Saturday, February 5, 2011

Q&A #9 - WAHMs diapers or brand name diapers and storage ideas

When you purchase a WAHM (work at home mama) diaper, you know that your purchase just helped a cloth loving mama stay at home with her small children.  I imagine these mamas frantically sewing during naptime, night time and Mother's Morning Out.  You can expect high quality diapers and excellent customer service with WAHM diapers because a WAHM knows what a mama wants in a diaper and diaper retailer.

As much as I like supporting small businesses and handmade goods, most of our diapers are brand name.  Most cloth diapers are made in the USA which is always nice and many big diaper companies hire WAHM sewers to assemble their diapers.  However, the cheapest diapers (Sunbabies, Kawaii, Charlie Banana to name a few) are made in China -- we have two Sunbabies and as much as I like the diapers, it was very obvious they were manufactured in a big Chinese factory judging by the chemically fumes when I opened the package.  

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times.....I like cloth diapers.  I tend to buy whichever diapers I come across that are the right price so I don't worry so much about the WAHM or brand debate when choosing diapers.  But, when I buy new, I like to buy WAHM from Etsy or Hyena Cart.

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With both kids, it took me a while to fine tune my cloth diaper storage.  Liza's setup is finally perfected with covers in the top drawer, pockets and stuffers in the middle drawer and prefolds in the bottom drawer of her desk/changing table.  Her "diaper pail" is to the right of her changing table.  In reality, it's just a lidded plastic garbage can from Wal-Mart bought with a baby shower gift card.  The can is lined with a Planet Wise pail liner.  A good pail liner is stretchy nylon, waterproof on the inside and lined with elastic around the top.  We have two liners and I  throw the dirty one in the wash with the diapers.  The latest thing with diaper pails is to eliminate the pail and use a hanging bag on a doorknob for dirty diaper storage.  Liza's closet door would be ideal for a hanging bag but I'm not one to buy something new when we already have something works just fine.

I keep a Planet Wise wetbag in my purse for diaper changes out of the house.  I can't say enough good things about our wetbag as it has been used every day for 2.5 years and still looks brand new!  I own a size small and highly recommend buying a medium, rather than the small.  I still regret not springing for the extra $4 to upgrade to the larger size. 

FYI:  Planet Wise is a "brand" but many WAHMs sell the exact same products for very comparable prices

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Do you prefer WAHMs or brand diapers?
Tell me about your cloth set up.

6 comments:

Kaitlin @ More Like Mary said...

I've got two hanging PlanetWise bags and two medium sized wetbags for the diaper bag ready to go! So glad to hear you like them!

BrownFamily said...

I use both wahms and brand name dipes. We started off with Sunbabies and GoGreen pocket dipes because with the price I could buy enough at one time to start CDing full time right away. I've started adding to our stash with WAHM, both new and used, because they are adorable and, like you, I like the idea of supporting a mama so she can stay home with her little :)

The only thing I do different from you as far as storage/pail is that I have 2 pails, one by the changing table and one by the toilet for poopy dipes because I hate carrying a wet diaper from the bathroom to the bedroom lol!

Laura @ Our Messy Messy Life said...

What a good idea about having a pail in the bathroom! I hate taking the dirty diaper back into the bedroom, too.

Christine @ Merf In Progress said...

I buy my wet bags from this WAHM (http://community.babycenter.com/post/a24211693/cloth_diaper_wet_bags_many_sizes_and_prints_available.). She has such cute prints!

My diapers of choice are bumGenius Elementals or Nana's Bottoms AIOs (WAHM!). Nana's are my favorite by far.

Diaper setup -- on the main level of our house we have a pack'n'play with a changing pad on it. We keep cloth wipes, sposie wipes, a basket of diapers, and a wet bag in there. Upstairs in the nursery we have a stack of diapers and a diaper pail. I carry the poopy diapers down the hall to the diaper pail after spraying them off -- ewww!!!

Mandi @ Living the Good Life said...

My next investment is a medium sized wet bag. After seeing Alisha's, It's PERFECT!! And after you pointed out that it would work great for wet swimsuits, etc. in the future...I'm purchasing :)

We use both wahm and brand name diapeys. I guess Charlie's stash is more wahm... In this house, the closet is perfect for storage of diapers. At our old house, I used an armoir to store diapers in and had it next to the changing table. I also have a set up in the bathroom to deal with poopie diapers. I bought a small stainless steel trash can from the Evil Empire that has a removable inner pail. To open, you step on a little foot button, so it's handsfree which is an added bonus. Then, when it's time to wash I just lift the pail out by the handle and dump it in the washer with the other diapers/wetbag from the diaper hamper.

Here's the link to my current set up that I love. Any future home's closets will always compare and have to live up to these...
http://blissfullysatisfied.blogspot.com/2010/10/stash.html

Megan said...

i love my WAHM dipes and haven't been happy with the brand-names diapers I've bought! Well, one of the wraps is pretty good. I get most of my WAHM dipes from Diaper Monster on Etsy. She's wonderful

I haven't figured out my storage though. I don't have a wetbag so I just use a bucket that I vinegar-rinse out with every load. I don't mind touching the ick, I just wash my hands immediately after loading the machine.

i'm hoping one day to have a bathroom big enough to put the changing table right there. A girl can dream, right?