Keep Diaper Costs from Breaking the Bank
by Ellie Kay
Diapers are a major expense in every new family’s budget. Saving coupons and scouting sales works well, but here are a few advanced tips:
Manufacturer’s Web site–If you sign into these sites to receive their promotional offers, you can also get coupons. A few of the most popular Web sites for diaper manufacturers are Huggies.com, Pampers.com and Luvs.com. To choose from a variety of baby coupons, go to MomsView.com or FreeBabyCoupons.com.
Toll Free Numbers–Call the diaper manufacturer, tell them how much you like their product and ask them for coupon promotions. For instance, 800.PAMPERS or 800.NO LEAKS (Luvs).
Internet Diaper Sites–There are some sites that will ship diapers at a discount. It’s important to add postage and handling to the final cost and to check out the site with the Better Business Bureau found at BBB.org. For example, at DiaperDandy.com we discovered 192 medium diapers for $33 plus $6.92 shipping.
eBay–We found 180 medium diapers for $29.99 with free postage and handling and 140 newborn diapers for $14.50 plus $5 P&H. Be sure the diapers are in their original package and are unopened. Also, be sure to factor in shipping (if any) and choose a seller who has high feedback ratings with a reasonable number of total reviews.
BABY SHOWER BOUNTIES
In the military, I often received baby showers from our unit, my Mother of Preschoolers group and from my church. Whether you have one shower or three, if you organize your information, you can minimize big bucks on future purchases of everything from clothing to car seats. Most hostesses will ask for a “wish list” and that is where you can strategize to savings.
Clothing
First, take inventory of what you have and what you really need. Be sure to ask for the smaller items such as toiletries and accessories, and ask each group for different size clothing starting with ages 3 to 6 months. Your baby might not even fit in the tiny 0-3 month clothes (Our youngest started out in 6-9 month clothing), and you’ll probably get a lot of these in the mail from people who weren’t invited to a shower. Pick up a few of these tiny clothes from garage sales so you’ll have a supply on hand. Ask one group for 6-12 month clothes and another for 12 month or older clothes.
Returns
After the baby gets here, people ask you how they can help. If you didn’t have a chance to return and exchange baby clothes, or if your baby is a different gender than you expected, ask a friend to run this errand for you. She can get you a gift certificate, and you can save it to purchase exactly the size and style clothing your child needs.