I must let you know that I personally had 7 criteria to justify the use/hassle of cloth diapers.
- I had to be able to calculate that I would truly save or at least even out money in the long run including yearly laundering costs
- NO leaking/stinking/staining etc (basically, I wanted the performance to be close to the disposable diaper)
- NOT be much work to clean (NO toilet dunking or WET pails) and easy to use
- NOT be saggy/bulky (cute factor is an added plus)
- NO PINS (I'm toooooo clumsy).
- Able to use in the future with more children and/or resell at a great value.
- Environmental savings - I am making a difference for my son!
My solution was the BumGenius one-size diaper. This is a pocket diaper with velcro tabs that grows with your baby. Have I tried other diapers? Yes, but I will post about them in the other cloth diapering email. Look for a comparison of diaper types to see what a pocket diaper is if you are curious. I've been doing cloth since he was 4mo old and wanted to start sooner but just didn't take the time to do it. I have been VERY IMPRESSED with this diaper and continue to be impressed with them as they are well-made and appear to be holding up very well!! I wish I had started when he was a month old and definitely will start at that age with future children. If you would like to read another mom's reviews of different diaper types go here.
So, for the first point: SAVE ME MONEY!!! According to different online calculators (shown later), I should make my money back within 6 mo but I wanted to find out how the numbers worked for me. I wash diapers every 3rd day and since I do two rinse cycles, I count that as the water used in a full wash cycle. I also only use a 30min dryer cycle on low heat if I use the dryer at all and I count that as using 1/4 of a dyer cycle. Power is $0.10/kW here and water is $0.002/gal.
Yearly Laundering Costs:
- Allen's Detergent (ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY!!!! This detergent works BEST with cloth diapers and lasts a year and the cost includes shipping) $50 spent on detergent per year
- Water (45 gal/cycle x3 cycles x 365 days per year /3rd day wash = 16,425 gal/yr x $0.002/gal so $32.85 spent on water per year
- Heat for hot water <$10 spent on heating that water per year
- Power for washer 0.76kwatt/cycle x 3 cycles x 365 days per year /3rd day = 277.4kw/yr x$0.10/kw so total is = $27.74 spent on powering the washer
- Power for dryer = 5.28kwatt/cycle x 1/4 time of load run on low heat x 3 cycles x 365 days per year /3rd day = 481.8kw/yr x$0.10/kw so total is < $48.18 spent on powering the dryer
- (Ignore depreciation on washer since our place came with a washer but they recommend estimating $67/yr for that)
- GRAND TOTAL: $168.77 per year to care for diapers.
How much we save per year honestly does depend on what brand of disposable diaper we would typically buy. I like Pampers because they keep out the leaks and we had bad luck with Krogers and a few other generic diapers. I did like Costco diapers which we tried for a month due to the kindness of friends but we didn't continue since we didn't have a membership. I have heard that Walmart diapers are the cheapest out there and not too bad considering the cost is $5.95/pack and then the prices go up from there on other diapers. I have not used Walmart diapers myself. Pampers and Huggies will run you about $13.99/jumbo pack (not the largest size) at regular stores and about $16.99 at BabiesRUs types of stores.
There is also a comment that should be made about how many diapers are in a pack as to how much you save. It depends on what size you are in to an extent as younger babies go through more diapers but the manufacturers make the younger baby packs full of more diapers to make up the difference so basically a pack of jumbo diapers will last the baby a week regardless of how old your baby is. In terms of cloth, the quantity of laundered diapers changes because you spend more money to launder your diapers in the beginning of the year but less by the end of the year as you don't have to wash them as often so that also evens out over the course of a year so I'm not taking that into consideration.
So, for our Pampers diapers, we go through a jumbo package of disposable size 3 diapers a week if we are lucky. Right now, we are buying size 3 diapers and based on the number of cloth we use in three days (20 diapers) then assuming you change a little less often (good assumption for disposables), a jumbo package of 40 diapers will last us a week.
If I buy them at the current best sale price ($8.99-diaper prices went up 02/07) at a place like Target/CVS on sale WITH two $1 off COUPONS (Buy Coupons if needed) I can get two jumbos for about $15.98 plus tax (buying two jumbos with two coupons on sale is cheaper than buying the mega-bulk packages for almost the same number of diapers which rarely go on sale). So, that means we would spend $415.48/yr + tax on disposable diapers. In general, I really feel like my diaper estimates are really on the low side as I am used to buying on sale and with great deals. Most generic estimates for diaper costs are much higher. I would like to point out that you rarely have coupons every time you buy diapers and you also rarely catch a sale every time so the other "best-savings" of this number would be paying $19.99 for the mega-jumbo packs which last about 2 weeks so that would be $519.74/yr. At the far other end of the spectrum are the Walmart diapers which would cost $311.48/yr. So, regardless of the cost of using disposables, I am making significant savings spending only $169/yr laundering mine. For us personally, assuming I spend > $415.48 + 6% tax = $440.50 on diapers/yr, that is $37/mo on diapers, laundering for a year works out to about 4.5mo of money spent buying disposable diapers.
What does this mean in terms of yearly diapering costs for me?
It means that if I were to use our cloth diapering system for 9 months, I would have TWO YEARS worth of laundering costs of our diaper system paid for with the same amount of money that I would have spent after buying 9 mo of disposable diapers. I'm a-liking these numbers especially knowing that I'm under-estimating the cost of disposable diapers!!
What about the actual cost of the diapering system?
Well, most people estimate that for a modern system you'll spend $300. You can spend less than that if you are doing pre-folds with covers (maybe $100) and you can spend more for the super-cute fancy premium sized diapers. For a system that isn't much work though, you will probably pay around $300 including tax and shipping costs. I think that's about right but you don't have to spend that all at once and can just add to your stash as you find stuff 2nd-hand, as a new 2nd (flawed), or used. You also have to keep in mind that it will always be most expensive using cloth for the first child but then you don't have to buy diapers for future children and you only have to consider costs for laundering diapers.
So, assuming I would have spent ONLY $440.50/yr on disposables (actual number would be higher) and that my cloth diapering system cost me $300, it will take me 8mo of using cloth diapers to offset the cost of the diapers themselves. If you add in the 9mo I already mentioned for laundering for two years, that means it will take 17mo of use to have paid myself back for both the diapers and the laundering for two years of use. So, technically, that makes it 17mo when we will be in the free/clear for two years of cloth diapering. I recommend using disposables for the first month so that means when the baby is 18mo old, we will have the diapers and two years of laundering paid off! Soooo...that means we will have 6mo of diapers for FREE!!!!!! *Note: Actually, we didn't start until he was 4mo old so for us we won't have our savings completely back until he's 21mo old*
Remember again, that my estimates on disposable diapers are very very low and that tax varies from state to state! Most people would have their systems and laundering paid off much sooner than I did. We also don't have a HE washer/dryer anymore so that would increase savings too assuming you didn't buy the washer/dryer JUST for the diapers! Most babies wear diapers past their second year and boys are harder to potty train so they tend to wear them longer; however, babies in cloth tend to potty train sooner so maybe it will all even out for us at two years. The savings only increase more over time though so I'm not worried about what happens after two years! The calculators that are out there indicate that I will save a lot more a lot sooner! Those estimate that I will break even in 6mo. There is a Canadian calculator with costs of energy usage broken down as these numbers were hard to find: motherease.
I still have made my money back by 21mo of age (I started at 4mo) and that's what I wanted. :) For our next child though, the savings will be MUCH MORE substantial because I don't have to factor in the cost of buying the system. We'd have two years of disposable diapers paid for within8mo! :) :) We'd have a year and 4mo of diapers for free. Even more beneficial is that I can resize these for different children if one needed to wear diapers at the same time as another for a short period of time and just launder more often.
Where do I buy them and how do I find a good deal?
So, here's some stuff I learned! I bought mine at cottonbabies.com. AFTER buying them, I got a note with my stuff saying that they will buy back "very good condition" cloth diapers for about 1/3 the price if you bought the diapers from cottonbabies so that is something to think about if you do fuzzybunz and different sizes. For a 4.5mo old baby, I ended up buying 14 (13new and 1 "2nds"). I have since added 6 more diapers to my stash from sales and whatnot. The going rate is $17.95 per diaper + shipping. I paid $16/diaper for mine with the free shipping, bulk discount, and 5% discount (by joining the cottonbabies newsletter). I also got one 2nd as I happened to catch a sale on them for $11 and it's a new 2nds and I can't figure out why on earth it is a 2nds! Now, I can't tell which one it is exc that it is one of the blue ones! (There was a 2 diaper limit on the 2nds and they sold out in 2hr!). I also got a big $20 washable waterproof reusable bag from cottonbabies for my dirty duds bag.
The best deal I've seen lately is going on right now at 1800diapers.com. Use the code MOTHER until July 31, 2008 to get $10 off a $50 order which will get you 3 NEW cloth diapers for $14.50 apiece and includes free shipping. But you can only use the code once per address so then you'd have your relatives buy them from the site to build the supply. I'd say that 15 is a good number to start with. I slowly worked my way to 20. There is a 10% off code online floating around for cottonbabies if you search for it on http://retailmenot.com and you get free shipping but most diaper places don't offer discounts. The other place i bought my first diaper from was nickisdiapers.com because they offer free shipping to try one Bumgenius whereas the others sites had about $75 order limits for free shipping. You are allowed to return one laundered BumGenius diaper within 15 days if you don't like them. NOTE: if you were to buy from cottonbabies in bulk (like 12 diapers at a time), buy a few inserts extra for when you decide to add to your collection when you buy new "seconds" - you don't have to pay on shipping now and 2nds don't come with inserts and you will want to use the second insert for doublers at night anyways. BTW - you can buy BumGenius about anywhere online now that sells diapers including amazon.com; however, I really feel that the above mentioned websites give the best deals. I recommend signing up for the cottonbabies newsletter as that is how they inform you when their seconds go on sale.
Let's compare the numbers on those two sales per request of V (cottobabies.com vs diapers.com): I'm not sure when you'd only want to buy ONLY 3 though...I guess if you were adding to your cloth diaper stash or maybe if you only wanted a few "fancy" diapers for going out of the house. If you wanted to use the diapers.com code to start a diaper stash, you'd probably want different family members to order for you and you could pay them back. I do see variations on the deal from time to time so if you can't order by the end of July, I'm sure there will be other codes out there if you search for them.
Diapers.com costs: You just have to remember that you would need to buy 3 to use it so you are spending $53.85 and if you use the code, you get them for $43.85. The free shipping still applies here even though you only pay $43.85. This puts each diaper at about $14.50.
General costs from anywhere in bulk: Regardless of where you buy, the price will come out the following by buying them in "bulk" of which there are 3packs, 6packs and 12packs. Without discounts but assuming free shipping which you don't get by buying only a 3pack: Buying the 3packs on the internet you spend $53.10, 6packs for $104.70 and 12 packs for $203.40. You only save about 70 cents total buying a 3 pack (which you'd lose after shipping costs), you save $3 buying 6 in bulk and $12 buying 12 in bulk. Of course the last deal is the best buy you couldn't buy another diaper by saving only $12 when they cost $17.95 bought singly!
Cottonbabies.com costs: ON TOP of those bulk discounts, you also save 5 to 10% @ cottonbabies with codes from joining the newsletter which makes the prices of the diapers so that with the 3 packs you save the 70 cents plus $2.66 to $5.31 making each diaper $16.80 to $15.93 (not counting shipping because I can't figure out how much it is. For the 6 packs, you save the $3 plus $5.24 to $10.47 making each diaper $16.57 to $15.71. For the 12 packs, you save the $12 plus $10.17 to $20.34 making each diaper $16.10 to $15.26.
So, the best price right now is to seek out 3 other family members and get them to use the code and order some for you from diapers.com where the price is $14.50!!!
Buying used? It's hard to find used diapers on ebay anymore (not allowed) but there are websites that people use to sell used diaper. I would caution you that you don't know how well someone has taken care of their cloth diapers so you might be getting diapers that don't wick very well. I also find that for about $1-$2 more per diaper you can usually get them new in bulk anyways on cottonbabies. There is an online diaper trading/buying community you can find off of the diaperpin.com and diaperswappers and if you time it right, you can find them on craigslist too. You can check out the WAHM (work at home moms) who are good seamstresses who make diapers similarly to BumGenius and Fuzzibunz but sell for cheaper and you are supporting a WAHM too. Diaperswappers has a lot of WAHM diapers too as does the diaperjungle. You can also make your own if you are a good seemstress!! There are plenty of patterns online at patterns. I have also seen flawed bumgenius on cottonbabies for moms who want to sew and correct them for $3 in the clearance section from time to time at cottonbabies.com.
Another thing I wanted to mention was that if you are buying BumGenius used, make sure you are buying the BumGenius3.0 version. If you are buying the BumGenius2.0 version, it works really really well; however, because it is a later version, you should be getting them for very very cheap (under $10 at least). I have both versions and I think they both work well. You can tell the difference in the 3.0 version in that it comes with an extra newborn insert and most obvoius of all, if you look at the inside of the diaper, the color on the outside goes over the waistband on the inside about a half an inch on the 3.0 version. The 2.0 version is completely microfiber to the top. I would not recommend buying the 1.0 version used because there is a big difference in quality between version 1.0 and the others.
You just have to know that bit about cost going in if your main objective is to save money and you will!! Don't listen to the naysayers out there! They haven't looked at the numbers!!!
Continue to Cloth Diapers Part II
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