Fluff Talk Thursday: Cloth Diapers on a TIGHT budget

Fluff Talk Thursday is hosted by Beth from Happily Domestic, so make sure to visit her site for more tips!
Before Tate was born, I knew I wanted to use cloth at least part-time. My daycare provider, aka Mom/ Mimi, was also on board. I received a lot of g diapers as shower gifts because that is the route I was hoping to take. It wasn't the cheapest route either, but it was better for the environment than disposables. I also received some prefolds, fitteds and a few covers. I had purchased several more fitted diapers, covers and a wet bag at our semi-local diaper shop.
When we found out we were going to have to cloth diaper Tate exclusively, we had to make a decision in a hurry about what we were going to do. I didn't do a lot of research and was totally overwhelmed when I went to talk to the owner of the diaper shop; so I didn't know I had a lot of options. Since we were already comfortable with the prefolds and they were affordable, we got 12 more. My sister had used cloth diapers with my oldest niece for a short time and had 2 old Sugar Pea fleece shells and inserts that she gave us.
That was our stash for the first five months until he was too big. For his first Christmas, Tate got diapers. My mom got him his first one-size pocket diapers. When my mother-in-law asked what he needed and I quickly responded, "DIAPERS!!" So she gave me told me what she was planning on spending and let me do the ordering. I got a 6 pack of one-size pocket diapers and some prefold covers in medium. I was still pretty clueless and hadn't done a lot of research at this point. My cousin had recommended the brand and that's how we decided. I didn't check prices or look for shops that offered free shipping or other coupon codes. I didn't know about diaperswappers or craigslist.
Around the same time, one of my facebook friends mentioned that she had made her son's diapers. She had made them out of old t-shirts. So in an attempt to save money, I made a lot of prefolds and contour diapers. They worked fine, just not absorbent enough for our super, heavy wetter. So feeling defeated and still fairly clueless, I went back and ordered a 12 pack of the one-size pocket diapers.
Now, thanks to Facebook, but mostly Twitter and the wonderful world of mommy blogs, I am a wiser, more seasoned veteran! I know who offers free shipping and where to find discount codes. I also now know about babyhalfoff.com and babysteals.com.  I have been VERY lucky and won a lot of diaper giveaways. We have received so many, that I was able to pull 9 diapers from our stash to save for the new baby in December. I also volunteered Tate to test diapers for two different manufacturers and received four diapers.
When I learned of the wonders of wool, I searched garage sales and thrift stores for sweaters. I researched how to make my own longies and soakers. When our aplix wasn't working on our original 21 pocket diapers, I converted 13 to snaps (one from a giveaway) and ordered replacement kits for the other 9. The elastic is completely shot in three diapers that we purchased. I contacted the company numerous times and they have promised to replace them; however, three months later, I am still waiting to receive the replacement diapers. I suppose it is time to look into replacing the elastic myself.
Bottom line: Always research first, it will save you a lot of time and money!