Diapering dollars
By Tara Roberts on Fri, May 22, 2009
Last week I blogged about finding good deals on baby gear at garage sales. But there’s one infant item you’re just not going to find used. You guessed it — diapers.
A lot of people recommend going with cloth diapers to save money (here’s an article arguing in favor here.)
Cloth diapering is cheap (assuming you wash everything yourself and don’t use a pricey diaper servicel), and it is nicer to the environment, but it’s lacking a factor that’s hugely important to many families — convenience.
So how to save on disposables, especially when we’re going through as many as 8-10 per day with a 3-month-old?
The thing that has been most helpful for me is calculating cost-per-diaper — a trick I picked up in the mommy group I’m part of.
The numbers of diapers in a package isn’t consistent from brand to brand, so you can’t compare straight across. Sale-shopping isn’t reliable either — a pack of Huggies Supremes (which I’ve heard called “the Cadillac of diapers”) on super-duper sale is still going to be more expensive than a cheaper brand at regular price.
But if you whip out the cell-phone calculator and figure that $15 for a 72-pack adds up to 20 cents per diaper, but $25 for a 160-pack is 15 cents per diaper, you know which is the better deal. Use the same strategy when buying wipes.
Once you have that trick up your sleeve, it’s time to hunt for bargains. My record so far? A 260-pack of size 2 diapers for somewhere in the 12 cents-per-diaper range.
Consider buying store brands rather than name-brands (many parents I know swear by Costco diapers). Also keep track of weekend newspaper inserts for coupons and sign up for deals and samples at diaper brand’s Web sites.
The Internet also is a great places for deals (as usual). Diapers.com is the home for diaper discounts. You get a $5 off code for your first purchase, but it’s easy to find a $10 off code by searching Web-coupon code sites like Retailmenot.com.
Of course, don’t buy cheap diapers that fit poorly, leak, or irritate your baby. But don’t figure that low price means low quality, either. Those 12-cents-per diapers are one of the best brands we’ve tried.
Surf the Web for even more great links — there are hundreds of mommies blogging about deals.
And if you have your own cash-saving diaper tips, please share!
Tags: Stretching A Buck
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:11 am
Hi! Cloth diapers don’t have to be inconvenient! Yes, they do require laundering, but modern cloth diapers are so easy to use, and absolutely no toilet dunking necessary (LOL)! I’ve spent about $500 total to diaper 3 children. Considering the average family spends between $1500-$3000 per child on disposable diapers from birth to potty, I’d say that cloth diapers are the way to go!
What do you think about cloth vs. disposable diapers? I’d love to include your opinions in a study I’m doing right now. You can take my diaper survey here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cjVCME83a3hKZ1Vzb0t0VENSQVRjLUE6MA..
May 26th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Thanks for your comment, Tiana.
I knew this one would get some attention — diapering is a controversial subject anymore!
I know cloth diapers now are wayyyy more convenient than the ones my parents used on me, but I’ve still decided to go disposable. Because of my slightly erratic work schedule, my son gets bounced between me, my husband (a student), my parents and daycare. Disposables are just the easiest thing to do - in our case, though I know not everyone’s.
And we’re definitely not on the track to be spending $1,500-$3,000 on disposables, thank goodness! We’ve never spent more than $40 a month on diapers, though it’s taken a little work to find good deals. At that rate we’ll be spending in the $1,200 range if he’s in diapers till 2 1/2.
Still pretty expensive — and not as cheap as cloth have cost you! But not too bad, either.
So in the end, all I can say is: If you want to go cloth, go for it. It’s great. If disposables are your way, you can do it without breaking the bank.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Great Info.
February 20th, 2010 at 11:46 am
my benefits are being cut back -and im not Abel to afford disposable diapers for much longer - but the cost of cloth are way to much for me -is their a place that give free cloth diapers out to thous that need them -or anything like taht -i would need 5 changes a day for a week and rubber pants or plastic i dont mined the noise -or the bulk of the thick diapers -im a 42 waist -please help me -thank you