I was out grocery shopping last week and noticed that the granola bar boxes only contained 5 bars. Same price as before, but one short. When did this happen? I remember there used to be 6 bars (easy to remember because I could equally divide them between Lilli & Corinne). I was happy that I had my coupon for $0.55 I’m not cheap, but I like to consider myself financially conscious I do the CVS thing, clip coupons, breastfeed, use cloth diapers, and even eBay (I got Lilli’s brand new Stride Rite sneakers for fifteen bucks the other day!! I was excited about the deal I got, and she was excited they light up…woo hoo!). As I checked out, I noticed the customer in front of me was purchasing infant formula and disposable diapers. I wonder how much she spends on formula and diapers in a year?

My curiosity led me to look online - here are my findings:

According to Natural Family Online, the total estimated average cost is $2,694.54 for 7,349 disposable diapers. Here is how they broke it down (excerpt courtesy of Natural Family Online):

Based on two of the most popular brands from a store known for its value pricing:

The newborn package (up to 10 lb.) contains 48 diapers at $16.23, or $0.34 each . The average number of changes for a newborn is 12 to 16 per day for the first two weeks.

14 diapers x 7 days x 2 weeks = 196 diapers at $0.34 each = $66.64

The infant size 1 package (up to 14 lbs.) contains 104 diapers at $ 0.22 each. An average baby requires 10 to 12 changes per day for the first three months.

11 diapers x 30 days x 2.5 months = 825 diapers at $0.22 each = $181.50

The infant size 2 package (12-18 lbs.) contains 88 diapers at $0.26 each. An average baby who is three to six months old requires 10 to 12 changes a day.

11 diapers x 30 days x 3 months = 990 diapers at $0.26 each = $257.40

Mega-pack pricing was used for the balance of the packages, because mega-packs are the least expensive. Each mega-pack was $28.92 + $2.02 sales tax, for a total of $30.94 per package.

The infant size 3 package (16-18 lbs.) contains 96 diapers $0.32 each. A six- to nine-month-old baby requires eight to 10 changes per day.

9 diapers x 30 days x 3 months = 810 diapers at $0.32 each = $259.20

The infant size 4 package (22-27 lbs.) contains 64 diapers at $0.37 each. A nine- to 12-month-old child requires eight changes per day.

8 diapers x 30 days x 3 months = 720 diapers at $0.37 each = $266.40

The toddler size 5 package (over 27 lbs.) contains 58 diapers at $0.41 each. The average 12- to 18-month-old child requires six to eight changes a day.

7 diapers x 30 days x 6 months = 1,260 diapers at $0.41 each = $516.60

The child size 6 package (over 35 lbs.) contains 48 training diapers at $23.00, or $0.45 each. An average 18- to 30-month-old child requires six to eight changes per day.

7 diapers x 364 days = 2,548 diapers at $0.45 each = $1146.60

WOW! What about the cost of electricity to wash and dry your cloth diapers? They cover all of that, as well as how the cost of cloth diapers pay for themselves within about 6 months, in their article The True Cost of Diapering: More Than Money

Now infant formula. According to my doctor, babies up to age 2 months should be eating between 2-4oz every 2-4 hours. Those amounts increase as baby gets older. Based on those figures, you could be spending anywhere from $40.00-$70.00 on infant formula per week (depending on brand and formula type- soy, organic, etc.). That equates to up to $3,640.00/year on formula!!

So by my using cloth diapers and breastfeeding, we’re saving over six grand per year - one just one child alone! KA-CHING!

Thankfully, Michael has been blessed with a great talent in computers and I am able to stay at home to care for the girls. I don’t even want to think about how much money we’d be spending on daycare….shudder!

Tags: Cloth Diapers, Freebies & Deals

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 4th, 2008 at 12:27 am and is filed under Brittany. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.