Here are my cloth diapering supplies, in case you were wondering. If you have any questions, feel free to email me abbynoelb (at) gmail dot com.
Everything I have purchased has been from Cotton Babies. Not for any particular reason, but I've had all very good experiences, I feel that their prices are competitive, they have accepted some returns I have made and I have no complaints with their quality of shipping and the diapers when they arrive.
So the first thing I bought were the Bum Genius 3.0's. They are now onto 4.0's, but I don't think there is much of a difference between the two. I bought a package of 12 of them in various colors (but mainly colors that could work for boys and girls). I also figured this was the best first step for me into cloth diapering as it wasn't too different than disposables and if I didn't like them, I could just use them intermittantly and still get my money's worth. Luckily, I loved cloth diapering (moreso the money saved and never having the panic of running out of diapers than actually loving cloth diapers.).
Here is a picture of the Bum Genius 4.0
Then, as I got more comfortable with cloth diapering and in need of more than just 12 diapers, I jumped in with both feet and bought 35 Chinese prefolds along with Thirsties one size. I have four small size, and eight medium size. I don't use the smalls anymore, and the eight mediums are enough to cloth diaper two for about 3 days (until I have to wash a load of diapers).
Pictured below are the Chinese prefolds and the Thirsties covers.
As for diapering accessories that I highly recommend, I use the snappies instead of pins. They are only supposed to last six months but the five that I bought have now lasted me almost two years (I didn't start cloth diapering until Hannah was five months old, that's when our supply of diapers-as-gifts ran out). Snappies are totally worth it. I can't imagine using pins.
I also bought a diaper sprayer and reusable wipes. I use a spray bottle with water and the flannel wipes with wet diapers and then I use regular disposable wipes with poopy diapers.
The diaper sprayer is awesome and I have used it for reasons other than cleaning off cloth diapers. It's currently in the kid's bathroom and we probably won't take it down when we are done diapering. We will just have to make sure the kids know that it's not a fun spray toy!
Below are pictures of the snappies, the sprayer and the flannel wipes.
I have to wash my stash of diapers about every three days. I think the amount I have would last longer, but the pail gets full, and the bathroom starts to kind of stink. I think it's recommended to wash the diapers every other day, and if I did that, I'm pretty sure the bathroom would stay odor free.
I've found an Arm and Hammer detergent that works very well for us, but there are tons of other detergents recommended. I would say to invest in the good stuff to prevent rashes.
According to cloth diaper recommendations, I wash all the diapers together, the first wash in cold/cold with about 1/4 the amout of recommended detergent. Then I wash in hot/cold with, again, about 1/4 of the amount of detergent recommended, along with a double rinse. Sometimes, maybe once a month, I do a third wash with about 1/4 cup of bleach.
I dry all inserts and the prefolds and I air dry all covers.
I have spent probably close to $500 on my cloth diapering supplies. I assumed (correctly) that I would have more than one kid (and we hope to have more than two) so I didn't mind the upfront investment.
