Litter alone recovers the cost in just over 2 years, but the real glory is in the time. Using a conservative estimate of 2 hrs/wk cleaning and maintenance, I get back more than 100 hrs/yr. and the cats always have clean litter.
I recognize there are far cheaper litters than WBCL, so YMMV.
Oh yeah, at US Federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr, I make back the price in less than a year, not including litter savings.
Time is valuable. ⏳