Here are a few great blog posts about the cost analysis. There are so many more out there! Research is your best friend for this.
Squawkfox gives a great pricing analysis from birth to being potty trained. She used 30 months as her timeline (although, who knows how long it'll take to potty train each child). That was 7,354 diaper changes for 30 months using an average of 8 diaper changes a day (more for a younger child and less for an older). Her price point for disposables was 26 cents per diaper. This costs $2,349! And if you have two children in diapers at once, it's even more!
Her average for buying cloth diapers was $450. It's a nice middle ground. They can cost more or less depending on the system you choose and how addicted you are to the cute prints!
Modbots used a comparison of what it would be like to have 4 children, and that one really is a great eye opener since most of us have more than one child.
So, after much research and talking it out, we decided to go the cloth diapering route. Here's what we have so far.
Newborn set. 12 fitted Kissaluvs, 4 XS Bumgenius, 3 Blissful Booty, 5 S Bumgenius, 2 wool covers, 7 newborn PUL covers |
One sized diapers (not complete yet, but will continue stash as she grows.) 13 pocket diapers so far, extra inserts, and one cover |
25 prefolds, 12 microfiber & hemp inserts, 3 covers |
I'll update with the different diapers when she arrives and how they work for her. So far, this has been such a fun journey. I'm already an addict. Yesterday, I actually bought 4 more newborn diapers, because they were a great deal. One of our local baby stores, Soft and Cozy Baby, is going out of business. They have consignment cloth diapers, and they were all on sale! We bought 4 for just $14!! So, now we actually have 27 newborn diapers. She'll be going through them a lot though :)
For all of this, we've spent right at $300. That's a great deal. I'd recommend going the used route if this is something you'd like to try, but don't really know where to start or what will work on your baby. You can always resell them, remember, so it's at no loss to you. Plus, less diapers in the landfill and more cash to spare each more are always a plus.
Diaper draw. There are some disposables in there for her first meconium poos! |
Two of my best friends. Can't wait for baby Williams to meet these two |
35 weeks. Yes, I know I blend in with the wall. I didn't think that trough before the photo. |