Before Baby's arrival, I did price booking on diapers. Meaning, I wrote the price down to get an idea what diapers cost in general before cracking the coupon craziness.
I went around several stores:
Walmart
RiteAid
Walgreens
Target
Costco
Smith's
Family Dollar
Babies R Us
buybuyBaby
Quick information on what I collected for size 1 diapers
The cheapest of cheap: Kroger Value diapers at an everyday price of $5.49 at Smith's.
Most expensive place to buy diapers: Babies R Us. Even their store brand is expensive. But if you want to use your gift cards for diapers, go for it!
Pampers and Huggies small packs cost the same until Sept 2013. Pampers used a dirty old trick in the book called "desheeting" Meaning instead of 40 diapers, there are now 35 diapers in a pack of Swaddlers. It is due to the company expanding their Swaddler line to bigger sizes.The toilet paper, Kleenex, and notebook paper industries do this too; reducing the size or removing a couple of sheets here and there to cut their expenses on their bottom line.
What about Costco? If you are indifferent to brands, there are PLENTY of generic brands that are cheaper like the Target Up & Up, and Family Dollar Kidgets. Even with the Costco $6 off coupon there are other brands that beat the Costco price.
If you are looking for a name brand, the Huggies Snug N Dry is cheaper than at other places but you have to determine if the cost of membership, the insane amount of time you spend finding parking at Costco and waiting in line to pay is worth the savings buying diapers there. I prefer going to Costco for baby wipes but not so much for diapers. Which brings me to the next point:
What if you don't like Huggies, or just want the Huggies Snugglers or don't have access to a Costco membership?
Great news, you can get Pampers or Huggies as cheap or even cheaper than at Costco with proper planning and concentration. This isn't for everyone, but I do this and I love it.
First thing: the diaper coupon itself doesn't do much. To get name brand diapers at 11 cents or less per diaper (for size 1), you have to stack the manufacturer coupon, store coupon, percentage off, and store bucks back. You also have to buy small packs. Per diaper, they cost less than the ones in the big box.
Where to get the the most savings for name brand diapers: Rite Aid or Target. I review their ads on Sundays (always available online). Rite Aid will run a promo that usually involves store bucks to use on your next purchase so if their promo is on diapers then I run my numbers, see if it's a good deal and grab them. I sometimes make two trips in the week because I want to use my store bucks to apply it to my diaper purchases. With Target, you use the manufacturer coupon, the store's coupon, and if you're lucky, then Target's Cartwheel promo. And if you have a RedCard, get 5% off.
There are NO LINES at Rite Aid but their shopping carts are itty-bitty!
Additional advantage of small packs: as long as the packs aren't opened and you have the receipt, you can exchange it for a different size. If you open the huge mega box of diapers and see that your baby has gotten too big to wear them, you can't return the opened box to exchange for a different size. That being said, whatever size box diapers you purchase, TAPE your receipts to the box ASAP. It is so helpful if you do find yourself needing to exchange them.
So yeah, this is pretty much what I've gotten from price booking. Hope this helps anyone that's curious.
I went around several stores:
Walmart
RiteAid
Walgreens
Target
Costco
Smith's
Family Dollar
Babies R Us
buybuyBaby
Quick information on what I collected for size 1 diapers
The cheapest of cheap: Kroger Value diapers at an everyday price of $5.49 at Smith's.
 |
| The ones in the yellow pack. |
Most expensive place to buy diapers: Babies R Us. Even their store brand is expensive. But if you want to use your gift cards for diapers, go for it!
Pampers and Huggies small packs cost the same until Sept 2013. Pampers used a dirty old trick in the book called "desheeting" Meaning instead of 40 diapers, there are now 35 diapers in a pack of Swaddlers. It is due to the company expanding their Swaddler line to bigger sizes.The toilet paper, Kleenex, and notebook paper industries do this too; reducing the size or removing a couple of sheets here and there to cut their expenses on their bottom line.
 |
| Back when there were 40 in a pack. This is at Rite Aid. This sale wasn't the best that week for Swaddlers. |
What about Costco? If you are indifferent to brands, there are PLENTY of generic brands that are cheaper like the Target Up & Up, and Family Dollar Kidgets. Even with the Costco $6 off coupon there are other brands that beat the Costco price.
If you are looking for a name brand, the Huggies Snug N Dry is cheaper than at other places but you have to determine if the cost of membership, the insane amount of time you spend finding parking at Costco and waiting in line to pay is worth the savings buying diapers there. I prefer going to Costco for baby wipes but not so much for diapers. Which brings me to the next point:
What if you don't like Huggies, or just want the Huggies Snugglers or don't have access to a Costco membership?
Great news, you can get Pampers or Huggies as cheap or even cheaper than at Costco with proper planning and concentration. This isn't for everyone, but I do this and I love it.
First thing: the diaper coupon itself doesn't do much. To get name brand diapers at 11 cents or less per diaper (for size 1), you have to stack the manufacturer coupon, store coupon, percentage off, and store bucks back. You also have to buy small packs. Per diaper, they cost less than the ones in the big box.
Where to get the the most savings for name brand diapers: Rite Aid or Target. I review their ads on Sundays (always available online). Rite Aid will run a promo that usually involves store bucks to use on your next purchase so if their promo is on diapers then I run my numbers, see if it's a good deal and grab them. I sometimes make two trips in the week because I want to use my store bucks to apply it to my diaper purchases. With Target, you use the manufacturer coupon, the store's coupon, and if you're lucky, then Target's Cartwheel promo. And if you have a RedCard, get 5% off.
There are NO LINES at Rite Aid but their shopping carts are itty-bitty!
Additional advantage of small packs: as long as the packs aren't opened and you have the receipt, you can exchange it for a different size. If you open the huge mega box of diapers and see that your baby has gotten too big to wear them, you can't return the opened box to exchange for a different size. That being said, whatever size box diapers you purchase, TAPE your receipts to the box ASAP. It is so helpful if you do find yourself needing to exchange them.
So yeah, this is pretty much what I've gotten from price booking. Hope this helps anyone that's curious.
