Cloth Diapering

Here is a breakdown of what the current cloth diapering supplies I am using cost me:

• $55.14 - diaper pail and 4 laundry bags.  Ordered online.
• $6.84 - snappi.  Ordered online.
• $70.61 - 22 prefold diapers.  Ordered online.
• $19.99 - one all in one and one diaper cover. Ordered online.
• $13.79 - two diaper covers.  Ordered online.
• $5.00 - diaper cover.  Purchased at Colorado Baby in Grand Junction.

The grand total comes to $171.37.  This does not include the covers and all in one I have that no longer fit Oliver.  I also left out the diaper sprayer I purchased for half off online and the extra snappis I got in Grand Junction.  I left these items out because I'm not using them currently and I wanted an idea of what my current start-up cost was.
So there it is: $171.37.  I'm not sure why, but I expected a lower number.

Now, let's break that down:

I change 75 diapers a week (from midnight Monday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday).  That's an average of 11, for the purpose of easier math (10.71428.....), a day.  With this amount of diaper changing I do laundry roughly every other day using 1.5 ounces of detergent per load.  The detergent runs about $7 (rounding up) for 100 ounces which means it will do 66 (rounding down) loads at $0.11 (rounding up) per load.  I also use a cup or so of vinegar in the rinse the keep the diapers soft.  The jug of vinegar costs about $3.00 (rounding up) on sale for a gallon, or 16 cups, which means it will last me roughly a month.
It generally takes me 3 to 4 months to go through one package of wipes.  They cost $11.99 for 576, making them $0.02 per wipe.
We'll say the extra water and electricity that goes into all this laundry costs $5.00 a month.  Because I'm not sure of the exact amount.  Please correct me if I need to make that number higher.

Per Month	Cost Breakdown
300 diapers changed	...
15-20 loads of laundry	$5-$10
1/4 package baby wipes	$0.36
22.5-30 ounces laundry detergent	$1.58-$2.10
15-20 cups vinegar	$2.85-$3.80

So my monthly total is $9.79-$16.26.

The diapers I would like to use are $6.99 for 31 ($0.23 per).  That would be $69.36 a month.
If I used these diapers I would be spending $53.10-$59.57 more a month.  It would take me 3 months or so to pay back my start up cost.

The cheapest diapers are $20.99 for 144 ($0.15 per).  That would be $45.36 a month.
If I used these diapers I would be spending $29.10-$35.57 more a month.  It would take me 5-6 months to pay back my start up cost.

So even using the cheapest diapers I would save I good chunk of change.  It may not seem like much, but it adds up to around $500 a year, not to mention the money I save by cloth diapering our next child.

Overall I'd say that cloth diapering is worth the effort.  Not that it's even really that hard right now.  It's when you have multiple children in diapers that it gets more difficult (or multiple children in general, really).