Wallypop: Wallypop Diapering: Cost Comparison

Cloth and Disposable Diaper Cost Comparison

My goal here is to provide a realistic, no detail left uncovered comparison of the cost differences between cloth diapers and disposable diapers. If you can think of other information that would be useful to have, let me know and I'll get to work!

All prices as of August, 2007. Please note: Many disposable diaper manufacturers raised their prices early 2008 in response to rising oil costs (there is a huge amount of oil that goes into disposable diaper manufacturing). At least one brand (Huggies) has announced that they'll be raising prices again later this year by about 6-8%. Cloth diaper costs are also rising (mostly due to the increase in the costs of materials such as hemp and wool, as well as increased shipping expenses), but not nearly as quickly.

Comparison of Diapers
Comparison of Accessories and other Supplies
Cost of Laundry
Time is Money
The Final Outcome

There is also a great calculator at the Diaper Pin and a really nice set of charts at Diaper Decisions.

Comparison of Diapers

Worth noting:
Many cloth diapered babies will potty train before 36 months. Statistically, cloth diapered babies potty train 1 year earlier than disposable diapered babies.
Prefold and Cover families can opt to purchase only premium sized prefolds, skipping the infant size.
Cloth diaper families can save over the listed costs by buying used diapers or bartering for diapers.
Cloth diaper calculations assume washing every 3 days. Parents can buy fewer diapers and wash more often to save even more money.

Additional notes on these calculations

Comparison of Accessories and Other Supplies

Many people wonder about the cost of the additional supplies that you need when you cloth diaper. Let's compare the prices of those supplies to the supplies you need for disposable diapering

I did not include things you'd need regardless of diapering choices, such as a changing pad or diaper bag.

Additional notes on these calculations

Cost of Laundry

One of the more common questions I get is "But doesn't the cost of laundry outweigh any cost savings you might receive from using cloth diapers?" As you'll see, the answer is absolutely not!

Washing
A reasonably efficient top loader uses about 30 gallons of water per load. At Des Moines current water rates, that’s .07 per load for the water used.
According to the clean air partnership, it takes 4.3 kwh to heat water for a hot wash, which at Des Moines current electricity rates, means 37 cents to heat the water.
Using the US Dept of Energy’s website helps me figure out that the washer uses .1 kwh per cycle, which comes to almost 1 cent.

So, per load, to wash, we’re spending 45 cents. Per week, about 90 cents. Let’s round up to a dollar. 52 weeks in a year, $52. Three years in diapers, just over $150.

Drying
If you want to dry in an electric dryer, the Multi-Housing Laundry Association says that the average dryer uses 3.3 kwh per cycle. That’s 28 cents using my electric rates. Two loads a week, about 60 cents. 52 weeks a year, $31.20 per year. Three years in diapers, about $90.

Total over three years, energy and water cost = less than $250.

Mid American residential electric rate is currently 8.551 cents per kwh. City of Des Moines water is $2.21 per 1000 gallons.

Time is Money

"But my time is worth something, too!" You're right, it is.

How much time does cloth diaper laundry actually take? I can only give you my experience, and I timed myself.

Walking diaper pail from changing area down to laundry area: 30 seconds
Emptying diaper pail into washer: 10 seconds
Starting washer, putting in detergent, making sure drain is clear of toys: 20 seconds
Coming back down later to put diapers into dryer: 1 minute
Removing diapers from dryer: 1 minute
Folding diapers and putting away in drawer: 15 minutes if focused
(This step is optional, many families just use the laundry basket as their clean-diaper storage.)

TOTAL TIME: 18 minutes. (3 minutes if you skip the folding)
Weekly (three loads per week): 1 hour. (9 minutes if you skip folding)
Annually: 52 hours. (7.8 hours if you skip folding)
Three Years: 156 hours (23.5 hours if you skip folding)

Disposable diapering also involves a time investment. You must drive to the store, stand in line, purchase the diapers, and take the garbage out. "But I do these things anyway!" you might protest. "I'll just get diapers when I get groceries!" There is no doubt that this is what most families plan, but I do my grocery shopping and errand running late at night, often around 9 or 10 PM. Hardly a trip goes by that I don't see someone there buying - guess what - one package of disposable diapers, and that's it. oops!

The Final Outcome

Disposable Diapering: $2731- $5470 for diapers and accessories for two children in diapers for three years each.
Cloth Diapering: $823-2302 for diapers, accessories, and laundry for two children in diapers for three years each.

Notes

Notes on Cloth vs Disposable Diaper Prices

Disposable diaper prices came from:
Off Brand: My local Walmart in Windsor Heights, Iowa. Parents Choice brand diapers.
Name Brand: My local Walmart in Windsor Heights, Iowa. Huggies brand.
Green: www.diapers.com. Seventh Generation brand diapers. Assuming free shipping.
My local Walmart offered prices that were cheaper than any I could find online. The website www.diapers.com offered the "green" diapers cheaper than I could find locally.

Cloth diaper prices came from:
Prefolds and Proraps: www.wallypop.net Infant size diapers are used through month 6, Premium size diapers are used through month 36. 3 dozen diapers and 6 covers are used in each size.
Wallypop Assortment: www.wallypop.net Assumes a variety of approx. 30% prefolds with covers, 25% fitteds and covers, 25% pockets, and 20% all in ones. Infant size prefolds are purchased with size small diapers, and premium prefolds are purchased with size mediums. 3 dozen diapers are used in size small, 3 dozen diapers are used in size medium, and 2 dozen are used in size large.
High End Brand Assortment: www.clothdiaperoutlet.com and www.forthemonster.com Assumes a variety of 25% fitteds, 50% pockets, and 25% all in ones, using various well-known name brands. 3 dozen diapers are used in size small, 3 dozen diapers are used in size medium, and 2 dozen are used in size large.

Change Frequency: Cost is based on changing a newborn every 2 hours, changing older babies every 3 hours, and changing toddlers 4 hours. Overnight diaper changes are assumed to take place every 2 hours through 2 months, twice a night through 6 months, and once a night until 1 year.

Diaper usage assumed:

Sizing changes assumed:
I got out my son's baby book and used his weights compared to manufacturer's weight guidelines.
Disposable diapers - Size 1/2 through 2 months (14 lbs). Size 3 through 1 year (22 lbs). Size 4 through 24 months (30 lbs). Size 5 through 36 months.
Cloth diapers - Size small through 3 months (18 lbs). Size medium through 18 months (25 lbs). Size large through 36 months.

Notes on Accessories:

Disposable Option A:
Garbage Bags: Hefty 4 Gallon, purchased at Walmart, use 1 per day.
Wipes: Off Brand purchased at Walmart
Assumed the use of 10,000 wipes over the course of 3 years. This assumes parents start out using multiple wipes at every change and gradually move to using 1 wipe for poop changes and none for pee changes.

Disposable Option B:
Diaper Genie from Walmart.
Refills from Walmart: Refill holds 180 diapers. 40 refill packs over 3 years of diapering, with diaper usage estimates as outlined above.
Wipes: Name Brand (Huggies) purchased from Walmart. Assumed the use of 10,000 wipes over the course of 3 years. This assumes parents start out using multiple wipes at every change and gradually move to using 1 wipe for poop changes and none for pee changes.

Cloth Option A:
Step-Lid Garbage Can from Target (this is what I use!)
Three dozen cloth wipes from www.wallypop.net (with laundry every 3 days).

Cloth Option B:
Diaper Pail from www.thestorkwearhouse.com
Pail liners from www.wallypop.net
Three dozen cloth wipes from www.wallypop.net (laundry every 3 days)