Bulk Shopping: Save Money On Baby Supplies

There are a lot of essentials that young children need directly after being hatched. From the time they are born children need baby wipes, diapers, and formula (if you are not BFing). Just these three items alone can cost a hefty amount per month. In order to save some money I like to buy these items and others in bulk.

• Baby Wipes. I personally like the Sam's Club brand of baby wipes called Simply Right. You get a huge box (over 800 wipes) that are very thick for around $14.50. They are very comparable to Huggies which is a big plus in my book for baby wipes. I do not like the feel of Pamper's wipes. The regular brand is so thin and with them I always felt like I was in a wiping marathon that got no where real slowly. I recently read a great idea on Midwestern Moms about how you can make your own baby wipes. That could potentially save a ton of money considering most moms use wipes for quite a while. I still use baby wipes to make my older son clean his hands after he eats and he's nearly 6!
• Diapers. While I like wipes comparable to Huggies the best I like diapers comparable to Pampers (for young children). Huggies' diapers always leaked for my children when they were under a year old so I always used Pampers. I do, however, use Huggies now for my two year old. At Sam's Club you can get 30-60 more Huggies diapers than Pampers for the same price.
• Formula. Formula is super expensive if you use name brands and boy do the little milk suckers fly through it. To save some money, when I was pregnant I signed up on all of the major formula companies websites. So when my children were born I received free formula samples (one time per company) and coupon checks for nearly a year. That helped tremendously, but with how much an infant eats I could not solely buy formula with those. I choose to either buy Wal-Mart's or Sam's Club brand of formula to save money. With those you can get more ounces for a cheaper price than the name brands. And do you know the best way to save money on formula? To breastfeed or pump! I pumped and supplemented with formula for the first few months with each of my children. Remember the saying breast is best (and FREE)!
• Do you buy children's vitamins? Sam's Club has their own brand for around $8.75 for around 300— they taste great too! When I give my children vitamins I feel like I am helping them by giving them nutrients they may be missing. I believe that giving my children a daily vitamin helps prevent them from catching every little bug under the sun. My oldest son is almost 6 years old and has only thrown up once!

Granted not everything thing you buy at a stores like Sam's Club or Costco will save you money. What I like to do is go to one of these stores and jot down the prices and sizes of the items I think buying in bulk would save me money. I then go to my local supermarket and compare the items and prices to what I would purchase from there. I have noticed that my local supermarkets prices are often better if brand name isn't important to me. For instance, I buy a lot of canned vegetables and fruits. When I compare these canned items at wholesale clubs to my local supermarket's prices I usually find that my regular grocery store's brand is cheaper. Thus, I opt to buy these canned items from my grocery store. After all, a green bean pretty much tastes the same no matter the brand.

You should always make sure that the items you are supposedly saving money on are actually saving you money. Some people forgo buying in bulk and opt to use coupons to their maximum advantage. I have yet to figure this out, but Deidre at Cuckoo for Coupon Deals has listed some great answers to common coupon questions if you are interested in that avenue of saving. If anyone would like to share their couponing secrets please do! What kinds of things do you buy in bulk? Do you find you save more with bulk shopping or couponing?

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