Get back your council tax!
More and more local councils are rolling out incentive schemes to help residents with the cost of building their own nappy stash. The reason is because it undeniably saves them money in expensive landfill and waste management. And in turn you, get more space in your 3 weekly refuse bin.
You can expect to reclaim around £30-50 towards your stash. There is a bit of admin involved with having to fill out a form, provide a receipt/invoice/proof of purchase. I made my application during the first lockdown and received my payment within a few days of the lockdown measures being lifted. As not many people are making use of it yet in Bracknell, it’s not like I was in a queue.
How do I find my local scheme?
A list of councils offering incentives is available on the Nappy Alliance website. The scheme, process and amounts may differ depending on where you reside. But the principle is still the same. And the thought of getting something in return after years of paying into council tax definitely felt good here!
I’d love to find out if they start to offer a similar incentive scheme for washable pads in the future.
The cost is real
It’s undeniable, the cost of real nappies is also real. With quality brands you can expect to pay around £20-30 for a night nappy system with wrap and boosters, of which you probably need about 4; and for days a simple pocket nappy is around £15, of which you will probably need around 16 as a ball park. This would add up to around £360 as a conservative estimate, and not including other essentials such as liners, wipes, bucket, wet bag and a toilet sprayer (not always necessary but good to think about, see what about poo?). So to go all in you are probably realistically talking up to £400 of investment. Ouch.
Is there a long term saving?
I don’t preach a lot about nappies saving you money on my site, because to me the cost is relative to purchasing 3 years worth of disposable nappies. And having converted with my second child, I don’t get the advantage of being able to use them on more than one little person. The benefits of being healthier to your baby and less stinky are worth the extra bit of effort in my opinion. And being able to sell them on one day, means I will probably get about half of my investment back at some point in the not too distant future.
My previous advice still stands that its best to trial different nappy types and brands and build your stash gradually, which can also help with budgeting. See the importance of having a varied stash.
This photo was taken in the summer of 2020 in one of our local council run playgrounds, of which we are very well catered for locally. If you are local have a read of What’s in a name?.
Help guides
For more straight forward practical tips on how to switch to reusable nappies, have a read of my further blogs:
