Thursday, March 19, 2009

BumGenius- Genius or Not?

-Abby sporting the BumGenius Organic Snaps Diaper-


Motherhood has led me down several paths I never anticipated taking... babywearing, co-sleeping, dairy-free diets, and etc. The most recent adventure for us is now cloth diapering. I am not a tree hugger by any means, but as my husband likes to put it, we are all about trying to save a different type of tree... nice, clean cash. Abby's diapering has been a budget breaker in our household- she can go through 10-15 diapers a day easily. At 3 months old, we are just now backing down to close to 10 diapers daily on good days. That adds up to about $100/month just on diapers alone- good thing we're breastfeeding... formula in addition to that would be expensive!

There are quite a few options out there in the modern cloth diaper market. It's come a long ways since our grandparents' days. After hours of research, I've narrowed it down to the 2 diapers that are most likely to work for us... BumGenius One-Size Organics with Snaps & BumGenius One-Size 3.0. I like that for less than $300 we can buy diapers once and for all. Since they are size-adjustable, they will fit Abby until she is potty-trained. Even when you add in the extra expense of detergent, water, and energy costs, it is still substantially cheaper. Bryan and I have ordered one of both diapers to try them out for a few days and see how easy and efficient they really are. I'll keep you updated!

-Abby modeling the BumGenius 3.0 diaper-

For those of you interested in the nitty-gritty money details, here they are:

  • What We Spend on Disposables Per Month (If we remember to plan ahead and order in bulk): $81.98
  • Thus, we would spend $983.75 on disposables annually at this rate.
  • Total Cost for Using Disposables for 3 Years (Average time to potty train a child at present): $2951.25

BumGenius Organic OS Diapers
  • 10 BumGenius Organic OS Snap Diapers: $227.36
  • How Often I Plan to Wash: Every Night (7 x Week)
  • Cost for Water, Energy, & Detergent Per Diaper Load (Very Worst Case Scenario): $0.85
  • Cost to Wash Annually at this Rate: $309.40
  • Total Cost for Using Cloth the First Year: $536.76- additional cost in years to come are just for annual costs of washing diapers
  • Total Cost for Using Cloth Diapers for 3 Years: $1,155.56
  • Total Savings in 3 Years for Cloth vs. Disposables: $1,795.69
BumGenius OS 3.0 Diapers
  • 10 BumGenius OS 3.0 Diapers: $175
  • How Often I Plan to Wash: Every Night (7 x Week)
  • Cost for Water, Energy, & Detergent Per Diaper Load (Very Worst Case Scenario): $0.85
  • Cost to Wash Annually at this Rate: $309.40
  • Total Cost for Using Cloth the First Year: $484.40- additional cost are just for annual costs of washing diapers
  • Total Cost for Using Cloth Diapers for 3 Years: $1,103.20
  • Total Savings in 3 Years for Cloth vs Disposables: $1,848.05

1 comment:

Heather said...

I'm pretty sure we'll use the BumGenius diapers for our next child (when we decide to have another). Friends that use them really recommend getting 15-20 in case there is a day that you don't get to wash. I hope they work really for you.

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