The Ways You Save When You Cloth Diaper
The cost associated with diapering a baby will always be there; it's inevitable. While this decision is not always made before baby arrives, that's typically when the conversation needs to begin. There are many different options when it comes to diapering and cloth will save you financially in the long run. The initial investment in cloth sometimes is the only thing people can see but in this blog post I'll show you FOUR ways that you can save when you ditch disposables for cloth.
1. Time is Money
Yes, you'll save time. Who wants to be clipping coupons for disposable diapers all the time? What about having to stockpile or run out in the middle of the night to get plastic diapers? Also, who wants to drag 50 lbs of human waste to the curb every week? Time consuming. And gross! My time is very important to me and my family. Yours is probably, too. When it comes to cloth diapering, there will always be laundry and an extra load every few days. Personally, it doesn't add that much time to my day, and believe it or not, I actually enjoy it!
2. Save with B/S/T and Request Diapers as Gifts
Don't be afraid to ask for cloth diapers as you celebrate your baby shower, birthday, holiday, anniversary, etc. Putting a cloth diaper on your wish list is an easy and practical way for friends, family and loved ones to help you save money. You can also look for resuable, organic cloth diapers on numerous Buy/Sell/Trade groups online.
3. The Savings Come with Additional Children
If you're family planning and know you want at least two children, you're in luck when it comes to cloth diapering. If you'd like to have a family with more children, then you're even more in luck. Hand-me-downs aren't just for clothes...they're for cloth diapering too! I know people who have had their first-born wear Smart One 3.1 diapers all the way down to their third child. Think about how many boxes of disposables you'd have to buy for each children. That initial investment with cloth will save your wallet as more kids are added to your family!
4. Save the PLANET!
These days, using cloth diapers is a great option for our future, our children’s future and investing our hard-earned money into a product where we are considering the bigger impact. While money will always be the motive on the table for many partners to get on the cloth diaper train, the environmental factor needs to be considered. The information we have today on disposable products is staggering but usually glazed over by convenience. Take a look at these three facts that can impact your children.
- Plastics can take hundreds of years to break down in landfills.
- Human waste cannot be treated properly in a landfill, let alone wrapped up in a diaper and then most likely in a bigger plastic bag.
- Babies are getting chemical burns due to the ingredients inside a diaper, and who knows the long term effect of those chemicals so close to our baby’s reproductive organs.
Just an FYI: The disposable diaper was only invented in 1948, while I am not here to crunch numbers (nor want to)...think about it this way, you could be an extreme coupon clipper and stockpile disposables before baby arrives, or you can buy cloth diapers used for a fraction of retail price and help reduce your carbon footprint in the meantime.
I am here to encourage you to look at the bigger picture. About 70 years ago the disposable diaper was used for special occasions, worn only by wealthy families, and even considered fashionable! So over 70 years ago, these convenience items never even existed. Let’s spend our money wisely buying reusable, organic, made in the USA products. Put our money back into our economy. Decrease our household waste. Invest in products on our children where we don't have to read an ingredient list. Take power over our decisions and actions for our children’s future!
I am Janice, 32 years young and momma to Jacquilyn and Avery, and we live in London, Ontario, Canada. I am a birth and postpartum doula and placenta specialist, who loves taking photos of my little ones. We found cloth at 6 months with Jacqui when I was looking into options for 'greener' disposable diapers (such a contradiction) but nonetheless I came across cloth diapers! LOTS of research and many purchases later we jumped in, head first, and we were full-time cloth diapering within a few weeks. I have been addicted ever since ;)