on racks to save money. If that’s not feasible, then hang-dry the covers and machine-dry the diapers.

Two loads through the dryer per week at $1/load is$104 in annually.

I use Country Save laundry detergent because it’s supposed to be safe for cloth diapers. Oh, and there’s free shipping! On a 40-lb. package! This detergent comes as four $15.54/boxes. The box says you should get 80 loads for a regular machine ($0.19/load) or 160 for a high-efficiency front-loader (like mine) so about $0.10/load.

HOWEVER. I have found that I can use half the recommended soap and still get clothes that are just as clean. If I use the full recommended amount, the soap doesn’t fully rinse out by the end of the cycle. So I’m looking at oh, a nickel per load.

Say you buy the Flip diaper system and use it from birth to potty-training. Let’s pretend you buy four of their “2 covers, 6 organic inserts” packages, for a total of $240. You also buy four dozen Indian prefolds of various sizes (let’s call that $100 even though it’ll probably be closer to $75 or less).

So …

• $208/year of coin-washes
• I’ll be generous and say your detergent costs $0.19/load. That’s $21.28/year in detergent costs. Remember, the second cycle would be to rinse only, so you wouldn’t add more soap.
• $104/year for the dryer
• $340 for diaper covers, prefolds, and organic cotton inserts
• $40 for diaper sprayer
• $8 for a roll of flushable diaper liners
• $20 for an over-the-doorknob diaper pail (or any type of pail, that’s just the kind I have)
• $10 for some flannel wipes (you could create your own from old fabric you already have)
• $15 for a wetbag for your diaper bag
• $15 for 4 oz. tea tree oil

Total first year costs: $781.28

Add on an additional $208 for a second year of washes plus $21.28 more in soap and $104 in the dryer, and your two-year total comes to $1,114.56. That breaks down to $46.44 per month.

Now, let’s look at the cost of disposables.

• $20 for a diaper pail (or trash can, or whatever)
• $15 for a wetbag — even if you’re not carting home dirty diapers, you still might cart home a blown-out onesie so I’m including it on this list
• Wipes $96/year
• Premium Diapers $728.82/year

First year total: $859.82

For 24-months of diapering: $1,684.64 or an average of $70.19 per month.

A big box of size 1 Swaddlers on Diapers.com is selling for $40.49 for a box of 216. That’s enough for 7.2 diapers per day if you wanted to stretch the whole box for a month. Good luck with that, at this age! I think this is more like a three-week supply of diapers.

This price is $0.187 per diaper. As your baby goes up in size, they’ll hopefully require fewer diapers per day. The cost per pack is the same though, no matter the size — they just include fewer diapers.

So for the sake of just keeping things simple, let’s say you go through an “extra large case” of diapers every three weeks. That’s a little more than 17 cases per year (let’s go with 18 cases) so $728.82 per year for disposable diapers. Maybe.

Of course, you could also work the drugstore deals like mad and get a big stash of diapers for much cheaper than that. I paid about $100 for about five months of diapers (well, from about age 1.5 months – 6.5 months). My son was in size NB for the first 6 weeks or so (I didn’t expect such a tiny baby!) and so bleary-eyed me went out and paid close to full-price on those sizes. I think we spent around $75 for six weeks worth of diapers, but I could be wrong about that figure.

It takes work to get a deal, and you have to determine that the cost savings is worth your time. You could also go with generics. We’ve had some ok experiences with a few generic brands, depending on the stage my son was in.

Disposable wipes shouldn’t cost more than $0.02 — even for the good quality ones. Let’s say you use 20 wipes per day in the early months. That’s $0.40/day in wipes, or $12 for the first month. And let’s say your baby requires that many wipes per day for the first four months — so $48 total. After that, let’s bump it down to 10 wipes a day on average. That’s $6/month and then $48 to finish the year.

Who wins?

By my rough cost estimates, it looks like cloth wins by about $24/month or $576 for the course of two years. Keep in mind, these are just my best estimates — you may find a ton of cheap diapers at the drugstores, find that generics work perfectly fine for your child, and that your baby needs fewer changes per day. Or it could be the opposite, and your baby requires Pampers and lots of ‘em!

Further, you have to look at that rough $24/month and determine if the savings is worth your time dealing with extra laundry. If you’re running up and down the stairs with a load of laundry in your arms and a baby strapped to your back, it might be more of a workout than you’d prefer.

However — cloth wins big time if you have a second child and are able to use most of your supplies a second time. Your diaper sprayer, wet bag, wipes, and diaper pail still ought to be fine. You might have a few diapers and covers that are too worn to make it another 24 months with another child, but many of them will probably survive. The quality prefolds really seem to last forever, and once they lose their usefulness as a diaper, you can use them in other ways.

Cloth also wins by even more if your baby needs more frequent changes, or if he needs diapers beyond 24 months.

Finally, you can resell your cloth diapering supplies. Can you resell a used disposable diaper?

Ways to save

You wouldn’t have to buy the entire Flip system complete with organic inserts. You could just buy the covers a la carte ($13.95 each, or $111.60 for eight) and a big stack of prefolds. And don’t forget about that diapers.com deal I mentioned earlier.

You could go with another, even cheaper diaper system called Econobum. I haven’t tried this one. Hard saying if this cover would last for all of your baby’s diapering days. It hasn’t been around long enough for anyone to say with certainty. (Same goes for the Flip, since it has only been around for a few months.)

Ask for diapers and diapering accessories as baby shower gifts. If you’re going the disposable route, ask for dipes and ask that they include a receipt so you can easily swap out sizes as you need. Cloth diapers make nice shower gifts, but be sure you get the exact kind the mama wants.

Bottom line

Laura, you’ll have to plug in your actual estimated costs. How much does each wash and each dry cost? How much do you want to spend on diapers? Which is more important to you — saving money or doing less laundry? Also, you probably could squeak by with doing diaper laundry a little less frequently if you use prefolds and handwash covers.

I think it’s an individual choice. But, I do think that cloth diapers can be cheaper than disposables, depending on the types of diapers you select.

Readers — are my cost estimates off? Help me out!

Here’s a more current post on the topic (and here’s my old post). Oh dear, this is going to be long. I hope it’s helpful to some of you.

To the point, no, I did not try cloth diapers for my son when we lived without our own washer/dryer. Keeping up with the regular laundry was enough of a challenge, and that I didn’t want to use cloth badly enough to make it work.

Instead, I took  advantage of drugstore deals to collect six months + worth of diapers. When Johnny was 6 months, we moved to an apartment with its own washer/dryer and I bought cloth diapers soon after. For awhile, Johnny was wearing cloth all the time. He’s now back in disposables at night because the only leak-proof cloth diaper I’ve been able to use for him is ginormous and uncomfortable for him. I’m going to test one other cloth option for nights.

Looking back, I’m glad I cut myself a break. Using cloth would have been too much for me to handle. However, if you’re really determined to make cloth work for your family, it can be done.

Baby diaper phases:

- – - I am told that stools from 100% breastfed babies are different than stools from a baby who has had formula. Supposedly, you can put a soiled diaper in your pail without doing anything else to it, and the mess will come out in the wash. This is just what I’ve heard — my son was eating solids when we started cloth so I haven’t seen this first-hand.

However, I have had plenty of diaper blow-outs during that phase, which required me to rinse his clothes/sheets/whatever by hand in the sink. The mess really did come out, and I used Oxyclean to remove lingering stains. Laying items in the sunlight is supposed to bleach stains out naturally, but if you’re in an apartment you may not have a place to do this. I don’t.

- – - During this 0-6 month no-solids/no-formula phase, you’re going to go through a lot of diaper changes per day if your baby’s bowel is anything like my son’s was. We’re talking 10-15 changes in a 24-hour period, easily.

- – - Once you introduce solids, your baby’s stools will change. They’ll no longer be fairly unoffensive. No no, they’ll be sticky, mucky and smelly. You WILL need a diaper sprayer and possibly a scraper/spatula to remove the muck. For this phase, I strongly suggest using flushable diaper liners. You lay a liner over a diaper and once dirty, you can peel it off the diaper and plop it into the toilet.

With Johnny, this disgusting phase lasted 3-4 months. It would have been shorter if he ate more solids. I think.

- – - Once your baby gets beyond the mucky phase, using cloth diapers will be substantially easier. You hold the diaper over the toilet, give a little shake, and it just plops! There’s a little skid mark, sure, but it’s not terrible. I even do the “plop” when he’s in a disposable because that just seems less gross to me.

THIS is the phase that would be easiest on the cloth-diapering-sans-washer mama. Your baby will be using fewer diapers per day. Johnny uses oh, 4-6 in a 24-hour period at 13 months of age. Fewer diapers + ploppable poops makes it all-around easier.

If you do want to give cloth diapering a try from the beginning, I would suggest trying a diaper sprayer on all dirty diapers, even if you don’t have to.

Other things:

• Plan on doing at least two wash loads per cycle. Coin-op machines are a pain since there usually isn’t a “rinse-only” or soak setting. You’ll probably have to do two (or maybe three?) cycles to get them clean.
• Your neighbors may not appreciate knowing your baby’s dirty diapers swirled around in the communal machines. Yes, they’re clean now, but they may not like the “ick” factor.
• Look into a portable washing machine that hooks up to your sink. This wasn’t allowed at my old apartment, but if you can get one, this’ll save you a lot of hassle!
• You’ll use diaper-approved washing detergent of course, but your neighbors probably won’t. Their Tide or whatever could create a residue inside the machine, which in turn has the potential for latching onto your diapers. Soap in diapers = stink issues and absorbency problems. I run a “sanitize” cycle on my machine at home using bleach and hot water (it does have a setting for this purpose) and I still see suds — and I use Country Save in all my loads!
• Unless you’re doing laundry only when both parents (or a helper) is home to stay with your baby, you’ll need a good sling to keep your arms free for laundry-doing.
• Hang diaper covers to dry to prolong their life. Prefolds and inserts can also be hung to dry, but they might be crunchy.
• Depending on the diapering system you use, you can add bleach to sanitize your diapers. Generally, this would be a prefold-only load. Also, for any type of diaper, consider adding a few drops of tea tree oil, as this is a natural antiseptic.
• In theory, you could get by with washing diapers once or twice per week IF you have enough, and IF you use a prefold + cover system and hand-wash your covers in between machine washes. If you wait more than three days, it’s going to smell really foul.

Which type of diaper to try?

Go with a prefold + cover system. It’s cheaper than pockets or all-in-ones and washing them ought to be easier. This is the type of system diaper services typically use, and for good reason. Diaper services wash those diapers once per week. I don’t know how many times they’re washed or how they’re processed, but they make it work!

Contrast that with a pocket or AIO. Those things need to be washed every two days (possibly stretching to three days) or you’ll encounter more challenges. The ammonia from pee can start to break down diaper elastic (I think) if you give it enough time to fester. With a pocket, you’ll use one outer + one (or more) insert per change. You’ll probably want two dozen or more of those types to get you through two days of use. That’s a larger-sized load, thus could take longer to get clean.

Circling back to a prefold + cover, you can get two dozen prefolds or more per size, plus 2-3 covers per day. You’ll probably go through more covers during the explosive newborn stool phase. If some poop gets on the cover, you gotta wash it. Realize, though, that you can hand wash it and hang it to dry and it would take just a few minutes.

Indian Prefolds cost $1 for premie size all the way through $2 each for “premium” on Cotton Babies. Absolutely get the high-quality Chinese or Indian prefolds from a diaper company such as this one. You can use the thinner Gerber ones you’ll find at Walmart or Babies R Us (we have some of those too) but they aren’t as absorbant and wear out faster.

You can use a Snappi to secure the prefold around your baby if you want. We don’t. It was just too much work for us. Plus, I caught one of the Snappi’s teeth on my finger once and it hurt! Instead, we do a “newspaper” fold and lay it inside the diaper cover. It’s easy and the diaper stays reasonably together.

I made a video to show you how we do it.

We have tried two types of diaper covers: Thirsties Duos and Flip. The Duos are a two-size option — size 1 is for 6-18 lbs. and size 2 is 18 – 40 lbs. We have size two only. This cover is nice, but sadly I’ve had quality issues with three of them. Velcro came unstitched, a snap separated from the fabric, and one had a spot wear out so it was no longer waterproof. The first two problems happened within the first 90 days of purchase so I received a replacement at no cost.

You might have better luck with yours. My general advice for it now is to read others’ reviews and form your own conclusions.

A few weeks ago, I purchased one Flip diaper cover. This system came out after we started cloth. It’s a one-size cover and appears to be well-made. The “stay dry” insert that comes with it is soft and nice but it can easily get bunched to the side (and cause a leak). We have been happy using prefolds inside of this cover, though the stay dry insert isn’t bad. I would like to get their organic cotton insert and combine that with a hemp doubler to see how that holds up overnight.

Flips also have disposable inserts for sale. We have some but haven’t tried them yet. It’s probably cheaper to use a regular disposable instead.

You can get this diaper (and others) for a great price on Diapers.com — $25 off $50 with free shipping. Check out this post to find out how.

Of course, there are plenty of other diaper covers and diapering systems out there. Have your cloth diapering friends show you theirs and read reviews to figure out what might work for you.

Finally, you may love prefolds just fine, but I like to use pocket diapers if we’re out running errands. I’d suggest a pocket over an all-in-one for you mamas-without-washers because they ought to be easier for you to get clean and dry.

Bottom line advice:

• Don’t make parenting a newborn harder on yourself than it needs to be. There’s no shame in using disposables.
• If you try cloth at first and it’s too much work, switch to disposables until your baby reaches a new poop phase. If it’s still too much work, sell ‘em off and pat yourself on the back for trying.
• You probably can make it work!

Cloth-diapering parents of all washing situations — what would you like to add?  And more on the topic: Trent says the cost savings of cloth go way down if you have to pay per wash. I disagree — I think you’ll have to run the numbers yourself on this one.