Like many moms with young kids, I’m always on the lookout for great deals on diapers and other baby products. As an avid online shopper, I’ve often wondered how to use Amazon subscribe and save on diapers. Was subscribe & save worth it for baby items?
Doesn’t it sound amazing? Diapers just show up at your door each month.
You never again have to make an emergency trip to the store because you forgot to buy diapers and ran out… or maybe that only happens to me.
Seems easy enough, but is it a good deal?
I stay on a tight budget so finding diaper deals is basically my life. In fact, I often opt for generic store brand diapers to save a bundle. I even compared a bunch of different brands and wrote a whole post about it that you can read here.
Though I tend to shop around for deals, I also love the convenience of ordering from Amazon.
But I was hesitant to try subscribe & save. Subscriptions sounded like a complicated commitment.
It turns out that I was totally wrong and worried for no reason. Subscribe & save is easy to use and can save you big bucks on diapers and other baby items.
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What is Amazon Subscribe & Save?
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You are able to schedule these products to be automatically delivered on a recurring basis where you get to decide the delivery date and frequency.
By subscribing you get a discount on these products ranging from 5% to as much as 20%.
If you buy diapers from Amazon, you are leaving money on the table if you don’t subscribe & save.
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Here are tips to get the best deal on diapers using Amazon subscribe & save:
How to use Amazon Subscribe & Save for 20% off Diapers
If you have shopped for diapers on Amazon then you’ve likely seen the “Subscribe & Save
Anyone can subscribe and get the 5% off discount, but how do I save more? How do I save get that coveted 20% off my diapers?
There are 2 things you have to do to get that 20% off:
#1: You Must Be an Amazon Prime Member
To get 20% off diapers through Amazon Family you have to be an Amazon Prime Member.
If you’re unsure about joining Amazon Prime, the subscribe & save discount is just one of the many perks. You also get free 2 day shipping, video and music streaming, and exclusive deals. You can even try Amazon Prime FREE for 30 days!
If you aren’t a prime member you can still subscribe & save to get 5% off as well as free standard shipping.
#2: You Must Order 5 Items
You need to have 5 subscription items delivered that month to receive the 20% discount on diapers.
The items have to be subscriptions and they all must be delivered to the same address.
I hate to fall into the trap of spending more to save a little, but luckily Amazon offers subscriptions on tons of items that I buy anyway.
In addition to diapers, you can get 20% off of subscriptions for baby food, formula, and lot of other baby items.
To get your 5 items there are also many household products like toilet paper, detergent, toothpaste, and even groceries that you can subscribe to for a 5% – 15% discount
Keep in mind that you don’t have to get deliveries every month and that you can cancel your subscription at any time. Unless you know that you need to have monthly deliveries, consider scheduling your orders every few months giving you plenty of time to cancel or adjust your frequency to get it sooner if needed.
Having trouble finding 5 items? Consider adding a few inexpensive items. Mashup Mom lists 20 cheap subscribe & save items that you can add and updates it every week.
Read Debating Name-Brand vs. Generic Diapers
Use Amazon Coupons to Save More
Did you know that Amazon has coupons?
I didn’t. But Amazon actually offers lots of coupons on tons of different products.
You can browse through the subscribe & save coupons and even sort by Baby coupons.
Just click on Clip Coupon and it will automatically be applied when you checkout.
It’s important to note that the coupon only applies to the first order of your subscription.
You can also look for coupons on the actual product pages. They’ll appear in as a green button under the price. Click on the green button to clip the coupon.
The coupons do change frequently so be sure to check regularly.
Read Diaper Essentials You Absolutely Need to Have
Always Check Your Reminder Email
You’ll receive an email a few days before your subscription is shipped with the information for that order.
I know inboxes get busy, but make sure you read this email!
First, make sure that you are receiving 5 items to get your maximum discount.
Second, Amazon prices fluctuate all the time, so you want to check prices carefully. If you keep these emails it will be easy to compare to your last order and spot an increase.
Finally, make changes to your order if needed. It’s easy to modify your order in Amazon, from skipping the next order to changing the delivery date to cancelling a subscription all in just a couple clicks.
Staying on top of your subscriptions will get you better deals than just setting them for delivery and forgetting about them.
Read Are You Packing the Diaper Bag Wrong?
How Many Diapers Do I Need?
When you subscribe, you select a quantity and frequency for delivery. One concern some moms have about diaper subscriptions is not knowing how many diapers to order.
This can definitely be tricky since you need to have enough, but since babies grow so quickly you don’t want to end up with a ton of extra diapers that are suddenly too small.
You can ballpark it with a general average which is often between 6-10 diapers per day. This doesn’t take into account that babies use fewer diapers as as they get older.
This diaper calculator tool takes into account average baby growth to help estimate how many diapers you’ll need in each size which is pretty cool.
For instance, my 1 year old uses 5 – 6 diapers/day pretty consistently right now. However, as a newborn he usually used 9 diapers/day.
I find that the most accurate way is to just keep track of my baby’s diapers for a few days to figure out a personal average.
Also make sure you evaluate your baby’s diaper fit each month before your order ships to get the right size. Because they grow super quickly at first, I would be extra careful about reorders for newborns and size 1 diapers.
Ultimately, remember that you can cancel your subscription at any time. You can subscribe to size 1 diapers, receive one delivery, and then cancel it to get a bigger size the next month.
The bottom line – If you buy from Amazon, you should definitely use Amazon subscribe and save on diapers.
To get the best deal: join Amazon Prime, receive 5 subscription items at a time, and use Amazon coupons. Also, keep on eye of the prices and modify/cancel subscriptions as needed.
Read What Brand of Diapers is the Best?
