Cloth Nappies on a Budget.

It’s a common concern for parents, weather on a tight budget or not, that buying a full stash of cloth nappies is going to get expensive. While it’s true that you’ll still save money compared to disposables, (see my post of The Cost of Reusable Vs Disposables Nappies), especially if your use your nappies with more than one child, many of us, myself and friends included can’t afford to buy all the cloth nappies you’ll need at once.

Fear not there are many options out there fore you to try and keep your cloth nappy stash within your budget.

Options for cloth nappies on a budget.

Check with your local council Cloth nappies schemes.

Before you spend a penny check if your local council will buy your nappies for you. Yep that right, many councils across the country are willing you help you out when starting with cloth nappies!! Why, I hear you ask? Well disposing of waste is an expensive business. Giving you 50 quid in an attempt to encourage you to use reusables will save them a ton in the long run.

To find out if your council (in the UK) has a nappy scheme follow the link here.

Check if there is a Nappy library near you.

Nappy libraries will lend you a set of nappies to try out. The reason this could help you is to know is A. Weather you want to carry on using cloth nappies before you fork out, and B. which nappies you want to buy. This is help you budget because you’ll know whatever you decide to spend money on it going to be worth it.

ebay, amazon, ali express.

Not one you usually see me recommending for ethical reasons (apart from eBay of course) but if your on a budget and you want to use cloth nappies you can find some really good and cheap nappies.

Alva or Little and Blooms nappies are great pocket nappies. I brought a few in the early days when on maternity pay to bulk out my stash and found a few brand new on Facebook Market place, they work just find. Although I would reach for my Baba and Boo pocket nappies first, they have stood the test of time and still look good as new two years on, more so than some of my other more expensive brands. I particularly like the velcro ones. I always choose poppers myself but when sending my daughter to child care I find it easier to send velcro. The Littles and Blooms velcro has lasted really well and are easy to fit, (which is important when sending them to nursery or Grandparents.)

A tip when buying these nappies is to make sure they come with bamboo inserts, even if this costs slightly more. I really like the Littles and Blooms and the Alva bamboo inserts, but sometimes they automatically come with micro-fiber, which I never use and see as a little pointless. It’s worth making sure.

Preloved Nappies.

I’ve written a whole post of Navigating the Pre-Loved Nappy Market because I think a lot of people are put off by the idea of second hand nappies, but actually there are a lot of nappies out there that have life left in them. Wash them well it is more than hygiene and it’s a great way to bulk out your stash on a budget. It is also the most eco-friendly way to buy nappies.

The only con for me is that I knew I wanted to use my nappies on hopefully more than one child so only brought pre-loved nappies that were nearly new. There was no point buying well worn nappies only to have to replace them. If you know you’ll only use them for one child or your child is older when you make the switch I wouldn’t worry about this too much. The other con to note is that nappies in good condition hold their value well so you can end up paying close to retail price, add postage into this and sometimes it’s not worth it.

Having said if you take you time looking and don’t rush you can get some really good deals and bundles. Make sure you know what the retail price is before you buy anything.

Two part nappy systems.

Close Parent all in two cloth nappy, great cheaper options.

I’m actually not a fan of the two-part nappy system for the day time but it does work for many people. The reason is, and the same goes for using terries, pre-fold or an All-in-Two system nappies, is I just find it harder on the go and we are always on the go.

When I was pregnant I thought I would love all-in-twos and there for a two part system as well. Because you could just change the absorbent part of the nappy and reuse the wrap many times. This makes is a cheaper solution. However, the reality for me was after about 6 weeks I never changed on the changing mat. It was out and about or on a folding changing mat in the living room, on the sofa, on the bathroom floor, wherever I happened to be really. My daughter is a wriggler to say the least and I couldn’t be dealing with her back flipping off the changing table or kicking me in the face while I wiped done a wrap and switched inserts.

Having said that I know they work for a lot of people. Depending on what two-part system you go for it could save you money. For example 5x Little Lamb nappies cost about £40. Add a few wraps in and you could have a full time stash for under £200. However these are sized nappies meaning your going to have to size up 2 or 3 times in your child’s nappy wearing life. So if your going to go with a “two part” I would suggest buying the wraps and using pre-folds or terries instead. Don’t discount the fitted nappies for night time though as they are brilliant for that.

Pre-folds, Muslins and Terries.

As mentioned above the water proof cover that you will need over a pre-fold, muslin or terry nappy is the more expensive part.

The good news is you can have a significantly small amount of covers to nappies.

What are pre-folds, muslins and terries?

Essentially they are all just a piece of material that can be folded into a nappy. A pre-fold is normally sewn into 3 sections, therefore easy to fold into thirds, placed on a water proof cover and then places on baby. Innes over at Aboderie has a great post and video on how to use Pre-folds.

Muslins and terries are a little more complicated because you’ll be to learn how to fold them and fasten them onto baby using a nappy-nipper, much like our grandparents would have done years ago with old terries and safety pins. There’s no need to be daunted by this, though I was when I was pregnant and opted for all-in-one nappies, as there are lots of great YouTube videos explaining different ways to fold. Practicing on a teddy or dolly can be really helpful, rather than a wriggling baby. Once your nappy is on you simple pop the water proof cover over the top.

Muslins work great for a newborn because they are a thinner material. This isn’t a problem absorbancy wise because you tend to change a newborn far more often. Because of this with most newborn nappies you’ll need a bigger stash but muslins are thin so wash and dry very quickly, as do the wraps, therefore you won’t need as many and the costs are kept down even more.

Pros

Really cheap. My favorite Disana organic brand start their terry and muslin nappies at £3 each, but you can get cotton muslins for as little as £1.50 each. Note you can buy regular muslins even cheaper, which would work, but I prefer to go with muslins sold specifically for nappies. They tend to be a better size and softer on baby. Although you can buy cheaper wraps like Alva we discussed above most will cost you between £9-£15. The good news you’ll only need 6-8 wraps. Less if your not worried about washing more often. Wraps will be dry within an hour of washing them and ready to go back on the bottom. You’ll need 20-25 actually nappies maybe a few more for a newborn. That means depending on which you buy you could have a full stash of nappies for just over £100.

Pre-fold, muslins and terry nappies great option if your on budget but worry about where the cheaper nappies come from. If your making the choice to use cloth your already really helping the environment and I don’t want you to worry about anything else out of your budget. But if you can afford to I always recommend going with ethical companies, and where possible natural fibers. Of course the cheaper you go the more likely your going to find companies that cut corners, use unethical practices and plastics in their products, much like fast fashion. Like I said, if money is a worry for you it’s not something I want you to think about right now, but if it is something massively on your raid then going with pre-folds, muslins or terries means you’ll be able to choose natural fibers like organic cotton and bamboo without seeing the price jump up.

Great for newborns. If you’ve done a little research into cloth nappies you’ve probably realised that although most nappies are BTP (birth to potty) you’ll struggle to fit them on your newborn. My daughter started wearing her BTP at around 5 weeks (although she was a big baby and they still swamped her), most babies won’t fit into them until about 2/3 months. So you next decision if weather you want to invest in a newborn stash, which can get expensive for the amount of time they will use them. That’s muslins are a really great cheap option. You’ll also use them forever more once their done as nappies. I carried on using them to cover the changing mat incase of accidents, wiping up sick, and now I use some of the older, more worn ones as dusters. In fact I’m pretty sure my Mum still has some of my terry nappies for dusting too.

Extra tips for saving money.

Make you own fleece liners.

You going to need a good few fleece liners. If your using All-in-One nappies with a fleece liner sown in you won’t need to worry about it until weaning stage (when they help with the pooey situations) but if your using any other type of nappy it’s important the absorbant matetial doesn’t sit against babies skin. This won’t be comfortable and could irrate the skin. Putting a fleece liner in the nappy solves this, wicking moister away from the skin and keeping baby dry.

The cheapest way you can do this is to cut up an old fleece blanket, or buy a cheap one in somewhere like Ikea or the pound shop for next to nothing. Then cutting it into nice rectangles.

If this isn't for you the cheapest and nicest liners are from Little Lamb at £9.50 for a pack of 10. Again this dry almost instantly so you won’t need more than 2 pacts to see you through.

Close up of a little lamb fleece liner for cloth nappies.

Cheap ways to boost your nappies.

The likely hood is you won’t need to boost your nappies until your child is older. I started boosting our day nappies at around 20 months. I have however boosted her night nappies from around 4/5 months when I stopped changing her in the night. The best way to boost nappies is with what you already have. All those pre-folds you had for when they were a newborn can now we repurposed as boosters. Many nappies come with more than one insert which I never used in the day nappies were great for night time boosting.

If your worried about your nappies becoming to bulky again Little Lambs come up trumps size and price wise with the slim bamboo boosters. A pack of 5 for £10 or 10 for £17. Keep an eye out on pre-loved site for these too. Often people end up with a whole host of odds and sodds boosters and will sell a bundle for a good price. If preloved isn’t usually for you this is still a good options because you know boosters won’t actually be touching babies bottom.

close up of the thinness of a little lamb booster.

Bare in mind that if you buy Little Lambs size one fitted nappy you get a booster with each nappy included. This have been used so much in our house well after my daughter grew out of the size one. (This nappies are now also used on her dolly’s so money well spend.)

Wash efficiently.

Washing your cloth nappies really doesn’t cost a lot. I researched this for my post on “How much does it cost to wash cloth nappies?” For my household it’s roughly £1.50 a week. But there are ways of reducing this price more. Making sure you bulk out your wash properly. Washing a small load not only costs you more but will also means you nappies do not wash properly, See “How to your Reusable Cloth Nappies.”

Weather you wash at 40 or 60 degrees will also have an impact on the cost. Most of the energy used in a washing machine is from heating the water. I personally always wash at 60 and if you don’t doing it every few weeks is a good idea (60 degrees efficiently kills bacteria), but washing at 40 some of the time with reduce your cost and your carbon foot print.

Ditch the tumble dryer.

I feel like anything that is a convenience. like a tumble dryer comes at a cost. A cost to the environment, our pockets and our nappies. That’s right not only will using a tumble dryer increase the cost of your bills but the heat from it can ruin your nappies. Bamboo in direct contact with heat will start to bald and the water proof PUL layer in your nappies could melt.

To increase the life of your nappies, also saving money in the long run it is best to air dry your nappies.

If you do use the tumble dryer every now and then when needed make sure it is on a low heat.

Use cloth wipes.

Lastly a huge money saver is cloth wipes. Actually if your using cloth nappies cloth wipes are easier than disposables because you just throw them in the nappy bag/bin with the nappies and wash all together. Rather than using a disposable which you will have to dispose of separately.

If your in any way familiar with a sewing machine you could make your own cloth wipes by cutting up an old towel or material you have lying around the house, just locking over the edges. I don’t own a sewing machine so brought a pack of 25 wipes from Cheeky Wipes for around £15, depending on which material you choose. I actually brought a second pack of these because we went though them pretty quickly in the newborn stage. For older babies one pack is probably enough. And then that’s it. You never spend money on wipes again. No more buying serval packs at the supermarket each week and far nicer on babies bum.

You can buy the Cheeky Wipes full kit at for around £40 which comes with a box for clean and dirty wipes and out and about bags. If you weren’t using cloth nappies too this might work well for you but if you are you’ll already have everything you need, wet bags, dirty bags etc for using cloth wipes. I found I never used the boxes at home either. If your trying to save money skip the kit, just buy the wipes and wet them when you need them.

Head over to my “Complete Guide to Cloth Baby Wipes” if none of that made sense you to. I explain how we use them in a day to day lives fully.

Have I helped you navigate this world without spending a bomb? I truly hope so.

Much Love

Hannah xx