Tag Archives: cloth diapers

Is the Cost of Going Green Worth It?

A lot of green purchases cost more upfront than their non-green counterparts. Organic food, compact fluorescent bulbs, cloth diapers… it can be hard to see why you would bother paying extra. All these steps seem like such small things.

However, each of these has the potential to save you some significant money.

The hardest to track is probably the organic food. How do you know if a health issue is caused by the buildup from the food you’ve been eating or if you would have had it no matter your diet? You can’t.

But other differences may be noted. You might find that you are more satisfied when you eat healthier foods. Some people find that their urge to snack goes down when they cut the junk food. Combine that with going organic and you might not be spending as much extra as you think.

Compact fluorescent bulb savings are also hard to track. You don’t know what fixture adds a particular amount to your electricity bill. Their estimated average savings per bulb for the life of the bulb is about $30… not a bad deal.

The need to recycle them can be a bit of a challenge, but you can learn how to handle that in your area at http://www.epa.gov/bulbrecycling

Cloth diapering is something I’ve recently gotten into, as readers of this blog already know. The upfront cost is significant, a few hundred dollars, but through the time my daughter is in diapers I will have saved a lot of money. I would have saved a lot more if I had used cloth diapers starting with my oldest child.

Depending on the brand of diapers you buy, payback can be a few months under a year to a few months over a year. That’s not a bad deal. It’s some extra work, but with modern cloth diapers it really is not all that complex. No pins required.

Not every green purchase has such obvious financial advantages. Organic and fair trade clothing for example, cost more, but you aren’t going to get that money back. They’re about making a choice based on your conscience.

The big changes such as solar power have extremely long payback times and can be unattainable for people who rent. It’s a great choice for those who can afford to wait to earn their money back and have a living situation that allows it, but it’s not a green choice that everyone can do right now.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that not every green choice comes with a price tag.

Choosing to buy less, for example. Making do with less is a green choice and doesn’t cost you anything. It is perhaps one of the most neglected green options out there, as people love to shop. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter, just that it’s one of the least glamorous choices you can make.

But it can feel really good. It’s an adjustment, but not so uncomfortable as some might think. And the impact on your pocketbook is a positive one.

How Much Will Cloth Diapering Save Me?

After spending about $350 or so on various cloth diapering supplies (cloth diapers, cloth wipes, wet bags and a diaper sprayer), the question of course comes up as to how long it will take me to earn my money back. I mean, the lack of waste is nice, but it’s a bit of a financial commitment and money’s tight for us. Knowing when the payback is reached is a nice reassurance.

Payback for us won’t come as quickly as for others. We always bought the store brand Target diapers, which are significantly cheaper than name brands such as Pampers. A mid size pack of Target diapers runs under $11 pretax, versus $16-45 for Pampers, depending on the number of diapers in the package.

The number of diapers in a package drops as the diapers get bigger, so that they can keep charging the same price per package. This makes it hard to do more than approximate things.

And I haven’t even tried to figure in the cost of disposable wipes. Diaper costs alone should be sufficient to show the benefit in a reasonable time frame.

$350 is around 32 packs of diapers. Less actually, since that’s pretax, so I’ll call it 30 packs. Still too many but I would rather overestimate than under.

It’s hard to figure out how long to assume each pack will last on average. Call it two packs a month at the size I buy. I’m guessing here, based on a newborn using 8 or so diapers a day while an older child uses 5-6 a day.

So 32 packs would go for 16 months.

I’m skipping a few factors here. On the disposable side, there’s the cost of going to get the diapers, which is small as I can combine it with other errands. However, the need for them in the past often caused trips to Target that could have otherwise been combined with later trips. The more you shop the more you buy, you know?

As noted above, I’m also skipping the cost of disposable wipes.

On the cloth diaper side there’s the cost of doing laundry. Probably a load every other day in the early days, then spread out depending on how well I can stand waiting. Plus the time to handle the laundry, including hanging them out on the clothesline in good weather for them to dry. But I do that with all the laundry these days, so I really don’t think of it as a big deal anymore.

There’s another factor to consider. One site I saw said it’s an average of 30 months of diapering with babies. However, I’ve also heard that cloth diaper babies tend to potty train earlier. I like that benefit, even if there’s no obvious cost savings with cloth. But it does mean that the financial cost of disposables adds up for longer.

And one more subtle cost factor. This is absolutely my last baby, so I can’t spread the cost out over multiple children. I had my OB make sure of that with a tubal ligation during my C-section. Too bad I didn’t discover cloth diapers sooner.

But cloth diapers have a resale value if they remain in decent condition. When the time comes, I can go to a forum such as Diaper Swappers and get something back for what I’ve spent already. That can bring the payback time frame way down.

Overall, I’m enjoying these early days of my cloth diapering adventures. I hope it continues to go well for us. The money saved and the decreased waste make the extra work worth it for me.

Trying to Get Cloth Diapering Started

As I posted after she was born, Selene is a very small baby. Or perhaps I should say was. Little rascal has quite the appetite, and she’s not so tiny anymore.

She might even fit into the bumGenius diapers we have for her at last.

That’s what I’m trying out today. First time I put one on her, even as tight as I could get it, she just swam in it. Tiny, tiny baby girl! We

My mother is rather surprised that we’re doing cloth diapers, but she understands the bit about saving money. She was worried about the water use, though. A good point, but I got a great tip from a reader that I’ll be trying to save on water when I wash the diapers. She suggests soaking the diapers in the wash for a half hour, rather than doing multiple cycles. I sure hope it works for me! Thanks, Deoxy!

The diapers are fitting a bit better now. I don’t have a scale to say what she weighs now, but I would have to guess at least 7 pounds.

One challenge we’re facing is that our little miss is a queen of futile diaper changes. Yes, she’s one of those who manages to save up for just after you change her. Or during. Those are… umm… fun too, really….

Obviously that can be a bit of a hardship with cloth diapers. We’ve gotten better at catching when she’s really ready for a change, rather than just getting started, and I hope this will keep the number of quick changes down.

I know we’ll still end up using some disposable diapers. There’s pretty much no way my mother-in-law will put up with cloth. Since she is a highly willing babysitter once baby can take a bottle, there’s only so much complaint I can have about that. Doubly so since she usually buys her own diapering supplies.

I have to say, Selene looks awfully cute in a cloth diaper. It makes getting her dressed a bit more interesting, fitting her clothes over the diaper, but I can deal with that. I just like being able to cut down so much on waste.

Cloth Diapers vs. Water Use Reduction

Talking with my mother the other day about our plans for cloth diapering baby Selene once she’s big enough to fit the bumGenius 3.0 diapers we have brought up a very good point.

Cloth diapers take a lot of water to wash.

Recent storms may change matters somewhat, but all the talk has been on water restrictions lately. I’m really hoping this doesn’t turn out to be a problem.

However, I do have things I would give up sooner than my cloth diapers, if it’s left up to me. I’d be quite delighted if my landlord would let us just kill the front lawn, and maybe add in some drought tolerant plants instead. The gopher seems to be leaving things alone at long last, thanks, I would imagine, due to the hunting prowess of the neighbor’s cats. I know they caught at least one gopher.

I’ve also been scolding my husband for some of the ways he wastes water already. I don’t think he’ll go for a bucket in the shower just yet, but if things get bad this year he might.

If the discussed water restrictions hold this year, things could get interesting. I hope to see enough rain, or rather enough snow in the mountains, to get us out of the drought, but if that doesn’t happen I have no doubt that restrictions will happen.

But I just can’t see giving up the cloth diapers. My mother is concerned that it might be a sensible solution, even though she agrees disposables are more of a waste overall. Going to have to keep on planning as the season goes on.

Buying Cloth Diapers at Last

Here I am, in the final stretch. 8 months pregnant. Time to get those cloth diapers I keep wanting.

bumgenius 3.0

We’re keeping it simple at first; just a 3 pack of bumGenius 3.0 diapers. I want to try them out before committing to a full supply, just in case it turns out that some other brand actually works out better for me. It’s such a switch from before I’m feeling probably more cautious than I need to be.

My husband and I are pretty excited about this, if a little doubtful about how certain family members will view it at first. But I just look at all the reviews explaining how easy it all is, and I feel much reassured.

If nothing else, the cash savings should catch his parents’ attention. They’re not green most ways, but they certainly respect trying to save money.

I’m also getting cloth wipes. They’ll be an interesting switch from the convenience of disposable wipes, but as I pointed out to my husband, once you have cloth diapers, cloth wipes are sensible too. They all fit into the same load of laundry.