Diaper Surgery...

My diaper stash consists of only two things- flats pad folded into Flip covers and Bum Genius Elementals. Simple to use, easy to clean and uber minimalist. (Disclaimer: I do use Superundies for my son who still wets the bed and an having some custom Tinkle Time Overnight Trainers made for him as we speak.)

As far as the Elementals go, I love them. I mostly bought them for my husband to use when I am at work on Saturdays but I find myself reaching for them during the weeks sometimes when I want to change it up from flats and covers. I love that they are made from organic cotton, that they are so trim and that they require no stuffing or folding. What I hate about them is that they take forever and a day to dry, which is why I don't reach for them more.

I like to hang everything to dry and really only use my dryer to fluff everything up one it is mostly dry from hanging. The Elementals take days to air dry and since I don't have days to wait, I use the dryer which takes forever. The dryer costs me money to use that I don't want to spend and that is something I did not include in my initial calculation of how much diaper laundry would cost me each year.

So, I decided to take the plunge and detach the soaker on an Elemental. I came across this You Tube video that lays it out step by step and made it seem a lot less scary. I mean, these diapers retail for over $20 a piece so I didn't want to go and completely ruin them beyond use. As it happens, when I took my diapers out of the wash last night one of my Elementals had some stitching coming out where the soaker attaches so I decided to go for it- it was like the Gods were telling me to whip out those scissors and start ripping seams.

I am happy to say that I love my upgraded diaper. I hung it to dry with the other Elementals and it was 90% dry this morning while the others were still wet. I am planning on doing the other ones soon so that my whole stash of them will be fuss free.

Maybe you are wondering to yourself "what about the resale value?". Well, I don't care about the resale value of any of my diapers. I bought them to use and to save me money- I didn't go overboard and buy tons of stuff so I don't feel the need to recoup anything. I am going to use them however I want to, use whatever detergent I want to and honestly, beat the crap out of them if I want to. If, in the end by some small miracle they are worth something, then awesome. If not, I won't lose any sleep over it.