Cloth Diaper Column | Diaper Need: Choose Your Charity Special Edition

Issue #07, October 2012

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What is Diaper Need?

Did you Know? At an average cost of $18 per week, families spend $936 per year on disposable diapers.

According to the National Diaper Bank Network, 1 in 3 families in the United States struggles to provide diapers for their children. 22% of all children under 5 years of age in the United States live in poverty, with many more living in low-income families. Often, families are forced to make a choice between basics such as food, utilities, or child care in order to afford diapers.

It's hard to believe, but families may have resort to leaving children in dirty diapers for longer periods of time, or reusing soiled diapers.

Why Cloth Diapers?

Whether it's due to health complications, lay-offs, or other misfortune, many families find themselves in situations where money is tight. If you're currently using cloth diapers, or are still considering them, you've probably already thought about the money you can save by using cloth diapers.

The biggest challenges for low income families considering cloth diapers are start-up costs, and education and support programs for cloth diaper users. And that's where cloth diaper closets and lending programs come in. These organizations, run by volunteers, collect new and used cloth diapers, often even making or repairing them, to help families who need a helping hand.

How Can You Help?

Over the past few weeks, we've used our first Choose Your Charity Event to help raise awareness for cloth diaper lending programs. You can read more about some of the great organizations across the US and Canada here.

There are lots of ways to help a local (or even not-so-local!) program, including:

• Donate your time and talents (blogging, sewing, diaper repairs, press releases, offering training sessions, you name it!)
• Donate new or used diapers, wet bags, detergents, and other accessories
• Spread the word, and act as a drop-off location for a program in your state or province
• Collect used t-shirts, plus elastic, snaps and other diaper making supplies to donate
• Donate cash if you can spare it
• Be sure to tell families who may be struggling financially that there are programs to help with diapers
  

Enter to Win - and VOTE!

Plus, be sure to enter our Choose Your Charity Contest! This event closes at midnight on October 21. One lucky winner will receive $200 in cloth diapers and accessories, plus a $300 cash donation to a registered children's or cloth diaper charity of their choice! There are several other prizes to be won, and the charity that receives the most "votes" will also receive a $50 donation!

If you know someone who might have diapers to donate, or who might benefit from a cloth diaper bank, please click on this link to pass this newsletter along.

Have You Heard?

News from the Cloth Diaper World

This October, We're Giveaway Central! It's crazy, but it's true!


Facebook has recently changed the way posts show up in our readers' feeds, and we don't want you, our most loyal readers, to miss a chance to win, so we'll remind you of all of our current giveaways here! This week, please take a minute to get your entries in for your chance to win:

• Choose Your Charity (ends Oct 21)
• Newborn Stash from Kissed by the Moon (sorry, US residents only, ends Oct 20)
• Fluff and Fitness Goodmama and RagaBabe Giveaway (ends Oct 26)
• Plus, don't miss the Travelin' with Baby Giveway & Twitter Party with over $1000 in baby gear prizes from According to Jenny (ends Oct 24)

Let's Get Social!

We've been on Facebook for awhile, but we're now on Twitter and Pinterest too! Want to follow us? Click on the links below! We'd love to keep in touch, so feel free to send us a message too!

Follow @ThinkClothDiap

Special Savings for You!

Funky Fluff was started by 2 moms who were on the quest for the perfect diaper. Their innovative AI2 diapers come in natural bamboo and stay-dry fabrics, and they also sell wet bags, pail liners, and more.

Until October 31, Funky Fluff has offered an exclusive discount for our Cloth Diaper Column subscribers! Save 15% on your order when you use the code TACD15. Click here to browse their site now!

Keeping Up

Cleaning bathrooms isn't such a chore when you have all the supplies on hand!

When our little one started crawling, we put all the cleaning supplies up out of reach in a pantry product. I bought a simple caddy at our favorite dollar store, which I stocked with toilet cleaner, rubber gloves, a toilet brush, microfiber rags, an all-purpose cleaner, and other supplies. Now, when the bathroom needs to be cleaned, it's easy to grab the caddy and go!

Keep in touch! If you have a question, or an idea you think we should share with other busy moms in an upcoming Cloth Diaper Column, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to drop me a line!



That’s all for this month! Thanks for hanging out with me!

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