CD Laundry Cost

[Skinjob]

I was thinking this morning, after running the washing machine once for cold, once for hot with cold rinse and then a second rinse on top of that - what does all that add up to in terms of energy consumption and water? Then add all that dryer time and our bills for electricity, natural gas and water are pretty high. It's almost as if you're not really saving any money at all by cloth diapering (which is not the principle reason we do it, incidentally). Have any of you ever done the math? I feel bad using all this energy and water. And no, we don't have an option to air dry the dipes outside so we're stuck with the dryer. I love CDing, but man is it ever expensive!

[SubliminalDarkness]

It's not an easy thing to really pin the price to, because you have to take into consideration each load involving however much water, the electricity to heat the water, run the washer, and run the dryer, the detergent, and so on.

But I do know that when my DS2 was born and we began cloth diapering, there was no significant hike in your electric or water bills. It went up a little bit, but it wasn't a whole lot. Had it not been something I was watching for, I doubt I would have even given it a second thought.

[WifeofAnt]

I think it kind of matters how much you pay for it in the first place. Where I'm at water seems pretty cheap. We never pay more than $10-20 for our water (for just us two) and sewer each month. Even if we doubled that it wouldn't be a big deal. In February DH is deploying and I'm moving back in with my parents but they don't pay for water at all, just sewer and I'll be able to line dry outside after about April on their clothesline.

[Skinjob]

We live in a big city so our water bills are over $150 for two months. It's crazy! And we definitely conserve. We won't be swayed from CD no matter what the cost because it's so much better for baby. But I wonder about our "ecological footprint"... with all this energy and water consumption, how much smaller can our footprint really be?

At least our LO's diapers aren't piling up in a landfill. That's something.

[seagull]

At one point I had 2 kids in cloth diapers, but it didn't affect the water bill. We use a bit more water than we did in the past but it is still within the same billing bracket. I have noticed that electricity is a bit higher, but I am also a SAHM now so it is hard to know what portion is just laundry. The sewer has increased but I think that some of that was an across the board price hike. Overall, I would say that cd;s had very little affect on our utilities, but we use a HE washer and often linedry.

[sunflower.mama]

If you are looking at the big picture, not the costs of running your household, I believe there is a lot of water used in making disposable diapers. So you can feel good about conserving water in that sense.

[Sharlla]

our water bill is $18/ month
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[JudiAU]

We live in an apartment building in the city and use coin laundry. We line dry for green reasons and cost savings. We spend $2.50/load (double wash) every 2-3 days so about 13 times $32.00 on just diaper laundry. We spend an additional $45 on regular library.

Still cheaper and I have no doubt that it is greener than the disposables we used with our first.

[kriket]

We didn't see a noticeable electric or water increase when we started CDing either. I run one less cycle than you do, we just leave the lid open for a moment to soak, then wash, and a second rinse. Occasionally we strip. I do line dry the AIOs they take an eternity to dry. Especially compared to the PF.

I think I remember about a $20 increase in our bills when DS was born. It may have to do with the lights, fans, heat too. Now there is someone home practically 24/7 where before DH and I worked 8h a day and the house was empty and powered off

Plus, just the cost of buying disposables would be around $40 a mo (total guess based on a $9 pack of diapers a week 4 weeks a month)

[Skinjob]

Originally Posted by kriket

I do line dry the AIOs they take an eternity to dry. Especially compared to the PF.

Do they ever! I've been avoiding using them and sticking with our stash of Fuzzi Bunz because of this. The Gro Via inserts take two cycles to fully dry in the dryer so I throw them in with the rest of the CDs and if they are still wet I lay them out in the sun on a chair on the back stoop.

I'm amazed you can get your diapers clean with just the one wash cycle. I was getting the stinkies when I was doing that.