Stockpiling Diapers for a Baby

How to Stockpile Diapers - How I Built a Stockpile of over 2000 diapers for under $50 for our baby - Encouragement that anyone can do it!
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For an updated diaper post (with new totals) as I prepare for another baby, and a step-by-step guide to how you, too, can stockpile diapers, read my new post on How to Stockpile Diapers for lots of details on how to build a stockpile of diapers for your baby. 

It’s official. I’m in my third trimester, and my husband and I are both eagerly awaiting the birth of our baby. This whole pregnancy is passing by quickly so I am trying to take advantage of all the quiet moments as we prepare for our baby. Of course, I have quite a few projects I’d like to accomplish in the next couple months as well. One of the things I’ve been working on is building a stockpile of diapers. I want to share with you my reasoning and how I’ve gone about this task. If you are interested in learning how to stockpile diapers for your baby, read on for how I did it.

First, we had to make the decision of cloth diapers verse disposables. I realize this is a heated discussion but I don’t think it needs to be. If you want to cloth diaper, go for it! If you want to use disposables, that’s fine too.

I have nothing against cloth diapers but here is why we are going to use disposables. We live in a small town where our water bill is very high. By very high, I mean that we pay triple what most people in the city of Fort Wayne pay. It’s unfortunate but it is our reality. For that reason, I don’t need to be adding more loads of laundry to my weekly schedule. Yes, I’ll soon have baby clothes to wash but I don’t want to add diapers if I don’t have to do so.

Second, I researched the topic of stockpiling diapers quite thoroughly before I began this process. Money Saving Mom has some great articles in her Having a Baby Without Breaking the Bank. I also read through all the comments and opinions on Crystal’s Q&A regarding Diaper Stockpiling. Then, I compared the costs on the Diaper Decisions website, as they have a very handy chart estimating the cost of various cloth diapers as well as disposables. I appreciated that this chart took into account the energy costs as well as out-of-pocket costs for the diapers.

Finally, it was time to begin stockpiling diapers. I did it slowly without a set time frame and bought diapers when the deals were good. I have been stockpiling diapers for over two years now, ever since we started trying to get pregnant.

How did I do it? I watched for good diaper deals at CVS, Walgreens, Meijer and Kroger. I used money from my monthly grocery budget as well as ECBs (at CVS) and Amazon gift cards (earned via Swagbucks and Bing). Some weeks I bought diapers, and some weeks I didn’t. I was patient and watched for the best deals. My goal was always to stay under $0.10 a diaper.

I didn’t stay brand specific when purchasing diapers. I know that some babies could react to different brands of diapers so I have a wide variety of diapers in my stockpile – Luvs, Pampers, Huggies, Up & Up, Comforts, as well as the CVS and Walgreens brands of diapers. While I do not anticipate problems, if there are problems, I will exchange or donate the diapers in that particular brand.

I clipped coupons and tried to combine deals as best I could. For example, Meijer has recently been running great Mperks deals where you can earn $5 or $7 when you spend a certain amount in a certain area. I would use the “free” money and a coupon to pick up another bag of Luvs for for free. CVS regularly runs diapers deals to get $10 in ECBs when you spend $30. By combining coupons and ECBs, I added to my stockpile quite easily. I also found some great deals on Amazon, which I was able to pay for with my Swagbucks and Bing earnings. Again, no money out of pocket for those diapers!

When all was said and done, I have accumulated quite the diaper stockpile. Are you ready for a picture and specifics? Here you go!

My stockpile of diapers so far! Joyfully Thriving

I currently have over 2080 diapers in the baby’s closet, of various brands and sizes. The breakdown is as follows. I currently have 22 Newborn diapers (anticipating I’ll get some at showers), 862 Size 1 diapers, 704 Size 2 diapers, and 472 Size 3 diapers. For all of these diapers, I have spent $46.60 – which breaks down to $0.02 a diaper. The list price for all these diapers is $434.62 which means I have saved 91% on diapers so far.

I’ve had the time to stockpile diapers and I am quite thankful that I have done so. I would rather be over-prepared than under-prepared. If the baby outgrows a particular size (or brand) or diapers, I’ll pass them onto a friend who can use them or donate them to a Hope Center (our local Crisis Pregnancy Center). This is one I have done already to save us a lot of money for the baby. 

This is one thing I have done to get ready for the baby. Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll do my best to answer! Did you stockpile diapers when you were awaiting the birth of your baby?

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14 Comments

  1. I’m pinning this post! 🙂 We are waitlisted to adopt our first child and there isn’t much to do but wait, pray and stockpile! I have been trying to get diapers and wipes on sales and deals.

    Thanks for this post. I have been wanting to figure out how to do a bit better. I coupon, we are frugal and just trying to plan ahead. This is all new to us!

    Found your pin in the EBA Pinterest. Blessings to you!

    1. Oh, prayers for you, dear Kelly! Now, you can pray for your baby with every pack of diapers you buy! 🙂 When we were struggling to get pregnant, stockpiling diapers gave me something to do – as I hoped and prayed for our baby. It takes a bit of work but it can be done. Good luck, Kelly!

  2. My husband and I are currently TTC our second, I saved almost everything from our son to use with our second including diapers he outgrew lol. I’ve been wanting to get a start at stockpiling diapers since we’ve decided to TTC but I was worried that was a little crazy since I’m not actually pregnant yet. It was nice to hear that you did this too and I’m not crazy to want to start saving lol.

    1. You are not crazy at all, Chelsie! I did exactly the same. I firmly believe that the sooner you start stockpiling diapers, the bigger your savings can and will be. So, go ahead! Watch for those good diaper deals, and I hope you have a baby soon who will need them! 🙂

  3. Hello! How much time ahead can I buy clothes and diapers? Even if I’m not planning yet, could I still search for cheap clothes and diapers? Is there any danger about keeping them in my drawer several years?

    1. No – no danger! I started buying diapers almost 4 years ahead of time. When I found a really great deal on diapers, I bought them! If you have the space, time and funds, go ahead and buy those diapers. That is how you will save the most money! Diapers don’t have an expiration date and keep just fine. As for wipes, they will last several years as well, but I wouldn’t recommend buying those more than 2 years out. The same holds true for clothes. I didn’t buy many clothes ahead of time before I didn’t know if we’d have a boy or girl – or what season the baby would be born in. That said, I did buy a couple of things if I found a really great deal. I still love the “Very Hungry Caterpillar” onesie that I bought for $0.50 and my son wore it well! I hope that helps!

  4. You are amazing, my friend. I have never heard of someone get diapers as inexpensively as you have. Wow. I am so excited for you guys! xoxo

    1. Thank you, Allie! As the weeks draw us closer to meeting our baby, it’s nice to know we’re prepared in at least one way! Love to you and your family, too!

  5. I lived in a condo where the water bill was very low when we had our children. I like doing things as cheaply as I can, so I did use cloth diapers, washcloths and breastfed both babies. I even made homemade baby food! I went out of my way to make sure that having one baby would not kill our finances ! I had the first grandbaby on my side of the family so there were tons of baby showers…I am happy for you. A baby is such a blessing! Congrats!

    1. Ah, I well remember the days of living in an apartment with a low water bill. My water bill was one-tenth there of what it is now! I’m resolved to do the same as you, Cyndi, making sure that this baby will not break our finances. I’m planning on breastfeeding and making homemade baby food, too!

  6. I stockpiled some diapers before my son was born and there were a couple packages he outgrew before we could use them. I just boxes them up and put them away with the outgrown baby clothes for use with a future sibling, should The Lord provide one. I don’t think they’ll go bad and I know I have a few saved for the future should I need them again.

  7. I would encourage you to get a pack or two of the thin baby washclothes and make your own wipes even if you don’t cloth diaper, and just use the cloth wipes for home. I was just reading a study that they are now recommending this because many babies are becoming sensitive to the disposable wipes and this is a problem because for their whole lives sensitive to the same ingredients as in wipes are also in shampoo etc. I used an empty wipe box and made the solution out of aloe vera/water/tea tree oil about once a week after I washed the wipes.
    I didn’t stockpile diapers like you, but I did always have extra diapers on hand because we lived in a rural area and couldn’t just run to the store. I did stockpile wipes because I was able to get those cheap or free with coupons. You have to be careful with that though because they will dry out if you keep them too long. And I saved ever single wipe box and we still use them all over the house to store small sets of Legos or crayons etc.
    You should keep records-how much of each size you end up really using. I know each baby and family is different, but that would be really interesting and helpful to others that want to stockpile. I have no idea how many diapers we used, but we did have 3 in diapers at least at night time at once. I would probably be horrified how many diapers we used and how much money we spent.

    1. That’s a good idea to keep track of the diapers we used, because I can see how helpful that would be – both for me and for others who would like to stockpile. I have quite a few wipes on hand (again, for free or cheap) but would not be opposed to making my own wipes in the future.

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