We did the math.
We used cloth diapers because they were cheaper, per use, even after accounting for water, soap and energy use.
Please, to any new parent reading this, please consider checking eBay and craigslist for [cleaned] used diapers and diaper covers. If you have some squick-factor to get over, wash your newly purchased, gently used cloth diapers etc. in hot water and bleach, and hang everything out in the sun on a clothesline to dry thoroughly.
Everything will be sterile enough at the end of this process.
This was how we cleaned diapers in our family.
We are all still alive.
I get it that new parents without a washing machine would be unlikely to make this choice.
Same could probably be argued by parents who simply “have no time”–although in my family, we parents were working several jobs apiece and we found the dang time to do diaper laundry ourselves. For the record, we have never owned a television nor do we watch cable any streaming services. We believe that has something to do with what we accomplish in our waking hours.
I agree that having children, feeding, raising them, etc. is a tremendous time and money suck.
Having good math skills and getting over any lingering phobia of poop and germs is Job 1 in modeling the behavior one dearly hopes to see in one’s kids. The parenting road will be long, hard and unpleasant if this basic programming can’t be nailed down ASAP.
