There’s no denying that babies are expensive. Do you cringe at the checkout line every time you have to buy another box of diapers?
I get it. With three kids, I’ve been there (and am still there with one). It’s hard to stomach when a good chunk of your grocery/household budget might literally end up in the trash.
And with many people having kids three or less years apart, you might even end up with more than one in diapers at a time. I spent a long nine months of two in diapers and needing to buy two big boxes (or more) of diapers each month.
I started looking into ways to save money on diapers and learned about creating a diaper stockpile. Stockpiling diapers to save money sounded like a great idea, but I ended up wasting money instead.
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How to stockpile diapers
You can save money by creating a diaper stockpile. When you find diapers on sale, you grab a few packages at the lower price. When combined with coupons (especially if you watch drugstore sales), you can snag diapers at a significant discount. When you are expecting and on a tight budget, stockpiling diapers to save money sounds like a great idea.
How many diapers will you use the first year?
A newborn baby will go through 10-12 diapers and day. This drops to 8-10 diapers a day by the time your child reaches their first birthday.
This article tracked the diaper usage of two children over the course of a year. One parent used 1,700 diapers and the other used almost 2,500 diapers during that year.
If your children are close in age, you may even have two in diapers at the same time. I had nine long months with two kids in diapers. And even when the older one was trained during the day, she still needed to use diapers at night.
Why You Shouldn’t Stockpile Diapers To Save Money
1. What if your child had sensitive skin or allergies?
Imagine you stockpiled several packages of one brand of diapers only to find that the particular brand gives your baby a rash. How would you feel about all that money wasted on a product you couldn’t use?
My second child was constantly getting diaper rashes. I switched diaper creams. I tried different wipes. I sampled several diaper brands.
It took several tries to find products that did not irritate her skin. It was bad enough to have half packages of products I couldn’t use, but I was glad I didn’t have a stockpile of diapers to go to waste.
If you want to stockpile diapers, wait until after baby arrives. Once you know what products work for your child, then you can stock up on the larger sizes for later.
2. Your baby may need a different style or fit.
Your baby’s size and needed fit can change as they grow. You may need to find a different brand to fit their changing body. One brand might fit well when your baby has all those cute chubby rolls. Once babies become more active (particularly after they start walking), they tend to slim up. The brand that fit your chubby baby might not fit your slimmed down toddler.
3. Every child grows at different rates.
Even if you stumble across a chart that gives you an estimate of how may diapers you’ll need for each size, your child may not follow those estimates.
- Newborn diapers: Many babies use these for at least a few weeks. But my youngest weighed nearly nine pounds at birth and never fit in newborn diapers. Even in the hospital.
- Large size diapers: Depending on your child’s size and when they potty train, you may not need the whole range of sizes. I have yet to use a size 6 diaper with three kids. And my oldest was very petite and potty trained early-she stopped at a size 4 diaper.
- Your child may vary how long they are in different sizes. All three of my kids have different body types and have grown at vastly different rates. This can make stockpiling diapers difficult, as your baby might only wear one size for a short time and other sizes for months. By nine months, my chubby little guy was wearing size 5 diapers. The same size as his 3 year old sister.
4 Ways To Save Money On Diapers
1. Potty train early
Okay, we can’t start potty training as soon as they are born. But if your child starts showing signs of readiness at 18 months or 2 years, why not start potty training? Neither of mine were ready that soon, but you can always hope yours are!
2. Same money with a value or store brand diapers
Instead of going with a name brand, try a budget-friendly brand like
Why pay more if you don’t have to? You’ll have more money to spend on other things…like the clothes they outgrow every few months!
3. Stock up to save money on diapers
When you find a sale or coupon, take advantage of the lower price and buy extra. Just be careful with sizes-you don’t want to end up with a bunch of diapers that won’t get used if your child ends up growing faster (or slower) than expected. And wait until you find a brand and style you know will work for your child.
4. Stay in the smaller size
If possible, stay in the smallest size diapers you can for as long as you can. As the diaper size increases, the number of diapers in the package decreases. Yet the price for the package is usually the same, so you are paying more per diaper.
Saving Money On Diapers
Taking advantage of sales and coupons to stockpile diapers is a great way to save money. Before stockpiling diapers consider potential skin allergies, body types, and varying growth rates. You don’t want to end up wasting money on diapers that you won’t be able to use.
Raising kids is expensive enough, don’t let the cost of diapers make it worse!