How to save money by using Reusable Cloth
Nappies and 5 Quick Tips for those who are new to Cloth Nappies
Our children, our babies, the
apple of our eye, ones we would do anything for our children but boy do they
cost us a lot of money! I try hard as possible to save money on my babies. I
didn’t buy a baby bath, or a change table or even a bassinet. I rarely buy
‘good’ clothes as I know my children will just grow out of them or run around
in the dirt. I rather buy toys that cost a little more that will last then the
$2 ones that fall apart.
I love saving money and if you
have babies in nappies using cloth nappies is one easy way to do it. It may
seem daunting at first but there are many things that can help you to make it
easy. I was always going to use cloth nappies and had a vision of buckets
filled with smelly water and dirty nappies soaking but when I started to
research modern cloth nappies in the early days I found that this is not the
case anymore and they are really easy to use and it doesn’t cost the earth.
Lets quickly work out the
math:
Young babies will require 8 to
12 nappy changes a day and toddlers will require approximately 6 to 8. Of
course some babies will require more and some will require less. It works out to be approximately 6,000 nappy
changes in 2.5 years. That is a lot of nappy changes!
Single
Use/Disposable Nappies and Wipes
Let us assume you use one wipe
per nappy change even though there may be times you wont use any. Then there are times such as the ‘pooplosion’
you will use many. I must admit in the beginning I used to wipe with every
change even when it was only a wet nappy. It is seriously not needed regardless if you
use cloth or disposables. I am one that uses several wipes with the soiled
nappies and even more so with ‘pooplosions’. I can never understand how my
husband gets away with one or two wipes when it comes to soiled nappies but he
does.
Anyway let us get back on
track….
On average it costs 50cents
per single use nappies and 3 cents per wipe. This equates to $3,180
conservatively.
The Cloth
Nappy System
Depending on your system you
can cloth a bub full time between $750 and $1125. If you wash every 2
nd
day 1 child will need approximately 20 day nappies and 5 night nappies. I
recommend 30 reusable wipes too. An example of a basic day nappy can be found
here. A sample of a night nappy can
be found
here.
You can save well over $2000
and the best thing is that some of these nappies can be used on subsequent
children or family members thus saving even more money in future years to come.
Little plastic bags to hold
the used nappies have not been accounted for as well as the extra wipes that
are used elsewhere besides the baby’s bottom. I also haven’t
factored in the costs of water consumption.
My reasoning as to why I haven’t factored in water consumption is that
everyone washes cloth nappies differently and thus it is not easy to determine
an average amount used by each family. Also we are all charged differently
depending on which State or Territory we live in.
However to give you an idea I wash every second day and I have 2 children
in cloth. I wash in cold water and I run a quick eco rinse and then full cycle
with the water level on low. My water consumption does go up but in my mind
saving water is not in my opinion a cost saving exercise in terms of $$ it is
an earth saving exercise. I prefer to compare the amount of water I use for 1
child in cloth nappies to that of the water used to produce 6000 disposable
nappies and it is for another blog post as it is too complex to look at here.
It has been found however that water consumption of an eco-minded person using
cloth nappies is far better for the environment than the manufacturing of
single use disposables.
Please visit this link for more information:
http://www.crdc.com.au/uploaded/file/E-Library/Climate%20Change%20July%2009/LCA%20Cotton%20v%20Disposable%20Nappies%20OBrienetal2009.pdf
5 Quick Tips for those who are new to Cloth Nappies
1. Use biodegradable
liners! They make clean up easy and flush away the mess. I cannot live without
them.
2. Use a water hose connected to
your toilet (or laundry sink) to rinse your nappies easily. Something else that
I would not live without.
3. Stick to a One
Size Fits Most Brand as this will save you more money over the long run. Some
nappy brands come in sizes such as, small, medium and large. You will need to
buy more once they grow up and change in size. Nifty Naps signature piece is an OSFM (One Size fits
Most) that fit from 5kgs to 17kgs approximately.
4. If cost saving is
a major factor for you, use an AI2 (All in 2 system). That way for nappies that
are just wet you will save even more money as you do not need to change the
whole nappy. Changing the booster is just fine in this case. You can buy boosters separately and
instead of buying 20 day nappies you may even only need 15 with 10 extra
boosters (depending on the bubba).
5. Get your partner
involved. It is fun to choose prints with them and it makes cloth nappying
easier when they help ;)
If you have any queries at all please email me at
contactus@niftynaps.com.au
Thank you,
Susan
References:
http://www.crdc.com.au/uploaded/file/E-library/Climate%20Change%20July%2009/LCA%20Cotton%20v%20Disposable%20Nappies%20OBrienetal2009.pdf
