Cloth Diapers: Resale Value

After my most recent purchase of Bum Genius 4.0 pocket diapers, I have all but stopped using the GroVia All-in-Ones. On a whim, I posted an ad on craigslist last night around 10pm. By 5pm today, I had the cash in my hands. I was very surprised at how quickly I was able to sell them locally since the area I live in isn't exactly crunchy granola.

Being environmentally conscious is not all about buying new hybrid cars or solar panels. Buying used and selling unwanted items are great ways to minimize your carbon footprint and add a little green to your wallet in the process. Cloth diapers have a surprisingly high resale value. Cotton Babies (one of my favorite on-line cloth retailers) has a buy back program. I could have sold the GroVia All-in-Ones there for $7.50 each. That price was a little low though, considering that they run $21.95 new. I thought that I could get a bit more by selling them locally (and avoid shipping in the process.)

Let's do the math:
I bought the 7 GroVia All-in-Ones on sale for $115.22 total in November 2010
I sold them for $80 total in April 2011
I washed them approximately every other day, so let's say 60 uses each
Let's call water/electricity/detergent $0.40 per load and the GroVia All-in-Ones accounting for 30% of each load of laundry

Net Diaper Cost= $35.22
Total Laundry Cost= $7.20
Total Cost= $42.42

$42.42/(7 diapers*60 uses)= $0.10 per use

This is also a good time to compare cloth diapers to disposables. While Liam was healing from his circumcision, Target's Up & Up brand of diapers fit him the best. If I bought them in jumbo packs, here are the costs for each size that Liam might have worn over the last few months:
newborn = $0.17 each
Size 1 = $0.13 each
Size 2 = $0.15 each
Size 3 = $0.17 each

Not too shabby when you consider that All-in-Ones are one of the more expensive cloth diapering systems and I only got a few months use out of them. Now I've got the funds to buy some more Bum Genius 4.0 pocket diapers. They are on sale again, buy 5 get 1 free. I may even splurge on some prints.