Diapers and Formula

Last night I decided that I was going to compare diapers and formula because I am sick of just assuming certain stores have the best deals. When you are buying a lot of diapers and formula you should take the time and really look to see what you are getting. I know there are times when we run out of something and I just run to the closest store just so we have something but those are rare. So I looked on-line, at the stores I most frequent and compare some diapers. The brands I compared are: Pampers, Luvs, Huggies, and the store brand all in Size 4. The stores I looked into are: Babies R Us, Diapers.com, Target, Walmart and Sam's Club. (There are other big clubs out there like, BJ's and Costco but I don't use them so I didn't look into their prices.) So here we go...

Diaper Comparison

Store Brands:

• Diapers.com: 176 count @ 0.23 cents/unit = $40.99
• Walmart (Parents Choice): 82 count @ 0.18 cents/unit = $14.47
• Target (Up & Up): 124 count @ 0.16 cents/unit = $19.99
• Babies R Us (Especially for Baby): 126 count @ 0.16 cents/unit = $19.98
• Sam's Club (Members Mark): 176 count @ 0.17 cents/unit = $29.98

Pampers (Baby Dry)

• Diapers.com: 176 count @ 0.26 cents/unit = $44.99
• Walmart: 156 count @ 0.22 cents/unit = $35.00
• Target: 100 count @ 0.30 cents/unit = $29.99
• Babies R Us: 176 count @ 0.24 cents/unit = $41.99
• Sam's Club: 176 count @ 0.21 cents/unit = $37.98

Luvs

• Diapers.com: 180 count @ 0.21 cents/unit = $36.99
• Walmart: 180 count @ 0.20 cents/unit = $35.54
• Target: 180 count @ 0.21 cents/unit = 38.99
• Babies R Us: NA
• Sam's Club: NA

Huggies (Snug and Dry*)

• Diapers.com: 140 count @ 0.29 cents/unit = $39.99
• Walmart: 140 count @ 0.25 cents/unit = $35.00
• Target*: 108 count @ 0.34 cents/unit = $36.99
• Babies R Us: 176 count @ 0.24 cents/unit = $41.99
• Sam's Club: 176 count @ 0.21 cents/unit = $37.14

The winners for the cheapest diapers...

• Overall: Babies R Us brand @ $19.98, runner up: Target's Up & Up @ $19.99
• Cheapest per unit @ only 0.16 cents
• Sam's Club is not far behind at 0.17 cents a unit
• Pampers
• Purchase at Sam's Club @ 0.21 cents a unit
• Runner up: Walmart @ 0.22 cents a unit
• Luvs
• Purchase at Walmart @ 0.20 cents a unit
• Runner up: Diapers.com @ 0.21 cents a unit
• Huggies
• Purchase at Sam's Club @ 0.21 cents a unit
• Runner up: Babies R Us @ 0.24 cents a unit

My personal ratings of the diapers:

1 (poor) - 5 (excellent)

Diapers.com brand - NA
Walmart's Parents Choice - 3
Target's Up & Up - 4.5
Babies R Us brand - 4.5
Sam's Club's Members Mark - 4.5
Pampers - 5
Luvs - 4
Huggies - 3

*Target's Huggies were based on Little Movers

Formula Comparison

When it came to comparing formula I only looked in to the store brands and milk based (powder).  When we first switched to formula we used the name brands because that is what was sent home with us from the hospital and because we received a bunch of samples in the mail.  So once we ran out of the free stash we looked in to the generic brands and realized the ingredients were the same, so why by name brand for twice as much?

So...

Diapers.com - 25.75 oz @ 0.74 cents/ounce = $18.99
Walmart - 23.2 oz @ 0.51 cents/oz = $11.88
Target - 25.75 oz @ 0.47 cents/oz = $11.99
Babies R Us - 25.7 oz @ 0.51 cents/oz = $12.99
Sam's Club - 51.4 oz @ 0.38 cents/oz = $19.38

Sam's Club is the best price by far, followed by Target.