The Diaper Diaries
For those of you scared to read any further fearing this is a descriptive post about a diaper blowout, breath easy (literally)! Perhaps another time….(kidding, mom!!!!)
I just wanted to post about our car payment diaper budget. When we first started telling people we were expecting quadruplets, diapers almost always became the next topic of conversation. At the beginning we estimated diapers alone (@ 40 per day) would cost $20.00 a day!!! That’s $600 a month, basically a mortgage payment!!!!! Yikes!
So now that our diaper surplus is “drying” up I’m out to find the the biggest “load” for my money! I’ll be carefully reading Baby Cheapskate’s Top Diaper Deals of the Week and staying on the look out for the best diaper coupons….If only we could find a coupon for Pampers like the one we found for Gerber baby food!
I like 1-800diapers.com I swear by higgies or pampers. My son cannot wear anything but those 2 brands anyways. So we spend a lot in diapers.
Have you heard about the Target Huggie wipes coupon? Use this coupon http://www.huggieshappybaby.com/offers/target/BannerCoupon.aspx and you can get each container of Huggies wipes for .89 each. If you have the manufacturer coupons from the paper for .75 cents that will bring your total to 14 cents! The coupon expires this Thursday. I thought you might want to know if you haven’t heard about it yet.
I am a Pampers fan myself too!! But LUVS are basically the same (they are made by the same company) for cheaper. I hope if you have had lots of pampers you have been saving your gifts to grow points! We just got a Kettler Tricycle today ($120 value) with our 400 pampers points!
I only bought Pampers Cruisers. I know they were pricey but my skinny mini girls needed something that would stretch around them snug, nothing else would work. Size 4! Wow those boys are growing big. My twins never made it out of size four, at three they were still in sz 4 and potty training. They could still fit them now. I told you they were tiny. Way to grow boys!
I am a Pampers girl too! When my son was a baby we tried every kind out there. He didn’t even make it through a nap on the store brands! So Pampers it is! We’ll use Pampers on this one too (due in May). 🙂 Size 4’s–wow!!! They are getting so big!!!!
Personally I can not stand the smell of Pampers and Luvs… Whatever the attempt is, powder, maybe? It makes me gag. I dig Huggies. 🙂
I don’t know if this helps, but Luvs is made by the same brand as Pampers. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are as good as the Cruisers but I went with Luvs for price and they worked really well.
Do you have any friends or family that work for a hospital? We get ours (Pampers Swaddlers and Baby Dry) through my M-I-L who works for a hospital…one case (28 in a pack*4 packs in a case) runs about $18! You really can’t beat that. ~Keli
i’m not sure if this will help but there’s a ministry down here near us in Evansville, IN that provides diapers for those of us multiples in the tri-state area! you may have to make a trip down here to get the diapers but we haven’t bought a single diaper for our 5 month old quads and they said they will keep us in diapers until the kiddos are finished with them! It’s been an AMAZING blessing!! email me for all the contact info!
Jenny.burkett@insightbb.com
i hope this will work for you!!
Jenny
We are in size 4s right now. The best cost per diaper at regular price is at Target for the box of 92 Pampers Baby Dry. I loved Swaddlers but now am finding that I like the Baby Dry with the stretchy sides better than any other kind of older baby diapers. The big box is $18.50 at Target. We just bought 12 boxes and the deal was for every 2 you buy you get a $5 giftcard so that helps even more. The jumbo packs though you can sometimes get at Target 2/$15 and those always have $1.50 coupons inside the packages. Also, I sell my pampers codes on ebay and make a decent amt there too. Luvs are no good in my opinion, they don’t hold nearly what Pampers does. I used one pack of huggies and even with them being free I didn’t like them. We use Cruisers at night so that they don’t have to be changed. Sorry that got kinda long. I have lots of diaper opinions! lol
I like Pampers and Luv’s. We’re still in size 3 here. I just got a $1.50 off coupon for Luv’s at Target. I’ll forward it to you.
Huggies are the only way to go….
I agree with you about the Swaddlers early on. I have found that diapers depend on the child. My oldest could only wear Pampers, my middle could only wear Huggies, while the baby is another Pampers girl. Fortunately, I have found that BJ’s brand diapers are just as good for both daughter #2 and now on daughter #3! They are soooooo cheap (and I tried absolutely every store brand and hated them all).
If time on laundry were not an issue (I know that it is) I would sugget using cloth diapers for the cost. We used them for the first 18 months until we were out of the country for 4 months. Now we are trying to go back. When we use disposable we use Pampers. They may cost more but they work for us and we don’t buy many when we use cloth.
Swaddlers and Cruisers ALL THE WAY!!!
Have you checked the diaper brand sites- some offer special pricing on diapers for multiples.
I buy Walmart Whiteclouds or Luvs.
With our twins, I will take whatever the best deal is with sales and coupons (Thanks BabyCheapskate!!) I don’t mind Huggies or Luvs, but do prefer Pampers, too. I will save all my coupons and wait for a sale and then stock up. We keep a good stash downstairs – I don’t ever want to have a day/night when we realize we HAVE to run to the store to get more diapers…Good luck!
Thanks for the mention, Jen!
I’m so glad you didn’t have to pay for all those diapers.
I hope all these Huggies and Pampers lovers will try some store brands–HUGE savings, even if the baby only wears them during the day.
New Luvs coupon on my site, btw.
I have tried nearly all the of them and pampers and Huggies seemed about the same but I hate Luvs no stretch. My kiddos can’t wear many of the store brands because they break them out. However we switched to Costco brand Kirklands about a year ago and absolutly love it. Per diaper price is lower also and when you are using so many every half a cent counts!
OK, we must come from the same peapod, Jen!! I totally agree with you. Swaddlers for the first few months, then it is ok to move on to Luv’s. I have been doing it that way for the last 3 boys.
P.S. My hubby and I are looking forward to our win against the Colts this Sunday! GO CHARGERS!
http://www.diapers.com
Use this code for $5 off your first order!
CHSA9309
We LOVE them!!!
(You can also mail in manufac. coupons.!)
Do you have a Costco or Sam’s Club there? I’m all about Pampers myself, but we’re members of Costco and they carry Huggies. I just bought a pack of 224 diapers for $38…making them 17 cents per diaper. I think you can use coupons there too. What a glad day that will be when your boys are POTTY TRAINED!
Kate
Pampers when they are tiny, if money is no issue later and Luvs for value. Huggies just did not work w/baby girl #1 so I won’t event try them for the new baby.
I’m a Huggies girl all the way!! But, when my two were babies they didn’t have the Pamper Swaddlers, so those may have won me over on Pamper’s brand. I HATED Luvs and any store brands that I ever tried! When my son got a little older (probably starting about 10 months or so) the Huggies Nighttime diapers were a life saver!! They are AWESOME for the heavy wetting at night and for when you are going on a long trip and can’t change as often.
It has been 10+ years since I have used diapers, but Pampers was always my first choice, Luvs was second. Huggies broke my daughter’s skin out where the elastic part of the tape was so we couldn’t use them.
KS Dallas
I was a Pampers fan for my boy and now my twin girls use Huggies. Mostly because of cost–I can find more to a box and cheaper (with coupons). If you email huggies they will send you out coupons. I have received in the past 2 months at least 5 coupons for free huggies. Or $10-5 off. VERY NICE!!!
I like buying diapers at Sam’s club. I have heard that 1800diapers and Amazon and even ebay is good!
Good luck and I wish you guys that best! I only have to buy for twins and that’s enough!! 🙂
I too am a Pampers girl and just learned this little tid-bit. If you buy the Papmers Baby Dry, they have the stretchy side tabs just like the swaddlers, only there are more in the package for the same price!! We love them and they work exactly like the swaddlers!
I loved Swaddlers in the beginning, but then found that they caused yeast infections on DD’s bum. Now I’m a Baby Dry girl (well not me, my daughter (:)
I’m sure that laundry IS an issue for you, but if you’re willing to add a few more loads a week, try cloth! We bought three dozen prefolds for $65 and wash every other day (our little man is 3 months old, so you would not go through that many diapers per day, per kid). For us (with one kid only), the extra laundry isn’t an issue at all, and it saves SO much money. Also, apparently cloth diapered kids potty train on average a year earlier than kids in disposables. I’m sure many people will chime in to disagree with that based on experience, but that’s just what I’ve read…
Feel free to email me if you’ve got questions about cloth. Maybe consider doing cloth during the day only, or at home only, etc. just to cut the diaper cost a little!
YOU MEAN YOU DON”T USE CLOTH??????? Hahahaha!
Pampers all the way 🙂
Amanda in Ohio,mom to 7
I always used only pampers with my first couple of kids, after using other brands only to have them leak. Then someone told me about Luvs (when I had a couple in diapers at once)-so I tried them. I use them all the time now…I have 2 in diapers at the present-hoping to get one potty trained soon. I can’t stand leaky diapers…they are usually pretty good-or at least for my kids. 🙂
I wish I had advice on coupons…sorry.
We use Target brand diapers, and they work just fine for my son, who is in about the 40% percentile for his height and weight (so a little on the small side). In the very early days we had some problems with poop coming out of any diaper, no matter which brand, but I think that was because I was breast feeding and the poop was so runny.
What we did was use Target diapers during the day, and then a “premium” brand at night just to guard against leaks. It worked fine for us and saved us quite a bit if you consider store diapers are usually at least $.05-$.09 cheaper PER diaper. With 4, that would add up even quicker! Meghan
Who knew babies’ booties came in such a variety of sizes and shapes?! For our narrow-hipped/legged twins, Pampers nor Huggies ever fit right (leaked like CRAZY!)…which was a blessing as they were invariably more expensive, even with coupons.
We loved the Wal-Mart White Clouds with Luvs a close second.
But I’ll still happily socialize with diaper enthusiasts of all varieties!
we were pretty much a Pampers family as well. like most others, especially when itty bitties. both of mine were huge babies and my experience is that the smaller sizes of huggies ran small. sam’s club, we did that too. and eventually switched to huggies (biggersize) for $$. also did some store brands and had leak issues.
I just had a girlfriend send me information about Mr. Rebates:
http://www.mrrebates.com/. She uses it for online shopping and says she has already scored $50 in rebates. I cannot speak from experience, for I have never used it. However, it might be worth checking out.
We tried every diaper under the sun and soon settled on Walmart’s White Cloud ones for both of our kids.
For some reason, our kids had rashes with Pampers and leaked everywhere with Luvs. For us, White Cloud has been the best fit (pun intended!) for our family both practically and financially.
I know that everyone is commenting on the same few diapers so I will be the outsider here. I buy from Sams club their store brand (members mark). I have used pampers and huggies and luvs and truth be told would buy pampers if cost were not an issue. We have had no blow outs with Sams diapers (but my child is 18mo) she has been using them from about 12mo.
ALSO not sure if you go back and read older post comments but I left you a new comment on tips for photos.
Blessings,
Melissa
Looking back, we’ve had wars with diapers. Our first child (girl) was Pampers, hands down, no arguments. Our second child (boy), Huggies. Not sure why. All with the handy Costco wipes! I love how Huggies stretches. Never tried Luvs. Everyone swears by their diaper choices. Makes me LAUGH!!!! Good luck with the diaper hunt and before you know it, you’ll be wanting advice on cleaning car seats because one of the boys had an accident and peed all over it. Ha ha ha! Oh how they change!
I used the CVS brand diapers on Jackson almost from the beginning. We had some Huggies & Luvs that we got as shower gifts and he leaked through them constantly. Try the CVS ones and watch the ad, a lot of times they are Buy 1 Get 1 Free, or Buy 1 Get 1 1/2 off.
I am all about Pampers Cruisers for our son. He wears the Wal-Mart brand at daycare, but when we are home, we are definitely a Pampers family.
I vote for cloth diapers – Fuzzi Bunz with 2 microniserts is great for our super soakers!
But honestly I’ve got twins only… I doubt if it would work out with quads?!
Love the pampers!! I signed up on thier site and always receive coupons in the mail. I am a mom to 4 yr old twins, a 3 yr old and a 16 month old. So right now I only have 1 in diapers, but there was a time when I had 3 under 19 months in diapers so I feel your pain. 🙂 Love the blogs keep them coming!
-Tanya
Oh no…we couldn’t do Luvs! My little man gets his clothes wet EVERY TIME I put them on him! I don’t know if you’ve tried a Sam’s or Costco where you can buy in bulk, but that’s how I do it! HUGE boxes for about $35.00.
I used a diaper service because it cost far less than buying disposable diapers at only $76/month vs. $125/month on Pampers. I truly didn’t care what brand however my daughter was alergic to everything but Pampers. With the diaper service they bring you a lined diaper recepticle and fresh clean cloth diapers, you take the diaper off and just drop it in the can. If it’s solid you roll it into the toilet (no rinsing required). When they come to pick it up they provide you with another stack of diapers. I had one and you have four, but it really didn’t take any longer to change a diaper and I never had to run out to pick up diapers because I was getting low! I didn’t have to take the garbage out or decide where to store the boxes of diapers, I didn’t have to wash, dry or fold the cloth diapers, and I almost NEVER used diaper rash cream! It was truly so much easier. They did all the work and we enjoyed all the benefits. My friends complained about the constant (weekly) diaper rash their kids had, my daughter had diaper rash maybe four/five times in 3 years!
It was so much easier and saved me ALOT of money in the long run. It’s really worth looking into even if you only use them during the daytime at home…
A friend of mine now uses cloth at home during the day from a diaper service and the others for outings and overnight. This works great for her…
I only use the White Cloud brand from Wal-Mart. I used them with all three of my kids, currently have two still in them. I just can’t justify spending a bundle on something you throw away. Good luck on your search for the deals.
I have found some really good deals for diapers on Craigslist… A couple of weeks ago I picked up a box of 200 or so diapers for $5… Yes I said $5! The family had just potty trained their child and just wanted the diapers gone. It was an open box but I have also picked up unopened boxes from families who liked to “stock up” and then had their kids outgrow that size.
Great Place to scan every few days for diapers when you don’t want to pay full price.
I cannot even imagine the cost… wow. what a blessing tho that you’ve had free diapers like that… as far as brands. im not particular. if i use disposables I use whatever…
but I am a cloth diapering mom.. but if I had 4 I doubt i could stand it.. thats a lot of laundry! haha. But we do save a ton of money using about 6-8 cloth diapers a day. after 2 days we wash them and just keep using the same ones. works great.
I use bumgenius brand. we’re going to be reviewing a bunch soon though on my review site 🙂
Oh, it’s Pampers all the way for me too!!
If you don’t already know about it, be sure to check out http://www.moneysavingmom.com
She always has the best deals on everything listed out for you week by week, including baby things. It’s been a huge value to us!!
Jen,
I completely agree with you about the Pampers and Luvs. We felt the same way with our first one. I especially agree it is worth it for blowout prevention.
Now we use Kirkland diapers from Costco. They are $35 for about 180 size 4’s. Then at night we use Pampers or Huggies Overnight (which are tough to find, but hold 12 hours worth of stuff very well!)
I can’t believe how big your boys are. Little Lauren is still in size 3’s and just past 20 lbs. Now we can turn her carseat around, yeah!
Hope you are doing great. Are you going to Metropolis with the MOMs?
God bless,
Amanda S
Jen, I agree with you about the Pampers Swaddlers…they were absolutely the best. But I didn’t like Pampers for the bigger sizes. They seemed to dissentigrate when wet (guess I don’t change them often enough). Huggies Supreme are my favorite. BUT, now that Luvs size 3 and up have the stretchy sides, we will use them, for C & G. Plus, Grayson can wear a 3 in Luvs, but needs a 4 in Huggies. So, being able to stay a size down certainly saves money.
Sorry, I don’t have any money saving tips, besides watching babycheapskate for bargains and coupons.
Oh, but 1 store brand I tried (someone gave me some samples) was Dri Bottoms and I actually liked them..but for the life of me, I don’t know where they came from. If you ever see them, it would be worth trying a pack. But I agree, store brands usually cost more in the long run.
Lately with coupon stacking CVS has been by far the best deals out there. The 5 off 15 coupon from “full cup” combined with mfg coupons and sales prices. Also, the cvs supremes are great for day time use and are on sale often.
Love the size 4 Costco brand Kirkland Signature diapers for my twins. They kind of remind me of Huggies but a little better. Quite dislike the Sams and Wal-mart generic. It is an important issue if you ask us moms:)
If you have a diaper service in your area they are the best bang for the buck. I used cloth for the first year and am now using cloth for the boy and Huggies for the girl. I preferred cloth because I am cheap but her butt prefers paper.
I used Huggies with my youngest when he wore paper diapers b/c he was allergic to everything else. At 5 months old, I finally bought cloth diapers and used them the rest of the time. It was the best deal to me – and trust me, rinsing off the cloth is no different than throwing a paper diaper into a garbage bag (which BTW you’re supposed to drop the solids from a disposable diaper into the toilet before throwing away too…read the small print on the package of diapers. I didn’t believe it either until I saw it.)
At this point though, it’s not much longer til they might be out of them. Best wishes no matter what!
Hello,
Pampers will send a one time gift for multiples. A couple of years ago it was a large diaper pack and a large wipe pack for each baby (they send coupons.)
Here is a link: http://www.pampers.com/en_US/products.do?page=pdt_tips&tipsType;=multiples
HELLO!
I just sent you an email about the CVS sale that EXPIRES 2/3 but that you need to use on 2/2 for the Huggies deal.
These coupons put the diapers on par with the Target babyfood sale (which I loved by the way!!)