With our new daughter on the way (back in 8/2003) my wife was debating between using cloth and disposable diapers. My wife liked all the pro’s of helping the environment, saving money, and the health benefits to our baby.
I was ready to fully support my wife in her decision, but I wasn’t convinced that cloth was cheaper… especially after I saw the price tag of some of the cloth diapers I saw online (up to $20 each).
Being the MS Excel freak that I am I decided to do some calculations. I gathered some general data concerning prices of purchasing and washing cloth diapers vs. disposable. Here is a screenshot of my calculation:
To download the spreadsheet click on the image or click here.
So, based on my calculations we’ll be saving the environment and saving some cash ($868 in this example)!
During the first 5 months of our baby’s life we were able to use grandparent’s washing machine at no cost. If we could go all the way through her diaper life and take out the cost for washing the savings jump up to $1,800 over disposables.
Here is my wife’s favorite place to get cloth diapers. They work great on our baby and we’re really happy with them (as is our baby and all her friends that use them) ! www.cutest-cloth-diapers.com
Here is Emily’s follow up regarding cloth diapers: CLICK HERE!
I didn’t know what a computer was when I had my boys, aged 38 and 35 now. It was about the time of the advent of the first disposable diapers, and believe it or not, they were not even close to being 2 dollars a box at that time. My mother-in-law was an RN, and she constantly sent me dollar off coupons for these new Kimbies (Kimberly-Clark) diapers.
I bought them all through my pregnancy, and sometimes they were free, and I stacked them in all sizes, floor to ceiling in my baby’s room. When the coupon promotions ran out, I had diaper service, and that was about the same cost as buying the disposables. At the time, I hadn’t a care for the environment, or where all these nasty plastic diapers where going to end up. Both types of diapers were expensive, so I started buying my own cloth diapers and doing daily laundry.
That wasn’t so bad, and I must say that three dozen, about $30, lasted all the way to potty-training phase of that child. The next son never even knew what a plastic diaper was until we traveled cross country for a few weeks at a time. Fourteen years later, his baby sister got her own set of cloth diapers, and I can only imagine the savings of using these for three children through their babyhood.
Eighteen years after she no longer needed them, I still have those diapers, and they are amongst my favorite reusable cleaning cloths. They are wonderful for windows, dusting, washing delicate household items, you name it! If one of the kids uses one and damages it, there’s heck to pay! I cherish them.
The first gift I brought to my brand new grandson was a pack of cloth diapers. My son looked at me like I was crazy, but his wife gave me a knowing smile and thank you. Not only are cloth diapers a financial benefit, but now I know I was already helping not pollute the environment.