With a newborn that goes through roughly ten diapers per day, I'm now constantly on the lookout for diaper deals. Before our baby was born, I did some research on diaper saving, and as you might guess, cloth diapers were usually the cheapest option. For this very reason, Janssen is considering using cloth diapers. I, however, cannot bring myself to do that, so I'm looking for the next cheapest option with disposable diapers.
In my mom's post about Sam's Club and Costo, she went through the vast number of items that are cheaper to buy at these wholesale stores. And what do you know, diapers are no different.
I did a little comparison of Huggies Snug & Dry diapers between a wholesale store, a drugstore, an online store, and a grocery store -- check out the difference in cost:
Sam's Club: 264 diapers/box @ $37.98 ($0.14/diaper)
Walgreens: 50 diapers/box @ $12.49 ($0.25/diaper)
Diapers.com: 192 diapers/box @ $31.99 ($5 off for new customers) ($0.16/diaper, not including shipping)
Target Superstore: 156 diapers/box @ $36.99 ($0.24/diaper)
As you can see, the wholesale stores are the way to go. Not only do you get a bigger box with more diapers so you make less trips to the store, but you also get the very cheapest diapers. This also doesn't include coupons. If you sign up on facebook or huggies.com, you'll receive coupons in your email and the mail, which will save you even more money!
So before you pick up your diapers at the grocery store just because it's convenient, do a little research and see how much you can save by buying in bulk at the wholesale stores.
Anyone else know of great diaper deals??
19 comments:
Often even cheaper than the Huggies are the Costco generics (Kirkland Signature). I've tried other generic diapers and I think they're horrible (I know some swear by them, but they're not for me). But Kirkland Signatures are different. To me they are EXACTLY like Huggies. Just cheaper.
Also worth noting is that Costco will not accept most coupons. They have they're own coupons (with some screamin' deals - be sure to check their mailings!) but you can't redeem regular Huggies coupons at Costco.
We definitely buy our diapers wholesale, but Sam's Club doesn't accept any coupons either.
The cheapest I've found is at Costco too. And the Huggies brand is actually cheaper than the Kirkland brand! And that's before the coupons (believe me I've checked diapers out everywhere). Costco generally runs a coupon for $9 off if you buy the Huggies diapers and wipes. The wipes will last you at least through two boxes of diapers, so I just buy them with a coupon every other time. Oh, and usually if you just ask a worker for the coupon they have extras in the store so if you don't have one and want one just ask! I've had them given to me in the checkout line many times. Great deal! (I could never do cloth diapers either...some things are just worth the extra pennies!)
I find that generic diapers work fine once they start solid foods and things are a little more...solid. If you try generic and hate them (and the extra laundry) don't be afraid to try again later.
I had a friend who did cloth diapers and her house always smelled like poop. Plus, it's a TON of work. Yuuuuuck. Anyway, I've been doing Pampers at wal-mart and pull a coupon or two off of the internet each time. I can usually get them for 11 or 12 cents a diaper that way. Also, there's an end in sight Merrick! The older they get, the fewer diapers they use! It doesn't change the price much but at least it's less work!
When you do newborn and size one diapers you really do have to use brand name. The generics just don't hold up real well. But after that, store brands work just fine. My local grocery store has fairly cheap generic diapers plus you can usually find a $3 off coupon on their website. It ends up being like $.09 per diaper. Just be open to using different kinds and you can usually find good deals!
If money really is tight, switch to wal-mart or target's store brand.
I've been using Parent's Choice for a long time now, and they are SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than Huggies at Costco. The size 4's that I buy are around 14 cents a diaper.
They will not hold 8 hours worth of urine in an older kid, but anybody who leaves their child in one diaper for that long is asking for trouble regardless.
For overnights for my potty-trained child, I do use Huggies, I found the Parent's Choice leaked.
So give it a try! It costs me half as much to diaper my kids using Parent's Choice--and I could give up my Costco membership since everything else I buy there I can have friends pick up for me instead.
I can tell you how to get some great deals with cloth diapers. ;)
I read http://www.babycheapskate.com/ where she posts diaper and formula deals every week and says if it is a "stockupportonity". Starting in January I would grab these stockupportunity deals if I had the right coupons to make it a good deal. So before the baby was born we had about 20 packages of diapers in sizes newborn-3. I didn't get too many of each size, not knowing how long she'll be in each. She also has a spreadsheet of what the ideal price per diaper is for the leading brands/sizes but she's just rearranged the site so I can't find it. When I see it again I'll send it to ya.
I see emily kate already posted about babycheapskate, but one thing it took me awhile to get was this: if you have a lot of coupons, you get a better price per diaper if you buy in smaller quantities. The idea is that if you time your purchases to coincide with sales and available coupons, you can get more money off per diaper buying jumbos than buying the huge packs.
Once the coupons stopped coming so frequently (it seemed like the first 6 months of our baby's life we had more coupons than we could spend), I started buying in bulk. For some people, it's never worth the hassle. Just a head's up, though, that if you do save coupons, that might be the way to go.
We used cloth diapers for a little over a year but then for some reason they started leaking - no matter what we did! (I think it had something to do with my son being 80% height & 10% weight) So, we've switched over to disposables - I like the Target generic brand they are most comparable to Pampers. But much less expensive and Target usually has coupons :)
ksl + craigslist! i know it sounds crazy, but people are always listing opened boxes/packages (and even un-opened) that their child has outgrown or that didn't work for them: http://twitpic.com/14rj5u
i purchased all but the wipes from that picture on craigslist + ksl and only spent between .08 to .11 cents a diaper! also, at target you can stack manufacturer + target coupons together + when they offer target giftcards with purchase it makes it a better deal.
the baby's closet no longer looks like that, because we've actually decided to go the cloth route as well: http://twitpic.com/1n0iko (bottom-middle picture) so i sold my stash but kept a few packages just in case.
Before superstores were built close to where we live, I found that I could order diapers by the case at a significant discount from our local grocery store. I had to remember to plan sbout a week ahead, but if one didn't live close to Costco or Walmart, one would have to plan ahead anyway. It might be worth asking.
Craigslist. I got tons - tons - of diapers that just happen to fit both of my girls right now, for 4.5cents per diaper. Woot! And I'm a fan of generic diapers. I've never had a problem.
what Gretchen said- Costco and Sams don't take manufacter coupons for diapers- they do take checks (like Enfamil checks you get in the mail) but not actual coupons.Costco does have coupons they mail quarterly and in them are save $9 when you buy huggies diapers and wipes-and that's the way to go. Enfamil checks and the Coscto coupons saved us a ton of money that first year! I have learned to coupon at other stores for diapers- I got diapers (comined with offers ect) when hailyn was first born- I got 120 diapers for $6! I'm going to check out craigslist! that's agood idea!
I'm a little behind in blog reading. When I read your 14 cents per diaper I was wondering why when I buy them wholesale they are 19 or 20 cents a diaper. Oh yeah. You are on size 1, and I am on size 5. Too bad potty training is still an unknown future!
P.S. At Costco (I go there. My husband shops at Sams), I watch people automatically get the Kirkland brand of diapers because they ASSUME them to be cheaper than Huggies. But they aren't when you look at the price per diaper (at least for the size I buy). Sometimes I stop people and tell them, because Huggies are SO Much better. But sometimes, I just think, read the sign you fool!
An idea I have yet to read here, though it sounds like it may not be the most favorable is the subscribe and save program on amazon. You subscribe to whatever brand you want and they send them to you however frequently you want and you save 15% off the already wholesale-amazon price. Also I am a prime member so I get free shipping. I am also in the larger sizes, so it's impossible to get them for 14 cents per diaper in that method. However I use lots of places, not just this method to get diapers.
Try Amazon.com. Seriously!! You can get 30% off their standard discounts, plus free shipping if you sign up for Amazon Mom and "subscribe and save." Both programs are free, don't require you to do anything, and can be canceled anytime.
For the Huggies Snug & Dry size 1-2, you can get a box of 192 for $20.94 ($0.11/diaper). And it gets delivered to your door for free within two days of ordering!
So I've got to agree with anonymous here, Amazon is the way to go. If you sign up for Amazon Mom they give you 3 months of free prime membership, and will extend that 1 month for every $25 purchase of Mom items. Prime is a fabulous thing to have right now with random Christmas toy sales, it's nice to not have to find $25 worth of sales to get free shipping. They then sell you the diapers for the same price as walmart/target/etc., but they give you a 30% discount for buying it under their subscribe and save program. It's completely easy to cancel things off of that program as well. Then if you can pick up a cheap Parents magazine subscription they keep putting these 20% off of diapers promo code for amazon in there. I've been getting size 3 premium diapers for 11 or 12 cents per diaper, and they are delivered to your house, with free 2 day shipping. Not to sound like an ad, but I've been completely impressed.
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