New to this!

My recomendation would be to arrange a hire kit (there's an OB one, I think it's still in circulation?) I hired one for our first and it was so great to be able to try everything out without having to buy it first, and then buy what you like best.

Of course, that does mean you'd buy them later rather than now, but you could put money aside now in case?

Thanks for the tips, hire package seems like a great idea will have to see where I can get one from though.

How much have you spent on cloth nappies, as in how much should I budget for..going by the most expensive (ecobots) its going to cost into the 1k mark?!

Hi Gen and welcome to OB

I recommend as the others have said about getting a hire kit, that way you get to try out all the different nappy styles and see what works best. I have my own business hiring out cloth nappies and if you are interested then PM me. I used prefolds and covers for the first six weeks then moved onto pockets then the Itti Bitti range of AIO and SIO then Tutto's. I now use Tutto's full time with some pockets as back ups, and Pop-ins for night nappies.

Dutchy- Do you still have the ones with the stretched elastic? I can fix them for you if you want, its not to hard to do and worth it if the PUL is still in okay condition.

Just thought I'd respond to wriggles' offer here. Thanks! I've just had a look and I've kept 9 nappies I can no longer use. Seven of them have the elastic on one side of the legs gone and two of them the velcro needs replacing. The PUL is still in good condition. I've kept them as I struggle throwing stuff away and as I was throwing away quite a couple... Anyway, EsmesMum makes a good point in that they could be good back up nappies, or maybe I can make someone else happy with them? I'm not very talented with a sewing machine (although I wish I was able to make my own nappies!!! might start a thread for an easy pattern - all those minky fabrics look so gorgeous!).

Ha, good point! Especially with summer coming up!

I've spent about 500 so far on pop ins. I got them from http://www.cheekycherubs.co.nz/ they were recommended to me by a number of ppl and seem like they will be quite good.

Other brands recommended to me were the tots bots, itti bitti and gro via.

I found the nappy lady gave some great advice about the different types available and the pros n cons of them. http://www.thenappylady.co.nz/

I'm planning on getting some tots bots Bamboozle and flexitots from http://www.nappydays.co.nz/

I'm expecting to spend another 500 or so on cloth

Check with your council and see if they do any subsidies on cloth nappies or a nappy workshop. The Dunedin city council used to do a $20 subsidy but have replaced it with a workshop, the first is this weekend and costs $20 and you walk away with $100 worth of cloth nappies. Maybe your council will offer something similar.

Other advice I've been given, if you buy a whole pack of nappies the same wash only a couple of them and try them out before you wash the rest as you can get more for the unwashed/new nappies if you decide you don't like them and resell.

Hope that helps, and good luck. Like you I am new to all of this too and am trying to get prepared before baby arrives.

I'd hate to think what i've spent too. Probably in the several thousand. But I bought and sold alot of nappies to find the ones that worked best for us.

You can never go worng with prefolds and covers. BUmmis is good. Reall nappies are too. I haven't used them but I have a friend who's onto her 6th baby and they've all beeen in real nappies and spozies and they are falling to bits now. So the must be pretty good to last that long.