Cost of Washing Cloth Diapers

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I decided to cloth diaper my daughter because I was sick of being a slave to the disposable diaper companies. Yes, there were times I got diapers for super cheap after sales and coupons but there were many times that I had to bite the bullet and pay more because there were no deals to be had. I have enough to deal with than to hunt for diaper deals and to drive around town getting them- plus I hate taking my kids to the store with me and have you seen how much gas has been costing lately?

My cloth diaper stash is pretty modest compared to others- I mainly used prefolds or flats with covers during the day and at night I'll use pockets or all in ones with an added doubler. I have enough diapers to get me through two days diapering my 11 month old full time and my three year old only at night- even if I had more I would not recommend going more than a couple of days without washing because the more time they spend dirty in the wet bag more time they have to stink.

I have done numerous calculations to justify that cloth diapering will save my family money compared to disposables and I always come out way ahead. But then I thought- what about the cost of washing them? I mean, washing the diapers is one of the most important parts. My favorite laundry to do is washing the diapers so I was really hoping that the thing I looked forward to wasn't detrimental to my savings.

I found my answer from Mr. Electricity. He has a nifty Laundry Costs Calculator that I plugged in all of my pertinent information into and it told me that my cost per year of washing diapers is about $30 a month- I rarely use the dryer for them but if I did the number would shoot up to $65. $30 a year comes out to $2.40 a month which is really not much at all and this all means that even with the cost of washing my lovely diapers I am still coming out ahead. I know this figure is not exact but it at least gives me a good guideline to how much I am spending on each load and that if I use the dryer it costs me dearly.

So yes, my new frugal endeavor is saving me money which makes me happy- but that is not the only reason I do it. I actually think it is fun! Plus it feels good to be self sufficient- I will never run out of diapers and have to run out to CVS and pay full price for a jumbo pack again. Take that Huggies and Pampers!