Who knew ten years ago I would be writing about diapers! When you are young you fantasize about what your life will be like when you grow up, who you will marry, the beautiful house you will have and the many children you will raise; but, rarely does one think about which diapers they will choose. At least I never did! And here I sit writing about diapers. Not only am I going to tell you about diapers, but I am actually excited to do it. Sad as it might be, I like to educate people on saving money, even if it's about diapers.
So if you are a mom, you might know that diapers are not only a necessity but diapers are costly. The decision of buying diapers comes with consequences. Buy the wrong ones and anything from explosions to hurricanes might occur. When my daughter was first born we bought one of the more expensive brands of diapers--Pampers Sensitive Swaddlers. I had every good intention when buying these diapers. I wanted my newborn to have a comfortable experience when she went to the restroom and I wanted her to have protection against leaks. These diapers were great....until she needed more & the lady at the register told me the total for 70 some diapers---which would only last for a week, if that. At first, we could get buy on the overwhelming supply of diapers kind friends and family had purchased for us. But when that supply ran out and we were left standing at the register forking over lots of money for diapers. I knew there had to be a cheaper way.
We have tried almost every kind of diaper there is. Pampers--in various versions, Huggies, Walmart's brand--Parent's Choice, Luvs and Baker's brand. When it came down to it there were two things I wanted out of a diaper--lost cost & leak protection. I never thought in a million years that I would go to a store and calculate how much each diaper would cost. I would take the price of the box of diapers & divide it by the number of diapers in the box. This is how I compared diaper cost. It really is incredible how much each individual diaper costs! Some are 22 cents a diaper! What becomes even more difficult is putting a fresh 22 cent diaper on your child, and two minutes later you are changing it. Sometimes I would think, "Well, looks like 22 cents is going to have to come out of your college fund." Sad, really, but oh so true. Diapers are pricey. We once tried Sam's Club to see if diapers would be cheaper there. We purchased Huggies Snug and Dry diapers--a huge box of like 202 diapers I believe--for about $37. This equals out to be 18 cents a diaper--possibly more with tax. The downfall of Sam's Club is that they only offer a few brands of diapers. The good thing is that you get a lot of diapers for a decent price. Another handy tip is to look online and sign up for coupons. So, if you take the coupons with you, you might be able to save a few dollars more.
Overall, brand name diapers will always cost more, even with coupons; however, brand names do come in handy for quality. I have put a lot of faith and trust in Pampers Baby Dry. They offer 12 hour leak protection, which I can attest is true, so far anyway. Other brands have leaked during the night, but these diapers stand above the rest. I love these diapers for nighttime, but I do not love the price. My daughter was wearing these diapers all day and all night which ended up costing us an arm and a leg. We were paying about 20-21 cents per diaper. Which might not seem like a lot, but it sure does add up, especially when you are using 6-10 diapers a day. In order to solve this diaper dilemma, I had to find a quality diaper that was easy on the wallet. Target. I found that Target makes inexpensive, quality diapers. Target's brand Up & Up makes diapers that are pretty cheap & also pretty good. I have several friends with children newborn to toddler who trust this brand to cushion their babies to buns. I have used Target's diapers for many months now and have not had any issues.
In the end, I decided to rotate between 2 diapers--Pampers Baby Dry & Target's Up & Up. During the day I use Target's brand. At night, I trust in Pampers Baby Dry. It's a great compromise & it saves money too! Here is a look at how it breaks down---for Target's brand I get 96 diapers for about $13.60ish so that's 14 cents a diaper. For Pampers Baby Dry I get 96 diapers for about $19.99 (sometimes less if I have a coupon) so that's 20 cents a diaper. Since I only use Pampers at night, one box of 96 can last around a month and a few weeks. I highly recommend rotating diapers. You still get the quality and name you trust while saving money at the same time.
Tips:
-Buy on sale & with a coupon if you are choosing name brand diapers
-Try different store brands to find the ones you love
-Trust brand name diapers for overnight protection
-Price it out before you buy--how much are you spending per diaper?
-Watch for rashes caused by cheap diapers
-Trust you gut--you will know when you've found the diaper that works for you
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