Who needs a menu plan when you’re searching for cloth training pants?
Apparently not me.
Menu planning and writing up a blog post was supposed to be among my plans for the evening, since getting my kiddies into bed (my husband left for a week long business trip in New Orleans this morning, so I'm all by myself. 🙁
I decided to "just quickly" check Craigslist for any new postings, and suddenly I found myself researching (yet again) where I could find the best deal on cloth training pants for my son, and oops! Nearly two hours had flown by! How did that happen?
I'm feeling desperate, ladies. Here are the various methods I have been searching out to grab myself a good deal:
- Craigslist (both my local one, and even Washington area ones, thinking that I could always pay to have the training pants shipped for a reasonable cost, but sadly I've found nothing)
- Ebay (hoping to find used, but only found a bunch of expensive new ones)
- MyUsedDiaper.com (nothing in the area of training pants that was useful)
- Every online Canadian cloth diaper seller (I found some, but I just don't want to pay that much)
- Walmart online- both .com and .ca (for Kushies brand, but the price wasn't better than in-store locally, and I'm not totally sold on the Kushies ones anyways)
- Every American online cloth diaper company that sells in package or bulk deals (only found deals on Imse Vimse, which look amazing but are even pricier than the Bummis I've been eyeing)
- Wool Soaker Covers- I thought that these might work as an alternative, until I found out how much they go for! Yikes!
- Etsy- I wish I had thought to look here earlier. There are some more affordable options for wool soakers and cloth waterproof training pants that are worth considering (all WAHM, of course).
I've scoured for online coupons to different sites, looked up the advertising discounts on DiaperPin.com, etc. I am just coming up with nothing short of paying full price plus shipping. I wish I could just hold off for longer, but I really feel that Caden is moving into a stage of readiness, and I want to catch that stage before it goes away (I didn't take advantage of it the first time my daughter showed readiness and I regretted it afterwards). Plus, I am motivated by the fact that I have less than 5 months and counting until baby makes it's appearance, and I don't adore the idea of cloth diapering two children at once.
At the moment, I am leaning towards either just ordering the fewest amount that I can get away with of a decent brand (probably Bummis), from a Canadian site, and dealing with the price, or trying out a few from Etsy to see what I think before ordering more. I might also consider my current little baby stash and see if I could add in some supplies for the new baby to try to get free shipping or a discount.
Ahhh… the ramblings of a frugal mama when she should already be in bed and didn't write her meal plan. 🙂
Does anyone have any other suggestions for me? Brands that you used and liked? Places to buy used or discounted that I haven't thought of? All suggestions are appreciated!
I love the trainers this lady (Chantelle) makes.
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6886956
I’m not sure if she offers bulk discounts; she is a work at home mom. She does do custom orders, though.
Best of luck!
Are you talking about training pants for potty training? This might be something you can just skip since it only takes a few days. We went straight from diapers to underpants. Maybe I’m confused?
I was cringing at the price of wool longies too, but then I found a couple different ladies on Etsy selling ones made out of old wool sweaters. $15 for a wool longie is MUCH more reasonable than $55. 🙂 In addition to the comment above, wooldins and winkydinks have good quality longies. My 2yo dd potty trained herself within a few weeks of switching over to cloth diapers and wool longies.
We use panties during the day, but training pants for nighttime still. Currently, we use seventh generation because I can get them pretty cheap through one of my favorite websites, but I’m about to buy some cloth ones due to it taking longer than I expected to get her night trained. A website that I have looked at and plan to buy from is http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com. They have some on there that seem pretty inexpensive, and I plan to buy just a few for nighttime.
It’s EASY to make your own wool covers from thrift shop wool sweaters if you have a sewing machine. Here’s one link:
http://marthasworld76.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-to-make-wool-soaker-from-recycled.html
And the one I used:
http://www.borntolove.com/frugal-column2.html
You MUST felt the sweater before cutting and you MUST lanolize the cover (I used Lansinoh) before using. By far the cheapest way to make covers.
(Sorry about all the caps; I love wool covers when my little miss has a rash.)
Rachel, I do mean for potty training. The reason I am looking to use these is that #1, I have a boy and in general, boys are not known to train as quickly as girls (though you’re right, it took me only a couple of weeks to day train my daughter).
#2, we live in a rental house with light colored carpet, and I just don’t want to stress out about the carpet all day. #3, because I have more than one child now I know that it won’t be quite as easy to be completely focused and on-the-ball like I was when I was training my daughter so this will help with any accidents or misses.
Also, I anticipate that night training could take a little while, as it did for us last time, so once I’m finished using these for day training, they will help to keep the bed sheet washing to a minimum.
I really would like to get the best quality I can afford to get, since we are counting on using them for as many of our children as possible (and we plan to have more still). So anyways, that’s why I’m interested.
Raven, thanks for those wool soaker links! I had been looking at some knitting/crocheting patterns and thinking that I am definitely not that good yet! 🙂 I can sew, somewhat, so maybe that’s worth looking into?
Have you ever checked out diaperswappers.com?
Also clothforyourangel.com makes some nice trainers as does http://www.snap-ez.com/
I wish you success – we’re coming to this stage soon.
You may try contacting one of the sellers on etsy. If they’re making wool soakers, they may be able to make training pants for you too? Just a thought from someone without kids, so I could be crazy. good luck.
I love the Kushies cloth training pants. They are cheap on http://www.diapers.com. Free shipping on orders over $49.95 and if you are a first time shopper you can get $10 off I do believe from spending $50. The Kushies are $7.99 on http://www.diapers.com. So for around $40 you can get 6 or 7 cloth diaper training pants. If you decide on the Kushies, you can email me and I can give you a coupon code to get money off. I have also been using the extra Kushies cloth training pants for spare diapers for my 1 year old (they do need to be changed right away when she pees, but they work at home for extra cloth diapers).
God Bless,
Amy
I second the suggestion of checking out diaperswappers.com. I know some people aren’t into using used diapers for their children, but it’s fine by me! I’ve always washed and sanitized my diapers and have been perfectly satisfied.
The only trainers I’ve used have been for my oldest son. They were Snap-EZ trainers. I popped over to her site to see how much they were and they sell for about $22 a pop! I actually got mine used for a ridiculously good deal, and don’t think I could ever afford to pay that much for new ones. But they are SO well made. Anything Ruth makes will last and last and last. And you don’t need many. I think I have about six to eight of them. Two of them are stuffable for nighttime and the others are all-in-ones. They wash beautifully, dry quickly, and still look in great shape.
My little guy took FOREVER to train (he was three and a half), so he wore these for a good long while.
Here’s the link for her trainer page:
http://www.snap-ez.com/ShoppingAIOTrainers.html
A friend of mine made her own from old Wool sweaters: http://seekingfaithfulnessblog.com/?p=274. I am sure she would point you in the direction of the pattern or even possibly make some for you for a reasonable price.
We never really ended up using training pants. I waited until my kids were regularly asking to go potty in the potty & then we took a weekend with NOTHING ELSE going on, and spent a day of naked time & then put them in underwear, had a couple accidents that first day in underwear, but that was pretty much the end of it. Obviously all little kids have the occasional accident, and I STILL (my twins turn 6 this month) keep a change of clothes in the car for them just in case, but we never had “consistent” accidents to the point of needing training pants.
I did the cheapie Gerber pants, and they worked fine for us. I bought them “used” at a local consignment sale (the padded “underwear” style), and then the plastic covers from Azure. They were great- no leaks, like I feared- and plenty of wear left for the next kiddo. http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/30GTPW.html
I was worried about light-colored carpet in a previous rental, too, but I found that Biokleen’s all-purpose cleaner worked fabulously for the accident or two that did happen during an “escape” from the bathroom. 🙂
Blessings,
Michele
I love etsy. I happen to be one of the members of the etsy cloth diaper team and I know several ladies who make cloth training pants. One of them will make them for you from old prefolds if you have any of those (I believe she charges $5 each) http://sanity.etsy.com if you wanted to look her up.
I know there are some canadian sellers selling training pants there too (if you prefer to buy more local) the one I know of off the top of my head is http://weeonesbyjajoc.etsy.com I’ve gotten a couple of things from her and been quite happy with them.
Good luck!
I haven’t ever used training underwear. We just go straight into regular underwear (no pull-ups). Just have a bucket of vinegar water ready on your kitchen counter (believe it or not, pee isn’t the worst thing for carpet.) I actually found it easier to do it on subsequent children. Just get them all involved… “We are toilet training today. We are going to help so and so learn to go pee on the toilet.” If they are ready, you will notice that they are getting it a bit by the end of day 1 or 2. There will be accidents but hey, who likes pee running down their legs? Um, yeah, I just realized that you didn’t ask for advice on toilet training, just on the training pants. Also, just because ‘they’ say it is more difficult for boys than girls doesn’t mean it is so. Yeah, one more thing here… my worst two things about motherhood so far are, cleaning up vomit and toilet training. It’s not for the faint of heart!! 🙂 I wish you the best.
I found 15 pair for 29.95 on Amazon.com they are the lubable friends brands.
Mom
I’m with the diaperswappers.com folks. I’ve found lots of used diapers (and some barely, at that) on there. There are lots of US and Canadian moms on there. Most are willing to ship to Canada. Hope that helps!
Hey Steph, I have had several friends and my mom recommend skipping the training pants all together. My mom trained my younger siblings by just having them run around naked on the porch or with regular toddler undies. It is easier to just go right into the undies. They were telling me that it makes training a whole lot faster since they really feel the wetness on their skin. This is what we are doing with Karis! You may have more mess and clean-ups, but it makes sense to me and will save money! Blessings upon you! I am right with you in the potty training. Karis is ready to go…just have to wait till I am done recovering from the new baby.
One other thing I might add…we have the carpet issue as well. I am going to wait another month or two until it gets a little nicer outside and just let her run around on the deck with the potty chair nearby. My mom did this with the twins and just hosed them off if they went. IT was easy! IT was a boy and girl as well and they both learned within a few days of focused outside time in this manner.
We skipped the training pants for the reason of not being able to find any.
We just put two pairs of underwear on her and then made sure to sit her on the potty every 15-20 min after any food or drink. It wasn’t a big issue, Most times the ‘mess’ was fully soaked into the panties and tights/pants and didn’t mess the carpet (but she could feel the wet on her skin, which really helped the training to go faster when s/he associates the “gotta go” feeling with the wet pants.
I used the Bummis ones, but I found that for us (but we don’t have carpet on our main floor) it worked best for her to be in underwear, but she trained very fast. I did like the Bummis ones though.
Sometimes I have found that you can get a better price for shipping if you are just buying something that can be mailed cheaply, but if you are getting several this idea wouldn’t work. I know for example I have bought one diaper cover once and the lady I bought it from only charged $2 shipping (about) rather than the regular $10 something that the website lists. I called directly but this would only work on smaller items. Some companies also have a deal if you buy enough to get free shipping- might consider combining with a friend or buying a few other things you need for later (not just to buy them, but things you really WILL need) if that is an option to get free shipping. Just some tricks I have used if you are buying online.
I am sure there must be somewhere in the city where you live where they sell them locally though…I know my friend used a diaper store out there. I will get back to you if I find out what it was. I know I just did a simple quick search and found a few, including the new and green baby co, which sells Bummis ones. Don’t know anything more about it than that.
Have you looked at diaperswappers.com, I know there is a Canada section too, when I went there I found it too overwhelming so I didn’t continue looking but I have “heard” good things online about it from other women online. They have a huge forum but also a selling section and buying, trading, wanted etc. ads
Hope you find something that works for you!
try kajiji
http://vancouver.kijiji.ca/
I have bought many cloth diapers on this site
I know you are looking for something a little nicer . . . but the most reasonable thing I found were the Gerber cloth training pants. These were (and still are, we are near the end of potty training) very effective for my son. If you wear them with pants there is usually no mess on the floor. Wearing them without pants allows you to see when they get a little wet and rush them to the toilet, but if they do a full pee it might get the floor a little wet. They were 8.99 for a 3 pack. They also sell the plastic covers, but my son didn’t like these because they were too bunchy. Hope this helps! 🙂
I just used panties, that is what worked. She had to “feel the icky”. It only took about a day and she went to potty. This is what my friend who had a boy did too. We have carpet, but we also have a dog so I have a steam cleaner, but the day we went to panties we stayed in the bathroom and kitchen at the request of my hubby!!
We’re using Gerber training pants and they work well. They do leak through a bunch if Tornado has a big accident, but we don’t have many accidents. Between Mommy taking him often and him already knowing how to “hold it” in pretty well (he was ready for this apparently), we don’t have many accidents anyway. I wish we were closer to done… I’d send you ours. 🙂 They were $7 and change for a 3 pack and I bought 3 packs… though I’m going to return one of the packs because we aren’t having as many accidents as I expected. I found them online too for the same price, but then there is shipping.
Hope you find something
Good morning! I’m going to email you back on your wool question, but DEFINITELY look at Diaperswappers.com. Most everything I have ever gotten for my girls in the way of all things cloth diapering has come from there. Also, you know on Etsy you can go to their Alchemy page and post specifically what you are needing to have made and Etsy vendors will reply if they can make it for you: http://www.etsy.com/alchemy/
Abby’s Lane in the USA has FREE shipping…she is great to work with…and answers questions quickly. I love her site and have bought from her several times.
Jessica
You can always use underwear with the waterproof pull on pants made for cloth diapering. You will need to eye the pull on pants for size, as the weight ranges are designed for use along with a bulky diaper … so you will probably go a size or 2 smaller than what it says you would need based on the weight of your child. Pull on pants can be as cheap as 3 for $14, and if you invest in a bunch of underwear you will get loads of use out of them after training, so that’s a good thing, too:)
Do you sew? http://www.fernandfaerie.com has a pattern for training pants out of old t-shirts. It’s not free (it’s $16, yikes), but I don’t think they would be hard to make. She has free patterns for diapers and for wool soakers that ARE free. I think the wool soaker pattern could be made out of old t-shirts, or just copy some undies and add a “soaker” out of a towel or something….
http://www.nickisdiapers.com and http://www.diaperswappers.com
These are the links that you need.
Wool diapers are not hard to crochet. They are actually one of the easier things! And one way to save on the wool is to go to a second hand store and find a wool sweater (a few bucks usually). Ugly is even fine. Unravel the sweater and u have cheap wool. (check tag to be sure it is 100% wool.) I’ll see if I can find some simple free crochet patterns and post the links
http://tipnut.com/50-free-projects-for-baby/
http://www.borntolove.com/pattern.html
http://bythehook.blogdrive.com/archive/78.html
http://bellabambinaknits.blogspot.com/2007/04/little-baby-shorts.html
http://pantherdragon.bravepages.com/all-in-one.html
http://pantherdragon.bravepages.com/ruffles.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20050204193539/http://www.angelfire.com/biz/mothershelpinghands/crochet.html
most of the patterns here just require Single crochet and double crochet
http://www.mother-ease.com THEY ARE THE BEST!!! To look for used they have a forum on their site. or diaperswappers.com