save the earth.

i came across this as i surfed through some online philippine shopping sites, and it really did get me thinking.. bitaw noh, why don't we try this when the baby arrives?

as an expecting (and super excited) mom, i started worrying about our baby expenses even before my baby bump started to show. that meant me waking up in the middle of the night to compute estimated costs of diapers, milk, vitamins and other baby needs per month. so imagine my excitement when i found out about the tushy wushy cloth diapers. they're leak-proof cloth diapers (made with fleece) that are healthier for baby (some chemicals used in making, and those contained inside disposable diapers are apparently toxic - and can cause rashes.) they look really great (since they come in different colors and can be worn on their own without shorts). aside from that, they're eco-friendly (because they're reusable and baby's poop goes into proper waste management - i.e. down the toilet and not into the landfill) and they save you a whole lots of bucks too.

at first look they seem quite expensive (at Php 300/peice), but take this into consideration:

suppose i used 10 diapers everyday for six months (baby would outgrow the size small by this time so that's my estimate), and a regular diaper would cost about php 8/piece. it would look like this:

php 8 x 10 tushy wushy diapers x 30 days x 6 months = php 14,400

that's a whopping php 14,400 in six months. if i get tushy wushies, i guess i'd only need about 15 pieces (just to be sure). that would only cost me php 4,500. or i could get 18 pieces, which would still only be php 5,400.

the question of convenience also ran though my mind, so i figured out that even if i used disposable diapers for my baby at night and during trips out of the house at an estimate of 60 disposable diapers per month, that would look like:

php 8 x 60 disposable diapers x 6 months = php 2,880

that would only come up to an additional php 2880. which would mean:

tushy wushies (php 4,500) + disposable diapers (php 2,880) = php 7,380

that's only php 7380 for the whole six months. you can add water and soap expense if you like but the thing is, php 7380 is a big, big difference from php 14,400. so you get the picture.

and to add to that, i also learned that "Disposable diapers promote aggressive consumption of both renewable and non-renewable resources and overburden landfills. Do you know that it takes 550 years for disposable diapers to decompose?"

so there. aside from doing my share in saving the earth, that would mean i would able to save more money for other things in life. guess i'm starting out good at this mommy job nah, no?

tushy wushies are available at next9.org.