My first experiment in homesteading–or at least the DIY spirit of homesteading–was with cloth diapers. Now, I had absolutely no experience with cloth diapering before that. It’s very popular now (I think Amalah’s series on cloth diapering is now longer than the Wheel of Time series), but I can certainly see why previous generations left cloth diapering behind–imagine having to wash out diapers by hand. Now imagine that your baby has a stomach bug. Yeah.
But we were determined to try it, even before our first little one came along. So we signed up for a diaper service, which was bliss. You toss the dirty diapers into the bag (no rinsing!), they take them away and bring you new, clean diapers. It was so lazy, I didn’t even have to leave my house to get diapers.
Then we moved, and I no longer had to share a washer and dryer with four other families, so the justification for a diaper service was a little thin. I decided to buy some prefolds and start washing them myself. I’m not going to lie, I was nervous with that first wash, mostly because we were living in my father-in-law’s house and if something went wrong, I wasn’t sure how I would explain how I basically turned the washing machine into a toddler toilet.
But! Everything went perfectly. And now I love cloth diapering. (And it does not turn the washing machine into a toilet. There are many other sites that can explain the mechanics of it.)
My great-grandmother might not have loved cloth diapering for many reasons though. She no doubt had to sew her own diapers–I order mine on the internet and they are made in India. She probably had to wash them by hand–I have a washing machine, although I do line dry them. And I always have the choice to throw on a disposable if I’m feeling really lazy, and she didn’t. So no doubt she would have a good chuckle if she could hear me raving about the cloth diapers.
But one thing we probably could agree on? How adorable the diaper covers are. Remember those disposables printed to look like jeans from a few years back? Cloth diaper mamas have been putting crazy stuff on their babies’ butts for years. You can even get diaper covers printed with skulls and crossbones and call your baby The Dread Pirate Butt (if you are so inclined, not that I ever would embarrass my children like that).
And I think there’s nothing cuter than a line of diapers hanging to dry in front of a country house. Reusable baby poop rags as home decor? Now that’s lazy. 😉