One of the best things I ever did for our budget was making the switch to cloth diapers when our daughter was around 6 months. I had looked into cloth diapering before she was born and was intrigued but Hubs wasn’t completely convinced. Once she was here and we were going through $50-70 per month just for diapers (not to mention diaper genie refills, wipes, rash creams..), the switch to something more economical just made sense.
Lately though, our budget has taken a hit again as I “fell off the 
If you haven’t ever considered cloth diapers but need to trim your budget, I highly suggest you look into them! When I started my research it was about how to use, the different kinds/different brands, how to wash… but I hadn’t truly looked into the cost savings until right before I made the switch. This post by I Heart Budgets was my favorite cost comparison by far. It was a simple breakdown but made so much sense. We took the plunge. And even though our daughter is still in disposables at night and at the grandparents on days I work, our cloth has (and will) save us so much! Here is a look at our numbers (if we had started from birth and I hadn’t fallen off the wagon):
| First Baby | Disposables | Our Cloth Experience |
| upfront costs | Diaper Genie – $30 | Around 60 Diapers with approximately 120 inserts @ ~$10 each (various brands/styles) Wet Bags/Pail Liners – $30 |
| Monthly Costs | Diapers – $70/month average Wipes - $10 DG Refills – $6 Rash Cream – $4 | Disposables – $20/month average Wipes – $10 Rash Cream – $2 Diaper Liners – $2 Water (well) – $0 Electric – $5 |
| Cost for 2.5 Years | ~ $3,240 | ~$1800 |
Ok, so I went a biiiiit overboard when purchasing my diapers and have way too many currently! And since we still use disposables half the time, our savings is a mere $1440 over the average span of diapering. BUT… I can sell back my cloth diapers when I’m done (rough estimate of resale value $450) which brings the savings to around $1890. If we have a second child, I can use the same cloth diapers and diapering a 2nd child would only cost us approximately $1,170 if we continue with disposables part time. Taking into account a 2nd child, we would save over $3,500 just on diapers!
Just look at all that cuteness! What’s not to love? Oh ok, yes I realize there is the added laundry. But really its an extra 2-3 loads a week for us. And it’s really not such a bad thing when you have such a cute little helper! This mama is back on the wagon starting today!
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