Where do I start!  Why wouldn't you choose cloth?

• Cost saving
• Reduce your fortnightly rubbish
• Easy to use, and many different styles
• Health benefits for baby
• Helping to preserve the environment

Cost Saving

You can save as much as £1,500 on just one child by choosing to use cloth!  Imagine what you can buy with that money!  People often ask - Can I really save money?  The answer - Absolutely!  When you are spending £5 here, or £10 there on packets of disposable nappies, it may not seem like much, but just stop and add up what this actually costs when done on a regular basis - I am sure you will be quite shocked at how much money is being wasted.  Another common concern is that the hike in fuel costs will make the washing and drying of nappies expensive, and that they are not economical however what needs to be realised is that the main ingredient is Petroleum, not to mention the energy that is used producing each and every disposable nappy!  The costs of disposable nappies are rising, and will continue to do so.  So, whilst there is a cost involved with the laundering of real nappies,1 it is nothing like as large as the cost of disposables.

On average, around £14.50 per week is spent on disposable nappies, nappy sacks and baby wipes during the first 2.5 years of a baby's life, so for the average child a massive £1,885 would be spent just to get them to potty training!*  That is a lot of money to be throwing away - just remember - not all nappies are rubbish!!

You may be surprised to know that it also costs you, the British tax payer, 10p each to dispose of disposable nappies - that is a lot of money when there are 5 million per day in the UK being thrown away!

Disposable nappies are also subject to VAT, but Real Nappies are completely VAT free!

You can save further money by using washable wipes!  These are then washed together with the nappies and can save you ££££s.  Disposable wipes cost between 2-4p each - over 2.5years, this is £250!  Compare that to a one off spend of £11.50 on washable wipes - it makes perfect sense!

Re-using your nappies on 2nd, 3rd and even 4th babies will also make massive long term savings.

1 Laundry Costs were adapted from those calculated by WEN. Washing Machine depreciation through laundering cloth nappies at a value of £25 over 2.5 years. For a standard wash, the weight of washing powder used is 100gsms, however only half of this amount should be used when washing cloth nappies to avoid detergent build up, so 50gsms calculates at 10p per wash. The average number of nappy washes is 2.8 per week, over 130 weeks, or 364 washes. So 364 x 10p is a cost of £36.4. Most real nappy manufacturers recommend a washing temperature of 60°. In 2005, the average unit cost of electricity was 8.67p per kWh, so based on a B energy washing machine, a load of nappies washed at 60° and using 1.12 kWh, incurs a cost of 9.71p. For 364 washes over 2.5 years, the cost incurred is £35.34. All these factors considered, gives a total cost of £96.74 of laundering cloth nappies (without tumble drying them) for 2.5 years.

*Guardian, 16th Feb 2006

Reduce Your Fortnightly Rubbish

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