This is one of the most common statements made by people just figuring out how modern cloth diapers work. A baby spends an average of 8 diapers a day, so whichever type of diaper you choose will have a huge impact on your family budget. So I couldn't agree more, diapers are very expensive!
Let's do the math
In this post, I'm just talking about the economic costs, which is a determining factor for most families. It was one of the calculations I made myself before buying the first diapers for my baby. Both the environment and health are extremely important “costs” and we need to give them due attention.
So let's do the math on diaper spending. Only then can you make an informed decision. We can do the math in two ways: the total cost of diapers until the baby is unfurled or the cost per change. The first one you can take a look at in detail in our post costs of disposable diapers vs. the costs of reusable diapers. Soon, on average, a baby up to 3 years old will spend €2140 on disposable diapers. Savings when using cloth diapers exceeds €1200 in 3 years. Basically, between diapers, accessories and washing, you would only spend €865 in 3 years. A big difference for any family!
I decided to do the math differently. This is because I have often been told that disposables on sale or white label are cheaper. So today I decided to do the diaper change math and see if I've been wrong all these years.
There are many brands of disposable diapers, from white brands to renowned brands with many years on the market. Whatever the brand, excluding biodegradable disposables, they are all full of chemicals, take more than 500 years to break down in nature, are not biodegradable and, very often, cause some kind of reaction in babies' bottoms. Those who use disposable diapers are always on the hunt for promotions and it is a constant stress. For my bills I'm going to use a diaper for sensitive skin, which is very used and which, outside of sales, costs close to €0.26 a unit. On sale, this price drops a lot, to close to €0.14 each diaper, being at the level of white brands. It's not fair, I know, but let's do the math and give this “discount” to disposable diapers.
So let's get down to business…
How much does a disposable diaper cost?
A disposable diaper costs an average of €0.14 in discount. It's used once and goes in the trash. I remind you that the cost without discounts would be 0.20-0.26€.
How much does a reusable diaper cost?
A reusable diaper costs close to €20. Huge difference right off the bat, right? There are more expensive diapers and cheaper diapers so we will use this average price as a reference.
A baby uses the same diaper 3 times a week. A year has 52 weeks and potty training happens at about 3 years old. That is, 3 x 52 x 3 = 468 uses for a diaper. Accounts made, 20€/468 uses, each diaper change costs 0.04€. Attention, if the diaper is used by 1 or 2 more babies, the price/change is halved.
This is the part where the most “experts” complain and claim that machine washes will drastically increase household expenses. Take a look at your counters and do the math, each washing machine is around €0.67 or less, be it diapers or clothes. If you optimize washing with the machine always full, even if it is a machine with only 24 diapers. We will then have the division 0.67€ / 24 = 0.027€ which gives us exactly the cost of washing each diaper.
Adding the two accounts, 0.04€ + 0.027€, we have a total of 0.067€ for each diaper change for our baby. Basically, reusable diapers are half the price of a disposable diaper.
Total accounts for the 3 years where a baby uses 2920 diapers per year:
- Disposable diapers at 0.14€/diaper: 1226.40€ (in discounts!)
- Reusable diapers €0.067/diaper: €586.92
These accounts are different from the ones we've done before. Earlier we compared the costs of reusable diapers compared to disposable ones, but I thought it was important to confirm that even discounted diapers are more expensive. Therefore, it always pays off in economic terms.
The amounts are just average estimates, there are babies who use more diapers. And when they get sick, the expense is much higher. I myself had my son sick and in 3 days he spent the equivalent of 3 weeks of diaper changes. There were 3 full diaper machines. My budget was only changed by just over 2€ due to the unexpected washes.
