Cloth diapers for low-income families

I just learned about an organization called Miracle Diapers and wanted to spread the word. Too often, people in financially tight situations are unable to make the initial financial outlay that would, in the long run, save them money and resources. It spreads to all areas of life—healthful, organic foods; low-intervention, preventive health care; educational and developmental tools for children—but cloth diapers are a really good example of a product that costs a fair amount up front but leads to significant savings over time (and of course, is better for the environment and thus our community as a whole).

Case in point: When we outfitted Sidamo with all the diapers he'll need until potty training (by using mostly one-size diapers that can be adjusted to fit babies 7 to 35 pounds and buying them from the second-quality bin), we spent somewhere between $200 and $250. That would be a huge amount for a low-income family to come up with when preparing for a new baby. But with Sidamo only being home six months so far and only going through about six diapers a day, we've already more than made up the cost of the cloth in the amount we've saved on disposables. And now we'll get to use the same diapers for baby No. 2 with no additional investment. Over the course of their combined diapering lives, we will have saved thousands of dollars, but it required that initial chunk of money that we were fortunate enough to have at our disposal.

Miracle Diapers helps people who can't come up with the initial cloth diaper investment by loaning them all the diapers they need to diaper their kids completely in cloth. Their web site says they also provide other baby products and natural living items, but I'm not entirely sure what/or how. In any case, it looks like an interesting organization, so I encourage you to check it out.