Sheesh! The COST of diapers

[slimjiminy]

Being mostly on a pension now, with no insurance plan coverage, I have to be very IC cost conscious. I like the variety of choice at healthwick.ca but now with their raised prices, product raised prices and shipping costs, I've lately been forced to shop around. At Walmart I can still get 24 medium TENA Super briefs for about $1.24875 Cdn / $0.9099 US each, and no shipping if the order is large enough (usually just add one more item to meet the threshold).

My cost for the venerable NS MegaMax for example, is $4.599 Cdn ($3.3509 US) each from healthwick.ca before adding the $9 Cdn shipping fee for the order. That is a horrible cost per diaper to bear, when you need a month's worth. How do folks manage it? I am always amazed at the number of people here buying $4.xx Cdn class diapers.

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[CheshireCat]

I retired 2.5 years ago, sold my house, and moved across the USA to be near my grandkids. I spent several months driving around the country to visit family, friends, National Parks, etc. Got to my final destination and real estate was a mess because of the pandemic, so moved into an apartment for a year while I found a house. Bought a house after a year, and immediately started a massive remodel, which took a year.

I have always used cloth at home and disposables when not at home, but for the past 2.5 years I have been in disposables exclusively. Insurance does not cover incontinence supplies, so yes, diapers have been a major financial burden and I have gotten quite clever at using different quality product depending on need. The last job by a contractor got done this morning, so I will now have the privacy to use cloth at home again. Yay!

 

[parcelboy2]

I’m lucky that I live with mum and brother so share bills and I’m in a FT good paying job
I wear disposables at work and cloth at home

 

[Cottontail]

I'm not retired, and wear entirely by choice (as of this post). I pay for all of my diapers with post-tax discretionary spending money. I mainly wear reusable cloth diapers though, so that helps quite a lot with costs. Most of my diapers are 5+ years old, and some are older than 10.

 

[chamberpot]

I am retired and bare the cost of diapers by myself, I wear a premium overnight diaper and very cost effective pulls for daytime use, I work hard and funded my retirement and am pretty much in good shape in that department. I could get away without wearing during the day i think but am not interested in trying because I would rather be diapered up. just a cost that i am willing to accept

 

[Nowididit]

I don't need diapers. I want diapers.

I'll easily pay $4+ for premium ABDL diapers but never more than $1 for medical grade diapers. It's mostly about appearance for me. I'm not a medical grade diaper kinda guy.
My entire existence as a DL I dreamed of scaled up infant diaper to fit me. We're not quite there but damned close and I'm happy. So take my cash, I can afford it. I'll happily support ABU, Tykables, Bambino, and other ABDL diaper suppliers.

 

[Diaperman95]

I am disabled and on a tight budget. I wear only mega max or sometimes a seni pull up if I am not going to be in it long and want more discretion. I am lucky as Northshore has given me a life time 10% discount for being such a good customer. Then I get 5% off by doing the subscribe and save plan. I purchased a case and 3 bags this month and after tax and everything it was $201 Most of the time I do
1 1/2 cases and they cost me $169. Still enough to get free shipping but every few months I have to get a 3rd bag or even two cases. But I am in Mega Max for about $2.82 per diaper.

Now about 2 weeks a month I sleep with a condom catheter like I did last night and all this morning. They only cost about 2 dollars. But I hate the leg bag and I don't trust them enough to wear them without a diaper on. But they do keep me dry most the time and they are cheaper than diapers. I use the Holister extended wear catheters.

 

[nikthewerelion]

i’ve been on Social Security, my whole life for being disabled. I started out as a DL but only recently has my vision got drastically worse along with my frequency of urination going up along with possible accidents every so often. I’ve got my diabetes type two under control with pills but one of those is a diuretic that makes me pissed like crazy. Plus, I’m also losing the awareness of really needed to go very badly or being able to hold it for that long. So when you combine all these factors, I pretty much consider that I have incontinence issues as minor as they may be. So, Diapers is the only way for me to really still be independent and go do a lot of things I like to do. Or be able to make it through the days that I actually work. I get over-the-counter credits through my insurance on a monthly basis that I use for some cheaper diapers that I can use during the day when I’m at home. Like the cheap ones you can get at Walmart. But for the more expensive ones I’ve always had to pay out of pocket for that and I’m spending anywhere from two to $300 every other month or so.

 

[Wondercrinkee]

Yes!
They are very expensive, the "designer ones", and the others. I don't know the ramifications for how they price the "cutesy" patterns, the company manufacturers that charge to make them, or their map financial projections for sales to their fiscal year, but the polymer itself I am sure isn't very expensive to make (?) or the darn plastic outer shield (I wonder if they make biodegradable as a rule?).

I know they are cheap to make, like a pack of matches or a box of rubber bands (?), as anything made in bulk is cheaper with manufacturers. But this is the world of economical growth, making money, etc. (barter works a touch in small communities...not diaper ones, really)

But yeah, I pay through the nose, whatever that means. (I should look that saying up. lol). But I have to say, I am entirely grateful for when I really really truthfully need my "stash" of diapers. Sometimes I break a bone or two (rarely, but...), twist my ankle, or my back goes out big-time (I was in heavy sports when young and trashed my body). I mean BIG TIME. Like, "OW! F$%@!"; and even putting a diaper on is amazingly painful. I even had to resort to a catheter when my leg was totally broken in 3+ places. I wonder still how I pulled that off. lol! So, bless the excellent diapers out there.

But it's cruel about the prices. I just ordered a case for $105.00 of Rearz, Cabooses. Hmph. But I wonder if the sales they have, WHEN THEY HAPPEN; BUT NOT THIS TIME, are they just pull-date diapers? Beats me! But I know Confucious says: "A wise human has a stash of diapers for life!!!!" Possibly an astronomical amount. lol. (me).

I know I won't be able to have a nice selection forever, so I learned in life to bathe in what one can when one can, just don't get "pruney."

 

[ben0510]

I'm in the uk and yes I agree they are expensive for what they are. I wear nappies because

 

[ben0510]

Because i like to. not because I have to. but when you weigh up the cost and then what you are gunna do with them, seems a lot of money.

 

[MetalDan86]

The last two choices are applicable for me, being not retired and enjoying my DL fetish by choice. Early on I was much more frugal in diaper purchases. For example; I used to only buy Bambino diapers when they had holiday sales (*something that the other ABDL companies seemed to neglect) but now I have to enough income that I could purchase a case or so a month without breaking the bank. Really happy with where I am in life now. 😀

 

[greatlake5]

I have always used cloth at home and disposables when not at home

Sometimes I've considered using cloth at home. I guess I'm kind of lazy (don't like having to wash dirty cloth diapers). Money has never been an issue. They just seem to be more comfortable. I actually tried them a few times. But like I said I don't like washing diapers in the laundry. Besides I use a cleaning lady (a really great Polish lady) who also does my laundry. She know that I'm IC and washes my plastic pants and compression shorts. Almost daily I have BM accidents while sleeping so if I was wearing a cloth diaper, washing them would come to her.

Do you wear a disposable liner to reduce any poop on the cloth diaper? For me it feels like disposables loses the feeling of cloth?

The original poster discussed costs. I agree about them buying their own products. Using to reduce costs could help with cloth diapers. For some of us who don't worry about costs, wearing disposables are simply convenient (though I feel guilty about landfills).

 

[Eclectic]

I wear 24/7 because I have severe urge IC. In the US, and especially in my home state of Florida, private insurance companies and Medicare, which is insurance for retired people, will not pay for medical diapers. Which means you are left paying through pretax flexible spending accounts, if you are working and your employer has that, or out of pocket. I buy out of pocket in bulk and on sale. I also wear cloth prefolds most nights.

There has been a push in Florida and other states to make diaper purchases tax free. That has not happened in Florida yet because of the inept and corrupt politicians we have here.

 

[CheshireCat]

@greatlake5 I had only had a couple of incidences of fecal incontinence before I retired. It's been gaining speed since, especially the last 10 months. I need to find some liners before I wear again. Just hasn't been high on the priority list until now. All I know is having to clean a major BM from cloth diapers may put me off of them forever. I've used micro fleece as a toss in liner in the past to keep Desitin out of the diapers, but I don't think it will be effective for poop. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Eclectic]

@greatlake5 I had only had a couple of incidences of fecal incontinence before I retired. It's been gaining speed since, especially the last 10 months. I need to find some liners before I wear again. Just hasn't been high on the priority list until now. All I know is having to clean a major BM from cloth diapers may put me off of them forever. I've used micro fleece as a toss in liner in the past to keep Desitin out of the diapers, but I don't think it will be effective for poop. I'll let you know how it goes.

For decades now, I have used flat curity baby diapers as a liner. I also use a disposable liner too. Both help keep the mess from getting all over the prefold. A bm in a cloth diaper is a bit harder to deal with, but I’ve dealt with it many times. You can also attach a small sprayer to your toilet hose to get the poo off in the toilet before throwing it in a diaper pail or quick wash cycle.

 

[CheshireCat]

For decades now, I have used flat curity baby diapers as a liner. I also use a disposable liner too. Both help keep the mess from getting all over the prefold. A bm in a cloth diaper is a bit harder to deal with, but I’ve dealt with it many times. You can also attach a small sprayer to your toilet hose to get the poo off in the toilet before throwing it in a diaper pail or quick wash cycle.

Thanks for the input. I've got the flat diapers I use as liners/boosters, but have never needed to be prepared for cleanup on aisle 2. What brand of disposable liner do you use? I should order some immediately.

 

[Eclectic]

Thanks for the input. I've got the flat diapers I use as liners/boosters, but have never needed to be prepared for cleanup on aisle 2. What brand of disposable liner do you use? I should order some immediately.

Not sure. My wife ordered them for our son, so they are made for small children not adults. She probably got them on Amazon. They are about as wide as an adult prefolds center panel. I haven’t found any larger ones for adult cloth diapers. Let me know if you find any because, if they weren’t too expensive, I’d want them.

 

[TheBob]

All the good diapers are expensive.

 

[Newbaby110521]

I was not entirely sure how to answer this because I’m fully continent but as I use diapers in ABDL I pay for them. I am currently unemployed (looking for work) but because I live in the UK I am on universal credit which is supplemented by my Personal Independence Payment or PIP for short. Some may say my benefit shouldn’t be used for things like this but what is better for me in the long run spending my money on diapers or spending my money on tobacco or booze?