Rent vs buy?

[jen12323]

Hi everyone, I've been mostly a lurker tempted to buy a newborn stash (not due till June) but the money all points to renting. Does anyone have a stash like the one I want to get below, and chose to buy it? If so, why did you chose to buy instead of rent?

For example, if I want 36 diapers
12 little joey (~30 for 2) = $180
14 swaddlebees newborn simplex ($19 each) = $266
4 Bum genius newborn ($13) = 52
6 tots bots tini fit ($19 each) = 114
The price for new comes out to be $613!! for maybe 1-3 months use.

I found it for rent (new diapers) for $45 a month plus deposit (maybe $500 deposit), so the total cost to me would be ~ $165 (3 months plus insured shipping back).

I guess I sort of want to be enabled to buy so I can start early, lol! But financially, it doesn't make sense.

[mekjsk2000]

I would say buy if you were going to have more kids but rent if this is your only/last. I wish I had rented my newborn stash for my last son as I knew I wasnt having anymore kids, though they were easy to resell on here after I was done with them (that was 2 years ago). Not sure if that helped any

[lilysmom2011]

Have you thought about using prefolds and covers? You could spend $100 and get enough to last you until one size or size small diapers fit.

[fluffycheeks]

Are you opposed to used diapers? If not, you can probably find those aios and pockets for a LOT less than buying them new. And since your LO will only use them for a couple months, you can probably turn around and sell them for close to what you paid for them since they'll be in close to the same condition.

If you don't want to do used, I would rent or use prefolds/covers. That is a lot of money for a newborn stash!

[MamaJules]

That is much fancier than the newborn stash we used. If you are sure those are what you want, and that you need that many, then I agree with buying used and re-selling later. If you absolutely want new, and absolutely want these diapers in that quantity, then yes I agree renting makes sense.

[badmisterkitty]

Do you expect a large baby? Then rent. Wish I had rented, even though I used prefolds and covers. The newborn stuff didn't last but 3 weeks.

[nonipie]

Prefolds/flats and covers are my preferred newborn option but I do like having about a dozen one-step diapers on hand. I can spend much less than $500-$600 for a better performing diaper system. Flats and prefolds can be used in some form until PLing so it was by far worth it for to buy. I guess the real question comes down to if you plan to use them again. I say buy some if you plan to have more children but if not then rent.

[AmandaA]

That is almost identical to what I am using right now. I ended up renting instead of buying. I chose to rent because it will be our last baby and I didn't want to hassle with trying to sell everything at the end. I also wanted new diapers. I ended up with a rental from KBTM for 24 diapers (6 liljoeys, 12 simplex, 6 TB's). This number has been perfect for me. I also bought 12 pf's and 3 covers for a couple of reasons- just in case 24 wasn't enough, because I had never tried them with my older child and thought I should give it a chance, and it just seemed like the thing to do .

Here are my thoughts on it about 6 weeks into it:
24 was perfect for us- we have a 2 year old in cloth also and I need to do laundry every other day to keep a good size load for my FL'er (whole other issue). DD sleeps some longer stretches and this number has worked for me, though others will want more
Found out that I don't like pf's and covers and AIO's are the most convenient for us esp with 2 in cloth
Simplex are my favorite (which suprised me). Also like my TB's but fit isn't quite as good for us. Not a big fan of the Lil Joeys (nice at first, but fit is becoming and issue around 10 pounds now and had some trouble with the lower snaps rubbing on her thighs when swaddled snuggly. Also take FOREVER to dry)

I only planned for 2 months initially, but will probably keep extending for as long as the diapers still fit and work for us. I am about ready to pack up the Lil Joeys, but the others are still great at 8 weeks old and just over 10 pounds (born at 7#6 and didn't start our cloth until about 2 weeks old). We are only on the middle snap of the Simplex and a little past halfway on the TB's aplix. Absorbancy hasn't been an issue even when she has gone 6 hours at night, but I can add a booster to either if/when I need to. I am still very happy with the choice to rent. There was a large up-front cost for the diaper deposit, but I will get all of that back in the end so it wasn't an issue for me. Hope that helps!

[SDJeannieZ3]

This was my 3rd baby & I don't know if we'll have any more so I rented & bought some. I wish I had bought a new stash with my 1st baby so I could have skipped the hassle of renting, but this was my first NB in cloth.

I did a Kissaluvs fitted & covers rental from Itsy Bitsy Bums and bought about 12 AIO's to use for middle of the night changes. I liked my kissas and covers, but I loved the simplicity of AIOs for a tiny fussy baby- they really made those 1st few sleepy months much easier. Like I said, if I could go back & do it all over again I would have bought a bunch of AIOs for my 1st baby, but I probably would have bought used to save a little bit more money. This baby was my biggest at almost 8 LBs & he has constantly been in the 50th%-tile. I got an easy 3 months of use out of my NB stash- I sent my rental back before he outgrew them.

Now I have about a dozen cute little NB dipes that I don't know if I should sell or not.

[jen12323]

Wow, thanks for all the replies! I'm still learning so I haven't thought of some of what was mentioned.

- Prefolds: I initially wanted Prefolds but I know my husband will want disposables if he sees a prefold. If I had gone for Prefolds, I would have bought a bunch of thirsties as they seem to have good reviews and cute designs.

-multiple kids: I do want more kids but I'm afraid I'll want the newest styles like bumgenius 5.0 or whatever comes out, lol. Even if I use a $600 stash on more kids, wouldn't I need to have 4-5 kids to equal the value of renting?

- used: I looked at used and the prices are not so different from new. I'd rather just get new if it's that similar. I know it adds up, so maybe I'm not calculating correctly.

-baby size: no idea how big the baby will be. DH was 8.5 lbs and I was a preemie 4.5 lbs.

- swaddlebees: did these fit right at birth?

- 24 diapers enough? What I don't get about cloth diapering in general: The only reason I included the little joeys was they should fit at birth, but what if nothing else fits. what if i have only 24 total and I only have 12 diapers that fit? Would I have to do laundry everyday until the baby grows a little? Then when the little joeys stop fitting, I am left with only 12 diapers again?