The day got ahead of me BIG TIME. I wrote this for a guest spot on Greening Sam and Avery (thanks again Abbie for having me), but I thought I would share this again here.
Hi, my name is Emily and I use a cloth diaper service. No, I am not lazy, no, I am not rich, and yes, I did my homework.
When Squishy was 4 weeks old, the Hubs and I went to a 4th of July celebration in the park. We sat down, and while the Hubs stayed with the baby, I went off to get some food. When I came back there was another young couple with a baby close to Squishy’s age. My Hubs told me that they owned a cloth diaper service. We talked a bit about that, I took their card, and pretty much woke up the next day and started researching cloth diapering.I guess I didn’t look into it before I had Squishy, because I thought it was all rubber pants and safety pins. Little did I know there was a whole world of cloth diapers out there. My Hubs is a stats kind of guy. He wanted to know the black and white of it. So I researched, and posted on a community board. Everyone told me diaper services were a waste of money, and was the lazy person’s way to cloth diaper. But if that was the case, why was what I was reading was telling me differently? Here is why using a cloth diaper service was the best option for us.
ENVIRONMENT:
Using a diaper service is one of the greenest ways to cloth diaper. The services use extremely high efficiency machines. They use less water and waste less fuel by washing a lot of diapers at once. They use a specifically formulated soap system, and a PH-balanced wash cycle that is more extensive than those used for hospital linens. The soaps are fragrance free, biodegradable, and phosphate free.
The routes are designed and laid out to use the least amount of driving time and gas possible. Water where I live is getting to be pretty scarce, and isn’t exactly cheap. In fact I don’t ever remember paying near as much for water in Chicago as we do in Las Vegas. By using a service I feel we are really reducing our carbon footprint as best we can in the area we live.CONVENIENCE:
Not laziness. My husband is deployed frequently for his job. And until recently we didn’t have any family in the area. We were both worried that there would be days were I wouldn’t be feeling well, or Squish would need extra attention, and laundry would be the last thing on my mind. While I can always find another outfit for us to wear, not having a clean diaper is a bit of an issue. Yes, this wouldn’t happen all the time, but it was a thought. Also as a single mom 1/3 – 1/2 of the year, I honestly knew I was going to have enough on my plate, adding washing diapers to that list could have easily put me over.
MONEY:
Yes, washing your own cloth diapers is the most cost effective way to cloth diaper, but using a service will save you money. Typically, children who are cloth diapered potty train up to a year earlier than children who wear disposables. And in the beginning when they are first born, it seems like they poop every two minutes. So you are in essence saving money at the beginning and end of your diapering days.
SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS:
I really liked the fact that the company was run by a husband and wife team. I liked that they saw a need for something, and got it taken care of. I liked talking to them, and the way the answered my questions. I liked the fact that our money was going to a locally owned business instead of somewhere ½ way around the world.THE EMILY FACTOR:
I may or may not be known to start something and then decide it isn’t right for me. I know – it is an awful personality trait. I wish I wasn’t known for that, but I am. So the Hubs wasn’t ready to shell out a whole bunch of money to start a stash only to find out that CDing wasn’t something we were going to be able/want to do full time or at all. So it made sense to at least try the service since it was the least expensive way to go. Yes, there are places that have trials of different kinds of cloth diapers for you to use. But honestly, two weeks isn’t enough time for me to decide if I like something or not. If I love it, I know right away, but if I am unsure, it takes time to figure out why.
These were the reasons we decided to go with the diaper service, there were smaller reasons too, but these 4 was enough black and white to make the decision. And let me tell you, I am so glad we did.
The company delivers the diapers in a biodegradable trash bag, which we than use to line the diaper pail. The diapers come off, and go right into the pail. No rinsing or soaking, no extra work for us. They do get a little stinky towards the end of the week, but I just pop an extra biodegradable, completely edible deodorizing disk in, and no more stinky.
The diapers are delivered right to our front door in the middle of the night. Put the old ones out, and new ones magically appear. It’s like the diaper fairy comes and hauls away the poop so you don’t have to.
If we ever need more diapers, they get delivered with in 24 hours, no charge. If we have any issues, like my heavy wetter issue, they have worked with us to find a solution.
They also recycle the diapers after they have been used too many times, or have stains. They are sold to housekeeping business, or car washes, and many other businesses to repurpose.
I have not yet had one complaint about our diaper service. We absolutely made the right choice for us, our son, and the environment. And his bunz are happier as a result of Happi Bunz diaper service, and we are too!
UPDATE: Unfortunately the service I used for my son here in Las Vegas and had to close their doors as of April 2012.
Emily is a wife & mom living in Las Vegas. The owner and writer at Our Knight Life, Emily loves sharing her two adorable boys and journey through motherhood. Emily has run four half marathons to date and is always training for her next big race. She also enjoys creating healthy recipes for her family and sharing family friendly product reviews.
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Sounds awesome to me! I would do cloth diapering if we had a service around here, but we don't. I know myself well enough to know that there's no way I would be able to clean the diapers myself (there have been many times where I've gagged until I puked while changing a dirty disposable diaper).
Go you!
That's great! I was going to use a diapering service here, but there wasn't one. It would be a great business to start, but not for us since we're moving soon.
Frugally Green Mom
I wish I used our cloth diapers more often. As easy as cloth diapering is, disposables are just simply easier and I've been lazy during the holidays. It's time to get back onto a cloth diaper schedule.
How did I forget you cloth diapered Squish?! We gave up on it after we moved here. There isjust not enough time in the day to get things done let alone laundry everyday. Glad you found a solution that worked for you!
We cloth diapered up until about 9 months of age when he seemed to be leaking out of them ALL THE TIME. CDing in any form is a great choice!
I tried using this service when my son was first born, but we live in Mt. Charleston and we are out of their service range 🙁 I'd have to get some other parents near me to use the diaper service and I don't think that will happen anytime soon 🙁
@ Elle – thanks! And I totally know the feeling – some of those diapers are just awful!!
April – good luck with your move? Are you going far?
@Midwest Elle – you can do it – but honestly I understand. It is just habit for us.
@Ruby – Aw man, you had such a great stash going too – moved – does that mean my card didn't make it to you?? (Christmas Card?)
@Amanda – 9 months is great – and I hear you on leaks – we double at night. 🙂
I never realized diaper services were as affordable as they are. For some reason I was convinced they were tons of money. lol I guess that is because I never looked it up before this post. We just started getting Devon used to the potty, so I'm hoping we won't need any diapers at all at some point in the nearer future. Thanks for the post….lots of good insight.
Yay Happi Bunz! 🙂
I found this post when I was looking for diaper service in las vegas and just FYI the link to the company you use(d) no longer works 🙁 it appears they no longer pay for a webpage and haven’t really been active on fb or twitter. hoping I can find a phone number.
I am the owner of Storky’s Diaper service in Ontario, Canada.
Emily it was a pleasure to read you post, I find it very encouraging that more and more people are becoming aware of the benefits of a Diaper service! My company is built with the passion to educate as many parents as possible on the benefits of a) Cloth Diapering and b) a service. I feel every parent has the right to know what ingredients make up a disposable and where it goes when their finished with it!
I find what you said about simply not being aware of a Diaper service and what we offer very common among parents.
I’m glad I found your post and I will be sharing it on my fb page 🙂
Hello,
A new diaper service just opened in the Chicago land area. Green Lil Bums 815-529-1293
Is this company still active and if so can you post a phone number or website for them please and thank you.
We have a new adopted 14 year old daughter whom we have had for three months now and we started her off right away in cloth pin on diapers and rubberpants 24/7 for her day time wetting accidents and her bedwetting.We use the regular cloth diapers in the 24×27 inch size on her with standard diaper pins and adult size medium rubberpants.Unfortunately,there is no diaper service near us,so i wash her diapers and rubberpants my self.We got her rubberpants in white and pink,yellow and blue,with a few pair of baby print kind also.We baptized and christened her three weeks ago at our parish and did her in a white,below the knees,poofy,baptism gown and matching bonnet with lace anklets and white mary jane shoes.She had a pair of her white rubberpants with 6 rows of pink lace sewn across the back and a white bow in the middle of the lace over her diapers under the gown and they looked very cute and adorable!
At one point I had 3 in diapers. One full time and two at night only for bedwetting. The cost of disposables for all 3 was out of sight so I went with cloth and a diaper service. Believe it or not the cost was less per month. The service provided the diapers and plastic pants for all 3