Most parents want to do what's best for their baby and for the environment,
but cloth is expensive and dirty, right? Not at all!
We can't tell you exactly how much you'll save — it varies by the brand
of disposable, where you buy them and other factors. But we took a look at
disposables for sale at Wal-Mart in November 2007 and found generic diapers
averaged about 20 cents each.
If you use 10 disposables a day @ $0.20 each, you're spending $14 per week.
But our service is $20 per week. At first it looks more expensive, but remember:
Babies who use cloth diapers are potty trained about a year earlier.
So, $14 in disposables per week for 3 years is $2,184. (And the average time
in diapers is getting longer — it would cost almost $3,000 for 4 years
in diapers.) But $20 for our diaper service for 2 years is $2,080. Other
diaper services advertise an even greater savings (at the same or higher
weekly fee), but this is just what our cautious calculations found. Maybe
others included the gas for driving to the store — or all the extra
stuff you end up buying just because you're there!
A Seattle-area diaper service even reported being cheaper than washing diapers
at home:
The average parent has found the price difference between doing it themselves
and diaper service is only about $2.00 a week. This is taking into consideration
soaps, water, electricity, wear and tear, finding the high quality diapers
themselves, plus your time and labor. Also, if you are washing them in shared
machines, such as an apartment complex or public Laundromat, make sure to
find out the policies regarding possible spread of bacteria and other peoples
feelings
on sharing machines used for cleaning body waste. (Source: Seattle
Diaper)
That's great news: The easiest and "greenest" way is also the cheapest!
