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Saturday, March 5, 2011

Cloth Diapering Savings

I recently stumbled across a wonderful blog by a very cool mom. She, like me, is passionate about cloth diapering. And not just b/c it makes mama earth happy. Lauren's recent post (here!) was all about how much money she saved on diapers since switching to cloth. The most admirable thing? She did it all without owning her own washer and dryer - laundromat style! I'm spoiled with a new HE washer/dryer set and an energy efficent home. I was so inspired by her mathematics (didn't think I would ever write that sentence down) that I did my own. Keep in mind that this is for only one child, with less than a year under our moisture-absorbing, PUL lined belts.

Our savings with cloth diapers in the last 11 months:

Money spent on cloth diapering:
$200 for the brand-new stash of diapers = $200 one-time cost
$50 for accessories (pail liners, wet bags, etc.) = $50 one-time cost
HE Washer/ Dryer in house (3 loads/wk) = $.52/load, $72 over 11 months*
Rockin' Green HE Detergent = $.20/load, $9.40 over 11 months
TOTAL SPENT: $331.40 in 11 months

*Yes! This includes energy and water bills!

If we used disposables:
Average of 7 diapers a day at $.39/diaper (based on diapers.com w/o shipping) = $900.90
TOTAL SPENT: $900.90 in 11 months

HOLY MONKEY! I have saved $569.50 in 11 months of cloth diapering! We live in San Antonio, and energy and water are cheaper, and ground water is warm, but it's still an astonishing amount to have saved. We use one size diapers, and have another baby due in August, so the savings will just continue to grow.

For those who are interested in getting these specific numbers for your washer and dryer at home, there's a great calculator here: http://michaelbluejay.com/elec... (you need your most recent water and energy bills to figure out what rate you pay - very illuminating!)

2 comments:

LaurenBonk said...

Erin! I can't believe I didn't comment on this post! Yikes, I have been pretty scatterbrained lately... Thanks for the mention! I'm pretty pumped because we're moving to a new apartment with...dun dun dun...washer and dryer hookups! I can't wait to use the washer/dryer calculator you posted...

The Jobes said...

Best part for me is we live on post where water and energy are free! So cloth diapering saves us TONS! We just recently had Turner and are so excited to enter the world of CD! It is actually fun! Who would have thought!