The economy of cloth diapering
(Picture is from July 2008)
I found an interesting cloth diaper cost calculator the other day, and I thought I’d share it.
There are arguments both for and against cloth diapering as an economical alternative to disposables. Depending on your utility costs and the amount you spend to get into cloth diapering (for example making them yourself out of recycled materials or buying boutique-style diapers), your mileage may vary, but I’ve found that for us, cloth diapers are overwhelmingly cheaper.
Now I’ve never bought a cloth diaper. I’ve made lots of them. Some out of new material purchased especially to make them, some out of stash and thrift-store fabric, and some out of reclaimed materials (my brothers’ old t-shirts and a queen flannel sheet set became some of Olga’s first diapers). I’ve also been given a few diapers. The diapers I’m making now, with the PUL outside and Power Dry lining are the most expensive diapers I’ve ever made, and as you can see in my last post, they cost me less than $5 each. All in all, I doubt I’ve spent over $300 on diapers in almost six years.
A quick search online led me to several retailers selling big economy boxes of disposable diapers. The Huggies at Costco are $49.99 for 258 size 2 diapers (about 26 days worth). The same diapers at Diapers.com are $39.99 for 228 (about 23 days worth). This is way cheaper than what they cost at either of my local markets, but lets give these prices the benefit of the doubt. Six months of disposables (we’ll estimate that your baby is using 10 diapers a day) is going to cost you roughly $327. And that’s just the first six months, folks.
Wait. What? Over at the Wazoodle calculator, I’ve just topped $200 for the same amount of time, when I punch in the cost of the new diapers I’m making. If I were using the same diapers Gavin and Olga used (and I would be, but I gave them away) the cost would be closer to $95 for the first six months.
Cloth makes sense to me.
For more economical cloth diapering, check out these two sites. This is where my cloth diaper adventure began, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have progressed so far without them.
Ok, I hope you don’t kick me off your blog….I thought of a few more questions for you
The inserts that you have pictured in the previous post…did you make those as well? And if you did or even if you didn’t what type of material are they? Do you need to use more than at a time? They seem very thin. I have prefolds at the moment. Would they fit into your diapers? Also does the FOE wick moister to the outside? What is your experience with diapers leaking? Do your diapers hug their legs to prevent spills? 
I see that they are a bit gathered, but is that enough elastic to make them leak proof?
Ok, so sorry for all the questions! I am still so in love with those diapers
Thank you,
Kerri
OOOhhh wait, I forgot another one! You have two rows of snaps on the diapers, but only one row of snaps on the tabs. How do you use the snaps? For example Fuzzi Bunz has two rows of snaps, and two “rows” on the tabs so that you get a better fit at the waist and then at the legs. But your two snaps on the tabs are not offset, so I was just wondering how you use them with the two rows that you have on the diaper front. I hope I am making sence!
Kerri