I was at Wal-Mart today and I came across shelves of diapers on clearance! They were the “Value Pack” of Parent’s Choice. They’re the BIG box – for $18! The size 4’s had 120 diapers in it. That comes out to 15c/diaper. (If you buy sizes smaller than fours you will get them for less per diaper – sizes bigger than 4s will be more per diaper.)
And I had some money on a gift card so I was able to get them without it having to come out of my $250 grocery budget this month!!
Here’s how I decide what a good deal on diapers is.
1) Determine how much the cheapest brand of diaper you will use costs and how many diapers are in the largest pack (for the size you need).
For example, I will buy generic diapers. Some people only stick to the major brands. If you use generic, then you will most likely find that Wal-Mart’s generic is the cheapest. If you only used name brands, then Luvs will be the cheapest. Pampers are the most expensive. Huggies are somewhere in the middle. Decide which brands (if any) you will NEVER use and exclude them. If you’re open to all brands (which will get you the most savings) then great!
So a box of size 4 Wal-Mart diapers has 82 diapers in it for $13.67.
2) Calculate how much that is per diaper.
$13.67 divided by 82 = 16.5c per diaper
So 16.5c/diaper is my bottom line price
What does that mean?
It means that I know I can always get diapers for 16.5c/each so I use that to determine a good deal. Does it mean I won’t buy diapers unless they are 16.5c or less? Not necessarily. If I can get Huggies or Luvs for under 18c I will because even though I use generic, I do like Huggies or Luvs better. But I will not pay full price for either Huggies or Luvs because full price is going to be 20c/diaper or more. It helps having that bottom line price to work from instead of having to remember how much each pack costs and if that packs has more diapers than another pack, etc.
If you do buy Wal-Mart’s generic diapers I would recommend getting the box because their packs cost 19c/diaper (i.e. size 4s have 31 diapers and cost 5.88 = 19c/each). So you come out 2.5c/diaper better just getting a whole box.
So a box of generic diapers for 15c each is a great deal! I don’t know if this is at all Wal-Marts nor do I know how long this will last. So if you interested you need to start checking your stores!
I will be making a more extensive post later on how to save on diapers…
Was that at our Wal-Mart in LA?