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?)

        • @streetfestival@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          91 year ago

          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

          • JWBananas
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 year ago

            The linked study includes disposal in their calculations. Disposables still come out ahead.

            • @streetfestival@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              English
              1
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Thanks for clarifying. I don’t have time to dig into it now. The data’s from 2006. I think it’s fair to say that improvements in energy efficient laundry machines (and detergent) in the last 17 years have been significant - and at a glance laundry-related energy costs represent the lion’s share of reusables’ footprint per this study. I’d love to see more up-to-date data and see if disposables still come out ahead, which would surprise me

              • JWBananas
                link
                fedilink
                English
                11 year ago

                I’ll see if I can find some better ones. This was just the first one I plucked out of a random citation, because I knew I would get eviscerated without one. But I’ve been seeing the advice about disposables as far back as I can remember. It was even a trick question in an eco quiz when I was a child back in the 90s (i.e. “Which of these things are better ecological choices?”).

                Interestingly the 2006 study itself is an updated version. Disposables did even better in the 2006 study than in the older one: Due to advances in manufacturing and in materials science, they were able to start producing them using less material (which decreases the carbon footprint during manufacturing, shipping, and disposal).

                  • JWBananas
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    41 year ago

                    I feel compelled to point out this important bit of context for anyone who doesn’t read the paper:

                    Overall, based on the four environmental indicators used in this study, home-washed reusable nappies have the potential for the least environmental impact if washed in a water-efficient front￾loading washing machine in cold water, and line-dried.

                    The UK study similarly found that colder water and line-drying would sufficiently reduce the carbon footprint to a lower level than disposables.

                    But seriously? Who does that?

                    For regular clothing, where you can use a more powerful detergent? Sure.

                    But for something that goes directly against your child’s most sensitive skin, which will need to be laundered with gentle detergent?

                    Maybe we can find a paper on how to do all that without heat but with proper sanitation? Remember, laundry detergent is designed to clean, but not necessarily to sanitize.

      • @iheartneopets@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        21 year ago

        That study was disproven when using them for multiple children. That’s the key to climate friendly diapers—using them across all your kids.

    • @BastingChemina@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      91 year ago

      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)

      • @Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        21 year ago

        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

      • @cynar@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        221 year ago

        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!

    • Alue42
      link
      fedilink
      11 year ago

      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.