new cloth diapers

It's been a little over five years since I bought 36 premium size prefolds, which were our first cloth diapers. Since then we've used them on all three of our kids and they've been in constant use other than vacations, some bad diaper rash cases, and a few times when I didn't feel like using cloth for a few days. Unfortunately they're getting so worn out now that there are holes in them, so I decided it was time to invest in some new ones and I bought 24 premiums from Cotton Babies. I think the old prefolds came already shrunk because when I saw our new ones I almost freaked out because they were so big they would fit an adult. I knew they are supposed to shrink after being washed a few times, but I had to email Cotton Babies for reassurance that they would shrink enough. I ended up pre-washing only half of them because I wanted to make sure that if they didn't shrink enough I could at least return the other package. After six washes/rounds in the dryer, the new prefolds are maybe four inches shorter and they're much more quilty/puffy. In the picture below you can see one of the washed prefolds compared to the ones I haven't opened yet. They probably shrunk three or four inches, which is pretty interesting. They're also much softer than our old prefolds ever were. I know cloth diapering isn't for everyone, but by this point we've saved a few thousand dollars using them, and when you're living on a graduate student's stipend that's a big deal.