The Financial Cost of Disposable Diapers
We chose Huggies Supreme, a popular pick for many parents
| 0 – 3 months | Size 1 |
| 10 diapers/day X 30 days 3 months = 900 diapers | 900 diapers X $.22/diaper = $198 |
| |
| 3 – 12 months | Size 3 |
| 9 diapers/day X 30 days X 10 months = 2700 diapers | 2700 diapers X $.31/diaper = $837 |
| |
| 12 - 30 months | Size 5 |
| 7 diapers/day X 30 days X 18 months = 3,150 diapers | 3150 diapers X $.41/diaper = $1,292 |
| |
| Totals |
| 6750 diapers | $2327 |
*For your baby’s health, her diaper should be changed every 2-3 hours. Even though the gels in disposables make the baby “feel” dry, the urine is still there and the rash causing bacteria is still growing. The number of diaper changes is higher in the early months because babies poop more and are often up more in the night during this period.
You will spend $2327 to diaper your baby with nearly
7,000 disposables for her first 30 months!
To wipe Baby's bottom clean, you’ll spend about $4.50/80 wipes, averaging about 1.5 packs/month. That’s $6.75/month X 30 months = $203 for wipes.
$2327 (diapers) + $203 (wipes)=
$2530 total
That’s an average of $84 per month
or $.37 per diaper change
I found this very interesting because I've been really trying to decide if cloth diapering will really save me money. I wouldn't be buying huggies supreme :) I'd probably buy something that cost about half that so that brings the total down to about $1366.50 (and that's only up to 30 months old, my children have potty trained on average at the age of 3 - 36 months old). I
For cloth diapering I've chosen to use a basic prefold cloth diaper (see cloth diaper glossary here) which also requires a waterproof cover. For cloth diapering both my current little one (Peter who is 14 months old) and cloth diapering our new addition coming in January I've been working on the total cost of what we'll need to use to cloth diaper both of them. So here is the breakdown :D
5 dozen preemie sized diapers - $50
5 dozen infant sized diapers - $80
5 dozen regular sized diapers - $95
8 newborn sized diaper covers - $65 (might be less, I will probably buy these second hand)
8 small sized diaper covers $65 (might be less, I will probably buy these second hand as well)
8 medium sized diaper covers $65 (might be less, same as above)
8 large sized diaper covesr $65 (might be less)
all for a grand total of about $485
if you want to calcualate approximate water cost & detergent cost as well, for us that would come to about..... $432 over 3 years for detergent, gas, water & electric.
That brings our grand total up to $917.00 over a three year period to cloth diaper two children.
To diaper two children in disposable diapers the total would be $2733.00
For a difference of $1816 over three years for two children
Is it worth it?
17 comments:
i think it would be worth it as long we don't squander away that almost 2k on other little things, and as long as you don't go insane...
lol :D yea.... that last thing is the part I'm worried about - I just have a hard time knowing I'll be adding 7000+ diapers to landfills by the time we're done cloth diapering these two
if we bought one small package of diapers a month for when we're out and about (that's a total of one package every other month per child) and we did a large package of wipes for being out and about and the messy diaper changes every three months, that would add about $575 to the three year total....
I was going to suggest that as well. Disposables are great for when you're out & about. Nothing worse than hauling around a bag of urine & poop soaked diapers in a car on a hot day. Yick.
@MCC what are you talking about. i thought that was one of the "joys of life "everybody talks about?
@Mommyscott we'll be adding 7000+ diapers to landfills if we cloth diaper them?
i think disposable is an ok idea for out&about (i think we've gone through all this discussion before). :) they just need to stay in the car or something so you don't use them all at home
@natedavidscott - 7000 if we do not cloth diaper :D
@mcc - yea it would make that part of life more simple and we would have to keep them in the car or something because when they're in the house I'm much more like to grab one just "because"
I did the math, we would still save about $1241 over three years
I have Triplets, so it is SO worth it for us to cloth diaper!
@Jen - Oh I can only imagine!! {{hugs}} how are those flat diapers working out for you??
I think you can save even more money because its possible that you dont necessary need for example diaper covers in size S, you can skip that and buy size M, or because babies grow so fast (which is sad) you can skip size nb, or buy just 2-3 and buy few more size S and then M. Im very sorry about my language and i hope you understand what i wrote. I visit here in your blog time to time :)
Eija from Finland
The flats are working out great! I wish I would have done flats in the very beginning! I used your post and posted something similar on my blog, but with Triplets. It would cost so much money to buy diapers and then all that piling in the landfill. My friend that cloth diapers her Triplets said it great. Cloth diapers is like getting a dollar back AFTER you spend it.
it is sooo worth it! not only are you helping the environment, and saving money, they are MUCH cuter ;). and if you cant sell them later ( which most of the time you can and make some of your money back!, try doing THAT with disposables!) than you can pass them on and help another mama!!!
I'm going to be a new mom in Feb and am inspired to cloth diaper too - not only is it cheaper and better for the landfills - it's better for the baby too! Try pricing it using Seventh Generation diapers, or some that don't have all those weird chemicals on baby's bottom...
My only question is, is it really as gross as it sounds like it'll be??
@lauren - I will definitely try to price it out using an "earth friendly" diaper
Also, poop is poop, you have to deal with it either way when it comes to babies :D lol!! The newborn stage is easy (if you breastfeed that is...) because you don't have to do anything special before washing the diapers. It's once they start solids or go on formula where it get's a little more icky, but there are definitely ways to make it easier on yourself. We can chat about that later ;)
The Cost of Diapering, Part 2!
http://clothconfessions.blogspot.com/2008/09/cost-of-diapers-part-2.html
For everything you just wrote is the reason my husband and I are switching to cloth! My son uses huggies supreme and WOW the money we have spent already on diapers! Wish us luck!
@mommy lyons - please let me know if you need any advice or help :) mommyscottprefolds@gmail.com
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