When Ryan and I first stated that we planned to cloth diaper we of course got many mixed opinions on this topic. At first when I mentioned I wanted to cloth diaper, Ryan wasn’t 100% on board either, but then I did my research and shared some statistics with him, and it didn’t take anything else to get him on board. The numbers don’t lie. The use of disposables is EXPENSIVE! Although the cost is not our primary reasoning for using cloth, it was the edge I needed to get my husband on board with me. As we dug deeper into our research we found lots of other reasons to cloth diaper, which just helped us to determine that we were making the right decision.

1) SAVES MONEY – the average family goes through approximately 2,700 diapers in the first year. Typically children do not potty train in the US until sometime after the age of two. That means that the average American family goes through approximately 5,400 diapers in a two year period. That is assuming that your child is potty trained by their second birthday. Assuming that you buy store brand bulk sized diapers, a box of 156 diapers costs around $25.00 (I’m rounding up slightly to make this a more exact number). That means you would have to buy 34.6 boxes of diapers over a two year period (5,400 divided by 156), so let’s round that up to 35 boxes of diapers at $25 a box. You have now spent $875 in diapers. If you have 2-3 kids you can see how quickly that amount adds up.

Now, if you do what we did and buy cloth diapers on sale, you can save more money. There are a lot of name brand cloth diapers like bum genius and charlie bananas that you may have heard of, if you know anything about cloth diapering. However, the website Zulily has cloth diapers on sale on a regular basis. I read many reviews and found that the diapers were comparable in their quality, and were half the price of the big name brand diapers and just as cute, if not cuter!! They say it’s good to have an average of 27 cloth diapers so that you have diapers to use when the dirty diapers are being washed. I only paid about $11-12 per diaper, and I found more prints that I liked so I have 34 diapers. So overall we spent an average of about $400 on cloth diapers. Already that is over 50% less money than the disposables. We paid a little more for wet bags and some extra inserts…. but here’s the real kicker… YOU CAN REUSE THEM FOR EACH KIDDO!!!! 

2) LESS WASTE – Imagine all of those 5,400 diapers…where do they go? Landfills, even the biodegradable diapers go to the landfill, and if you have put those biodegradable diapers into plastic diaper containers like a diaper pail or diaper genie, they are no longer biodegradable when wrapped in the plastic. So your good idea, has become somewhat useless. If you use a biodegradable garbage bag for your biodegradable diapers then that is fantastic news and you are doing great!

3) HEALTHIER – Cloth diapers aren’t covered in chemical like most disposable diapers. You will find less diaper rash, fewer blowouts, and an altogether healthier baby bum. Need I say more?

You are saving money, helping the earth, and making your baby’s bum healthier by not putting all of those chemicals on their skin. Yes, you have to wash them and it is “more work” as some might argue. But another great way to help you save money is by using cloth wipes, which I will discuss in a later blog, and make your own laundry detergent for your diapers, which I will also discuss in a later blog. There are so many great reasons to cloth diaper. Save your baby’s bum, help lessen the landfills, and save yourself some money. Use Cloth Diapers!! 🙂

Our favorite brands include:
Little Monsters
MG Baby 
Jungle Roo 
Lotus Bumz 

As stated before all of the companies named above also go on sale regularly on Zulily, so if you want a great deal check on Zulily regularly!

If you don’t have a Zulily account click here to sign up.

 *Not all diapers posted, some were being washed and some had not been bought yet*




References:
http://www.kidsgrowth.com/resources/articledetail.cfm?id=431