So we did the cloth diapering thing part time with Lily, and we didn't start until she was ~4 months old. I've never used cloth on a newborn, so our stash is exclusively one-size diapers which typically don't start fitting nicely until a baby is ~2 months old. This newborn cloth diapering thing is new to us and I've been trying to plan out a diaper stash for baby Wiggle!
With Lily's diaper stash, the biggest mistake I made was investing in a certain brand/style of diaper before we was sure it was the most effective choice for us. I went nuts and got a half dozen Thirsties Duo pocket diapers - only to decide 6 months later that stuffing pockets is a time-consuming pain in the ass. Also, at around the 1 year mark of use we started having issues with the Thirsties, where the pocket material began looking a bit threadbare and the Aplix (velcro-like) closures got less secure. As we tried other brands/systems of diaper (BumGenius 4.0 pockets, GroVia All-in-ones, Flip hybrids) we found that we preferred those other methods. By then we had a half dozen expensive Thirsties Duos that were way too worn to resell. I should have bought one of a bunch of different options and then we could have sensibly spent money on the ones that worked best. It wasted a lot of money when we added it all up.
For Wiggle I plan to keep it simple for the newborn stage: covers and prefolds and maybe one or two AIOs for when we're out and about. A newborn is changed so frequently that there's really no need to worry about heavy absorbency. I can buy a newborn prefold package that will let me wash every other day for the princely sum of around $100. That same amount of money would buy four 88-count boxes of newborn Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive disposables (on Amazon, the best prices I know of without serious couponing). For a newborn that many disposables would last us roughly 5-6 weeks, so the newborn prefold package will have paid for itself before my maternity leave is half over! Newborn prefold packages don't get a lot of wear and tear because they're used for a relatively short time, so resale value would be high if we chose to unload them after Wiggle can fit our one-size stash.
We'll still have some disposables in the house for when we come home from the hospital if I'm just not feeling up to starting diaper laundry right away. Mark knows how to wash diapers already (it's not hard), and I can give instructions to relatives or friends who might be over to help out. With prefolds and covers, doing diaper laundry is no more difficult or time-consuming than washing clothes.
Of course, once Wiggle starts daycare we'll need to send disposables. The center we use doesn't handle cloth unless there's a doctor's note and we're OK with using disposables there. By then we will have transitioned to the one-size stash anyways. We found that even part time cloth diapering for Lily still saved money in the long run, or at least until she started potty training. Now she's day trained but still needs a diaper at night, so our disposable diaper expenses are very low - we basically have Pullups in the house for when we're out and about and that's it (this is only because I've been too tired to actually sew cloth trainers for her).
Based on our experience with Lily, I think the foundation of our one-size stash will continue to be the hybrid/cover and prefold style with a few AIOs. Covers and prefolds are the most economical choice and we know that we hate stuffing pockets, so it seems like a pretty straightforward decision. We do like AIOs for when we're out of the house or have a babysitter, though. The nice thing about part time cloth diapering is that you don't need anywhere near the stash that a full time cloth diapering family would need, so that also costs less (but of course there's the ongoing need to purchase disposables for daycare).
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