
What's the perfect size stash? I get that question a lot at the store. Every family is different, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer. There are many variables! How often do you want to do laundry? What kind of diapers do you want to use? What is your budget (do you need to grow into your stash slowly?) How old is your child(ren)? Will you use cloth full-time or part-time? I usually share with my clients who pose this question to me what I will share with you now....my own story.
I have one, 2 year-old child in diapers full-time. I have two children that require diapers for overnight protection. We wash diaper laundry every 2nd to 3rd day. For us, 3 large pockets and 3 medium pockets with 12 inserts are all it takes to "double-stuff" the two oldest kids for overnight. For the 2 year-old, he uses up to 6 diapers every day. To cover him, we need 12 medium pockets and 14 inserts. A couple dozen cloth wipes, 2 diaper laundry bags and 1 diaper laundry travel bag is all takes to round out our diaper inventory.
This amount of diapers usually allows us to always have at least one diaper on the child while having at least one more in the drawer ready to go. Most of the time, we have one in the diaper bag ready for the next outing, too and maybe even one in the car for an emergency situation.
As my stash has slowly grown over the years, I now have a selection of about 3 prefolds, 2 covers, a Snappi and 3 fitteds for when it's just me and the baby. (Daddy won't touch anything but pockets!) If I use any of latter, there are always plenty more diapers than we need ready and waiting for us to use them.
Happy diapering!
Photo compliments of tiffanywashko used with permission CC 2.0





