“Are cloth nappies worth it?” “Is your nappy service comparable to the cost of disposables?” “Does it stack up financially to use cloth nappies? “What’s the cost comparison of disposables versus cloth?”. If you asked me these questions a few months ago, my response was to deflect - insisting that the value of using reusable nappies is in the environmental benefit - 700kg of waste is created every year PER BABY in disposable nappies (see my other blog articles for more detail). I eventually realised that my response wasn’t helping people make decisions. I pulled on my big girl pants and opened an excel file to crunch some numbers.
I’ve put together the figures on how our nappy service stacks up economically. It won’t be what you expect.
We’ve compared our prices to Tom’s Organic Nappies as we’ve found many opt for this as the more eco-friendly nappy brand and it's widely available.
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Compare the unit price at face value: $0.79 disposables vs. $0.81 for reusable nappy service.
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Tom’s disposables cost $41.00 for 52 nappies (on Amazon at the time of writing this article) equating to $0.79 each (home delivery IS NOT included in this unit price).
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Our service costs $49.00 per week for 60 nappies (our BYO option) equating to $0.81 each (home delivery fee IS included in this unit price because that’s our service model).
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Compare unit price if you subtract the Little Droppings $10 delivery fee: $0.84 for disposables versus $0.65 for our reusable nappy service.
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We also wash reusable wipes and breast pads FOR FREE! So you can easily increase your savings by about $5 a week if you switch out your disposable baby wipes. I recommend to my customers that simple face washers will do the trick.
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A little known fact about cloth nappies is that babies spend less time in them! A conservative estimate is a whole year 1 year less time spent in nappies as they toilet train earlier.
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This figure varies depending on the source, however, it is unequivocally supported by all accounts that the average toilet training age has increased significantly with the introduction of disposable nappies. Ask anyone over the age of 70!
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If you use a pack of Tom's disposable nappies every week ($41) then switching to cloth nappies thereby reducing 1 year your child is in nappies means $2,132 saved. You are saving money, and guess what - one year less of changing pooey nappies is a boon in itself!
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And finally the environmental factor - compare waste impact: 12kg of disposable nappy waste a week versus 0kg for 60 reusable nappies.
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One added benefit that I personally really like about having a nappy service is that you don’t have the waste by-product - giant cardboard boxes that you have to stuff into the already overflowing recycling bin, alongside the Hello Fresh and the other delivery boxes!
To me, it’s an absolute no-brainer. So now that you’re convinced, it’s time to jump into our shop and get onto our nappy service today! There’s no time to lose. Time to kick landfill waste, save money and take a step towards earlier toilet training! Win-win!