Adventures in Cloth Diapering

I've always been intrigued by cloth diapers because of the monetary savings, but I thought they must be way too much work! If it wasn't for a couple of friends sharing their experiences, Michael and I would have never realized how surprisingly simple and rewarding cloth diapering is. I want to share our experience in hopes that another parent or soon-to-be parent is inspired to do the same.

**Side note: If you use disposable diapers, please, please, please don't feel guilt tripped by this post! There simply isn't the time to pursue everything good in the world, so we have to pick and choose. Michael and I have simply picked cloth diapering to be one of the good things that we do.

Why cloth diapers?

They're good for your wallet. Although the exact number varies from source to source, everyone agrees that a child will burn through thousands of diapers before becoming potty trained. Taking care of your kids poop and pee can easily cost you a couple thousand, dollars.

Cloth diapers are cheaper. We spent a little over $300 on our diapers, special laundry detergent, and reusable diaper pail liners. Instead of baby wipes, we also use dampened baby washcloths and throw them in with the dirty diapers for washing and reusing. We hope to eventually have at least two kids, so we will be doubling or tripling (or quadrupling?!) our savings over the years.

They're good for the planet. Every disposable diaper requires a cup of crude oil to make and ultimately takes 500 years to decompose. Multiply that by thousands of diapers per kid and you've got a lot of negative environmental impact. I'm sure cloth diapers also require a lot of energy to make and take a while to decompose, but since you need less than twenty, the environmental impact is not nearly the same.

They're cute. Cloth diapers come in all sorts of fun patterns and colors. They're way cuter than disposables!

How much work are they? When you're caring for a diapered little one, time is a precious commodity. If cloth diapers created hours of extra work, I wouldn't have taken the plunge, but they're really not bad at all. Changing Grace's diapers takes a few extra seconds every time. Negligible, right? Every two or three days I wash her diapers which means dumping them all in the washer to go for a cold cycle to get the yuckies out and a hot cycle to get them clean. That takes just minutes of work. Once the washing is done, I hang them out to dry. This takes about five minutes.

The one thing that takes any notable time is restuffing them, and that takes about fifteen minutes, and I do it about three times per week. All in all, we invest about an hour or so of our time per week to save lots of money and a little bit of the planet.

**Edit: In an effort not to exaggerate, I overestimated how much time these things take. Line drying takes about two minutes. Re-stuffing the diapers takes less than ten minutes. Not bad at all!


If you're intrigued, check out this website for tons more helpful info. Or if you live in the Los Angeles area, I can give you an in-person tutorial.

Swap Meet Haul

I'm a sucker for good deals.

In fact, just this weekend, my husband and I bought three pairs of jeans at Kohl's for a total of $33. They were originally priced at about $40 each. The cashier threw in a $10 off any purchase coupon. I feel so accomplished!

But Kohl's can't hold a candle to my newest discovery... the Mission Tiki swap meet in Montclair. I visited the swap meet for the first time over spring break with Michael and my parents who were visiting from Colorado. It was located in a huge parking lot that is a swap meet by day and a drive-in movie theater by night. Out of the hundreds of people there, not including us, I saw about two Asians, three black people, and three white people. Everyone else was Hispanic/Latino. Various sellers staked their claim selling so much stuff - used shoes, new jeans, a classic Radio Flyer wagon, plugs and cords of all types, cleaning supplies, instruments, washers and dryers, Mac makeup, fresh produce and spices, etc. I've always loved outdoor markets. This one is just fabulous and not far, far away in another country!

Check out the deals we got on these items.

Tortillas: $3
Dried peppers: $3
Papaya: $1.50
Plants: $1 each
Silver colored hoop earrings: 50 cents!
Four steel wool sponges: $1
80+ bike tire patches: $4
Two bottles of nail polish: $1.50
Cute top: $12 + a free ring


Perhaps Los Angeles swap meets will become my go-to place for all my basic necessities.

I Love Lentils

Fun fact: many of my favorite dishes look like poop.


Toward the top of my delicious poop dishes is lentils & rice. Growing up, my mom made delicious, healthy meals daily... not a small feat when you consider our family's caloric intake with my brother, sister, and dad clocking in at 2500-3000 calories/day. I always loved it when she made lentils and rice. When I began cooking on my own four years ago, I got the "recipe" from her and immediately realized how wonderfully simple it is to make. Now, lentils and rice frequents my own family of two's table every couple of months.


Recipe (if you can even call it that)
1 onion or lots of cloves of garlic minced
1/2-1lb hot Italian sausage (optional)
2 cups of lentils
2 cups of brown rice
8 cups of water
salt to taste (about 2 teaspoons)


Brown onion/garlic/sausage. Add lentils, brown rice, water, and salt. Bring to a boil. Simmer covered until done (about 45 minutes). Serve up!


A quick look at the beauty of a gigantic serving of lentils and rice:

• fat content: 2.8 grams
• dietary fiber: 100% of your daily recommended amount
• protein: 26 grams
• cost per hungry-husband-sized serving: $.80 (that's right. 80 cents.)

And that's why I love (and you should love) lentils!

Going Simple. Going Green.

Michael and I love simplicity. Although our lives often look and feel far from simple, we're always looking for ways to trim the fat and streamline our lives. So, when we found out that we were going to move, we intentionally looked for a place that was close to his job and close to a train station so that we could simplify from two cars to one car.


We found an apartment in a great location, purchased a monthly train pass, and were given an old bike from my parents. Now we are in the process of getting rid of Michael's car. Here are the perks that we've discovered from this new lifestyle:

• Biking places gives you LOTS of exercise.
• Taking the train and riding a bike pollute much less than driving everywhere.
• A bike is much cheaper to maintain than a vehicle.
• You can get studying done or simply relax on the train rather than sitting in Los Angeles' infamous traffic jams.
• A train ticket is cheaper than gas and wear & tear on a vehicle. (especially since I get a 10% student discount from Metrolink and then a 50% "thank you for not filling up our parking garage" discount from my school). 
• We still have a car for convenience when biking and public transportation don't work so well. i.e. buying lots of groceries and going on road trips.

And the best part of all...

Being disgustingly adorable at the train station when we say hello and goodbye!