So I was browsing and found a cool site : http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/5-diap/45-diaper-cost.htm . It breaks down the costs of disposable vs. cloth diapering. (just the cost of the diapers themselves)
They based their research on "two of the most popular brands from a store known for its value pricing" and calculated how much a value box of diapers cost, plus how many disposables babies use (on average) at each age, and also figured in how long they are using each size.
With all the math done, this site claims the average cost of JUST the diapers for about 3 years (i child) is $2,694. Is that crazy, or what? If you want to see how they broke it down, check the site.
This site (a little less accurately, I think) says disposable diapering costs about $2800. They base that on 8 changes per day for 3 years at $.32 a diaper. I don't think most of us pay quite that much per diaper, but let's say even an average of $.22 a diaper - $1927. That's a lot of money!
This same site says the same family will spend about $320 to $500 on cloth diapers during a child's "diapering life." That's probably washing every 2-3 days. I wash every night right now, and have spent about $400 so far for both kids. I'm getting close to being able to wash every 2 days though, which would be about right, I think. I just bought some more BumGenius's for Jaina. Now I just need to find some diapers that fit Reilly a little better, and we should be well on our way to just washing every other day. I don't think I'd want to go longer than that, mostly because you don't have to deal with much smell that way.
Cloth diapering definitely seems more economical, even if you factor in the $400 (approximately, of course) it takes during those 2-3 years to wash all your diapers. If you're doing two kids at once, I think that number probably goes down. :) Then there's still the re-sale value. From what I've read (and from some re-sale myself) you can make back anywhere from 30 to 60% of your original cost if you keep things in decent condition. Either that or save everything to use on the next child, and your costs for THAT baby just went way down... Money-wise, it's a win-win situation.
That's all for now. Jaina thinks she needs some attention. :)
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I used cloth with my littlest one before we moved to IA. I spent an initial investment of $90 which included a special soap, washed 2-3x/week, and when we got here, sold all of the diapering stuff (except the soap!) for $65. I used them for 7 months! I was very pleased with the cost savings and with how cute he looked in his cloth!!!
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