A mum has revealed why she keeps all her empty diaper bags.
Laura joked that she has an “unhealthy addiction” to collecting the bags that the diapers are in when they’re all used up.
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But she has a good reason for this, “because if I take them back to Boots, they’ll all be worth a pound”.
However, it takes time to get the money, as she first has to scan all the codes in the little-known Boots recycling app and then in the Pampers app.
And it’s not just the empty diaper bags that make money: Laura also keeps the packaging from the wipes she uses.
She added it all up and discovered she had 19 empty diaper bags and 13 empty wipe packages.
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“If I send all this packaging back to Boots, I would get about £32 in Boots points,” says Laura.
“But first we have to scan them all in our Pampers app for the points.”
She then walked to Boots, but she didn’t know that there was a daily limit to the number of codes you could scan, so she had to write down the remaining codes for another day.
“I scanned 14 packs of diapers, one bag of diaper bags and 13 packs of wipes,” said Laura.
“Now we just have to wait for the Boots app to approve them so we can drop them off in store.
“And we also have to wait until tomorrow to load the rest of the codes into the Pampers rewards app.”
Laura was then inundated with questions in the comments, with one person saying: “I thought you could only get £5 at a time for boots, and you had to spend the amount in store that day and then you couldn’t collect points.
“Is that true?”
To which Laura replied: “You save £5 in points each time, but once the points are on your card they stay there until you spend them, so you can save them up.”
“I’ve never heard of this! So clever!” praised another.
“Did you really have to buy the nappies/wipes at Boots?”
“No, you don’t,” said Laura.
Five Smart Mom Tricks to Save a Fortune
EVERY parent knows how expensive it can be to feed the kids – especially if they’re a fan of expensive brand-name products. But there are a few tricks that can save you money, as mum-of-two and Fabulous Digital Senior Reporter Sarah Bull explained:
Batch cooking
This is a trick that many moms, including myself, swear by. I like to batch cook tomato sauce, hiding a load of veggies including carrots, peppers, and onions. Once it’s cooled, transfer it to an ice cube tray and freeze it. Then you can pop out the portions and put them in a bag, ready to use for everything from pasta sauce to pizza crust.
Home Fine meal
You’d be hard-pressed to find a child who doesn’t love McDonald’s. But with Happy Meals now costing £3.89 each, buying them for your kids can be pricey – especially if you have more than two. But why not give them a try yourself? Save the packaging from your last McDonald’s visit and air fry some chicken nuggets and fries. Pop a budget toy in a baggie and serve with a Fruit Shoot for a budget-friendly Happy Meal to make at home.
Make use of leftovers
If you’re smart enough to plan ahead, you can use leftovers to keep your kids eating for another day. For example, if you’re making pizza, why not make enough for lunch the next day? Many kids prefer their pizza cold, and it’s especially helpful if you pack lunches for them.
Get the children involved
Not exactly a budget trick, but one that always encourages kids to try things they haven’t tried before. I’ve made things like fajitas and put the ingredients in different bowls before letting the kids make their own. While I put their favorites, like chicken, cheese, and cucumber, I also put peppers and lettuce in a bowl. And to my delight, they tasted both of those in their fajitas. What a score!
Leave the brands alone
One thing that can make shopping a lot more expensive than it needs to be is buying branded products. We used to be a family that swore by Heinz ketchup and refused to buy anything else, but now that the price has skyrocketed we’ve switched to the supermarket’s own brand ketchup and have saved a lot – especially considering how much we eat. If your kids aren’t keen on making the switch, why not put the generic product in the branded packaging and see if they can tell the difference?
“Could come from anywhere.
“It doesn’t even have to be diapers or wipes – it can be empty makeup bags!!!”
“If only I had known!” sighed someone else.
“I have 2 year old twins. I can’t even explain how many diapers and wipes we used daily!”
“Where do you scan them in the Boots app?” asked another.
To which Laura replied: “It’s a separate app for the Boots recycling programme!”
