I’ve noticed sometimes that there’s some half-baked videos or blogs or whatever that purport this or that frugal trick, but if you look at the time or math, it’s not actually frugal for you.
What are some examples of that you’ve come across? The things that “aren’t worth it”?
For me it’s couponing. (Although I haven’t heard people talk about it recently–has it fallen out of “style”, or have businesses caught up to the loopholes folks used to exploit?)
Cloth nappies/diapers. Cleaning them is a black hole for personal time.
The manufacture of 2.5 years of disposable diapers has a lower carbon footprint than the energy usage to launder cloth diapers over the same time period.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/291130/scho0808boir-e-e.pdf
So it’s still a win if the energy source is renewable itself.
What about the difference in waste as well? Talk about cherry-picking outcomes to make your product/position look good. It’s like soft drinks advertising that they’re fat-free or chips/crisps saying they’re sugar-free
The linked study includes disposal in their calculations. Disposables still come out ahead.
That study was disproven when using them for multiple children. That’s the key to climate friendly diapers—using them across all your kids.
I personally don’t mind much using cloth diapers.
We quickly rince them after use so it does not smell unlike dirty diapers in the bin that start smelling after a day (we live in a hot country)
My experience with disposables is that they don’t smell if allowed to dry out, but also I live in an area that is only hot for about 4 months out of the year so I can see where that can change the calculous
I don’t think anyone is using cloth diapers for frugal reasons, but rather for waste and environmental reasons that disposable diapers create (It takes hundreds of years for each disposable diaper to decompose, and they are made with plastic and carcinogens). I’ve looked into the topic, and although it might discount the cost of constant purchase of disposables, the high cost of the cloth ones themselves as well as the cost of running the washing loads mean the reason to switch wouldn’t be for frugal reasons but to stop the influx of disposable diapers into landfills and comfort of the baby wearing it.
Do you have to do more than toss them in the washer?
(I know nothing about the topic, lol.)
You need to de-shit them (it can be quite runny).
You don’t want to wash them with anything else. But you need enough to justify the run.
You need to store them till they can be washed (smelling the whole time).
Babies need a lot of nappies.
All of this is at the most exhausting time in the parents lives!
And there’s a chance that no matter how hard you work, your newborn winds up with diaper rash.
Not really, no. That’s one that’s definitely worth it.