The Best Priced Diapers to Buy

If disposable diaper brand isn't important to you (and why should they be -- they all end up in the trash after use!) but PRICE is, the best priced diapers that I've found that get the job done is...

Comforts by Baby*.  They are carried by any store that sells Kroger products.  
They are far better priced than buying diapers at Costco or Amazon Mom any day.  

They're the ones in the green box with the firefly that is mistaken for a bee.  I think they are good diapers, soft and thick.  Like any diaper, including cloth, as long as you change often and practice good hygiene, your baby won't get rashes.  

The best thing about these diapers is that if you have a Smith's app (or Kroger app), you can download Comforts for Baby coupons to your rewards card keychain.  The coupons range $2-3 dollars and you get one every month.  

Usually they retail at 18.99 for their biggest box. For Size 5 diapers, it is 20 cents a diaper.  With a $2 off coupon, they are $16.99, 18 cents a diaper. 

Sometimes though, when a good Comforts for Baby coupon is circulating, the price of a box goes up to $20.99, which is still pretty good for Size 5 diapers at 22 cents a diaper.  But most of the time, they sell for $18.99.

Compare this with the Costco brand, Kirkland Signature. At $38.99, for a box of 150 Size 5 diapers, 26 cents a piece.  Sometimes Costco has a $6 coupon, making it 22 cents a diaper.  
Guys, that is still more expensive per diaper than buying Kroger diapers WITHOUT a coupon!  

The Southern Savers couponing blog has a terrific and helpful chart reference on best diaper price for a variety of sizes.  I recommend reviewing it before you start price booking on diapers.

Boxes for Comforts for Baby start selling at Size 2.  I only buy small packs if it's $4.99 or less.  Once in a while, I manage to get a pack of Pampers for $4.99 but not often, it's only possible with a $3 coupon combined with a store promotion.  There is another Kroger diaper brand however, called p$$t! that has Size 1 diapers retailing for $4.99.  They are just like Comforts for Baby but thinner.  

Here are the quantities for boxes retailing at $18.99 as of 4/13/2015 with the exception of Size 1.  Comforts for Baby at Size 1 sells for $5.99 a pack.  I bought them only when I had a coupon (making it less than $4.99 a pack)


- Many times, I've managed to pay $16.99 for a box.  
- Boxes last a little over 3 weeks of diaper changes.  

COMFORTS FOR BABY
Size 1   44 ct = 14 cents
Size 2 148 ct = 13 cents
Size 3 128 ct = 15 cents
Size 4 112 ct = 17 cents
Size 5   96 ct = 20 cents

At the beginning of this month I bought a box selling at $18.99 with a $2 coupon.  
On 7/22/2015 we bought another box at $20.99 with a $3 coupon.  
That made it buying a total of 192 diapers at Size 5 for $34.98 at 18 cents a piece.  

From my last two purchases with coupons, I got about a week and a half worth of diapers than if I were to buy the store brand at Costco at retail for $38.99.  Another way to look at it is that instead of paying $4 more at Costco, I got an additional 42 diapers by buying Comforts for Baby.  That's like paying 10 cents a piece for 42 diapers of Size 5!!!!

Which leads to the next thing in mind: are cloth diapers worth the money?  

This will largely depend on whom you talk to, but in this case you are talking to me, a person that is very objective on price, and tells it like it is with how money is made.  The thing I'll point out about with what I see with cloth diapering that most people do not is that cloth diapers have become a huge business where one can easily sell diapers to parents willing to pay $800 to $1500 upfront and never come back again.  Kind of like wedding vendors and used car salesmen, the price for a good elsewhere is usually inflated a lot more when you attach "wedding", "used" or in this case, "cloth"  

I do not know how cloth diaper advocates come up with such high costs for disposables because in a year, we spend under $330 on disposables for one child.  The low cost is driven by the coupons and also the cash back for groceries swiping our credit card.   

If you are apprehensive about cloth diapering and worried about paying for disposable diapers, the good news is that you can still save just as much, or even more money using disposables instead of cloth.  Again, Comforts for Baby are the best priced diapers I've seen to date.  




*disclamer I receive no incentives promoting this product. 

How Salary is Really Determined

Most people come to the wrong conclusion that going back to grad school will increase their earning power.  

I'm not talking about advanced degrees like medicine, dentistry, or law where you have to have the degree to practice that sort of profession, or degrees where you really want to be a university professor, but degrees such as MBAs, MAs, and any other degree that is not really demanded by the market.  

Now I sound like I'm speaking heresy because I do not have an advanced degree myself, but I did seriously consider getting an advanced degree at one point.  When I was close to finishing college, I came to that wrong conclusion myself.  

Before graduating, the program director for the scholarship program I was in said to all of the scholarship recipients: 

"Stick with the last 2 semesters*, 

it will make a difference in your pay."  

*referring to MIS, MS in Finance, and MAcc

However, other things came in the way so I didn't apply straight out of undergrad.  Thank goodness other things did come my way because with more life experiences, I was able to do more objective research of considering whether it would be worth my time and money going back to school.  

I am more convinced than ever that going back to grad school is not an investment, it is a waste of money and lots of money.  Now, in all fairness, people who have graduate degrees earn more...BUT THE DEGREE ITSELF IS NOT THE CAUSE OF IT. 

Everyone must learn before going back to grad school is how salary is determined in the real world, not what you study in economics class, and especially not from college admissions people (what they won't tell you is that they need your money).  You may just discover a more cost-effective way to make yourself more marketable without going back to school!  

Salary Determination Primer
The first thing to keep in mind, is that all employers have a budget of what they can pay someone for a specific job.  This is usually known as a pay range.  Simply put, the employer pays someone what they can afford and at a rate the employee would be happy with.  

If the employee wants more (within reason), and the employer really needs to fill the position, they will review their budget and come back with a counteroffer.  Most big employers hire people known as "talent acquisition" who are expert at handling negotiation with potential hires and will do everything in the book not to budge with their initial offer.  After all, they are paid to get an employee in the door for the least possible amount of money for the employer.  If the offer is too low for the employee's needs, the employer will not take it personal and just keep looking for someone who will be happy to work for that pay range.  

The second thing to consider is what other companies of comparable size and industry are paying others for that type of job.  Companies focused on making a profit will shell out higher wages than non-profit.  Bigger companies also shell out more than smaller companies.  

Employers do a better job than job candidates knowing what a reasonable amount of pay would be for comparable job descriptions in various areas.  For example, they will not pay accountants in Texas, a New York or San Francisco salary.  So if you are working in San Francisco or New York, and hoping your previous base pay will influence your future base pay if you relocate to Texas, you are wrong. Your pay will first be reduced about 20%-30% to adjust for cost of living and then from there, the employer will determine an offer from that adjusted previous base salary and the job they're hiring for.     

Third is special skills.  This is HUGE.  The truth is, if you have the scarce skills demanded by the market, if you have the most complete portfolio of job related experience available, you will get the job with competitive pay, even over a candidate with a top MBA.  So think long and hard about whether you want to go back for two or or even more years of college only to have stiff competition with the non-grad school candidates with the 5-7 years of relevant work experience. If you are new to the job, you will be on the lower end of the range.  If you can already do the job, you are in the middle of the range.  And if you have more relevant job experience, you will be put on the higher end of the range quoted by the employer.  

"Sweet Companies only want Guys with Skills"

Fourth is previous salary history.  Many job applications ask what you made in your last job because this is determined in making a competitive job offer.  Switching to another company for comparable job skills warrant your biggest increases in pay.  That being said, DO NOT LIE ABOUT WHAT YOU MADE AT YOUR LAST JOB.  Employers do call your previous employer to legally find out and confirm your job titles, how many years you worked, and the amount of money you made.    

Fifth is your boss.  The higher up the chain you are, you are able to influence pay and needing to go through less approvals for salary adjustments.  If you do not have sponsorship from your boss or other senior leaders at your company, it is impossible to transfer internally or be considered for promotions, ever.  

In conclusion, the name of the school or ranking or the degree does not influence salary, it is really about what you're doing that is in demand right now by the market but more important, acquiring years of experience on the job to do it.  And once you're in a job, your pay will be judged much more by what you do on the job, how you get along with others, and even how you dress rather than where you went to school and what degree you got.  

I'll conclude with a quote from a talent acquisition director at Humana, a national health insurance company, along with the link to the article. 

"I haven't seen an automatic boost for any degree"

Reason to Lean In: A Man is Not a Financial Plan

My heart goes out to a young widow, two fatherless children and a man who died in his prime.  

For those that don't know who Sheryl Sandberg is, she is 2nd in command to Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook. She is Harvard educated and wrote the best seller "Lean In" 

On top of that, Sheryl is self-made having accumulated a net worth of over a billion dollars.  This is very rare since the majority of women who are billionaires become so through inheritance.

And get this: she made more money than her husband...but that wasn't an issue for him; a life with the woman he loved was far more important to him than how much either one was making.

Sheryl is my working mother hero.  Many women have criticized her decision to continue working while raising a family because she and her husband could have afforded a SAHM arrangement on her husband's income alone. Her husband, Dave Goldberg was the CEO for another Internet company.

The question I've been pondering after hearing the news about his death and want to discuss with my readers is this: Where would she and her children be today had she decided to Lean Back and be a Harvard housewife instead?

A man is not a financial plan.  Your husband can divorce, die, or get disabled without notice.

Sheryl had gone through one divorce (no children in first marriage) and now she is a widow with two children still in elementary school. But because Sheryl has been working full-time outside the home since graduating college, she does not have to worry about big financial issues that many widows/divorcees face such as having her house going into foreclosure, declaring bankruptcy or losing health insurance benefits.  Nor will she have difficulty finding employment that can earn her a living wage due to a 5, 10, 15 year employment gap.  Many women in this predicament do not have savings or money for retirement either.

Sheryl at the moment probably feels like she's lost everything because losing a spouse is a significant loss.  I bet she's trying to figure out how she will keep going through life without her companion.  But I know she will eventually figure out a way to keep going.  She can and will continue to take great care of and provide for her two children.

Mr. Goldberg chose wisely in having a smart, accomplished wife, rather than retreat from or try to dominate her.

If any of you are on the fence about continuing your career with kids, you can think about it this way:

Being a working mother is not something selfish that you do for yourself and to the detriment of your children. 
You are insurance for your family if something were to happen. 

Women Need to Think Serious about Retirement Planning

Women tend to be savvy with couponing, budgeting and hunting down sales.  You see a plethora of tips on Pinterest about these things. However, women tend to pass the buck on long term financial planning such as retirement.

Why is retirement planning a big deal for women?

Well for starters, women live longer.  They outlive their partners well into their 90s. What is 90 minus 65?  25 years.  If you think about it, that is just as long as a second career.
The longer you're alive, the longer you need a source of income to keep up with the expenses that come with old age.

Social Security benefits and Medicare isn't going to cut it for your golden years.  It will not be enough to live off and not enough for your medical expenses.

If you are working and only contributing up to the employer match (3% to 6%), it won't be enough.  You need to contribute at least 10 % of your paycheck to a retirement plan.

If you are at home and dependent on a spouse for your livelihood, he needs to contribute at least 20% of his paycheck to a retirement plan for you and for him.

The majority of women over 65 today worry silently that they will outlive their retirement savings.  For many it will happen.

If you are making a lot of financial sacrifices now to be home with your children, you may be struggling to contribute to retirement on a regular basis.  If this is the case, you should be thinking about going back to work sooner than anticipated to a job that allows you to contribute to a retirement plan.

The longer you delay retirement planning the closer you are to eating dog food at 85.



More informative links here for women and retirement planning.

Wiser Women

Social Security: What Every Woman Should Know