My Husband's Favorite Part of Cloth Diapers

AKA...

Saving money!

Cloth diaper companies usually say that you are saving a butt load (pun intended because I'm super cheesy like that) on cloth because their calculations say that disposable diaper users spend $.30 per diaper and change around 8 times a day. We all know that isn't true. I'll agree on the $.30 part but people I've talked to say they change their older babies (ages 1 and up) about 5 times a day.

Let's say that a disposable diaper user changes their newborn (up to 3 months) 10 times a day. Let's say that for the remaining 9 months of that first year they are changing the baby 7 times a day. Now let's say that they change the baby 6 times a day for the remaining 2 years of the child's diapering life (because really... 5 times a day... you need to change a LITTLE more than that!)


So we have:

cost of diaper x number of times a day changing x number of days

.30 x 10 x 90 = $270 for the first 3 months

.30 x 7 x 275 = $577.5 for the remainder of the first year

.30 x 6 x 730 = $1314 for the 2nd and 3rd year

For a grand total of $2161.5 for just diapers.

Lets add wipes:

While on vacation we used a pack of wipes in a week and a half. Just to make the math easier let's say that you use a pack of wipes in 2 weeks.

156 weeks in 3 years divided by 2 (since we are saying it takes 2 weeks to use a pack) is 78.

Each pack costs about $3.25 so

3.25 x 78 = $253.5

So we have a grand total of $253.5 + 2161.5 = $2415

$2415 for 3 years of disposable diapers and wipes! $2415 that you will throw away...




On the flip side... This is where it gets fun! To make things easier I will do my calculations without talking about trial programs which can be especially great for the newborn period when your baby grows so fast. To find more about trial programs for newborns, click here.

Newborn Diapers:


Prefolds are great if you are trying to budget yourself. We purchased at least a dozen prefolds in each size because I wanted an array of diapers to choose from when diapering him. For the preemie/infant size, a lot of moms think they are a must because they grow out of the newborn diapers so quickly that it is almost silly to have an entire stash of $20 fitteds or pockets for just a few short months. You should, however, have a few of these "easier" diapers for outings, family, and ease of use in the middle of the night or on a particularly frustrating day.

Plan on changing a newborn around 12 times a day and if you do diaper laundry every other day or every third day, you should need about 36 diapers to feel comfortable. Personally, I think the more the merrier but we are talking about the cost benefits of cloth diapering here so I'll keep this hypothetical stash simple yet more than enough for every day diapering.

12 preemie prefolds from Little Lions (some people don't need preemie size but I was glad we had them when Nolan came home weighing less than 7 lbs. He fit into the infant size folded down but it was just easier to use the preemie size ones. When he got a little older, we used them as doublers in his larger diapers so they are very useful even if you don't use them as prefolds on a bitty baby)...

Ok so...

12 preemie prefolds from Little Lions: $10

24 infant prefolds from Little Lions: $35.90

4 Thirsties Duo Size 1 Covers: 12.25 x 4 = $49

4 newborn wool covers you made from old wool sweaters: $2 for the sweater from Goodwill

4 small wool covers you made from old wool sweaters: $2 for the sweater from Goodwill

4 Goodmama newborn fitted diapers: $21 x 4 = $84

6 Bumgenius size x-small diapers: $15.95 each but if you buy 6 or more on Jillians drawers they are $15.45 each so 15.45 x 6 = $92.70

That will give you MORE than enough to diaper for 3 days plus laundry- That gives you 46 diapers for $275.6. That's just a bit more than disposables would cost for the first three months but you have the diapers in the end that you can resell on diaper sites like diaperswappers.com or have for your next child (hello additional savings!) Plus you will still have the Thirsties Duo size 1 covers fitting for quite some time.

Other Diapers:

12 Premium Prefolds from Little Lions: $23

6 Sustainable Babyish Pinable One Size Diapers for Night (love these!): $19 x 6 = $114

12 Bumgenius 4.0 One Size Pocket Diapers: $203.40

1 Flip Day Pack (2 covers, 6 inserts): $49.95

3 Thirsties Duo Size 2 Covers: $12.25 x 3 = $36.75

4 Size Medium Wool Covers you make= $4 for the sweaters from Goodwill

4 Size Large Wool Covers you make= $4 for the sweaters from Goodwill

That will give you 36 diapers for just $435.10! You can obviously add more if needed (you won't need more but I promise you will want more :) )

Let's add wipes and miscellaneous diapering stuff you will want/need:

12 pack of Kissaluvs Wipes: $15.00

12 pack of Bumgenius wipes: $11.95

15 pack of Flannel wipes: $8.50

2 pail liners for diapers (one in use, one in wash): $16.5 x 2 = $33

Diaper Sprayer (you WILL want this so much it is a NEED): $44.95

3 Snappis: $3.95 x 3 = $11.85

(Each Sustainable Babyish Pinable Diaper comes with a pin so you will have 6 pins as well)

Accessories Total: $125.25

Grand Total for Diapering Birth to Potty INCLUDING Accessories: $835.96!!!!!

Savings: $1579.04 YOWZA!

And you have all those diapers and no trash. AND you can use those diapers for your next baby or babies and save even more money!

I can tell you that we spent quite a bit more than that because it is an obsession of mine!

One thing I do want to advise is to buy QUALITY cloth diapers. DO NOT try to be cheap to save even more money and buy Gerber prefolds or cheap EBAY pocket diapers because all diapers are NOT the same. You will be disappointed, not use cloth and then end up spending even more money switching to disposables.

To save even more money, check for sales on Facebook. Become a fan of diaper companies like Happy Baby Company on Facebook and they will let you know when sales are coming up. Quite often I see diaper companies do 10% off for holidays so keep an eye out. Goodmama doesn't frequently do discounts but some of the diaper stores that sell her diapers do- check those out (Gen-Y Diapers particularly does a lot of discounts).

Another way to save money is to get the diapers for free! I have won so many diapers from Facebook giveaways or entering Giveaways on Blogs. I find blogs that tend to do a lot of giveaways and add them to my favorites or follow them so that I can enter all their giveaways. Also, like I said before, "like" diaper companies on Facebook. A lot do giveaways weekly and some are as simple as "Post below if you want a free diaper cover, we'll randomly choose a winner tomorrow at 12." Easy Peasy!