No matter where you look these days, the prices for all kinds of goods seems to be going up. Sometimes the prices on the goods you buy go up, other times the manufacturers try to be more sneaky, and charge the same price but give you less.
One are that has seen very large price increases over the last few years is the price of diapers. Do you remember when a "jumbo" package of diapers was really jumbo? It used to fill up most of your shopping cart for one package. Now, a jumbo package contains as few as 18 diapers! What used to fill your shopping cart could now fit in your diaper bag.
While shopping at the store, I realized that a size 3 diaper now costs about 35 cents each. When you add in the cost of wipes, you find out that for each diaper change you could be spending 50 cents. When your baby gets older and needs larger diapers that cost can spiral up to 75 cents per change. If your baby is like most, you will change them about 8 times a day. At 50 cents per change, even with only 8 changes per day, you are spending $4 per day, and that can add up to $120 per month.
The Diaper Alternative
Now, because of the high costs of diapers, a lot of mothers (and fathers) are looking in to cloth diapers instead of disposable. The cloth diapers available today are nothing like they used to be. Gone are the days of brittle plastic pants that leak, diaper pins that poke your baby, or break off while you are trying to pin them on. Today's cloth diapers are really amazing. With snap and velcro diapers, changing a cloth diaper is just as easy as changing a disposable diaper.
A premium cloth diaper will cost about $17.95. If you are spending 50 cents per diaper change, that cloth diaper can pay for itself in less than two months, even including washing costs.
Are cloth diapers right for you and your baby?
To switch entirely to cloth diapers, it is recommended that you have two to three dozen cloth diapers. Although that will save you thousands of dollars before your baby is potty trained, that can still be a big commitment if you aren't sure it will work for you.
We are seeing more and more families who wait to use cloth diapers, but can't convince themselves to go all the way. Some of these families are taking a try it and see approach. They may buy just a few as a trial, to see if it is right for them. Even if you only replace one disposable diaper a day with cloth, you will save hundreds of dollars!
One mother recently took this approach, just to see if cloth diapers would work for her baby. In less than two months, her small purchase of cloth diapers has already paid for itself, and she is ready to buy even more. She has even learned that her pre-conceptions about cloth diapers being difficult have proved wrong. They have been so easy that she even used them while traveling over the Christmas holiday!
There are great advantages that come from using cloth diapers. Being much more environmentally friendly, and saving a lot of money are two of them, but one of the greatest advantages from a mom's point of view is how much better your baby looks in them!