How much money do you save with cloth diapers?

The other day my dad called me up and said he'd heard you could save $7000 by using cloth diapers rather than disposable ones. (Someone had told a co-worker that he was going to save that amount.)

So he was asking, "Does that sound right to you?"

Because I had woken up only a few minutes before and because I remembered reading that you could save some large sum of money by using cloth diapers instead of disposable ones, I said...

"Sure."

"Really?!!"

"Maybe. I'll look it up and get back to you."


So I checked out a few different sources, and here are the numbers I found...

• "Diapers, Diapers & More Diapers" on The New Parents Guide says, "disposable diapers will run approximately $50 to $80 per month" If you have the kid in diapers 2.5 years , that's $1500-2400 you're spending. (Can't save $7000 if you're spending less than that.)
• In their "Costs of Having a Baby" article, Justmommies.com estimates $60 a month for "diapers." (I'm guessing they mean paper ones, since they don't specify.) That's still within the range above.
• Summer Minor's estimate was a bit higher, "Costs for disposable diapers average at about $2,000 to $3,000 per child, yet a good cloth diaper stash can be put together for around $500."
• Heather of Me and My Boys estimated she would save about $400 per child by switching to cloth.
• Finally, I checked to see if there was anything on Consumer Reports. Yep. They say, "You can expect to spend $1,500 to $2,000 or more on disposables by the time your baby is out of them."
  

The sources agree that...
a) diapers are expensive.
b) cloth diapers are a lot less expensive when all's said and done.

And, if you go with Summer's numbers (above) and you have at least three kids, you could save $7000 by the time they're all potty trained.

But saving $7000 per child? Unless you're switching from gold-coated diapers to cloth, I'm thinking not.

*****

Photos: 1) by Bethany L King 2) by Lance McCord