As I was searching How Do You Do It?’s archive of posts on diapers, I realized we had more posts about cloth diapering than we did on disposable diapers.  This is a problem since I know most people use disposable diapers.  So, how do you afford twins when you are constantly throwing money away in the trash?

*Disclosure: Some of ldskatelyn’s affiliate and referral links are used in this post.*Here are some ways of cutting disposable diaper costs:

Know Your Cost Per Diaper

The best advice I have for cutting disposable diaper costs is finding out how much the diapers cost per diaper.  That way you can do some quick calculations to see if a sale is a great deal or not, or if coupons or other discounts will make it one.  So, no matter what brand you buy (as the price points are higher for brands like Pampers than for Luvs), know what is a good price per diaper for a particular size.

Buy in Bulk!

There may be certain sales and occasions where buying jumbo packs of diapers may mean getting a great cost per diaper deal, but it is rare.  When buying diapers, buy the big boxes!  The bigger the better.

Buy Generic

While buying generic will not work for all babies due to leakage and possible rashes, it works for many as a great way to save money on diapers!  Just about every major store, including warehouse, dollar stores and drug stores, have generic brand diapers –

• Parent’s Choice from Wal-mart
• Up and Up from Target
• Comforts for Baby from Kroger
• DG from Dollar General
• Kidgets from Family Dollar
• Babies R Us from BabiesRUs
• Diapers from Diapers.com
• CVS from CVS
• Walgreens Well Beginnings from Walgreens
• Simply Right from Sam’s Club
• Kirkland from Costco
• Berkley and Jensen from BJ’s Wholesale Club

Hit up the Sales!

Now that I only have one child in diapers (my newborn), I am simply waiting for the great sales to come along to snatch up diapers.  Target will often times have a deal where if you buy two boxes of diapers, you will get a $5, $10, or $15 Target Gift Card back, depending on which brand you buy.  When that sale occurs, we snatch up a few boxes, use some coupons on top of the sale, and save a lot.  So, wherever you like to shop, wait for their baby/diaper sales, and stock up.  It will save you some big bucks!

Use Coupons

If you aren’t buying generic, then chances are good that there are coupons out there for your brand of choice.  Check out coupons.com for diaper coupons, and P&G coupons.  Newspapers will have them, as well as many other sites.  You can even ask friends or relatives to save diaper coupons they come across for you.

Buy online

There is a growing number of websites out there that will sell diapers to you from the comfort of your home, often delivering at the same time each month.  This means no midnight runs to the store for more diapers, saving you that gas money in the process and perhaps your sanity.

• Amazon Mom – You can get a FREE 3-month trial of Amazon Mom.  Amazon Mom with subscribe and save (scheduled deliveries), will save you 20% on diapers, give you free 2-day shipping, and save you 20% on other family essentials (like toilet paper).  However, after the 3 month trail, you will need to sign up for Amazon Prime ($79/yr) to continue receiving these big discounts, but you will receive other perks with Prime.  If not, you can continue to receive a discount on diapering supplies, but only with subscribe and save (I believe).  Another great benefit of Amazon?  You can clip ecoupons to be applied to your purchases of diapers and save even more.
• Diapers.com.  Diapers.com offers some great benefits for first time users, and also offer ecoupons on their diapers.  Also, if you use my refer-a-friend code: LDSK6709 you can save 20% on your purchases at diaper.com and its partner sites (soap.com among others). Plus, if you were to Join Upromise, a third party site, and shop through their links, you could earn 5% cash back on your purchases, saving even more on disposable diapers!  Diapers.com also makes regular scheduled deliveries.

Potty Train Earlier

If you really want to save money on diapers, just potty train your kids sooner!  Of course this is easier said than done (seriously!), but the sooner your child no longer requires disposable diapers, the sooner you don’t have that expense anymore.

Skip the Training Pants

While not everyone may agree with this, skipping out on buying Huggies Pull-Ups, Pampers Easy Ups, or other generic brand training pants, will save you money.  These items are much more expensive per diaper than a diaper are, and in my opinion, can make potty training harder and longer (thus costing you more).  So, do yourself a favor, and save the money on training pants, and spend it on some underwear.

Craigslist

I know craigslist is the king of used items, but know I’m not advocating getting used diapers, but snatching up people’s half-used packages of disposable diapers!  Sometimes people buy too many of one size of diapers and their child outgrows it before they can finish off a package, or their child gets potty trained, or a brand of diapers doesn’t work well on their kid. Whatever the reason, it means, that sometimes, people will either give diapers away (for free!) or ask a small fee for these diapers.  I have never done this, but it can be a great way to score some free or very cheap diapers! Another place to look? Freecycle.org.

What tricks and tips do you have for cutting disposable diaper costs?

ldskatelyn is the mastermind behind this week’s theme week of saving money, trying to help others learn how to afford twins.  She loves saving money and making ends meet and is so excited that she is sharing some of her knowledge with others this week!  She blogs about her family and parenting over at What’s up Fagans?