So I was figuring out last night if it was really worth it for me to cloth diaper (If you know me, you know that I cloth diaper for my budget, not for the environment.) If you are concerned about the environment the benefit will be even greater =)

FYI… OS = One Size cloth diapers. They generally fit between 8-35lbs. They can range in price from $4 – $20+. Pockets, are diapers that you don’t need a separate cover for. Fitted’s are diapers that do need a separate cover but are shaped and attach around the baby like a disposable. And Prefolds are probably what you are thinking when you think about a cloth diaper. Flat that you have to kinda fold around the baby. You need to either use pins to attach, or something called a snappi and a cover.

I spent $210 on my initial stash, which included 4 OS diaper covers (from cheeky diapers) 20 med fitted diapers (used from a second hand kids sale) 12 OS pockets (from e-bay) 3 OS Fuzzibunz pockets (I actually didn’t spend any money on these, b/c I won them from a blog. Its worth it to enter those giveaways!) and 24 med (or large can’t remember) prefolds (these are the only ones I haven’t used yet since Alex isn’t quite ready for them size wise.)

When I use Sposies (for going away and to the sitters or church nursery) I get the walmart brand since those are the cheapest I have found. The price for size 2 is about $0.15 a diaper. SO with the amount I spent on my CD I could have purchased 1400 diapers. (Or since I get the jumbo packs of 92…) 15 packs.

Now Alex is a heavy wetter so I have to change him every two hours (except at night) whether cloth or sposie to prevent leaks. So that is about 7-8 diapers a day (now I can’t remember what it was like when he was a NB) Using this number I came out with 200 days of Sposies (and this number is low balled) which is about 6 mo worth of disposable diapers. But almost everything I have (and use) is OS. So that means that I can continue to diaper my child for that same price… and the next one. I will be getting some more OS pockets from e-bay which are 30 for $120. That will bring my total for both kiddos to….

$330.00 = 2,200 sposies = 275 days of sposies = 9 mos of sposies.

So… bottom line for the cost of disposable diapering one child for 9 mos I will be able to Cloth diaper at least 2 children up to 35lbs.

This of course doesn’t take into account the decrease in diaper rash cream that I need, or diaper pail liners, or wipes (since I just cut up an old towel and reuse that). Yes we do do laundry more, but I usually hang the diapers up to dry so there is little added cost for the dryer.

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