RE: Favorite old posts on CDing?
Here's a thread from a long time ago where lots of basics were talked about. http://www.windsorpeak.com/dcforum/DCForumID3/246.html
Also, I think this is a terrific site that a mom on another board has put together: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kfegelman/index.htm It has lots of good pictures and lots of good basic info. She uses mainly prefolds, but the basic principle is the same for all cloth diapers. You put some type of diaper on child, fasten diaper in some way, and then add a waterproof cover to prevent leaks. That's really all there is to it in general.
I really think it is a good idea to buy a sampler of diapers. Every baby is shaped differently and everyone has different preferences (front snaps, side snaps, velcro, prefolds, fitteds, AIOs, etc.).
Cost for cloth diapers is relative. I used disposables with Sarah for 14 months. I calculate I spent almost $1000 on diposables in that time (figuring an average of 8 changes a day at an average of 24 cents a diaper). Unless you go really wild on cloth diapers, you only need about 36 diapers and 6 covers for a newborn and about 24 diapers and 4-6 covers for an older baby. Again, unless you go insane, you can easily cloth diaper a baby from birth to potty training for < $1000. If you have a second child and re-use those diapers, then your costs go down dramatically.
If you choose the most economical route (prefolds and simple covers), then you can easily spend less than $400 to cloth diaper a child from birth to potty training. (These costs are all assuming you pay full retail for new stuff as opposed to buying used stuff). Also, diapers have tremendous resale value. It is fairly safe to assume you can get back 1/2 of what you paid for them on eBay.
Happy research!
Beth, mom to older DD (8/01) and younger DD (10/06) and always missing Leah (4/22 - 5/1/05)