Okay so I'm positive that there have been many threads asking about thread diapers, but what research I have done so far on them still has me confused. I am expecting my first in Oct. We live in an apartment and the washers and dryers are just through the courtyard. They aren't that much of a pain to get to, but they do cost $1.50 for each load and $1.50 for each wash and it adds up. I already hang dry as many items as I can on my drying rack inside to save money. Would it be worth it for me to use cloth diapers? What are the best ones if I don't have a lot of money to spend on them/money to spend on all of the washing? I think that I would also use disposable too as back up and when other family members are watching him.

I'm a huge fan of cloth diapers, but if you wash AND dry them you're looking at $3/load, so even if you get them for free, you'll still spend more $ on cloth than disposables. If you do cloth, I would line dry, meaning you should either get pocket diapers (fuzzi bunz, happy heiny, bum genius, etc) or prefolds or flats. Don't get AIO's or fitteds, they'll never dry fast enough. Green mountain diapers has awesome flat diapers, I use them all the time on my 14 month old, they're actually pretty easy to use (look on you tube for 'origami fold' instructions). Prefolds dry fairly quickly, and are easy to use-- trifold them or use a snappi.

To save $, look on diaper swappers, and don't neglect your local freecycle or craigslist! You might be surprised at what you find.

To save $ on the wash, I have heard of apt dwellers using the wonder wash, a small portable washing machine that costs around $50. I would get a sprayer to rinse the poo off the diapers if you use this. Have heard they work ok for cloth diapers if you pre-rinse, but of course the agitation is not as strong as a regular washing machine.

If money is a concern, then prefolds and covers are the way to go. They are very cheap, and the folds just require some practice. Then you can trifold it and lay it in a cover, or snappi it closed.

Washing for prefolds is fairly simple, as you dont have to worry about smelly inserts or velcro sticking to anything. And they dry super fast on the line.

$3 a load does take away from the cost savings of using cloth diapers. I have enough that I wash every other day, or about 3-4x a week. You could get enough diapers to go 3 days in between washings to cut down on the amount of laundry, although I don't care for going that long - it gets pretty stinky by then As mentioned, I'd stick with the pre-folds and simple covers to keep the cost down too.