Finders keepers

Sal and I took a walk to buy produce this morning. It was sunny out, and he is recovering from pinkeye(s) so I thought a hat was in order. MY favorite hat of his was a splurge purchase our last night in California. I went to Quiksilver and snapped it up without even checking the price, which is totally uncharacteristic of me. I just had to have it for my boy. Anyways, Sal seems to love this hat too, so he's been rocking it lately. He wore it today, and got smiled and waved at even more than normal, because, you know-who can resist a little guy in a trucker hat?

He scored a banana--the usual-- from the fruit lady, and on our way home, we would stop every block or so for another bite. On one of our last banana bite stops, there was a little boy riding a tricycle in front of his home. His home was the ruins of an old apartment complex. His home had missing walls, windows and trash piles abound. I looked down at my son in his American clothing, eating his free banana in his snazzy stroller and I started to reflect on how much we have, the difference in living conditions even though we live just half a mile away, and how different my son's life is to that of this little boy that I am watching. I felt guilty for living so well.

We continued our walk, and stopped at the corner before crossing the street for a McDonald's chicken nugget treat. I looked down and almost cried. My son's hat was gone. Missing in action. Not on his head. G-o-n-e.

I backtracked my steps, knowing that it was last on while we took pictures of the little boy. I looked under cars, at curbsides, at kids walking by-no where to be found.

THE hat was gone.

We got our lunch, headed towards home, and I couldn't stop thinking about that hat. The loss of this silly material item was really bothering me...and then I felt bad...just minutes earlier I was feeling like we had to much, and here I was already thinking about ordering one from home as soon as I got home.

I bounce between these two thought processes daily. One-wanting to be more humble and minimal, and the other, so stuck in my American ways that I have trouble breaking free from placing importance on material items.

Perhaps one day Sal and I will pass some lucky little Chinese baby in a quiksilver hat. Instead of re-claiming it as ours, I think I will just smile because I know that baby probably needed it more.

Cloth diapering: Money in the bank

This week, NZ and I had to purchase our second pack of disposable diapers since we've arrived here in China. And, let the truth be told, Pampers and Huggies are just as expensive here as they are back home. Some things ARE cheaper here, but diapers are not one of them.We paid $20 for a 70 pack of Huggies.

If you remember back to this post, I was considering cloth diapering. In fact, I had started a trial run with the gPant system. My trial run has turned into a way of life. I find the gPant system so easy to use, and am happy with my choice to cloth diaper.

NZ initially seemed a little hesitant about it all, reminding me that "we can afford disposables"..and he was "more than happy to pay for them". But for me, being a cheapskate, and thinking cloth diapers are like totally adorable, and do-able, had to try them for myself.

Sal in his Gpants

But, here were are five months later ( I started cloth diapering at 7 weeks), and gPants are our primary diaper source. We do buy disposables, but use them only when out and about for more than a few hours, and at bedtime.

I'd say on a typical day, we use 1 to 2 disposables, and the remaining 7 or 8 changes are with cloth. Our kid pees A LOT. I was hoping for fewer changes as he ages, but he doesn't seem to be slowing down. Right now a 70 pack of diapers lasts us a little over a month, rather than only one week.

While at the store picking up the disposables this week, NZ stole my heart by exclaiming, "We really save a lot of money using cloth, don't we?". This got us to discussing just HOW much we're saving...and we came up with the following breakdown.

 (Breakdown is based on 10 diaper changes per day)

At $20 per 70 pack, and 4 weeks in a month, we're saving $60 per month using cloth for the bulk of our changes. Multiply that by 12 months, and we've got $720 more in the bank than we would have if we used only disposables.

We did luck out on the initial investment of the gPant system. I have a trade going on with my sister-in-law who also uses the same brand, as she has loaned me her mediums and I have loaned her my smalls. Sal's grandparents also gifted us 4 large Gpants, 12 soaker pads , 6 extra rubber snap in liners, and a few boxes of disposable liners, so NZ and I are really saving almost all of that $720 per year.  I have spent about $60 on the 3 small pants, 12 soaker pads and a box of liners. So to get really technical, we're saving about $660 per year after subtracting my investment.

I'd say if someone were to go out and buy the diapering system on their own, they'd be looking in the ballpark of $200-$250 to fit a child from birth to potty training age. I get by with 4-6 gPants, and 12 soaker pads for each size.

If Sal is to potty train between two and a half & three years old, we're looking at a savings of over $1,500- $2000.

That's money in the bank.

Makes washing poop out of diapers sound a lot more appealing now, doesn't it?