Just over 18 months ago my son was born and my wife and I decided to use washable, reusable diapers instead of disposables. We have 16 Bum Genius and 2 Happy Heinys. Early on I wrote reviews of both Bum Genius and Happy Heinys. Today I am revisiting the general idea of washable diapers.
At about 9 months of age our son could no longer wear a washable overnight without waking up wet. We started using overnight “12″ hour disposable diapers. We found that the 20 total diapers could easily last five days before needing to put them in the washing machine. Now that he is in day care part time though, we have moved to washing the diapers every four days. With an average of 7 washes per month and 18 months of use, we have probably washed the diapers just shy of 100 times. There have been occasions when we have used disposables while traveling, so the number is still a ballpark figure, but not too far off.
One of the other “hidden” expenses of disposable diapers has been the use of wipes. When our son wears washable diapers (except at day care now) we use a cloth wipe with warm water. If we do not use a cloth wipe, we find it takes 2-3 disposable wipes to clean the more unpleasant diapers. 3 disposable wipes at a time adds up and still does not clean as well as a warm cloth, when available.
We have purchased special detergent three or four times over the past year and a half. While this adds up, since we buy it online from Bum Genius, they have free shipping. I can’t quite tell how much longer our son will be in diapers, but the washables have been holding up well. We have an older version of the Bum Genius and the Velcro straps have loosened a bit in that time. However, most of this occurred in the early going. When I contacted Bum Genius they told me I could send them back within the first year if they were defective. Click here for more on their current return policy. We decided to keep them and they have been fine.
It would have been great to keep a tally of the costs associated with the diapers and compare them to a typical family. I have a hard time believing that the $20 per month we spend on disposable wipes and night time diapers comes close to what the average family with a child our son’s age spends. The upfront cost was negligible for us as people gave gift cards to a retailer that we could use to buy the diapers. Essentially we paid nothing for the Bum Genius. We did purchase the two Happy Heinys out of pocket. Oddly enough, the elastic on the legs has worn more on the Happy Heinys than the Bum Genius.
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