Cloth Saves!

We decided to go with flat diapers with a diaper cover for our main choice of cloth diapering because this option is one of the most inexpensive ways to cloth diaper (Meaning we will be saving even more money in the long run than using disposable, some cloth diapers options are pretty pricey… Although, even if you go with the most expensive cloth option your still saving money-see below).

My mom (a big thanks to her) bought 2 Groupon specials to a Denver cloth diaper store for $20 for $40 worth of cloth diapers, so I had $80.00 to spend on cloth diapers. We took a trip up to Denver and bought the diapers and had lunch- fun outing!

We use the Swaddlebees Flat Diapers, which run about $16 to $18 for a pack of 6. We purchased 2 packs for $18 a piece = $36.00 (that went towards the $80 from Ecopolitian).

We bought 1 woolybottoms cloth diaper cover for $30.00 (that went towards the $80 from Ecopolitian). So along with 6 Kushies fitted diapers and 2 covers (approxamately $60.00) that I bought when Alivia was diapering, the flats and 1 cover added to my collection for full-time cloth diapering. Cloth diapering is kind of trial and error to find out what you like. We found out that we did not like the wool diaper cover because Nolan has such sensitive skin and is quite sensitive to the wool. Overall, the wool diaper cover is a great choice because you don’t have to wash it often and it is a great night time cover. I would definitely use this as a night time cover if he didn’t show signs of sensitivity (wish I would have knew about this before hand and would have stocked up on Thirsties covers). We don’t love the Kushies fitted, but they would work when Ben changed Nolan because they are similar to disposable (we upgraded to an All-In-One or AIO now for when Ben changes Nolan or when we are out and about). You get what you pay for in the cloth world and the Kushies are just made on the cheaper side, but they are ok for short trips or in-between washes. I recently bought 6 Thirsties AIO (to replace the Kushies fitted) on craigslist for $5.50(ish) a piece = $33.50 (I paid 50 for all of the diapers and covers so just divided it by 9). 4 Thirsty All-In-Ones and 2 Swaddlebees pockets. These both range from $20.00 to $25.00 a diaper when bought new

As for the Thirsties diaper covers, . My dad bought 3 covers (size 1) at full price for $39.00 at our local cloth diaper store- Baby Cotton Bottoms, and I bought 3 diapers (1 size 1 and 2 size 2) off of craigslist for 5.50(ish) each = $16.50 (I paid 50 for all of the diapers and covers so just divided it by 9).

Overall, we have 24 cloth diapers and 7 covers; however, we only use 18 cloth diapers and 4 cloth diaper covers on a regular basis at this time. I plan to place the Kushies fitted diapers and Wollybottoms diaper cover on craigslist for cheap to get some dollars back!! And, I will have to buy some AIO in the next size or some One size pockets for Nolan when he grows bigger.

Here is our spending on diapers so far:

My mom and dad helped us with the starting cost (THANK YOU), contributing $79.25 

And

we paid a total of $110.00 ($60.00 of which I bought and used with Alivia) 

Making our grand total on cloth (for now) at…

$189.00!

Here’s to saving lots of money using cloth diapers. I plan on spending about $50 to $75 more on Nolan’s next size of AIO/pocket/easy cloth diaper option making our total to about $250.00 for cloth. With the disposables we did purchase in the first few months and the few packages I may buy here and there to have on hand, I estimate spending around (give or take) $400 for Nolan’s entire diapering from birth to potty training. Not too shabby. A baby can go through about 9000 diaper changes from birth to potty training. The estimated amount spent on disposable diapers $2160.00.

Here is a handy little chart from Baby Cotton Bottoms:

Costs to diaper for 30 months (2.5 years):

Disposable diapers: 9000 changes averaging 24 cents per change = $2160.00
Disposable wipes: Average 84 wipes per week * 4.4 cents per wipe = $480.00
Diaper Service (prefolds only--no wipes, no covers): $2365.00
Cloth laundered at home: $300.00-1000.00 (new diapers, depending on the system chosen and does not account for resale/reuse value)

With my estimated cost of spending around $400 for Nolan’s diapering needs, according to this chart, we will be saving $1,760. Cloth saves!!