Diaper Cost Comparison

Are cloth diapers expensive?

Absolutely not! The average parent spends $2500-3000 on disposable diapers over the course of 3 years. If your main motivation for cloth diapering is to save money, this can easily be done. Based on our Bare Minimum Checklist, the costs involved in getting started with cloth diapering full time can be as low as $300.00. Use our calculator to do the math for yourself!

Laundry Costs

So how about the argument that laundry costs money as well? If you wish to add washing costs into your calculations, your costs will vary depending on detergent used, type of washer and/or dryer, whether you line dry and your cost for local water, gas and/or electricity.

However, unless you plan to purchase all of your disposable diapers for a year in one trip, you will also need to add into your calculations the cost of gas and your time involved in remembering to pick up diapers, as well as the time it takes to get you and baby out to the store. Other costs to consider with using disposables are the trips to the doctors for diaper rash and of course, diaper rash creams. And don't forget about the extra garbage bags needed to dispose of your diapers and the added laundry you will be doing when your disposable diapers leak! Moms who cloth diaper and have switched from disposable diapers will attest to the fact that you will have less leaks in cloth. This may be due to the extra slippery surface of a disposable. Leaky messes tend to cling better to cloth.

We figure once you take all this into consideration, you would at the very least, even out the cost of a few extra loads of laundry a month. Cloth diapers are truly the more economical, environmental and healthier option!