I am currently 28 weeks pregnant and moving backwards to the baby stage with a newborn due in Early April 2021… so I have decided to update all my posts in the Baby Budget Tips Series. Diapers are one of the biggest costs when it comes to parenting so I thought I would start with some easy ways to save money on diapers and wipes and some tips to get more diapers for your dollar. No doubt about it, diapers and wipes can be very costly especially in the first year and with parents financial situations being tighter than ever in 2020 it is important to stretch every cent, and find the cheapest way to buy diapers.
You have become a new parent and your financial situation and income have significantly changed due to maternity leave pay and your looking for tips on have to save those extra dollars. The following tips will help your family pamper your wallet and benefit your bank account! Your maternity leave payments have started and you have realized how much further you need to the budget stretch as diapers, wipes, formula, clothes, and baby gear are all very expensive at retail price. Mom experts estimate that each baby will go through about 2500-3000 diapers in their first year. So if you are here to learn how to get diapers for cheap, than you are in the right place as following my tips are guaranteed to save you money. Another way to save money on diapers is to look into cloth diapering, however I just can’t bring myself to do cloth diapering, however Kate had experience with it, check our more about her experience with cloth diapering.
Now my daughter is almost 3 years old (not potty trained yet – it’s a work in progress) and I have learned two important lessons about diapers: not to overpay for diapers, and that building a stockpile of diapers before baby is born is not a great plan in my opinion.
Buying Diapers in Bulk:
Stockpiling before baby comes is a common tip given to new parents however it doesn’t work so great as each baby has a certain brand of Diaper that works best for them. I started with Huggies and had nothing but leaks even though my sister in law loved them, for me Pampers was the answer but I wouldn’t have known this before baby. Diaper sizes for baby are always changing so I feel that pre-buying would be difficult before baby.
I do stockpile now that she is born, but I only buy 2-3 boxes at a time as diaper sales appear about every 4 weeks so its not hard to get cheap diapers. Now the average cost of the diaper can cost anywhere from 25-30 cents a diaper at full retail price, however I have seen even as high as 45 cents a diaper. Let’s do some simple math here and determine the average amount spent on diapers in a year: if you pay the low end of 25 cents a diaper you can expect to spend $625-$700 for a year, however if you pay the high end of 30 cents a diaper you can expect to spend $750 – $900 a year.
I have create a list of 9 tips on how to save money on diapers and find the best diaper deals, save money on disposable diapers and buy cheap diapers online.
Best way to buy Diapers – Diaper Savings Guide
Now an alarming amount of money is spent on diapers which is something we are literally throwing in the trash, so instead of throwing money in the trash I have found how to get diapers for cheap. Sometimes you can even combine tips to get an even better deal. To determine if it is a good deal I follow the Diaper Savings Guide. These are the cheapest diaper prices I have bought at, and the cheapest way to buy Pampers diapers. Now I buy Pampers Swaddlers which are slightly higher end then Pampers Baby Dry so you may even be able to beat these prices.
Size #1 – 14 cents
Size #2 – 15 cents
Size #3 – 16 cents
Size #4 – 18 cents
Size #5 – 22 cents
Size #6 – 27 cents
Now I have only bought up to size 3 so far but I have never paid more than these per diaper prices.
Important Tips when Buying Diapers and Determining if the Sale Price is a Good Deal:
Be sure to use these tips and watch package sizes, as you need to determine the price per diaper to determine if it is a good deal or not.
1. Look at how many diapers are in the box
2. Look at the Original Price, Sale Price, and Cost after Discount and Reward Points
3. Determine price per Diaper:
Total Cost After Discounts/Number of Diapers in the box = Price Per Diaper
4. Determine if it is a good deal!
Best way to save on diapers – Savings in Action: Sales on Diapers
Just on Friday, I bought $120 of Pampers Size 3 Diapers for just $46, thus saving me $74. Now how did I do it you ask?
Here is the Breakdown:
Boxes were on sale for 20.00 at superstore so 84.00 after tax. (Regular price is $120 plus tax)
Minus 16000 ($16)points as I had a Personal Pc offer 200 pay for every dollar = 68.00
Minus coupon $10 coupon for every 2 boxes, used 2 coupons ($20) = 48.00
Minus 2000 points as I get 30 points per dollar with my MasterCard = $46.00
Wouldn’t you like to have an extra $74 Dollars in your pocket at the end of the day? If so then keep reading to learn about sales on diapers, coupons for diapers, cheapest diapers available and much more!!
1. Price Match
Now if you don’t already have FLIPP, then you need to immediately add this App on your phone. FLIPP is an app that allows you to search a product and it will bring up all the advertisements for each store in your area that has the product on sale that week, therefore allowing you to price match. Price matching is the practice where a store agrees to match the advertised price of a rival store that is selling the same product for a lower price. So instead of doing the old school method of searching through the paper flyers, instead you will have every flyer at your fingertips in digital form. FLIPP allows you to price match products such as diapers, guaranteeing you are getting the best price possible that week. You can price match at Royal Canadian Superstore, No Frills, Freshco, and Giant Tiger.
To find the cheapest diapers this week I highly suggest downloading the FLIPP app as you can search and compare multiple stores are the same time and find the best deal. The best deals for diapers can easily be found using the FLIPP app.
2. Money Back Apps
Caddle is an app that you can earn Money with Cash Back Rebates on Groceries, Dining Out, Shopping & More PLUS Earn More Money by Answering Paid Surveys, Watching Ads, Writing Reviews & Engaging with Brands.
Checkout51 is another cash back app that often features Pampers diapers and wipes. When you reach $20 in cashback you can cash out and they will send you a cheque.
For Example:
Ebates is a cashback app that includes many stores and offers different percentages in money back depending on the store.
3. Use Coupons: Can be found at the following sites for baby diapers
One of the ways I have saved the most money is using coupons on all my diaper purchases. Now for me the best place to buy diapers is Royal Canadian Superstore as not only can I use coupons but I can price match and gain PC financial points all in one transaction. There are always coupons available for $1.00 or more off Huggies, and Pampers Diapers on the following sites. Combine those coupons with sale prices and you can save a bundle on diapers and find how to get diapers cheap.
While grocery shopping, keep your eye out for diaper coupons, they can often be found hanging near the diapers or in the hygiene sections with soaps and shampoos.
4. Subscribe and Save – Diapers at Amazon
Now both Amazon and Walmart offer 20% off the costs of diapers if you subscribe to their diaper service. Subscribe and save allows you to set up a regularly scheduled delivery of diapers either weekly, or monthly and in return gives you a 20% savings.
Subscribe and save both saves money and is convenient however it is not always the best price to buy diapers online, as you get charged the current price based on your delivery date. I personally was set to buy the first box online and then determined with a little work with coupons and discounts that I could get a much better deal. Though if you are not willing to put in the effort of price matching and coupons then being an Amazon Mom and using Subscribe and Save and online coupons isn’t a terrible deal, just not the best you can do!
*Pricing subject to change at any time*
Size 1 – 18 cents
Size 2 – 20 cents
Size 3 – 22 cents
Size 4 – 25 cents
Pampers Diapers Online
Huggies Diapers Online
Size 1 – 18 cents
Size 2 – 17 cents
Size 3 – 24 cents
Size 4 – 25 cents
*These are affiliate links to Amazon. It costs you the same money, but if you use are links we get a small affiliate income.
5. Facebook Marketplace
Facebook has created a new area called marketplace which acts as a buy and sell platform allowing parents to post items such as diapers that their child has outgrown and they no longer need. Facebook marketplace allows you to locate yourself on a map and search based on your location, so if the items is for sale in your neighborhood you don’t have to go very far. Sometimes you even find moms giving away diapers for FREE! This is also a great place to buy diapers in bulk in different brands and try out what works best for your baby!
For example, I do a lot of swimming with my daughter which requires swim diapers, now I use the Huggies Size Small Swim Diapers. Walmart sells these for $13.97 regular price for 20 diapers which works out to 0.70 cents a diaper. Now the best price I have seen is Walmart rolled back the price to $10.97 at the end of July and I had a $2.00 off coupon bringing the price down to 0.44 cents a diaper. Now this week on Facebook marketplace I was able to buy 15 Huggies Swim Diapers for $5 making them 0.33 cents each diaper and the lady selling lived less than a km away so definitely was convenient. On those 15 diapers alone I saved over $5.50!
Cheapest place to buy Diapers – FREE from Moms Groups
Also look for Facebook Mom groups as often Moms are giving away diapers for free that no longer fit their child. Only downside is that it is normally small quantities and you need to drive to pick them up so determine if it is worthwhile or not. I was lucky to find a lady who was giving away 5 packages or random diaper companies, mainly American brands that you cannot buy in Canada. In total she gave me over 250 diapers for free in sizes ranging Size 2-4. That alone probably saved me about $40, and I love extra money in my pocket!
6. Be Slow to Switch Sizes
If you wait until the last minute to switch sizes you can often finish the package of diapers you have and not waste any, also the bigger the size diaper – the less per package and the more epxensive the package gets, as the price per diaper greatly increases between sizes. Diapers come with suggested sizes and weights however I find you can easily use the diapers for longer than the package suggests as my daughter was in size 3 for like a 1.5 years, so as long as they are not leaking I continue to use the smaller size.
7. Rewards Programs
PC points is a brand loyalty program that can be used at Shoppers Drugmart, Royal Canadian Superstore, No Frills, Fortinos, and Loblaws. PC points apps offers personalized offers using their app which can be on items such as diapers.
You can also earn points when they have special pc point offers in the flyers for example: Earn 7,000 PC points when you spend $20.00 on wipes. 7,000 points is worth $7.00.
At Shoppers you get 15 points for every dollar spent, but they often have 20x the points events so that $20 box of diapers now earns you 6000 points which equals $6.00. The great thing at Shoppers is you can use coupons to reduce your total but you get points on the original cost.
Pampers Rewards is a loyalty program app that allows you to collect points from diapers by entering the special code into the app. Each package of wipes and diapers have different point values. Points can be redeemed for toys, gift cards and coupons for more pampers.
Huggies Rewards is a loyalty program app that allows you to collect points from diapers by entering the special code into the app. Earn extra Huggies® Rewards Points by taking surveys, sharing on Facebook & Twitter, reading articles and more. Points can be redeemed for toys, gift cards and diapers.
In my opinion in Ontario at least where I live Royal Canadian Superstore is the best place to buy diapers as they both accept price matching and coupons.
8. Have a Diaper Party
This is a new concept in our current generation but basically a Diaper party is often thrown for new dads to help celebrate their new baby. Similar to a baby shower but more manly as it is usually just a reason to have beers with the boys, but guests bring a pack of diapers to help to new parents. This is a great way to start stocking up on something you will really need. I have also heard of having a contest at baby showers in which every guest who brings a pack of diapers is entered into a contest to win a prize such as a gift card.
9. Use samples to start
Huggies No Baby Unhugged: Sign up on their website and receive a free package of newborn diapers
Pampers: Sign up on their website to recieve a small package of newborn diapers and wipes
10. Buy Discount Diapers
Many stores carry store brands such as PC Diapers or Parents Choice which can be cheaper however from the opinions I have heard from others they are not always the best quality, however they do save you money. I haven’t personally used either so I can’t tell you how they are for sure.
