Friday, August 22, 2008

Drowning in Diapers

This is the story of a former Diaper Diva. Store-brand diapers??? No way. Not on my child. Would I be caught dead bringing discount diapers to daycare? Heck, no! They’re cheap. They don’t fit right. They irritate little Baby Diva’s bottom. The list goes on and on. In reality, a diaper is a diaper. Sure, generic diapers don’t have the latest Disney character on them. Sometimes the tabs rip, or there’s a bad one in the bunch. But, given their intended use, does it really matter? Would it change your mind if they were free? Read on…

After years of gathering coupons from relatives, clipping coupons out of the Sunday paper, and hunting for deals on name-brand diapers, I’ve finally given up the game.

Walgreens Diaper Extravaganza

This summer, Walgreens has been running a fabulous diaper deal on the Walgreens brand jumbo pack diapers. Buy 1 pack for $7.99, get the 2nd pack ½ off. That’s $11.98 for two packs of diapers…about the average non-sale price for one pack of name-brand diapers. Then, there have been several Walgreens coupons to make the deal even more attractive.

Option #1: Walgreens Easysaver coupon - The July and August ES booklets each included a $5 off 2 coupon for Walgreens diapers.

[Regular Price (2 packs): $15.98]
Sale Price $11.98
- July Easysaver Coupon: - $5.00
Total for 2 Packs: $6.98

Option #2: Walgreens EasySaver coupon + Walgreens Register Rewards - In July, Walgreens ran a promotion where every 3 packages of diapers purchased in one transaction generated a $5 Register Rewards (to be used for a future purchase). Combining this with the Option #1 deal, and purchasing a set of 4 packs, would result in the following:

[Regular Price (4 packs): $31.96]
Sale Price $23.96
- Register Rewards - $5.00
- Easysaver Coupon: - $10.00
Total for 4 Packs: $8.96

Option #3: Walgreens Easysaver overlap coupons - For a short period at the end of July, both the July and August Easysaver coupon booklets were in effect. Stores would honor both coupons on the same purchase. By combining both coupons during this period, purchasing 4 packs, as well as receiving the July Register Rewards promotion, the result would be:

[Regular Price (4 packs): $31.96]
Sale Price $23.96
- Register Rewards - $5.00
- July Easysaver Coupon - $10.00
- August Easysaver Coupon: - $10.00
Total for 4 Packs: - $1.04

A $1.04 profit for buying diapers? I’d say it’s worth the switch to store-brand. I stocked up while Option #3 was in effect. Here’s a picture of Baby Diva drowning in diapers. Baby Diva’s bum is no worse for wear than it was when outfitted in Huggies and Pampers.

But wait, the deal doesn’t end there. Walgreens is currently promoting its new RX drug program. Available at the pharmacy counter is a $50 coupon booklet filled with additional Walgreens coupons. Included in the booklet is a $2 coupon good on one pack of Walgreens diapers. Most stores allow this to be combined with the Easysaver coupons.

So….Option #4: Warning, this is for the die-hard only, assuming this was done during the overlap period at the end of July:


[Regular Price (4 packs): $31.96]
Sale Price $23.96
- Register Rewards - $5.00
- RX $2 Coupon: - $8.00
- July Easysaver Coupon - $10.00
- August Easysaver Coupon: - $10.00
Total for 4 Packs: - $9.04

That’s a $9.04 profit for buying 4 packs of store-brand diapers vs. roughly $48 for 4 packs of name-brand diapers.

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