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Economics of reusable nappies

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Rarimora
Clothie
Clothie

Economics of reusable nappies

Postby Rarimora » Fri Jun 28, 2019 8:30 am

Hello all

I'm pregnant with my first baby due end of October and am starting to properly gear up for when she arrives!

Has anyone had any experience of using reusable nappies? I'm keen to either use reusables or more environmentally friendly nappies such as those from kitandkin.com (or a combination of both). I'm interested in the economics of both these options.

Disposables (rough example):
- Kit and Kin subscription is $37.99 per month and you get 160 nappies for that price plus 4 packs of biodegradable wipes. Wipes and nappies are supposed to biodegrade in 2-6 years.
- Works out at around $480 per year.

Reusables:
- My local council have a scheme where I can claim a free starter pack of re-usable nappies that includes 5 all-in-one cloth nappies, one night nappy and wrap, one booster and one roll of disposable liners.
- Bumgenius nappies cost around $8 each, I think I would need another 15
- Cheeky wipes washable baby wipes are around $40 for a set
- Other bits I would need are night wraps, liners etc. All in I think the initial outlay for reusables (everything included) would be around $300
- I think I will have to buy bigger sizes of nappies as the baby grows, I'm only at the start of my research so far so not sure if you can get a size of nappy that fits newborn through to toddler
- On top of that you have the cost of the washes, I have heard you need to do one wash per day. I have no idea what this would cost!

When she's a newborn, I think we will definitely use disposables and then perhaps make the move to reusable once we're more settled, but my main questions are:

1) When you factor everything in, including the cost of washing the nappies, is it really cheaper to use reusables? On my council website it claims the overall saving from birth to potty would be around $500. And I guess if I have a second child I could use my reusables again for them.
2) Will I have the time or energy to deal with reusables? I have no idea about this as I've never done this before and none of my friends who are mums have gone down this route.
3) Environmentally, will it really be better to use reusables? We will be drastically increasing our use of the washing machine if we are having to do 1 wash per day so using a lot more water and electricity. Maybe it would be better for the environment to use the biodegradable disposable nappies & wipes?

Any advice gratefully received! Really curious about anyone else's opinions on this.

And one more question. Underwear dilemma! Hi all, My wedding dress is a sleek jenny packham number. It has a backless detail, but I will not feel comfortable going braless on the day! Exposing myself to the guests is not a good idea. I have seen the stick on bras, but from years gone by experience the bras slip and fall down. Any recommendations or anyone tried any new underwear suitable for backless dress styles? Any help is appreciated x

Thanks a lot!
Last edited by Rarimora on Mon Dec 23, 2019 10:19 am, edited 3 times in total.

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girlinleeds
Cloth Nappy Guru
Cloth Nappy Guru

Re: Economics of reusable nappies

Postby girlinleeds » Fri Jun 28, 2019 8:48 am

Hi my daughters 10 now but we used bumgenius from 1 month till potty training although we did change the inserts as she got older.
We only did a couple of extra washes a week, no need to wash everyday just pop them in a Nappy bucket with a lid. After getting used to them they really weren't that much harder even my husband liked them.
I think even the biodegradable nappies need very specific conditions to degrade so no better than normal disposable nappies.
Once daughter potty trained I sold on her nappies, made some money back and it meant the nappies continued to be used. If your going down the cloth Nappy route have a look at reusable wippes, as you just wash them with the nappies, saw a programme about how much waste disposable wipes cause and its shocking.

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autumnalgirl
Cloth Nappy Passionata
Cloth Nappy Passionata

Re: Economics of reusable nappies

Postby autumnalgirl » Fri Jun 28, 2019 9:42 am

Definitely don't need to wash every day, even when I had three in cloth nappies at the same time I wasn't washing every day.
Cloth wipes will definitely save you money and will continue to be in use long after they have potty trained.
You can sell them on after wards and re-coup some money.
If you get a couple of different types of BTP nappies you should find ones that work well for you and they should then last all the way through.
You can probably pick up a few pre-loved nappies to try to see what works well on the baby before you commit to spending lots of money.
Congratulations on your pregnancy.

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Aeseldyr
Sucker for Cloth Nappies
Sucker for Cloth Nappies

Re: Economics of reusable nappies

Postby Aeseldyr » Tue Jul 02, 2019 5:47 pm

I find it easiest to have around 36 changes of nappies for the beginning since (some) newborns poop all the time :giggle: and maybe 24 later on. I like having smaller sized or real newborn for the first month or so - they just fit better. And then OS for when they fit :thumbsup:


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