Cloth diapering- show me the money!

It’s been a little over 6 months since we’ve started cloth diapering and here are some changes we’ve made to our routine:

-I’ve added hemp inserts into our Fuzzibunz at night and if we’re out and about for longer than 2 hours. We were having leaking issues at night with two Fuzzibunz inserts and also leaking while out of the house for extended periods of time. The hemp has worked wonders! I got a three pack of triple layer hemp inserts for $9.95 on the Fuzzibunzstore.com website and it was well worth the small investment. I was also curious about the new minky material Fuzzibunz inserts that they came out with in their new Elite diaper, so I ordered a pack of three for $11.95 to check them out. I had heard that they were more absorbent and washed better than the microfiber inserts that came with our One Size Fuzzibunz and I can totally agree. So, our leak issues are gone and we are very happy!

- I experimented with a new CD detergent called Country Save, and I now regret it! It caused terrible stink and repelling issues with the diapers. I was trying to save myself a couple bucks (literally $3!) and it ended up being more of a hassle and not worth the $3! After I rocked a soak in the Rockin Green detergent  that we love, the diapers are as good as new… and I am forever a Rockin Green customer!

-Good news: a cloth diaper store opened up in Plano! The Nappy Shop is literally 7 minutes from our house and carries Fuzzibunz and Rockin Green! I think I will still buy from the Fuzzibunz website if we ever need more diapers because they give you 10% in customer rewards to use on your next purchase (we’ve gotten about $40 in free merchandise with those!). I will definitely be buying my Rockin Green from The Nappy Shop though, it’s the same price and I’ll save money on shipping!  

I also want to do a cost analysis to see if we’ve broken even on our cloth diapering adventure- since saving money was the #1 reason we switched to cloth!

Cost of diapers: $339.10 on Fuzzibunzstore.com (18 diapers) + $36 (Go Green pocket diapers 4, at $9/diaper)= $375.1

Cost of accessories:
                Wet bag for Mk’s room- Free with Fuzzibunz.com rewards (saved $16)
                Wet bag for diaper bag- Free with Fuzzibunz.com rewards ( saved $9)
                Rice paper liners- $9 on Fuzzibunz.com bought them twice, once with rewards= $9
                Rockin Green detergent- $15 +shipping  on RockinGreen.com, bought twice- $40
                Additional inserts (hemp and minky)- $22 on Fuzzibunz.com
                Country Save (biggest waste of money!)- $12 at Sprouts

Cost of laundering diapers- I can’t tell, our electricity and water bills have stayed the same since we’ve started 6 months ago- and compared to last year, they are lower. So, that means there is minimal energy costs to launder the diapers.

Cost of disposable diapers in last 6 month- 1 pack of Pampers with 160 diapers on amazon.com/mom for $44.83 (used for church, when she has diarrhea, babysitters) that should last us for several months since we use about 4 disposable diapers a week on average.

Cost of disposable wipes- We buy the biggest box of Target brand wipes and have bought two for a total of $28.

Total cost of diapering in last 6 months- $530.93

Estimated cost of diapering in the next 6 months- ~$54

                2 more bags of Rockin Green detergent - $30 (at $15/piece)
                1 more packages of rice paper liners- $9               
                1 package of Target wipes (just bought one for $5 b/c the bottom of the box was damaged! Love the clearance section at Target!) -$14

Estimated cost of disposables had we not switched to cloth:

Diapers used in 1 day (12-18 month old)-  8/day (that’s a good day, not taking into consideration sick days)
Cost of size 3-4 value sized (160 count) Pampers diapers on Amazon.com/mom with Subscribe and Save discount- $44/box that’s $0.23/diaper (the best deal we’ve ever gotten on Pampers was $0.18/diaper when she was in size Newborn-2 diapers with the subscribe and save discount).

Over 6 months we would have used an estimated 1,440 diapers which would be $331.2 plus $28 for wipes= $359.2

So, sadly, we have no broken even on our diapers quite yet- but we should for sure in the next few months! Yay! And, not to mention, besides from detergent and liners and the rare box of diapers for church, we won’t have to spend much on diapers for our second kid whenever he/she decides to come on the scene. I knew this was going to be a heavy investment up front, but I know it’s going to pay off in the long run! Had we started out with cloth diapers, we would for sure have broken even and definitely be saving money right now.

One website estimated that a baby would go through 4,702 diapers in their first two years (that’s 6 wet per day, 1 poop every 2.5 days and 1 “opps I changed a perfectly dry diaper b/c I’m a new mom” a day for the first month). That would be $1,081.46 just in the first 2 years with $0.23 cents a diaper. I think 6 diapers a day for a newborn is unheard of, so I can assure you the actual amount of money most families pay on diapers in the first year is MUCH higher (unless you are an extreme couponer, and in that case, I applaud your time and effort in clipping coupons and finding the diaper deals!)

Wow, that was a long post! Here's to saving money on diaper change at a time!

Love,
K. Vog