This pumping is really starting to get old. Blisters, sore nipples, over sleeping and waking up in so much pain! So, for a little motivation, I thought I’d do some research on how much money we were actually saving.
Each baby drinks 3oz at each feeding, every 3 hours. That’s 8 times a day for a total of 72 oz a day (3oz x 3 babies x 8 times a day).
A 19.8 oz can of Enfamil formula makes about 139 oz of formula and costs $29.69. That means we would go thru approximately a can of formula every other day. That works out to:
- $14.85 a day
- $103.92 a week
- $467.62 a month!
I can be motivated by over $450 a month! Now how much do I make an hour?
I pump for about 20 mins every 3 hours. 20 mins x 8 times a day = 2 hours and 40 mins of pumping a day. Take the $14.85 a day and divide by hours means I make about $5.57 per hour pumping milk. Is that even minimum wage these days? So that means I could be a cashier at Wal-Mart part-time and make up for the money we’d use on formula? Come on! Not feeling as motivated now.
Since being a cashier at Wal-Mart is not really an option … I wonder how much money I’ve already saved for the family by pumping.
The kids are 7 weeks old today. So … 7 weeks x $103.92 = $727.44!! In another week or so I’ll have saved about $1000! Ok .. that’s a better number than making less than minimum wage 🙂
That’s all the math I have time for today. Not only do my brain muscles hurt a little, but it’s time to pump again. Oh the irony!
This is something I thought about often as well when I was attached to my pump hour after hour. So I was wondering about your math. You lost at me at the Walmart wages part. Are you figuring that you are making the same amount of milk as the enfamil? Also, don’t forget about opportunity cost! The time it takes to drive to the store/find a sitter/taxes on the formula… also there are all of the benefits of breast milk to think about. Just sayin… it’s good stuff! (Also, formula smells bad). 🙂
Hi Sarah! I calculated the cost per ounce of Enfamil. Then calculated how many ounces I pump per hour. Knowing how many ounces I pump I could figure how much my hourly “wage” is. I hope that makes more sense 🙂