1. Cloth diapers mean less waste. We're a generally ecologically minded family. We try to buy local, buy recycled when we can, save our rain water, compost a lot of our vegetative waste, etc. That's not a pat on the back, because I know there are lots of ways in which we aren't terribly green. In my opinion, you do the best you can, try to feel good about it, and if you can afford to make better choices later on, great.
And for us, right now, we're making the choice to reuse cloth diapers rather than throw away a whole lot of disposable diapers, with a caveat. We're not insane. Sometimes it's just going to make a lot more sense to use a disposable diaper. Case in point: when the baby first gets here, she's going to be too small for just about every long-term reusable diaper we've looked at. So until her legs are large enough to comfortably fill out the leg holes in a reusable diaper, we'll be using disposables. Buying a set of one-size, tiny, newborn reusable diapers isn't terribly responsible, since she'll wear them for a really short period of time. And it isn't very economical, which brings me to my next point.
2. Cloth diapering is cheaper. Now you get what you pay for. Disposable diapers are more expensive, but the reason is largely one of convenience. One and done, throw it away, and you never have to deal with that particular mess again. Cloth diapering means we're going to have to clean waste-filled diapers (We looked into a diaper service, and there just aren't any around here). But the positive trade-off here is less cost.
Let's do some quick math. I'm going to have to use some averages here, so keep that in mind. A box of size 2 Pampers diapers (fitting 12-18lb babies) has 152 diapers in it, and costs $40 at Walmart. Smaller diapers have more per box, larger have less, but the price per box stays the same, which means as the kid ages, the diapers get more expensive. Might be able to get it cheaper at Sam's Club or BJs, but this is my example.
Clearly the number of diapers a kid goes through as an infant is higher than number the kid will go through at age 3, but again, we'll make some assumptions. This site claims that the kid will go through about 2800 diapers in the first year, which for our example means about $742 in diapers for the first year.
Even presuming that it will only cost that much per year through age 3, you end up spending, at minimum, $2,226 on diapers for every kid you have. The reality is that those big kid diapers are way more expensive, and the total cost probably tops $3,000. And every kid is different. Ours might poop a lot more. Who knows?
Cloth diapers, on the other hand, are certainly more expensive per diaper. The ones we've stocked up on so far, Bum Genius, are $17 a pop. But we'll need far fewer. For $500, we can get 30 one-size diapers that adjust as the kid grows (the recommended range is 7 to 35lbs). Get 'em on sale, and you can do a lot better than that. At minimum, even factoring in a slightly higher water bill because we'll wash them ourselves, we save $1,500 over three years. More than likely, that savings is closer to $2,300. We've got to do a lot of laundry, but to save two grand and assuage my guilty green conscience, I'll take it. (And if/when we have a second kid, these diapers will still be good. Might need some new elastic on some, but still cheaper to replace a handful of cloth diapers than to go all disposable.)
3. Also, these diapers are really cute. Seriously. They're not even on the kid yet, and just look at them.
Speaking of diapers, I made some progress on that changing table top I've been mentioning every so often. Last weekend, I borrowed some saw time at the in-laws, and cut all the pieces out. We ran into a bit of trouble with the router, but I think the shape of things turned out pretty good.Here's the base and back:
And here's the whole thing:
Now, I have to actually attach these pieces to each other, paint it, then affix it to the dresser, but that's a project for tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out.
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