Cloth diaper use and the savings related to...

[Wringer-Washer]

Back in the day when I had babies in diapers and I was using cloth, the thought never crossed my mind as to what a load of diapers cost to launder, but thinking back on it now, I wish I had calculated some of the costs associated with using cloth diapers, even short-term, because it would have made for interesting statistics for conversations such as this.

Nonetheless, cloth diapers, when I was using them, were much more frugal than the today's modern version. Old-fashioned cloth diapers were thin, sheet style, so they laundered thoroughly and dried quickly, and nearly everyone I knew at the time who were using cloth diapers, clothesline dried, which added to the overall savings.

Aside from laundry detergent, bleach, and electricity to power the washing machine and tumble dryer, I guestimate that laundering costs equated to pennies per load, and the only long-term expense I remember associated with the use of cloth diapers, was rubber pants, and even then, rubber pants came 6 pairs to a pack and could be had for a $1 a pack at the time, so a package or two of rubber pants every few months didn't come close to putting a pinch in our household budget.

Additionally, I washed diapers every 2-3 days, so always a full-load, which helped maximize savings, and diapers generally lasted through two children before having to be replaced, so they good for hundreds of washings.

Would love to hear from any other older mothers from the old-fashioned cloth diaper era, as to what sort of savings you enjoyed as a result of using cloth diapers in your home.

[kork13]

We don't use the old fashioned all-cloth diapers with pins & such... We use button-up diapers that are polyurethane lined to help keep wetness from leaking through.

This is what we use, the combination of the diaper shell and the removable insert:


We've really liked using the cloth diapers. It took me a few weeks to get used to in the beginning, but it's really quite simple.

As for cost, most of the cost is upfront. We bought alot of the diapers to account for 1 full day of air drying, and to reduce the needed frequency of washing them all.

Detergent: 15¢/load, every 2-3 days
Energy/water (electric HE washer): 50¢/load, every 2-3 days
Drying rack: $30, one-time cost
Diapers: $100 for ~30, one-time cost
Inserts: $100 for ~40, one-time cost

For rough estimates, our older son used 4-8 diapers daily for about 2 years, when we transitioned him to disposable pull-ups (the cloth diapers couldn't handle his bladder capacity). He used fewer per day as he got older, so call it 700 days x average of 6 diapers per day = 4200 uses per child. Washing them every 2.5 days (or so), that's about 280 loads per child, or $180 in detergent/energy/water costs.

Our total cost for 1 child to be cloth diapered for 2 yrs: roughly $410, or about 10¢ per use. By comparison, disposable diapers cost about 20¢ per diaper (or more). So just for our first son, cloth diapering has been about half the cost of using disposables. Considering that we're using the same diapers for our second son as well (currently 5 months old), the overall cost goes down even further.

We've been really happy with using the cloth diapers. They're easy to use, make less waste, and are cheaper. Plus, as long as you wash them often, they actually smell less bad (definitely not "better") than the disposables...the smell of disposables lingers alot longer. We also found that when we occasionally did have him in a disposable diaper (road trips, or when we accidentally ran out of cloth), he was more prone to diaper rashes.

[Wringer-Washer]

Talk about modern! Diapers (cloth) don't even look like diapers anymore.

Love your breakdown of costs. So nice of you to reply. Thank you.

Where we live, water is abundant, so there was never a concern over washing and laundering, as much as I know such is not the case over the entire board.

One thing I still remember is the cost of diapers when my first was born. I could buy a dozen cloth diapers for under $10, and 2-3 packs got the job done for two kids from start to finish. Pretty hard arguing with anyone as to the savings mothers enjoyed back then. The numbers truly speak for themselves.

I vaguely remember the total cost of diapers and associated necessities related to, when my oldest was born, was under $50. That was for the diapers, the pail, the pins, the rubber pants, the whole nine yards, and I never once ran out of diapers the whole entire time my kids were babies. Always had fresh laundered diapers on hand and ready to go.

Like yourself, I, too, was right at home with cloth, and more than happy to use them, especially always being a stay-at-home mom, and I'm certain my kids enjoyed more comfort wearing cloth, too.