Day #4 of Save Green.
Today’s savings: DIAPERS.
Cloth diapers are such an easy way to save both money and resources. Save both as you buy and as you care for your diapers.
Save Money Buying Diapers
Buy your diapers in bulk. Cloth diaper packages can save you money by giving you a discount on the diapers themselves and by saving on shipping. Think about it. If you buy only two dozen cloth diapers but you buy them 2 or 3 at a time with more shipping each time you buy, you are spending a huge amount on shipping and your dozen or so packages have a much bigger environmental footprint than one larger package would. Buy your diapers all at once to save money and energy.
Choose simple diapers. Anything absorbent can be a diaper. You don’t need expensive, high-tech fabrics to keep your baby happy. Using simple prefold cloth diapers is a great way to save money because your diapers can be used throughout your baby’s diapering career. Use the larger diapers as a changing table cover for a newborn. Use the smaller diapers as a doubler for a toddler.
Buy quality products. When you buy diapers and diaper covers that will stand up to hundreds of washes, you save having to buy replacement diapers. If you care for the diapers well, you can even save by reusing the same diapers for another child.
Getting Down to the Numbers
Our most economical option is the Bummis Prefold Kit with organic cotton diapers. The kit costs $174.99 CDN. You will need two sizes to cover your baby from birth to potty learning, so the total cost will be $350 CDN plus shipping. The average parent spends $2,400-$3,000 on disposable diapers for one baby. That leaves you with a savings of $2,050-$2,650 AND you are saving green in the environmentally sense by using organic cloth diapers.
If you want to put together your own kit and compare diaper costs, try our cloth diaper calculator.
Today is Day #4 of my new Save Green Habit: run the stairs every day.
I’m running up and down stairs to avoid using a treadmill or stair climber. I can see that I’m going to have to put my short runs much closer together in order to have any aerobic effect. I have to work up to doing it more than a dozen times before I can start timing it. Maybe I’ll make it to 30 minutes by Day #21. For now, I feel the BURN, but it’s a good burn.
