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Don't Be Afraid to Save MoneySep 21 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Baby Care
The Bottom Line Try different brands to find what you like, but don't be afraid to save money on store brands.
When it comes to diapers, I have yet to find a reason to pay extra for a brand name. I have a 2 year old daughter who has worn her share of disposable diapers, and is now wearing disposable training pants. I have tried big name brands, small name brands, store brands, and discount outlet store diapers. I have found them all to be pretty much the same. Of the three disappointing exceptions, two are big name brands. I just can't make myself believe I should pay more for diapers when I can get cheaper ones that are just as good or better. The vast majority of disposable diapers have these basic features: absorbent gel in the lining, a double row of elastic gathers at the legs, elastic at the waist, clothlike cover, and refastenable tabs (adhesive or velcro). There are some variations, however, the biggest difference is usually in the pictures on the diaper. Discount Diaper Outlet For the first 6-9 months or so of my daughter's life I bought diapers in bulk from a diaper outlet. I am sure each diaper outlet has a different product, but I was satisfied with what I found at mine. Based on the pictures decorating the diapers I found that the diapers were those used by many stores as their store brand, including Target, Albertsons, and Wal-Mart. The diapers had all the basic features (including some with velcro tabs) and worked just fine. You could pick your own diapers out of bins, or buy them already bagged for about $1 more. The prices were for a bag of 100 diapers and were about $12-$15 depending on the size. Compare this to about $18-$22 for 70-100 count brand name diapers. I recently went back and bought training pants. I paid $13.50 for a bag of 50 (they were on sale, normally the bag costs $15), almost half the price of Huggies Pull-Ups. When buying from a diaper outlet you do want to look carefully at the diapers you pick out. Occasionally I'd find a diaper that had fallen on the floor and had dirt marks. One time I found a batch of diapers where the plastic waistband that the tabs stick to had been placed about 2 inches too low (the diapers were useable, but you couldn't refasten the tabs), I just made sure I didn't pick any of those. One time I bought about 5 diapers where the gel leaked out onto my daughter's skin (the gel is non-toxic), there was no way to know this by just looking at the diaper but it only happened that one time. I later found out that the store had a money back guarantee for defective diapers. Most of the time the only thing I could find for the diapers to be rejected by the manufacturer was that the pattern on the waistband would be off center. Thousands of diapers every day are rejected because Kermit's left arm is missing. The only other drawback to buying the diapers in bulk was that they aren't as neat and ironed flat as when you first take them out of a new package so they take up more space. Store Brands For the most part I have been perfectly satisfied with the store brands. I eventually stopped going to the diaper outlet and started buying Wal-Mart's DriBottoms brand. They cost a dollar or two more than the ones from the outlet store, but Wal-Mart is considerably closer to my house and we usually end up there once a week anyway. I have only had one bad experience with store brands. Albertsons carries two store brands, a cheap one and a dirt cheap one. I knew the cheap diapers were the same ones I was getting from the diaper outlet but I decided to try a small package of the dirt cheap ones. I guess I got what I paid for... They had a plastic cover (I don't like the way the plastic covers feel when I hold my baby, so I imagine she doesn't like feeling it between her legs), the tabs weren't refastenable, and the lining clumped together as soon as it got wet. Since then I have avoided the dirt cheap store brands and look closely to make sure the diapers I buy have the basic features that I like. Name Brands I received brand name diapers as gifts when I was pregnant, and when I run out of my brand I'll sometimes try out a brand name just to see if I'm missing anything. Since I have never had any reason to be really dissatisfied with the store brands I haven't tried out all of the different styles of name brand diapers. I'm not sure if I have ever tried any of the Supreme, Ultra, or Deluxe versions. I found Pampers to be good diapers, but I didn't notice anything extra special to explain the extra special price. Huggies was the worst of any diaper I tried, the only explanation I can come up with is that the elastic at the waist on huggies diapers is not as snug as with other diapers. I tried Huggies when my baby was less than 6 months old and her poopy diapers were still messy. For some reason the Huggies diapers would always leak out the back of the waist. Some people love the velcro tabs found on Huggies, I wasn't overly impressed. Drypers and Luvs are more reasonably priced. Drypers diapers are good, but the training pants tend to fall apart. Luvs have the plastic cover that I don't like, and this may be silly but I can't stand Barney! Your baby will go through thousands of disposable diapers before she is potty trained (Oh please let that day come soon!). With all those diapers every penny saved counts. Try out different brands to find what works best for you and your baby, but don't be afraid to buy good diapers for less.  |
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