Ready to take the plunge

Okay, so after much deliberation I've decided to go with cloth diapers for the baby who will be joining the family shortly.

I think this is going to work out well for us. I found a nice place to order from (and they seem to be relatively close so shipping time should be short). It's called Cotton Babies. Their prices are in line with pretty much everyone else I've found online, plus they give free shipping on orders over $50. I can order enough diapers and covers to last us about 4-5 months (based on Enzo's size from newborn to 5 months) for less than $100. That is so exciting to me, especially with how expensive disposables can be. When Enzo was small, we were spending between $40-$60 a month on diapers. Over 4 months, that's $160-$240.

What prompted me to go ahead and do it is the decision that we reached as a family that for the time being, Julian is going to stay at home and watch the kids. Since he's not working now, it won't be that big of a change for us financially from where we are. Our transportation costs will be lower since my commute to work is less than 5 miles round trip. I won't have to take anyone anywhere in the morning or pick them up in the afternoon. I'll be able to cancel my daycare reimbursement so that I'll have that money available for other things. And the other thing we considered, which to me is the biggest thing: daycare for 2 would be more than $800/month. If Julian got another job making the same amount as his last job, his take-home pay each month was around $1200. So after paying daycare, he'd only have $400 left. After talking with a friend who is a tax attorney we determined that most of the money left would get eaten by taxes. He'd be working basically to pay for daycare so he could work and then to pay the taxes on the money he made. Not worth it.

So, long story short...unless someone rings Julian with an offer he can't refuse, he's staying home to take care of the two kids. Which will let us use cloth diapers exclusively. And save money. And that's a good thing.

I'm so excited to have a plan!