If you’ve never considered using cloth wipes before, you should!
Aside from being eco-friendly and really good for sensitive skin and eczema, they’ll also save you a lot of money that has got to be a great combination.
So what are the costs?
One point to note with washable wipes is that you don’t have to do separate loads of washing for them. You can, of course, wash them with your cloth nappies, but mine usually go in with my clothes wash each morning.
A washable wipes kit for cloth nappy users costs about £25. That’s for 25 wipes, a box for soaking your wipes with the essential oil and water, an out and about travel bag and a bottle of essential oil which will last about 6 months.
You might want to add extra wipes when you start weaning (learn about a weaning table) (about £10) and you’ll also need more oil over the 2.5 years you will be using bum wipes. So your total cost for wipes for two years will be:
Kit = £25
Extra Wipes = £10.00
50ml Oil = £15
Total = £50
Total Cost for cloth wipes £50!
How does that compare to disposable wipes?
Let’s take an average RRP of £2.49 as a starting point. Some premium brands of wipes can cost up to £6.99 a packet and there are obviously supermarket own brands available which are cheaper, however even Pampers RRP is £2.49 a pack.
How many wipes you’ll use is a good question. You tend to use a lot more disposable wipes than cloth wipes as they have a tendency to smear poo around, whereas cloth wipes do the job with less hassle which compares and contrasts disposable wipes vs cloth wipes).
Most use about 2 packs a week. Some use more than that, some use less but lets take that as an average. So let’s see what that adds up to over 2 years:
Weekly cost of wipes = £2.49 x 2 = £4.98
Yearly Cost of wipes = £4.98 x 52 = £258.96
x 2.5 years = £258.96 x 2 = £647
Even if you buy your wipes on a Buy-one, get one free offer, EVERY week, that’s still £323 on disposable baby wipes, £280 more than you’ll spend on cloth wipes.
Cloth baby wipes will save you at least £280 and make sense financially, so make sure that they’re on your baby shopping list!
What about the washing?
Well simply throw in with your reusable nappies if you are using cloth nappies. I always recommend a pre wash first to rinse off, then a full wash. Line dry for even more savings but most wipes can be put in the tumble dryer, it won’t harm them.
