Go with the flow

>The best piece of advice I could give for getting started with cloth is to go with the flow. 

People who know me well know how unlike me that really is.  I wish I were easygoing, but I’m just not.  I have to have everything planned, figured out, all scenarios worked through in my head.  It’s only been in recent years that I’ve accepted that I’m wound a little bit tightly and that’s OK.

When I thought about starting cloth, I wanted to know exactly what brand to buy, how many,  and how often I would wash.  I wanted to wash, dry, stuff, fold and put away.  I wanted to have some upstairs and some downstairs.  A pail up and a pail down.  Everything neat and in order.  I wanted a stash in the diaper bag at all times.  Now, I just grab a couple as we’re leaving, depending on how long we’ll be gone, and go with it.  I needed to know exactly what my washing routine would be.  Now, I vary it based on whether they are wet or dirty, how many there are, whether they’re stinky and so forth.

As I’ve been trying new things, my initial intent was to figure out what brand I wanted to stock up on.  I’ve managed to loosen up and take a different approach.  Instead, I am just trying new things and figuring out what I like best.  If there’s something I really like, I will choose that brand if I have a few bucks to spend on diapers, or if there’s a really good sale.  If it’s not my favorite, it will be at the bottom of the pile, in essence a “laundry day” diaper.

While I was expecting my first child, I was worrying about the teenage years, college and weddings.  So when I was thinking about cloth diapering, I was worrying about solid foods and potty training.   I’m working on a post about solid foods and cloth diapers now, but again, right now I am just doing what works for us.

We’re actually using our laundry room as a “diaper pail” right now, either throwing the diapers directly into the washer, or putting them in the utility sink if I am doing other laundry.  If we change one upstairs (usually just one or two a day up there) we just carry it down.  Definitely NOT what my little organized mind wants, but it’s working for us!

I am really proud of myself for being able to stick with what works for us right now & not worrying too much about tomorrow.