Slash Your Diaper Spending in Half!

Okay, so this doesn’t have anything to do with fitness or nutrition. However, if you think about it, saving so much money on diapers allows more money for fresh produce, lean meats, a gym membership, or piece of exercise gear/equipment. I have just been horrified with the cost of diapers and how much I used to spend on them. I have always clipped coupons and have never bought any diapers without a coupon; however, little did I know I was NOT getting the best deals. Even if you don’t have a baby or grandchild, think about all of the cheap diapers you can buy for baby showers! Again, I have to credit www.southernsavers.com for teaching me all of this valuable information!!

I buy my diapers at CVS. That’s right! I know you are all gasping at the thought of buying diapers at a drugstore where everything is marked up. Well, keep reading if I have sparked your interest. Although I’ll be discussing CVS, Walgreens and other drugstores have similar rewards programs that you can utilize.

Here is how it works. First, you must get a CVS card. This card will allow you to take advantage of sales and earn Extra Care Bucks (ECBs). ECBs are credits that you earn in the store and are tied to your CVS card. They work like real money at CVS allowing you to buy anything in the store. For all prescriptions, you earn 1 ECB, and for everything else in the store you earn 2% of your total spent. At the end of each quarter, you will get these ECBs back so that you can use them at CVS.

The next thing you need to know is that every time you walk into the store, you need to head straight to the computer that checks prices for you. Scan your CVS card and watch coupons pop out. Sometimes these coupons are totally useless to me, and other times they are awesome!

Here is where you really need to pay attention! Each week CVS features certain items that are not only on sale, but have extra ECBs tied to them. So, for instance, there may be a deal on pampers. A jumbo pack (around 36 diapers) is marked down to $8.49 and you automatically get a printout of 3 ECBs at the register! These deals do not add up over the quarter, you get them back immediately. So, let’s say you have a store coupon for $1 off pampers and a manufacturer’s coupon for $2 off pampers. That brings your price down to $5.49 and you get 3 ECBs to use on your next purchase. Let’s say that this deal allows 2 per customer. So after you make your first purchase, you decide to start another transaction. You have another $1 off manufacturer’s coupon and you use the 3 ECBs that you just earned. That brings your price to $4.49 for your 36 diapers! That is 12 cents per diaper; whereas, at Wal-Mart, if you bought a box of pampers, you would pay almost 20 cents per diaper.

Here are the morals of my story:

1.Don’t buy your diapers at Wal-Mart anymore!

2.Use store coupons + manufacturer coupons whenever you can!

3.Get started with your ECBs and NEVER pay more than 12 cents per diaper. My goal is to pay 10 cents or less, but I will NEVER pay more than 12 cents!

4.Buying diapers in bulk (the big boxes) is definitely not always the cheapest way to go!

4.Always calculate how much your paying PER DIAPER because prices and so-called “sales” may not actually be a deal at all!

5.Try to stick with items at CVS (or another drug store) that offer the ECBs (or other incentive) so that you’re always earning store credit for your next purchase.

Does anyone else have any tips or suggestions? I’d love to hear them! Also note that this ECB idea can be used on many other items such as contact solution, peanut butter, paper towels, and many more products. Go ahead, save some money and use it to buy that produce that you feel is too expensive!