One of the greatest nuisances of raising a baby is diapers. This post helps you calculate how many diapers you need and strategies for saving money.
The average age of successful potty training is 30 months. Assuming you change your child’s diaper every 2 hours. That’s 12 diapers every day for quite a long time.
number of diapers = 12 (diapers) × 30 (days) × 30 (months) = 10800 diapers
When you go to the store and see boxes of diapers, the only number that matters is the diaper quality and unit diaper cost*. Usually the best value is at Costco. When they have the diaper discounts, unit cost can be as low 15 cents per diaper (for the quality Huggies.)
However, there are some common traps for people trying to save money on diapers.
- Changing your baby less This can lead to diaper rash and cause your baby to cry more.
- Stocking up too much too early Your baby’s butt will grow — some faster than others. If you stock too much too soon, you will have too many smaller sizes. Always stock up when Costco discounts but ration towards bigger sizes. Keep the receipt and reassess after 90 days. Return the unopened ones when your baby’s butt grow.
- Don’t buy online! You’ll forget Amazon has diaper delivery service that can deliver monthly. This is horrible because you forget you have the service and always end up with more diapers than you need or the wrong size. If you buy Costco diapers online, they charge you 5 dollars if you end up returning it because your baby’s butt grew.
*Unit diaper cost means the cost of each individual diaper. So everytime you use a diaper, it costs 15 cents if the unit cost is $0.15.
mathymom 