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Healthy Habits

CLOTH NAPPIES: The Math, Time vs Money.

Feb 09, 2021
by Jani du Toit
Comments: 0

If you prefer Watching a video to reading follow along here!

When my husband and I fell pregnant with Paul we were both in our Professional careers, Him working as an architect and he also has 2 businesses on the side that he also worked for at night, on weekends and after hours. I was working in corporate for a big company, had a good salary and saving money was always important to us, but compared to where we are now it was not as big of a deal but it was still something we always considered before doing anything. Time as money for us, everything we did was calculated. Time vs the money it will bring in, was it worth our time or would we break even, how much would we make if we did this or that, but this, added that, and so on.

So when we did the rough calculations to do cloth nappies the time vs the money vs the effort that we would have to put in, or more like what I would have to put in, was not worth it. I could better spend my time and effort on something else that would bring in more money than we would be saving doing cloth nappies.

That being said, that was only on the topic of saving money, and not considering other things like the environment. Either way we let the idea go for a few years, but it always lingered in the back of my head.

But here we are 7 months down the line of me trying to only do cloth nappies. To be honest it does take up time, this you have to be aware of. It is a load of washing every day or every second day depending on the amount of kids and nappies you have. It means folding nappies and prepping them to ensure that you are ready whenever a kid needs a nappy change. Hanging washing and taking it down again. But let’s get into the math and you can decide for yourself what you think is best for you and your family.

Let’s start with the obvious shocker- the amount of disposables I used for both kids:

Disposable Nappy cost per month:

I then stopped using Wetwipes and mover over to facecloths

Disposable WetWipes cost per month:

So I save R242,80 a month on wipes, maybe  bit less because I still always have wipes in the house and the kids have wipes at school in their bags. But I’m definitely saving at home.

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So lets have a look at how much my Nappies cost me now, Paul still takes 3 disposables to school but at home and on weekends we only cloth nappy. Lily is full on cloth Nappy all the time.

So Lily costs me R0 a month on disposables, Here is the math for Paul:

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So this plus the wet wipes save ma about R1309,2 per month. And now I hear what you are going to say! ‘But what but the amount you spend on water, washing and detergent?’ Let’s do the math:

Washing cost:

So I wash everyday, between the two kids I don’t have enough Nappies to wash every second day, and to be honest I just feel happies knowing my nappies are clean the next day, you never know when it’s going to rain and so on, so having then clean and dry every day as soon as possible works best for me.

Fortunately for us our water in included into our Levies so I’m not sure how much that costs us. As for detergent, I make my own sunlight gel as I have learnt that Omo can make my Nappies smell and other detergents are to expensive for me. Here is the recipe from SACNU’s Website:

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So the initial investment into cloth nappies can be large compared to the monthly saving at first, but it pays itself of in time. I think this is why my husband and I didn’t want to do it at first. To date I have spent R4405 on my nappies, buying them new and second hand over the past 7 months. And the money saved over 7months is R820,40 x 7 = R5742,80

This might not seem like to much, but the nappies have basically payed themselves off by now. And going forward it will only be more of an investment especially since Lily is only 10months old now and Paul will be wearing Nappies for a very long time still due to his condition.

Now for the most important part my husband always wants to see;

Time vs Money.

Most of us earn a salary that can be tracked back to the amount you make in an hour. Dealing with the nappies for me personally can be time consuming, or rather takes up some time in my day.

The math:

Ok lets say you area young working professional earning about R119 per hour in a 8 hour day this means that washing and prepping and so on will cost you R178,50 of your time every day.

Amounting to R178,50 x 31=R5 533,50 that you could have been spending rather doing something else, like private work or freelance work to bring in extra money as opposed to saving money by doing cloth nappies, lol If that makes any sense to you.

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In Conclusion:

So you have to make the decision for yourself. If I was still working from 6to6 in my corporate job, I would not be doing this to be honest, maybe if I had a full time helper with washing and cleaning but then you also have to calculate that cost.

I feel that doing cloth nappies make me feel good about my duty towards the environment and also helps me save some money now that I don’t have a high paying job anymore. And to be honest that makes me allot happier than my high paying job did.

Let me know what you think about my math seeing as it’s not something I was too good at in school, haha but I enjoyed working this out and showing to you the true savings of cloth nappies in my household. In your household it might look and work differently.

Somethings that I did not even calculate here is the fact that I’m not using any bum cream anymore, I’m not using any plastic diaper baggies, and I’m not spending any money on fancy Diaper dustbin bags. I don’t have to deal with stinky nappies in dustbin, or feel guilty about the 403+ nappies I dispose of every month that will still be here in 500 years to come.

I hope that you enjoyed this post! Feel free to follow my Money Saving Mamma series on IGTV or on YouTube.

Healthy Habits

Introducing: ASICS METARIDE™

On 28 Feb 2019 ASICS introduced the ASICS METARIDE™ to the market in South Africa. This technologically advanced running shoe is sure to

Mar 01, 2019
Jani du Toit
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Happiness in the field

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Aug 10, 2015
Jani du Toit
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HI I’M JANI – RUNNING MOM

LATEST YOUTUBE VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOlx3v_TE5I&t=21s

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JBRobinblog Running-Mom Jani
Honestly my transition from 28 to 29 and maybe sti Honestly my transition from 28 to 29 and maybe still to go up to 30 feels a bit eye twitching! 🥺😂 I mean WTF people?! I’m where I’ve wanted to be for so long, what I imagined would be the best time of my life. My own business, & working with my husband on his business, two kids, with allot of flexibility in my day.
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Every few years I’ve been able to see or realize when I’m going through a big change, a life shift if I can call it that, like new phase that gets grown into, & it is though 🙁🙁😞
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Change & then uncertainty of the unknown has the ability to freak us out a bit. 😐😐
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My husband & I find ourselves in a very difficult phase in out lives. Two small kids, who we love so much, but it can be allot most days, lol or every day😱😥😂😂🤭, & you won’t understand it till you’re there,
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Complete & utter financial uncertainty. Working so hard towards things we hope will pay off in the future. Whilst were not even sure how were gonna pay some things the next month..😮😶
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Fighting and not getting along at all, 😦😑it’s like amazing one minute and then chaos the next. Little sleep, stress, constantly putting someone else’s needs above yours. 😞it can lead you to crack hey, 😅😂🤭🤦🏽‍♀️
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And when I saw this picture it was like a light went on... 💡 I have to stop resisting whatever changes are happening, try as hard as I can to adapt to them. Make peace with the life that I might be outgrowing 🙈😞 no matter how sad it feels to let go of things, and TRY to accept the next phase and hopefully then things will feel a bit better. 
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Becoming a Mom of two is a big shift, you give so much of yourself on a constant basis to someone else...some days I feel like I’m actually mourning my old life, 😶🥺every day after dropping the kids at school I get so caught up in the nostalgia and memories of younger years that I feel I might be overshadowing my present life, procrastinating on my current life... 
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I’m gonna try & stop that now... I need to find a new way to be confident & achieve my goals.

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#runningmom #noexcuserunner #jbrobinblog #workingmomlife #breastfeedingrunner  #11monthspostpartum  #breastfeedingmom #momlife
Night 3 of Solo patenting 😶😐 . It has truly Night 3 of Solo patenting 😶😐
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It has truly not been that bad, I’ve not lost my shit once with the kids😂🤩🥳so that is always a win, 😂 but what I am sorry about is missing our run tonight because of the rain, it was very light rain, but I can’t run with them in it...🤷🏻‍♀️ and the whole idea of the three of us going for a run is, it’s a way to waste some time before dinner and bath - ⭐️
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The kids get kids get kinda emotional here close to the end of the week when my husband goes away, it’s like we all miss him and were all kinda swimming in emotions and it can clash a bit if not guided 😂🙄🤭so the pram run usually helps.
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But tonight I ended up going to the store with them when I saw it’s raining... and we needed some pizza 😂 But it was quite the mission 🙄 Paul whines, Lily whines... Paul cries ... and so on, 
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But despite some challenges we made it to bedtime, and when Lily pushed me away when she was feeding so she can chat and make noises, I felt like crying - I really just need her to go to bed easily tonight , and then Paul said those dreadful words ‘ Mamma ek voel nie leke nie ‘ 😩😵
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I literally went downstairs made them both a bottle, gave it to them , closed the door and left and sofar it seems they are both sleeping?🤷🏻‍♀️🤭😂🙏🏻🤞🏻 please lets hope it stays that way!
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#runningmom #asicsfrontrunner #asicsfrontrunnerza #noexcuserunner #asicsfrontrunner2020 #runningpregnant #newmom #clothdiapers #plasticfree #jbrobinblog #workingmomlife #breastfeedingrunner #shoereview #10monthspostpartum  #breastfeedingmom #asicstrabucomax #asicsrunning #momlife
Holding Back 😐😕 . I feel like I’m for some Holding Back 😐😕
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I feel like I’m for some irrational reason too scared to run..🙄🙄 I’m scared of how hard it feel to get back to where I was before I got pregnant with Paul... or even before I got pregnant again with Lily..
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Getting back into the easy and amazing running routine I had feels absolutely impossible. And that’s simply because it is... I have two kids now, and my whole lifestyle has changed, I’m sleep deprived half the time and my anxiety creeps up on me like crazy?! 🤭🙄
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And the most absurd thing of it all is that with my new ‘career’ (haha can I even call it that?😅😂) I am so flexible to work my run in when it suits me , but still I actively try to avoid it every other day...
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It feels so hard to get back to where I want to be, so hard in fact that the effort I need to put in scares me,I wish things were as easy as when I thought it was hard😂 when running every morning at 4-5am felt difficult 😅🤭 now I have the time yet I’m constantly holding myself back. I’m so stuck in my own head?! Why is that though?
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If it was easy, everyone would be doing it...
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Hard work will pay off...
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Consistency is the key...
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All these sayings and yet no remote motivation comes up..🙈😐🤷🏻‍♀️ I honestly think Mom guilt is my biggest enabler to this consistent ‘holding-back’ behavior..🤭🙄 but I have no idea hoe to get rid of that feeling?!
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Moms, raise your hands if you feel me? 🙋🏻‍♀️or maybe it’s just me and I’m loosing my marbles 🤭🤪😶😶
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#ASICS #ASICSFrontRunner #SoundMindSoundBody #ASICSFrontRunner2021 
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Double Stroller Run 🥵🥵 . Today’s run was h Double Stroller Run 🥵🥵
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Today’s run was hard but I’m so glad I got to it, more like, forced myself a bit, especially after both kids were basically a bit fussy as I loaded them into the pram...🙄🤭but I’m solo parenting this week with my husband away for work , so I have to , have to force myself to stick to a routine, otherwise all hell will break loose 🤭🤭
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So we went for a run, had dinner, bathed and in bed⭐️
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My day didn’t work out as planned, I wanted to run this morning to kick my day off on a positive note but - it rained 🙄 and I wanted to have my diapers washed and dry by the end of the day so I could sort the washing before getting the kids from school, but it rained 🙄🤦🏽‍♀️ I also didn’t finish sewing as much as I wanted- so then my anxiety started kicking into high gear🤭😐🙈 thats when I knew, I HAD to go for a run, even if it was with both kids, otherwise I’d end up with a bad start to what could be a chaotic week 😐😅🤷🏻‍♀️
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It was hard and they were heavy, both making turns asking and moaning for something having me stop what feels like every 500m🙄🙄🙄🙄 so that was super annoying and such hard work, gaining momentum with the very heavy stroller only to be stopped again 😐😐😐🥵🥵🥵but we survived, I had to basically have a coco-pop ready to put in Lily’s hand, every time she lifted her hand 😂😂🤦🏽‍♀️ the things we do Moms.. the things we do..😂😂😂
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Both kids in bed now, now for a big cup of coffee and some washing to fold , school bags to prep🤷🏻‍♀️

#ASICS #ASICSFrontRunner #SoundMindSoundBody #ASICSFrontRunner2021 
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#runningmom #asicsfrontrunner #asicsfrontrunnerza #noexcuserunner #asicsfrontrunner2020 #runningpregnant #newmom #clothdiapers #plasticfree #jbrobinblog #workingmomlife #breastfeedingrunner #shoereview #10monthspostpartum  #breastfeedingmom #asicstrabucomax #asicsrunning #momlife.
My Blom 🌸 . Lily you make me so happy! Your per My Blom 🌸
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Lily you make me so happy! Your personality is starting to really shine through & your becoming your own human more and more every day! 🤗🤗 I love it! 
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You are so spontaneous & happy, & where Paul refuses to get his hands dirty, you just go for it 😂🤣 oh my goodness you are always so dirty & messy 🤣🙈🙈 no matter how clean I try to keep you! I’m  too nervous to even put @little_monsters_za stock on you for casual pictures 🤣🤣🤦🏽‍♀️🤭
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You are very adventurous & you go where you want to or try your best despite everyone always picking you up 😂you want to walk so badly, & your close 😉🤩
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You are such a grabber 🙄🤭nothing is safe from you hands😂 you love food, especially tomatoes at this point 😂 you are so busy and I don’t get a minute to rest when you are in a high chair, & when your on the ground it’s even worse😐😐 but your so easy for the most part, we enjoy you so much!😅 You make poor Paul have to cover for his wickets half the time coz you just want all his toys, but I think you just want to play with him thats all.😂❤️
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You can give hugs, you can say Mamma🥰 you try to say Blom & your first unofficial sentence was ‘Kyk Da!!’ And its hilarious when you say it 🤣🌈
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You are my wild child for sure🌸My Lily of the Valley 🥰

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#runningmom #asicsfrontrunner #asicsfrontrunnerza #noexcuserunner #asicsfrontrunner2020 #runningpregnant #newmom #clothdiapers #plasticfree #jbrobinblog #workingmomlife #breastfeedingrunner #shoereview #10monthspostpartum  #breastfeedingmom #asicstrabucomax #asicsrunning #momlife.
So that was Fun - NOT! 🙄😂🤦🏽‍♀️😬😬
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My run did ton go as planned 😂🤦🏽‍♀️ At about 1km jn I realized that I needed to pee so badly, and usually I’m up for a little wee if the run is going great, but today not so much 😕😕
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I don’t think I’ve ever engaged my pelvic floor as much as I did on this run😂🤣 I was trying to keel it in so bad , haha but I soon rea I was not gonna make it and even though I gave it my all to try and make the run as best as it could be it was a , ‘let’s just turn around and go home’ type of run...
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Meh, somedays it happens, 😕🤷🏻‍♀️ tomorrow we try again! 🤩😬 
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I have to say, I think I’m entering an older age now..(duh!)😂😐 but mu body is doing all wack kinda things, my skin is so bad and breaking out, my hormones are all over the place, tired Coz Lily is haven’t a bad sleeping week again....🤷🏻‍♀️😬
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And other Ladies or Mommies going through weird transformations?🤷🏻‍♀️🌸 getting older is weird...

#ASICS #ASICSFrontRunner #SoundMindSoundBody #ASICSFrontRunner2021 
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#runningmom #asicsfrontrunner #asicsfrontrunnerza #noexcuserunner #asicsfrontrunner2020 #runningpregnant #newmom #clothdiapers #plasticfree #jbrobinblog #workingmomlife #breastfeedingrunner #shoereview #10monthspostpartum  #breastfeedingmom #asicstrabucomax #asicsrunning #momlife.
Good start ✅ . Literally forced myself to get o Good start ✅ 
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Literally forced myself to get out of the house, I was so amped for a run last night , but this morning my motivation felt a bit watered down😂😂 but it was great! 🥳🌸🤩
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Only way to get out of a run is to force yourself I guess 😂😂

#ASICS #ASICSFrontRunner #SoundMindSoundBody #ASICSFrontRunner2021 
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#runningmom #asicsfrontrunner #asicsfrontrunnerza #noexcuserunner #asicsfrontrunner2020 #runningpregnant #newmom #clothdiapers #plasticfree #jbrobinblog #workingmomlife #breastfeedingrunner #shoereview #10monthspostpartum  #breastfeedingmom #asicstrabucomax #asicsrunning #momlife.
V-day ❤️❤️ . Valentines day takes on a wh V-day ❤️❤️
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Valentines day takes on a whole new meaning when you have kids❤️ You’d think it means that Mommy and Daddy need some much needed alone time, but in all honesty its so much more fun to char it with your kids😍 having them dress up and enjoy in the sillyness of it all.
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So dress the kids up, buy some red balloons for absolutely no reason and have some fun with it, the joy of seeing them in the moment is better than any bunch of Roses 😅😅❤️ this afternoon we’re gonna go buy some balloons after school  and eat wat to much chocolate 🎈 just because we can!☺️☺️
Remember why you started ❤️ . Sometimes I forg Remember why you started ❤️
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Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy running and how it makes me feel. I get so caught up in kids, and the house and work and other daily tasks that can be hard, that the moment I have a spare minute to myself I can bare to think about going for a run, I’d rather take a nap or watch half a movie or something 🤷🏻‍♀️
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I get why Moms get to a point where they stop running, it’s SUCH a mission to get yourself to commit to a run when you’d rather just relax, like lie down relax,😂😂 not exercise relax. And there was a time where running was my relax, but now it just feels hard to make time for 😕 oh and the Mom Guilt that I could be doing something else...so thats why I run with a double stroller 😂😂=Mom guilt...😞 and it’s a heavy guilt trip to push Mommy ...believe me!🤨
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But for the most part running actually keeps me sane 😂🤪 and I also tend to forget that it’s time I need for myself too, to stay healthy to feel good about myself, and to let go of anger and frustration. 🙈 and we Moms need all of if we’re gonna be the best Moms we can be...⭐️⭐️
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So tomorrow is Valentine’s Day Mom, if you wake up and Daddy didn’t prep any type of surprise, no roses or chocolates, then you put on those running shoes, hand him that baby and go run for as long as you need to fill your cup😂😂❤️ remember to pic a route goes past a coffee shop 😉 sit down , have coffee and cake before you head home 😂😂🥳⭐️🌈🌈 call it Momventinesday! 😉😅

#ASICS #ASICSFrontRunner #SoundMindSoundBody #ASICSFrontRunner2021 
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#runningmom #asicsfrontrunner #asicsfrontrunnerza #noexcuserunner #asicsfrontrunner2020 #runningpregnant #newmom #clothdiapers #plasticfree #jbrobinblog #workingmomlife #breastfeedingrunner #shoereview #10monthspostpartum  #breastfeedingmom #asicstrabucomax #asicsrunning #momlife.
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