My son Luke will be 6 months soon and it gives me a great sense of mommi pride to know that we haven’t had to run to the store for baby items. Diapers, wipes, baby wash, you name it…I’m pretty sure his closet is a mini baby aisle thanks to me creating a massive baby stockpile in less than two months. Couponing isn’t always as easy as it sounds, so I wanted to create a beginners guide to creating diaper (baby) stockpile:

How many diapers should I buy?

There is no magic formula for this but babies use about 8-10 diapers per day; so let’s just use 8 as a good starting point. Based off of my daughter here is a good guestimate of what her first-year usage was.

Newborn: one box

Size 1: 1-3 months (720 diapers)

Size 2: 3-6 months (720 diapers)

Size 3: 6-12 months (1440 diapers)

**I will be coming back to update these numbers with my son’s actual usage.**

What sizes should I get?

This will take a bit of guesswork especially if you’re a first-time mom. I personally wouldn’t recommend more than one box of newborns but that’s because I have “big babies”. If babies in your family tend to have a birth rate around 5-6 lbs., then you may need more than one box. For both Zoe and Luke who were 9 and 8.5 lbs. respectively, we used one box of newborns and then went straight into size 1. Thankfully the weight recommendations for the sizes overlap.

What stores have the best deals?

Almost anywhere really! I love Target and Kroger, mostly because of their gift card and Catalina (the paper coupons that print after you pay) offers. However, deals can also be found at stores like CVS, Publix, Walgreens, RiteAide, etc. It mostly depends on the stores are in your area and how many reward programs you’re willing to keep up with. I find that more than two reward programs can be a bit of a chore.

However, one of the keys to stockpiling is shopping from more than one store because lots of store limit items purchased and coupons accepted per day. I check my local store ads every Sunday to match up the best deals with the coupons I have. There is a small learning curve for putting together deals on your own in the beginning but coupon sites like Krazy Coupon Lady share diaper deal recaps weekly for almost all stores. As a basline, any deal that will keep you at $0.15 per diaper or less is a good one. Of course, some deals are better than others and any deal that will land you at $0.10 per diaper (or less) is worth running for! By run I mean, go to the store immediately for the other mamas clear the shelves.

How do I calculate per diaper??

Take a size 1 jumbo pack of Pampers Swaddlers, it has 32 diapers and retails at $8.99. At $0.15 per diaper, you wouldn’t want to pay more than $4.80 for that pack of diapers (32 x 0.15) Simple math, right? LOL!

How do I get them for less than retail price?

Use Coupons! I frequently print diapers from apps like coupons.com or GroceryIQ. They are almost guaranteed to have a $2/1 Huggies or Pampers coupon available every week or so. You can print up to two of each coupon per electronic device and it refreshes monthly. I also clip coupons from the Sunday paper. Don’t wait until you see a deal to try and print or clip; do it in advance so you have them readily available. Most diaper coupons come out a week or two before your local stores run the deal, so start getting those Sunday papers ASAP.

Also, remember those gift card deals I mentioned from Target? Save them! Example: you buy 2 boxes of Huggies and you get a $10 gift card to use on your next purchase. Don’t use that $10 gift card on something random. Stash it with your diaper coupons (I use a receipt envelope) to be used on your next diaper run. That is what the coupon world calls rolling a gift card.

How do I choose a brand?

The diaper brand you choose is all personal preference. I love Pampers Swaddlers for the early months and Huggies Snug and Dry once they become mobile. Honest diapers are great too but they tend to be on the more expensive side and deals aren’t as frequent as the previous two. I know some mamas that love generic brands like CVS and Targets Up & Up as well.

What if my baby has sensitive skin or I buy too many of one size? Exchange them. While most stores have a set return window you’ll find that some are willing to make exceptions. For example, Target has a 1-year return window on any items purchased from a baby registry. With that in mind, I created a registry just for my baby stockpile and I made sure to scan my registry barcode at checkout.

Not that I plan on returning any and everything but you can never be certain how your baby will respond to certain diapers. My Zoe girl had an awful reaction to Pampers Baby Dry but did great in Swaddlers; so I totally avoided Baby Dry with Luke. Another option for overstock or outgrown sizes is to resell them on Facebook Marketplace or OfferUp.

That pretty much sums up my beginners’ guide to diaper stockpiling. Have you considered stockpiling or even learning to coupon? What’s holding you back?

If you would like me to continue this series with couponing for food or stockpiling household products, let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading and as always my opinions are my own.

XOXO

MommiTina