A recent article in Time Magazine disclosed the fact that most mothers on state supported systems are intelligible for support for disposable diapers. This article in full is as follows;
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1891733,00.html
This article details in full, how parents of babies are unable to make ends meet. In today’s economy, families are put out on welfare, they lose their house, they end up on the streets because people have lost their jobs. The economy is rebounding slightly, but the unemployment rate is very high, even in comparison to recent recessions.
One of the major misconceptions is that people on state systems should be able to find work, but this is not something that is happening right now. People who have had great jobs their whole lives are unable to find work. The decision comes down to work at McDonalds for $6.00 per hour, or go on welfare. The solution is simple because welfare pays more. The problem is that Welfare pays for what the government considers “essentials”, and diapers are not on that list.
The real victim is the children, the babies. They are victims of their parent’s circumstances. Huggies, along with other services, including www.thediaperbank.org, are working to provide children with diapers they need. Although, and as the previously mentioned article notes, Huggies has an interest in selling more diapers, the children of these homes are the ones hurt by this. Without the ability to do laundry, or even possessing adequate laundry facilities, mothers are unable to resort to clean cloth diapers. Therefore, disposables are the only option. In many instances, mothers of these children are forced to re-use diapers, and put their children at risk for disease and other potential serious issues.
Some may argue that in other countries, they go without disposable diapers, or even diapers, however, in the United States, the average person would be so offended by an infant allowing “nature to happen naturally”, that the parent would most likely never allow that to happen again.
These charities and organizations, a partial list is below, help make sure these babies have the adequate hygiene – clean diapers – to transition from infants to children. This is really a sad element of our society, and these organizations make all the difference.
Diaper Drives and Diaper Donation Sites:
1) The Diaper Bank - www.thediaperbank.org
2) Huggies Every Little Bottom – http://www.huggies.com/en-US/promotions/everylittlebottom
3) Bay Area Diaper Bank - http://www.huggies.com/en-US/promotions/everylittlebottom/our-partners/sarah-gibbs
4) Help A Mother Out – http://www.huggies.com/en-US/promotions/everylittlebottom/our-partners/lisa-truong
5) LA Diaper Drive – http://www.ladiaperbank.org/
6) WestSide Baby - http://www.huggies.com/en-US/promotions/everylittlebottom/our-partners/nancy-woodland
7) Valley of the Sun Community Diaper Bank - http://www.valleydiaperbank.org/
8) Detroit Area Diaper Bank - http://www.detroitareadiaperbank.org/
9) Destiny Diaper Bank (of Southwest Florida) - http://www.destinydiaperbank.com/
10) Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona - http://nonprofit.about.com/od/profiles/a/diaperbank.htm
11) North State Diaper Bank (Northern CA) - http://northstatediaperbank.org/
12) Northern New Jersey Diaper Bank - http://www.childandfamily-nj.org/ShowPage.asp?id=18&m=14
13) Bend Diaper Bank (Central Oregon) - http://www.bendcommunitydiaperbank.org/
14) Southern CA Diaper Bank - http://socaldiaperbank.org/
15) Northern Indiana Diaper Bank - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=40786178676
16) East Bay Diaper Bank (Contra, Oakland and Alameda Counties in CA) - http://eastbaydiaperbank.com/index.html
17) Diaper Bank of Southern Illinois - http://www.diaperbanksi.org/
18) Detroit Area Diaper Bank - http://www.detroitareadiaperbank.org/
There are more diaper banks than this, but if you are interested in starting your own, the author suggests going to www.thediaperbank.org. The site has an abundance of resources, tips and knowledge. Help parents help their children.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Diapers & Foodstams: Imagine re-using diapers - many mothers, especially in today's economy do just that
Ditching Diapers - Potty Training Problems, Trends and Suggestions
While researching potty training, and the elimination of disposable diapers from a child’s life, the author has come across several recent trends. The most disturbing trend is that children have gone from being potty-trained at around 18 months on average in the 1960s, to taking, on average, 30 months today. It appears that this is expanding. Three years ago, Pampers introduced Size 7 diapers to the marketplace (something that no other manufacturer has followed), but a recent review of the Pampers.com website found that Pampers is now calling some of their largest diapers (disposable training pants and disposable underwear) “Size 8”. Another alarming recent article, purportedly from the U.K. discussed how children were remaining in diapers until school age. It went on to say, school teachers were changing children in Kindergarten. This article blamed time constraints on the family, and that many day care workers were putting children into diapers while at their day care center for “convenience” reasons, which effectively undermined any of the potty-training efforts the parents had done. I question the validity of this article (especially about children going to elementary school without being potty-trained), so there is no mention of a link to it, but its ramifications, as I prepare to bring triplets into this world, are profound. Even if this article is not true, some of the issues, especially day cares undermining the consistency efforts of parents with potty training are probably issues that many parents of children in today’s busy world will face.
The average baby in the United States uses 3,500 diapers per year (roughly 9 diaper changes per day). This is an average, and because of normal diaper changes, sizes, etc. the average baby uses many more diapers their first year, then their second and so forth. However, if a child stays in diapers for just one extra year, that is at least an extra $1168 per child (based on the average prices of size 5, 6 and 7 diapers at $0.40 / diaper). As the future parent of triplets, this means that my costs, per year, escalate to well over $3000. Therefore, the economic incentives alone are well worth investing time and thoughts on the subject, even though my family is unborn.
There are many factors that point to why our children are remaining in diapers longer. Some blame parents for lack of consistency and time. Others say day cares and other help we have to reach out for to make ends meet undermine our potty-training efforts by putting children back in diapers for their own convenience. Others blame physicians who recommend letting the child “choose” when to ditch diapers.
The culprit probably lies somewhere within and as a combination of most of these suggestions. However, one of the most obvious factors that others are not discussing is that of children using disposable training pants that look, feel and protect like a diaper. An example, as a child, the author’s brother was eight years younger than he was, and he still remembers his brother going through potty training. At the time, training pants were entirely cloth, and resembled very thick underwear, and accidents were obvious, messy for everyone and created clear discomfort for the child. After several accidents, the author’s brother was potty-trained quickly, but the clean-up and the extra work surrounding using underwear as training pants put a strain on the mother, and the potty-training process started and stopped repeatedly for several months. Soon after the author’s brother was potty-trained, Huggies introduced Pull-Ups.
Pull-Ups provided a great advantage for the parent, and for the child. They still looked, felt-like and resembled underwear, but they contained accidents much better, resulting in less time. This was also when diapers were generally a solid color, were plastic-backed, had tapes on them (instead of Velcro). Pull-ups on the other hand felt like cloth, had cartoon characters on them, and the child pulled them up, instead of the parent putting the child in them. Soon after though, diapers changed and they started making them with a cloth-like cover, Velcro tapes, and featured cartoonish designs. The problem with this, in the author’s opinion, is that these improvements in the diaper removed the advantage for the child - that of wearing “big boy” pants. The only real difference between diapers and disposable training pants (as far as the author can tell) is that the child pulls them up, even though they look, feel and protect like a diaper. Another problem with this was the release of “convertible style” diapers which are no longer available for sale. These diapers were pulled up (supposedly by the parent), and this left little distinction, if any, between the supposedly special training pant, and the diaper. The diaper companies soon stopped making these diapers, but for them to put this type of diaper into the marketplace, knowing that they are identical to pull-ups in almost every aspect seems like flawed logic. Are they deliberately trying to keep our children in diapers longer? Probably, its good business, they sell more products, but fully fleshing this argument removes the blameworthiness from the parent, and puts it on an intangible corporation, something that should not be encouraged. Even if they are doing this deliberately, it is up to the parent to take matters into their own hands. If these products did not sell, the company would stop making them, if we keep buying them, then they have every incentive to keep producing it.
The point with this diatribe is essentially that if you are going to try and get your child to use the potty, introducing pants to wear instead of diapers, that look, feel and do the same job as diapers – are just diapers to the child and the child sees no difference. If you are motivating your child to get out of diapers, why then would you put them in something that is nearly identical?
The convenience of disposable underwear is a huge bonus, but the problem still exists for the child – they are still wearing diapers, even though they are being told they are not. Unfortunately, this might be a large contributing factor to why children have such difficulties with potty training now. Couple this with the frantic schedule everyone leads, which diminishes the time available to be consistent with a child, and it is easy to see why it might take longer to potty train a kid.
As for the author’s children, well, unless something changes, we will try to put them in cloth, traditional training pants. There will be messes, but putting them back in diapers, regardless of how many times we tell them they are not “diapers” does not seem like it will achieve the desired results. A key problem with this exists though, and if day care workers are undermining potty training efforts with pull-ups, then how will they act when a child has an accident in underwear? At least we would have a chance with a pull-up though. Unfortunately, I do not have the answers at this point, but I know what I will try to do in the future. We have two years before we jump off this bridge, but with triplets, my personal goal is to eliminate diapers, and the massive expense that goes along with this as soon as possible. Maybe we will just take a week off from work and try one of those potty-training boot camps, but from what I know, potty-training is a long, difficult process, where consistency is the paramount key. Switching from diapers, and maintaining a diaper-free existence for the child should achieve success… I hope.
The average baby in the United States uses 3,500 diapers per year (roughly 9 diaper changes per day). This is an average, and because of normal diaper changes, sizes, etc. the average baby uses many more diapers their first year, then their second and so forth. However, if a child stays in diapers for just one extra year, that is at least an extra $1168 per child (based on the average prices of size 5, 6 and 7 diapers at $0.40 / diaper). As the future parent of triplets, this means that my costs, per year, escalate to well over $3000. Therefore, the economic incentives alone are well worth investing time and thoughts on the subject, even though my family is unborn.
There are many factors that point to why our children are remaining in diapers longer. Some blame parents for lack of consistency and time. Others say day cares and other help we have to reach out for to make ends meet undermine our potty-training efforts by putting children back in diapers for their own convenience. Others blame physicians who recommend letting the child “choose” when to ditch diapers.
The culprit probably lies somewhere within and as a combination of most of these suggestions. However, one of the most obvious factors that others are not discussing is that of children using disposable training pants that look, feel and protect like a diaper. An example, as a child, the author’s brother was eight years younger than he was, and he still remembers his brother going through potty training. At the time, training pants were entirely cloth, and resembled very thick underwear, and accidents were obvious, messy for everyone and created clear discomfort for the child. After several accidents, the author’s brother was potty-trained quickly, but the clean-up and the extra work surrounding using underwear as training pants put a strain on the mother, and the potty-training process started and stopped repeatedly for several months. Soon after the author’s brother was potty-trained, Huggies introduced Pull-Ups.
Pull-Ups provided a great advantage for the parent, and for the child. They still looked, felt-like and resembled underwear, but they contained accidents much better, resulting in less time. This was also when diapers were generally a solid color, were plastic-backed, had tapes on them (instead of Velcro). Pull-ups on the other hand felt like cloth, had cartoon characters on them, and the child pulled them up, instead of the parent putting the child in them. Soon after though, diapers changed and they started making them with a cloth-like cover, Velcro tapes, and featured cartoonish designs. The problem with this, in the author’s opinion, is that these improvements in the diaper removed the advantage for the child - that of wearing “big boy” pants. The only real difference between diapers and disposable training pants (as far as the author can tell) is that the child pulls them up, even though they look, feel and protect like a diaper. Another problem with this was the release of “convertible style” diapers which are no longer available for sale. These diapers were pulled up (supposedly by the parent), and this left little distinction, if any, between the supposedly special training pant, and the diaper. The diaper companies soon stopped making these diapers, but for them to put this type of diaper into the marketplace, knowing that they are identical to pull-ups in almost every aspect seems like flawed logic. Are they deliberately trying to keep our children in diapers longer? Probably, its good business, they sell more products, but fully fleshing this argument removes the blameworthiness from the parent, and puts it on an intangible corporation, something that should not be encouraged. Even if they are doing this deliberately, it is up to the parent to take matters into their own hands. If these products did not sell, the company would stop making them, if we keep buying them, then they have every incentive to keep producing it.
The point with this diatribe is essentially that if you are going to try and get your child to use the potty, introducing pants to wear instead of diapers, that look, feel and do the same job as diapers – are just diapers to the child and the child sees no difference. If you are motivating your child to get out of diapers, why then would you put them in something that is nearly identical?
The convenience of disposable underwear is a huge bonus, but the problem still exists for the child – they are still wearing diapers, even though they are being told they are not. Unfortunately, this might be a large contributing factor to why children have such difficulties with potty training now. Couple this with the frantic schedule everyone leads, which diminishes the time available to be consistent with a child, and it is easy to see why it might take longer to potty train a kid.
As for the author’s children, well, unless something changes, we will try to put them in cloth, traditional training pants. There will be messes, but putting them back in diapers, regardless of how many times we tell them they are not “diapers” does not seem like it will achieve the desired results. A key problem with this exists though, and if day care workers are undermining potty training efforts with pull-ups, then how will they act when a child has an accident in underwear? At least we would have a chance with a pull-up though. Unfortunately, I do not have the answers at this point, but I know what I will try to do in the future. We have two years before we jump off this bridge, but with triplets, my personal goal is to eliminate diapers, and the massive expense that goes along with this as soon as possible. Maybe we will just take a week off from work and try one of those potty-training boot camps, but from what I know, potty-training is a long, difficult process, where consistency is the paramount key. Switching from diapers, and maintaining a diaper-free existence for the child should achieve success… I hope.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Politics and parenting
I told someone today that my wife and I were expecting triplets. They stopped, looked at me, and then asked in a not-so-polite tone, how could we bring babies into this country? I was beyond shocked, and they proceeded to tell me about how bad our government was, that Obozo was, and then proceeded to thoroughly beat a dead horse with blatant attacks on President Obama. There were no suggestions of a better way to do things, just cries of how bad the national debt was (of course ignoring the 10 trillion that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost this country). Then, there was a pause. After this person blamed everything under the sun on Obama, and I'm sure in an attempt to cut off the inevitable, a "you can't blame it all on Bush either" was offered to me. Then he proceeded to argue that Obama was the worst President in history – I guess I’m to believe he was worse than Grant? I doubt that. A final argument was made that no other President has brought us from a recession to a depression, well, there have been many, and historically, every 20 years or so, a President takes us from a recession to a depression (even Ronald Reagan did it).
I don't know whether this person would have been behind Bush two years ago, and in fact it doesn't matter whether they would have supported that President or not. I guess what offended me the most about the conversation, was that, here is an accomplished, experienced and intelligent person that is spitting out party-line tripe to me. Everyone has their own opinion, and I cannot fault them for it, but something is happening - and it happens for Republican and Democrats alike - where thought is removed from the arena of politics.
The United States' political system is incredibly limited in nature. The democrats occupy one 49 yard line and the republicans the other 49 yard line if you envision the entire political spectrum as a football field. Republicans act like Democrats (Bush's insane government expansion), and Democrats act like Republicans (Obama's passage of a healthcare bill that ultimately benefits businesses and does little to reform a broken system that is devastating what is left of this country’s middle class). If a Republican had tried to enact healthcare, a "democrat" would have fought tooth and nail to prevent it. If a Democrat had tried to go to war with Iraq, the Republicans would have fought this (and historically this is true, see Bill Clinton concerning Yugoslavia and Somalia).
Instead of bringing rational thought into politics, it seems like the average person views the Democrats or the Republicans as their hometown football team. They root fervently for the "team" they back, and only want to see their “heroes” win the game. Furthermore, they surround themselves with “news”, thoughts and beliefs of only those that are like-minded. This behavior permeates both backers of each party. This country is polarized at the core, with each "side" believing that the other side is leading this country into a death spiral – which frankly is not true. In reality, both sides act nearly identically. The leaders of these parties pander to specific tendencies, beliefs and qualities of their respective voting bodies, but when they get into office, they act the same.
The problem is this. People hate each other for their political beliefs. Listening to any media outlet, you would think the sky is falling. However, if you stop and look around you, you might notice some things that are bad currently in this country, but most of us are safe in our homes, we are safe from our government, and we can express our discontentment without being imprisoned. However, that's not what we hear. Both parties create this type of hyper-nationalized behavior (the same behavior that launched the Third Reich), and hate mongers (an example is Rush Limbaugh), preach pure, unadulterated hatred for the other "side", yet offer no solutions or compromises. Instead of having people willing to work together, we have people in office now fearing that if they cooperate with the other side, if they concede to an "opponent's" demand, their voter base will lynch them. Therefore, we have an entire party in Congress, the Republicans, that can do nothing but vote against anything appearing to be a "democratic" initiative. This has nothing to do with personal beliefs or motivations, this is simply self preservation. If a Republican were to cooperate with a Democrat today, even if it is in the best interest of our Country, it would be political suicide for that person. This simply means one thing, that nothing will be done, and the problems of this country will widen.
So, this is a parenting blog, not a pulpit, and I will get back to the fears of raising children in a society that is being “destroyed by Mr. Obama”, or should I say “Mr. Obozo”. In short, no, the election of Mr. Obama has caused nothing to change, and it is not the leadership of this country that I fear, nor will I ever fear it as long as our civil liberties are not encroached upon again. It is the common voter that is so wrapped up in their own belief in their personal political ideology that worries me. This country is an amazing place. There is nowhere else in the world like it. We have freedom, we have choices, we have capitalism. Unlike many other countries, almost every person has the ability to become something - to achieve greatness. Crime in this country is down to the same levels as the 1960s. We are safe. People can find jobs, or choose to make their own money. We can all survive. We have programs, donations and charities to help the least of our citizens. Our country, regardless of who is leading it, operates on true Christian principles. We are going through a financial crisis right now, but because we employ the systems of free-enterprise and capitalism, we will always go through "boom" and "bust" cycles. I am not worried about this for my children, because things will come around. We will have to take matters into our own hands, place the blame where it actually resides though, and stop creating scapegoats out of our leadership for other person’s blunders.
Blaming a single person, and currently it is the recession; for "democrats" it is Bush’s fault, for "republicans" its Obama’s. This is what scares me and this is representative of an alarming trend in this country, and that is the lack of responsibility coupled with blame shifting. Everyone in this country contributed to the financial issues we are having, from the corrupt lender, to the business owner that increases their profit by 1% by outsourcing manufacturing - creating more unemployed, to the consumer that buys that crap made in China or wherever else. It is just easier to blame the President for these flaws, unfortunately, many of these are problems that are out of his control – and should be out of his control. Of course, when talking to people concerned about me brining up a child in this environment, it is the President's fault, but this is just the easy way out. Rather than accepting responsibility, rather than looking to how we can personally effectuate change, we blame one person, say its their fault and we can forget about it - we don't have to do anything.
No, I'm not worried about raising my children in this Country. I think they will do amazing, and this Country will pull itself together. I will teach my children to formulate their own opinions. I will teach them to effectuate change, I will teach them to love their fellow countrymen - I will teach my children to think for themselves and throw caution to any opinion they hear, until they have a chance to investigate, understand and formulate an educated opinion themselves about that topic. What they believe from there, well, that's their choice, I would never stand in the way, as long as it is their opinion, and not what someone else wants them to believe. Usually, objectivity and impartiality will lead them to the right choices, but that doesn’t sell ads on the television and the radio.
I don't know whether this person would have been behind Bush two years ago, and in fact it doesn't matter whether they would have supported that President or not. I guess what offended me the most about the conversation, was that, here is an accomplished, experienced and intelligent person that is spitting out party-line tripe to me. Everyone has their own opinion, and I cannot fault them for it, but something is happening - and it happens for Republican and Democrats alike - where thought is removed from the arena of politics.
The United States' political system is incredibly limited in nature. The democrats occupy one 49 yard line and the republicans the other 49 yard line if you envision the entire political spectrum as a football field. Republicans act like Democrats (Bush's insane government expansion), and Democrats act like Republicans (Obama's passage of a healthcare bill that ultimately benefits businesses and does little to reform a broken system that is devastating what is left of this country’s middle class). If a Republican had tried to enact healthcare, a "democrat" would have fought tooth and nail to prevent it. If a Democrat had tried to go to war with Iraq, the Republicans would have fought this (and historically this is true, see Bill Clinton concerning Yugoslavia and Somalia).
Instead of bringing rational thought into politics, it seems like the average person views the Democrats or the Republicans as their hometown football team. They root fervently for the "team" they back, and only want to see their “heroes” win the game. Furthermore, they surround themselves with “news”, thoughts and beliefs of only those that are like-minded. This behavior permeates both backers of each party. This country is polarized at the core, with each "side" believing that the other side is leading this country into a death spiral – which frankly is not true. In reality, both sides act nearly identically. The leaders of these parties pander to specific tendencies, beliefs and qualities of their respective voting bodies, but when they get into office, they act the same.
The problem is this. People hate each other for their political beliefs. Listening to any media outlet, you would think the sky is falling. However, if you stop and look around you, you might notice some things that are bad currently in this country, but most of us are safe in our homes, we are safe from our government, and we can express our discontentment without being imprisoned. However, that's not what we hear. Both parties create this type of hyper-nationalized behavior (the same behavior that launched the Third Reich), and hate mongers (an example is Rush Limbaugh), preach pure, unadulterated hatred for the other "side", yet offer no solutions or compromises. Instead of having people willing to work together, we have people in office now fearing that if they cooperate with the other side, if they concede to an "opponent's" demand, their voter base will lynch them. Therefore, we have an entire party in Congress, the Republicans, that can do nothing but vote against anything appearing to be a "democratic" initiative. This has nothing to do with personal beliefs or motivations, this is simply self preservation. If a Republican were to cooperate with a Democrat today, even if it is in the best interest of our Country, it would be political suicide for that person. This simply means one thing, that nothing will be done, and the problems of this country will widen.
So, this is a parenting blog, not a pulpit, and I will get back to the fears of raising children in a society that is being “destroyed by Mr. Obama”, or should I say “Mr. Obozo”. In short, no, the election of Mr. Obama has caused nothing to change, and it is not the leadership of this country that I fear, nor will I ever fear it as long as our civil liberties are not encroached upon again. It is the common voter that is so wrapped up in their own belief in their personal political ideology that worries me. This country is an amazing place. There is nowhere else in the world like it. We have freedom, we have choices, we have capitalism. Unlike many other countries, almost every person has the ability to become something - to achieve greatness. Crime in this country is down to the same levels as the 1960s. We are safe. People can find jobs, or choose to make their own money. We can all survive. We have programs, donations and charities to help the least of our citizens. Our country, regardless of who is leading it, operates on true Christian principles. We are going through a financial crisis right now, but because we employ the systems of free-enterprise and capitalism, we will always go through "boom" and "bust" cycles. I am not worried about this for my children, because things will come around. We will have to take matters into our own hands, place the blame where it actually resides though, and stop creating scapegoats out of our leadership for other person’s blunders.
Blaming a single person, and currently it is the recession; for "democrats" it is Bush’s fault, for "republicans" its Obama’s. This is what scares me and this is representative of an alarming trend in this country, and that is the lack of responsibility coupled with blame shifting. Everyone in this country contributed to the financial issues we are having, from the corrupt lender, to the business owner that increases their profit by 1% by outsourcing manufacturing - creating more unemployed, to the consumer that buys that crap made in China or wherever else. It is just easier to blame the President for these flaws, unfortunately, many of these are problems that are out of his control – and should be out of his control. Of course, when talking to people concerned about me brining up a child in this environment, it is the President's fault, but this is just the easy way out. Rather than accepting responsibility, rather than looking to how we can personally effectuate change, we blame one person, say its their fault and we can forget about it - we don't have to do anything.
No, I'm not worried about raising my children in this Country. I think they will do amazing, and this Country will pull itself together. I will teach my children to formulate their own opinions. I will teach them to effectuate change, I will teach them to love their fellow countrymen - I will teach my children to think for themselves and throw caution to any opinion they hear, until they have a chance to investigate, understand and formulate an educated opinion themselves about that topic. What they believe from there, well, that's their choice, I would never stand in the way, as long as it is their opinion, and not what someone else wants them to believe. Usually, objectivity and impartiality will lead them to the right choices, but that doesn’t sell ads on the television and the radio.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Buying Disposable Diapers on eBay
Everyone knows that eBay is good for two things, finding a great deal, and thinking you have a good deal, but subsequently finding out you overpaid tremendously. A recent search of eBay showed that they have almost 20,000 listings for baby diapers. It would take you an unthinkably long time to go through all of these results. Even worse, when you find something, how do you know if that price is really a good deal or not?
Introduction to buying diapers on eBay:
The first thing to do is to simply search for diapers, but to get the right results, normally type in the brand name, type and size you are looking for. Sometimes you can find good deals by just typing in words like “diapers” or other search terms, in case someone misspelled Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, Etc. This is impractical though as we previously mentioned there were almost 20,000 listings on eBay, but you might get lucky. In addition though, most sales on eBay use the “buy it now” feature, meaning that diapers are not listed in auction format, and finding a mislabeled package of diapers where you can “snipe” it is probably not going to happen.
Buying diapers on eBay, and their search and sort functions:
Initially, you can type “diapers” in the search box on eBay. This will give you a list of roughly 20,000 (or so, depending on the number of active listings, etc.). After searching “diapers”, there is a link on the left-hand side of your screen under the bolded heading of “Categories”, which says “disposable diapers”. Click this link, and your results will drop several thousand (a recent search diminished this by roughly 18,000 results). One word of caution is that this will only show those results in this category. Sometimes people list their items in the wrong or different category and if you restrict the category here, you may miss some good deals. To avoid this, you can search by brand name and size in the search bar, which we detail later.
The first thing you can do is to specify the sort functions. One of the first methods is to sort by newly posted listings. Sometimes people post a “buy it now” listing with a price that is really low. By searching these newly posted listings, sometimes you can take advantage of these very low prices first. Normally though, these listings get picked over pretty quickly, and you will want to stop looking after listings have been on eBay for several hours (usually about 5 hours is where the author stops).
If this does not work, then select the “auctions only” button, and sort for “items ending soonest”. This will give you a list of all of the auctions that are ending in the next few minutes. Many times you can find packages of diapers that no one has bid on. Make sure you check the price per diaper before you bid though. Also, make sure you include any shipping charges (many sellers no longer charge shipping, but sometimes, the shipping charges can be $10, $15 or $20, so be very careful about this).
Another search method is to sort by price + shipping lowest first. Normally, you should select the “buy it now” only tab in the center of the eBay screen, because many people list auctions at $0.99 or some other small amount. Therefore, by looking at the “buy it now” only links, you will be able to find the least expensive deals.
A final note is that you can always do the aforementioned searches and filters with a search of “diapers”, but you can further specify, for example, “Pampers Cruisers size 3” to get a list of more accurate searches. The problem with this level of detail in your search is that not every seller will list a size or the type (i.e. Cruisers in the above example). Therefore, broader searches should yield better savings, but unfortunately, they take more time. Keep in mind though, that many sellers sell similar items, coupons, or other things aside from diapers. In the “Categories” heading on the left side, you should always select “diapering”, “diapers” or “disposable diapers”. This will depend where you are, but this is the easiest way to narrow down items that are otherwise irrelevant to your searches.
Finding a good deal:
Finding sellers on eBay claiming to have the “best price”, “lowest deal”, etc. is usually marketing puffery. You have to be very careful about what you purchase, and again, a seller may have the lowest price on Huggies size 2, but might have an extraordinarily high price on Huggies size 3. The key is to make sure you do an apples-to-apples comparison between eBay, other websites, and even your local store. Sometimes, you can find diapers at your local store for much cheaper than you can on eBay, but generally eBay will at least be as competitive as your local store, and will often times, depending on how hard you look, have better deals than other online stores.
An example of this, is one eBay seller’s website who claims to have the “bestselling diaper” and they have the “lowest price on eBay”. This seller offered a box of Huggies diapers, which were available in five sizes. Size 1-2 offers 192 diapers for $39.99 at a cost of $0.21 per diaper. Buying at a warehouse club saves you $17.45 on a similar-sized package, and even purchasing at WalMart.com saves almost $6.00 over this package. These savings mean that you are paying almost $20.00 more buying this package on eBay. However, size 6 Huggies Sung and Dry from this seller offers a better deal than anyone else, at $0.01 less than anything in the our database (or a savings of $1.00).
Rather than do all the work yourself, Intelligent Mommy has a free calculator, that lets you automatically check the price on E-Bay diapers, and compares it to both local and other online pricing. Tools like this ensure that you are getting the best price on diapers before you buy.
Tips and tricks:
One of the tricks the author used in the past was to find damaged boxes of diapers. Bags of diapers are different from boxes. When a bag is punctured, the diapers are exposed, and subsequently whatever the bag is exposed to, the diapers inside are exposed to. Boxes are different, usually they have several individually wrapped packages. Therefore, if the box is smashed, cracked, cut, broken, etc. the packages inside often may be perfectly preserved. Although this is a risk, finding “ugly” boxes of diapers has proved to be a very big cost saver for the author’s family.
Another tip is to use calculators, or to do your own research. We offer a series of online calculators that make identifying whether a deal on eBay is good or not, but there are other resources out there to help you out.
Finally, be aware that just because someone says “best”, “cheapest”, etc. on eBay, does not mean it is necessarily true. There are exceptional deals on eBay, but they are far and few between.
Introduction to buying diapers on eBay:
The first thing to do is to simply search for diapers, but to get the right results, normally type in the brand name, type and size you are looking for. Sometimes you can find good deals by just typing in words like “diapers” or other search terms, in case someone misspelled Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, Etc. This is impractical though as we previously mentioned there were almost 20,000 listings on eBay, but you might get lucky. In addition though, most sales on eBay use the “buy it now” feature, meaning that diapers are not listed in auction format, and finding a mislabeled package of diapers where you can “snipe” it is probably not going to happen.
Buying diapers on eBay, and their search and sort functions:
Initially, you can type “diapers” in the search box on eBay. This will give you a list of roughly 20,000 (or so, depending on the number of active listings, etc.). After searching “diapers”, there is a link on the left-hand side of your screen under the bolded heading of “Categories”, which says “disposable diapers”. Click this link, and your results will drop several thousand (a recent search diminished this by roughly 18,000 results). One word of caution is that this will only show those results in this category. Sometimes people list their items in the wrong or different category and if you restrict the category here, you may miss some good deals. To avoid this, you can search by brand name and size in the search bar, which we detail later.
The first thing you can do is to specify the sort functions. One of the first methods is to sort by newly posted listings. Sometimes people post a “buy it now” listing with a price that is really low. By searching these newly posted listings, sometimes you can take advantage of these very low prices first. Normally though, these listings get picked over pretty quickly, and you will want to stop looking after listings have been on eBay for several hours (usually about 5 hours is where the author stops).
If this does not work, then select the “auctions only” button, and sort for “items ending soonest”. This will give you a list of all of the auctions that are ending in the next few minutes. Many times you can find packages of diapers that no one has bid on. Make sure you check the price per diaper before you bid though. Also, make sure you include any shipping charges (many sellers no longer charge shipping, but sometimes, the shipping charges can be $10, $15 or $20, so be very careful about this).
Another search method is to sort by price + shipping lowest first. Normally, you should select the “buy it now” only tab in the center of the eBay screen, because many people list auctions at $0.99 or some other small amount. Therefore, by looking at the “buy it now” only links, you will be able to find the least expensive deals.
A final note is that you can always do the aforementioned searches and filters with a search of “diapers”, but you can further specify, for example, “Pampers Cruisers size 3” to get a list of more accurate searches. The problem with this level of detail in your search is that not every seller will list a size or the type (i.e. Cruisers in the above example). Therefore, broader searches should yield better savings, but unfortunately, they take more time. Keep in mind though, that many sellers sell similar items, coupons, or other things aside from diapers. In the “Categories” heading on the left side, you should always select “diapering”, “diapers” or “disposable diapers”. This will depend where you are, but this is the easiest way to narrow down items that are otherwise irrelevant to your searches.
Finding a good deal:
Finding sellers on eBay claiming to have the “best price”, “lowest deal”, etc. is usually marketing puffery. You have to be very careful about what you purchase, and again, a seller may have the lowest price on Huggies size 2, but might have an extraordinarily high price on Huggies size 3. The key is to make sure you do an apples-to-apples comparison between eBay, other websites, and even your local store. Sometimes, you can find diapers at your local store for much cheaper than you can on eBay, but generally eBay will at least be as competitive as your local store, and will often times, depending on how hard you look, have better deals than other online stores.
An example of this, is one eBay seller’s website who claims to have the “bestselling diaper” and they have the “lowest price on eBay”. This seller offered a box of Huggies diapers, which were available in five sizes. Size 1-2 offers 192 diapers for $39.99 at a cost of $0.21 per diaper. Buying at a warehouse club saves you $17.45 on a similar-sized package, and even purchasing at WalMart.com saves almost $6.00 over this package. These savings mean that you are paying almost $20.00 more buying this package on eBay. However, size 6 Huggies Sung and Dry from this seller offers a better deal than anyone else, at $0.01 less than anything in the our database (or a savings of $1.00).
Rather than do all the work yourself, Intelligent Mommy has a free calculator, that lets you automatically check the price on E-Bay diapers, and compares it to both local and other online pricing. Tools like this ensure that you are getting the best price on diapers before you buy.
Tips and tricks:
One of the tricks the author used in the past was to find damaged boxes of diapers. Bags of diapers are different from boxes. When a bag is punctured, the diapers are exposed, and subsequently whatever the bag is exposed to, the diapers inside are exposed to. Boxes are different, usually they have several individually wrapped packages. Therefore, if the box is smashed, cracked, cut, broken, etc. the packages inside often may be perfectly preserved. Although this is a risk, finding “ugly” boxes of diapers has proved to be a very big cost saver for the author’s family.
Another tip is to use calculators, or to do your own research. We offer a series of online calculators that make identifying whether a deal on eBay is good or not, but there are other resources out there to help you out.
Finally, be aware that just because someone says “best”, “cheapest”, etc. on eBay, does not mean it is necessarily true. There are exceptional deals on eBay, but they are far and few between.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Diaper Banks - Helping Unfortunate Babies
After researching several articles and websites online, I came across a new trend that is going on. Several small, non-profits have been sprining up with one goal - providing diapers to needy families. Even Huggies has got into the act with their recent Huggies - Every Little Bottom program. The non-profits are most often referred to as diaper banks, and one of the first was http://www.thediaperbank.org/.
Evidently, 1 in 3 mothers will have problems buying diapers for their children, and these chartities are working hard to address this issue. Keep in mind, that it is not the mother these charities are focusing on, but the children - the victims that are sometimes forced to wear re-used diapers. Also, it is worth mentioning that most states who provide assistance for formula for infants will not provide money for diapers. This means that the limited and stretched budgets of many households force these children to do without.
There are many ways to get involved, you can start a local diaper bank (and a great resource to start is http://www.thediaperbank.org/), you can donate diapers to Huggies or one of these diaper banks, or simply donate money to one of these organizations - Huggies has a list of many organizations that will help get these babies diapers.
Regardless of how you may feel about the mother, the circumstance, or otherwise, the issue here is that babies are going without. I think this is a travesty, and that is why I am supporting these charities.
Evidently, 1 in 3 mothers will have problems buying diapers for their children, and these chartities are working hard to address this issue. Keep in mind, that it is not the mother these charities are focusing on, but the children - the victims that are sometimes forced to wear re-used diapers. Also, it is worth mentioning that most states who provide assistance for formula for infants will not provide money for diapers. This means that the limited and stretched budgets of many households force these children to do without.
There are many ways to get involved, you can start a local diaper bank (and a great resource to start is http://www.thediaperbank.org/), you can donate diapers to Huggies or one of these diaper banks, or simply donate money to one of these organizations - Huggies has a list of many organizations that will help get these babies diapers.
Regardless of how you may feel about the mother, the circumstance, or otherwise, the issue here is that babies are going without. I think this is a travesty, and that is why I am supporting these charities.
Breast Feeding in Public
As a soon-to-be father of triplets, and a full-time student, saving money is an absolute necessity, and that is why we are planning, hoping and praying to be able to breast feed our babies. Although some recent protections, ad campaigns and general sentiment have fostered a renewed interest, understanding and general acceptance of breast feeding - even in public, a recent article in Ohio caught my eye. http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2010/07/29/news/doc4c517c8de687b089655038.txt
This article details how a mother, who was "discretely" breast feeding her baby in a store, was forced and escorted by store personnel out of the public area and into a dressing room. The store subsequently issued an appology for their behavior.
Even with the recent "advances" of the image of breastfeeding, people frowning and harassing mothers trying to feed their children. The problem with this, is that this doesn't hurt the mother, this hurts the child. The child, who is starving and hungry needs to be fed, and the mother, who is simply trying to take care of her baby is the one injured by this type of behavior. Not only is breast feeding a way for an overly-cost-burdened mother to save money, it is proven to be much better for a baby's health. Harassing a mother who is simply trying to do the best thing for her child and putting her child's needs over her own is obnoxious.
This article details how a mother, who was "discretely" breast feeding her baby in a store, was forced and escorted by store personnel out of the public area and into a dressing room. The store subsequently issued an appology for their behavior.
Even with the recent "advances" of the image of breastfeeding, people frowning and harassing mothers trying to feed their children. The problem with this, is that this doesn't hurt the mother, this hurts the child. The child, who is starving and hungry needs to be fed, and the mother, who is simply trying to take care of her baby is the one injured by this type of behavior. Not only is breast feeding a way for an overly-cost-burdened mother to save money, it is proven to be much better for a baby's health. Harassing a mother who is simply trying to do the best thing for her child and putting her child's needs over her own is obnoxious.
Disposable Diapers de-mystified
In March of 2010, I found out that I would be the father of triplets. A full-time-student, and dependent on my wife for our family's income, I began to panic. I kept thinking, how will I afford three babies, when I was expecting one. Then I thought about, how will I afford formula, diapers, wipes and all of the other things that babies burn through. Babies are expensive, something I learned quickly. I started looking at everything, trying to figure out how I would stay in school, by saving money on the consumables.
The first thing I looked at was hiring a diaper service and using cloth diapers. Something everyone told me to do to save money. Maybe on a singleton, but buying disposable diapers in bulk for three babies proved quickly to be a substantial savings over a diaper service or cloth diapers. Although slightly uncomfortable with the ecological impact of using disposable diapers, I soon learned that cloth diapering caused just as much ecological damage to the environment as disposables (through excess use of water, use of detergents and other pollutants), cloth diapering is regarded as almost as damaging as disposables.
After realizing no savings (and actually quite a bit more money would be spent on a diaper service), we decided to go the route of disposables. I had to make this work, so I started researching and trying to find out what the keys were to getting the best deal on diapers. The first thing was that I needed to figure out the basic cost per diaper. With three babies, I will use 30, that is 3-0 diapers per day, and I soon figured out that the packs of 10 diapers at the gas station cost roughly $1.00 per diaper. Therefore, buying diapers at the gas station would cost me $30.00 per day, or more disturbingly $12,000 per year. Then I looked at the grocery store, and when shopping on sale, the price dropped to $0.15 to $0.45 per diaper. Still, this is as $1,642.50 to $4,927.50 per year price range. If I could only buy diapers at $0.15 per diaper, I would be golden.
The problem is, that I can and I cannot. I found out that as diapers increase in size, the quantity decreases, and therefore, the price will get higher as my children age, but... and an important but... my children will use less diapers. So, therefore, it seems that as my kids age, the price of their diapers should remain constant.
This was slightly comforting, but the fact remained the same, how would I figure out if I was getting a good deal or not. Then I figured out these three facts:
1.Buying diapers online saves money, hands down (for the most part)
2.Clipping coupons and buying a small pack (or several packs) can beat an online deal easily
3.If you are unable to buy online and do not have any coupons ready, make sure you have a calculator with you and prepare to go to several stores to find that elusive pack of diapers (regardless of the size) at the sweet $0.20 per diaper pricing.
So, the key is figuring out the price per diaper. What you do, is you divide the price by the number of diapers in the package. This should give you the all-important PPD (or price per diaper). Then you know if you have a good deal. After logging thousands of diaper sizes, products, categories, sizes and prices, I learned a few things of interest. The first is, that you never know if the online vendor is cheaper than the gas station around the corner. If the gas station around the cornier is cheaper, buy up all of their stock. The second thing is that buying the biggest quantity available is usually the last thing you want to do (unless you are at a wholesale club like BJ's). Most of the time, the most expensive, super, jumbo, mega cases are more expensive, at least per diaper, than the smaller, medium sized package. So, if you want the best deal, you need to do the math, but it is a small price to pay for savings - at least if you have triplets on the way.
The first thing I looked at was hiring a diaper service and using cloth diapers. Something everyone told me to do to save money. Maybe on a singleton, but buying disposable diapers in bulk for three babies proved quickly to be a substantial savings over a diaper service or cloth diapers. Although slightly uncomfortable with the ecological impact of using disposable diapers, I soon learned that cloth diapering caused just as much ecological damage to the environment as disposables (through excess use of water, use of detergents and other pollutants), cloth diapering is regarded as almost as damaging as disposables.
After realizing no savings (and actually quite a bit more money would be spent on a diaper service), we decided to go the route of disposables. I had to make this work, so I started researching and trying to find out what the keys were to getting the best deal on diapers. The first thing was that I needed to figure out the basic cost per diaper. With three babies, I will use 30, that is 3-0 diapers per day, and I soon figured out that the packs of 10 diapers at the gas station cost roughly $1.00 per diaper. Therefore, buying diapers at the gas station would cost me $30.00 per day, or more disturbingly $12,000 per year. Then I looked at the grocery store, and when shopping on sale, the price dropped to $0.15 to $0.45 per diaper. Still, this is as $1,642.50 to $4,927.50 per year price range. If I could only buy diapers at $0.15 per diaper, I would be golden.
The problem is, that I can and I cannot. I found out that as diapers increase in size, the quantity decreases, and therefore, the price will get higher as my children age, but... and an important but... my children will use less diapers. So, therefore, it seems that as my kids age, the price of their diapers should remain constant.
This was slightly comforting, but the fact remained the same, how would I figure out if I was getting a good deal or not. Then I figured out these three facts:
1.Buying diapers online saves money, hands down (for the most part)
2.Clipping coupons and buying a small pack (or several packs) can beat an online deal easily
3.If you are unable to buy online and do not have any coupons ready, make sure you have a calculator with you and prepare to go to several stores to find that elusive pack of diapers (regardless of the size) at the sweet $0.20 per diaper pricing.
So, the key is figuring out the price per diaper. What you do, is you divide the price by the number of diapers in the package. This should give you the all-important PPD (or price per diaper). Then you know if you have a good deal. After logging thousands of diaper sizes, products, categories, sizes and prices, I learned a few things of interest. The first is, that you never know if the online vendor is cheaper than the gas station around the corner. If the gas station around the cornier is cheaper, buy up all of their stock. The second thing is that buying the biggest quantity available is usually the last thing you want to do (unless you are at a wholesale club like BJ's). Most of the time, the most expensive, super, jumbo, mega cases are more expensive, at least per diaper, than the smaller, medium sized package. So, if you want the best deal, you need to do the math, but it is a small price to pay for savings - at least if you have triplets on the way.
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