How do you save on baby stuff (especially diapers!)?

[thriftymom]

Does anyone have info on how to save on all that baby stuff? I have received a lot of hand-me-downs. Also, got a lot at my shower. I have tried making my own baby food, but lately my daughter (9 months) doesn't like any of it. However, I guess my biggest obsession is saving money on diapers. I signed up at 1800diapers.com and received a coupon code from them (ERHA4160). However, their prices aren't any lower than Walmart, so you only save if lots of people sign up under your code. The way it works is the person who uses the code saves $2 and I get $1 credit toward a future order. Has anyone found success at BJ's, etc? Any input is appreciated!

[Snoopy2645]

I buy from amazon thier is no shipping on purchases over $25 I believe it is & thiers no taxes & lots of times they offers buy so much in huggies or pampers & get a gc I got a $40 gc last time for buying $89 in pampers plus got the pampers codes I do think they have a huggies promo going now & thier prices are a little lower than the stores anyways on top of all of this

I have mainly only bought diapers from them this time around with my youngest

[midlight21]

Amazon has another Pampers and Luvs promo going on. I just got an e-mail on it today. Check out Amazon for it.

[Tree0164]

You could switch to cloth diapering. I never did that but it much cheaper. I buy the diapers at Wal-mart-their brand and haven't had a problem.

for any one that is pregnant and people ask what you need, ask for diapers. Ask for size 2 or 3 since the babies often grow of out size 1 fairly fast.

[sweeps]

The Amazon deals are pretty good. Also keep an eye out for $5 off Babies R Us coupons in the mail. When BRU puts its diapers on sale, you use the coupon for double savings.

[thriftymom]

Thanks so much. My daughter wears Pampers because we've had a lot of trouble with leaking. I haven't thought to check Amazon because they're so expensive with a lot of other things, (like toys). I'll have to check out the Pampers promotion!

[PrincessPerky]

I use cloth now, well at least half the time, not when out. So one time purchase and some ongoing washing, really saves on the diaper bills. (what diapers we do buy are at BJS, with coupons if possible)

I think you might want to go back to making your babies food, now would be the time to get her used to your cooking, less you plan on microwave dinners for the rest of her life. 9 month olds might seem picky but try a 2 year old! they only get worse!

I make most of my babies, but I use the cereal flakes to thicken when I do it wrong and it is too runny.

I am lazy though, so I like to nuke frozen fruit and then puree, though for 9 months depending on how long shes been eating you could just fork mash. really by 9 months I fork mashed all my food and shared it with my kids. If I couldn't fork mash it, they didn't get it yet. Sometimes I would leave some things in longer to get a bit softer (like noodles, or vegetables) but potatoes were fine fork mashed, rice I prefered to give as leftovers at first, sitting in some broth, made it mushier.

[thriftymom]

Thanks for the info- I've heard good and bad about the cloth diapers. I've heard that sometimes washing at home doesn't disinfect them well enough and the child gets a rash. I've also heard that the amount of money spent on hot water, soap, etc. comes out to about the same as the disposables. But, apparently it does work for some moms. As far as the food goes, it seems that since I've been trying to make her food thicker, by fork mashing instead of food processor, she doesn't like it at all. Also, the Step 2 green beans were like that and it actually makes her puke (poor thing). I did homemade carrots the other day with the same result
I'll try to give her runnier food for now. I figured that I'd keep trying to introduce finger foods. She did OK with soft carrots cut up small, but she doesn't eat much at all. I think she'll end up skipping the fork-mashed stage and go straight from runny to finger foods. We'll see. I've always had a thing about not liking foods that were chunks in liquid. Maybe she has the same problem.

[thriftymom]

I've got another question.... do you know if it is possible to use Manufacturer's coupons on Amazon.com? Thanks a bunch!

[pyotr]

We were diehard Pampers premium fans for both our babies. But near the end for our last baby we tried Aldi's generic diapers and their "premium" line is nearly the equal of the Pampers premiums/pampers cruisers at a fraction of the cost. If you have an Aldi's nearby I'd try that.

[34saving]

As far as diapers . . .try everything and if they don't work take them back and/or complain. I think the best diapers I've used are actually CVS brand. (Though I'll admit I was a Huggies only person at nine months, so I do think kids change.) In the meantime I've probably received $100 or so worth of free ones from various companies after I've complained about leaks.

As far as food . . .you're going to think I'm nuts, but almost everything is better with a little plain (not sweetened) yogurt mixed in. (If your doctor is okay with that, but most are okay with yogurt well before milk . . .)

[thriftymom]

34- Thanks for the yogurt tip. She eats the YoBaby fruit flavored yogurt. She didn't like the plain by itself. But, maybe she'll like it mixed with her veggies! That's something I haven't tried.
Pyotr- Too bad we don't have Aldi's here :-( Thanks for the tip, though!

[Ima saver]

We had a hostess that worked at our favorite restaurant. When i found out she was pregnant, I bought a pack of diapers every week at the store with our groceries. By the time she had the shower,I had a truck load of diapers for her. I made sure to buy the larger sizes, not the new born.

[thriftymom]

WOW, that was really nice of you... I bet she appreciated that!

[cercis]

Thriftymom - go to http://www.borntolove.com/frugal-index.html and you can read up on cloth diapers. More babies get rashes from disposables - my mom said that everytime she tried pampers with me I got bleeding rashes.

As for disinfecting - the best disinfectant for a cloth diaper is the sun. Solar rays kill bacteria. If you use a diaper liner the stiff diaper won't bother the baby at all.

There are a lot of misconceptions about cloth diapering. They're not our mother's diapers anymore.

For food - are you also nursing? If you are, don't sweat the solid food yet. Let her eat what she wants when she wants. Solid foods aren't actually necessary until at least 12 months. Up to that point, it's just practice and developing tastes. That actually holds true for formula as well, but solid foods are generally less expensive than formula.

[PrincessPerky]

If fork mashing bothers her, try a hand blender, makes it just as soft as the baby foods, but since she likes the table food I would encourage more of that, ditto on the breastfeeding it still has all she needs and I personally am getting puky thinking of solid food sitting in watery stuff, sounds like puke, ewwwww, drain off the water maybe?

On diapers, nope not your mommas! I definatly save money, and I have no rashes on my kid, but all butts are different, and you really need to change the cloth ones, but you should change the disposables, we just get lazy cause they are soooo absorbant!

[thriftymom]

Cercis- Thanks so much for the info on the cloth diapers & the encouragement on the solid food. I am still nursing her, so I know she's getting all of her nutrition from the milk. I'm just hoping that she'll be more willing and able to eat solids by the time she's 1 year. At this point she was much more willing at 6 months when we started. I'm just hoping that when she has more teeth, she'll be more eager and able to eat fingerfoods. She still only has 2 teeth and she's 9 & 1/2 months!

PrincessPerky- Thanks for the additional encouragement on the cloth diapers and solid food. I will probably continue to use the food processor more, (since I don't have a hand blender) and make the food more watery. It seems that she's just not ready for the second stage yet. Two days ago, I discovered that she loves bread. I think it's her favorite thing so far! I broke little pieces off for her and she gobbled them up!

[dealsaver]

Four kids, all breastfed for 18 months each. Never bought babyfood. Always used healthy table food mashed or minced. Disposable diapers aren't that expensive if you find a quality generic brand. Potty train them between 18 months and 3 years and you won't have to worry about diapers for long. Healthy kids need not be too expensive and can often save you money by forcing you to give up other things in your life.

[Firefly]

Originally Posted by Ima saver

We had a hostess that worked at our favorite restaurant. When i found out she was pregnant, I bought a pack of diapers every week at the store with our groceries. By the time she had the shower,I had a truck load of diapers for her. I made sure to buy the larger sizes, not the new born.

That was very sweet of you.

[kichu]

I look for diaper sale at stores. I actually got 2 value packs (116 size 4 diapers) for 29.99 at Babies R Us last week. (Registered 21.99 each, saved $14). I like those diapers, they are cheaper than the one from BJS, where I used to buy before. (I think almost 5 centscheaper on each).