There are several reasons to use cloth diapers.
- Financial
- Environmental
- Health (diaper rash, chemicals in disposable diaper production)
When I talk to expectant parents, or those who are thinking about switching to cloth diapers, the first thing I ask is why are cloth diapers important to you. Most say they want to use cloth diapers for Environmental/Health reasons and that saving money will be an added bonus. The others say the reverse. That they are only considering cloth diapers to save money and need the cheapest option out there.
I’ve always used the data provided by the Real Diaper Association when talking about the savings potential of using cloth diapers. I am not a researcher. I am not about to reinvent the wheel when such an established group provides reliable data.
Then I attended the Savvy Blogging Summit with 60 other mostly frugal bloggers. I realized that if these individuals, or their readers, are buying disposable diapers, they are likely spending less than the average 25.5¢ per diaper.
I do want to note that many of the women I met at the event are/were cloth diaper users.
I will continue to use the Real Diaper Association data because their data is spot on for my family. On the rare occasions when we buy disposable diapers, we are spending more than their average, even with a coupon, to get the disposables with organic fibers. If I were purchasing a name brand diaper with an occasional coupon/sale, this average seems appropriate.
My new quest though is to figure out the average cost of disposable diapers for a super frugal family. I am not talking about a family who buys Pampers and clips the $1 coupon from the Sunday paper. I am talking about the family that buys 10 Sunday papers, stacks coupons, stockpiles, and is never brand loyal. If you know of a family like this, or know a blogger like this, please comment below with a link or email me. I would love to read their story. I was this super frugal disposable diaper buyer 10 years ago so my numbers are outdated.
Cloth Diaper Me Monday Guidelines
You are free to link up anything related to cloth diapers that you would like to share.
- Are you a WAHM that makes cloth diapers? You can link up your HyenaCart or Esty store.
- Do you have a personal blog and just posted your little one in a cute cloth diaper? Link up.
- Do you have a section on your blog with cloth diaper resources? Post a link.
- Have you reviewed a product and are now offering a cloth diaper giveaway? Share your link.
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I got diapers down to $.17 each, or an avg of $7 a week. I also budgeted my cloth diaper buys, making them cost an average of $8 each (sales, used, giveaways, new). From my calculations a few months ago, I figured the cloth would pay for itself in 8 months.