I keep ALL my empty nappy bags & get cash for them using a little-known app – it doesn’t even matter where you buy them
A MUM has revealed the savvy reason she keeps all of her empty nappy bags.
Laura joked she has an “unhealthy addiction” to collecting the bags that the nappies come in when they’re all used up.
But she has a good reason for doing so “because every one of these will be worth a pound if I take it back to Boots“.
However, getting the money takes time, as she has to scan all the codes in to the little-known Boots recycling scheme app, and then into the Pampers app.
And it’s not just the empty nappy bags that earn cash either – Laura also keeps the packaging once she’s used up wet wipes too.
She counted everything up, and discovered she had 19 empty nappy bags and 13 empty packs of wipes.
“So that’s about £32 of Boots points if I send all this packaging back to Boots,” Laura said.
“But first we have to scan all of these on our Pampers app for the points.”
She then headed down to Boots, but wasn’t aware there was a daily limit to the amount of codes you could scan in, so she had to note down the other codes for another day.
“I’ve scanned 14 packs of nappies, one bag of nappy bags and 13 packs of wipes,” Laura said.
“Now we just have to wait for the Boots app to approve them so we can drop them off in store.
“And also we have to wait for tomorrow to load up the rest of the codes on the Pampers rewards app.”
Laura was then inundated with questions in the comments section, with one person asking: “I thought you could only get up to £5 for boots at one time, and then you have to spend it in the shop that day and can’t build up your points.
” Is that true?”
To which Laura replied: “It is £5 of points at a time but once the points are in your card they’re on there until you spend them, so you can save them up.”
“I have never heard of this! So clever!” another praised.
“Do you need to have bought the nappies/wipes at Boots?”
“No you don’t,” Laura said.
Five savvy mum hacks to save you a fortune
ANY parent knows just how pricey it can be to feed the kids - especially if they're a fan of branded, expensive products. But there are a few hacks that can help save you money, as mum-of-two and Fabulous Digital Senior Reporter Sarah Bull explained:
Batch cook
This is a hack that lots of mums, including myself, swear by. One thing I like to do is batch cook a tomato sauce – hiding a load of vegetables inside, including carrots, peppers and onion. Once it’s cooled, pop it into an ice cube tray to freeze. Then you can pop out the portions and bag up – ready to use for anything from a pasta sauce to a pizza base.
Home Happy meal
You’d be hard pushed to find a kid who doesn’t like McDonald’s. But with Happy Meals now priced at £3.89 each, it can be pricey getting them for your children – especially if you’ve got more than two. But why not try making your own home? Keep the packaging from your last trip to McDonald’s and cook up some chicken nuggets and fries in the air fryer. Pop a budget toy in a little bag and serve with a Fruit Shoot for a budget-friendly at home Happy Meal.
Make use of leftovers
If you’re savvy enough to plan things in advance, you can make use of leftovers to keep your kids sustained for another day. If you make something like pizza, for example, why not make enough for lunch the next day too? Lots of kids actually prefer cold pizza, and it’s especially useful if you make packed lunches for yours.
Get the kids involved
Not specifically a budget hack, but one that I’ve found always helps encourage kids to eat things they haven’t tried before. I’ve cooked things like fajitas, and put the ingredients all in different bowls, before getting the kids to make their own. While I’ve put out their favourites – like chicken, cheese and cucumber – I’ve also popped pepper and lettuce in a bowl. And, much to my delight, they both sampled that in their fajitas. What a score!
Ditch the brands
One thing that can make shopping much more expensive than it needs to be is going for branded products. We always used to be a family that swore by Heinz ketchup, refusing to go for anything else, but with the price of that shooting up, we’ve swapped for supermarket own brand ketchup and saved loads – especially considering how much of it we get through. If your kids are less than willing to make that swap, why not put the unbranded product in the branded product’s packaging and see if they notice the difference?
“Can be from anywhere.
“Doesn’t even need to be nappies/wipes – can also be make-up empties too!!!”
“Wish I’d of known this!” someone else sighed.
“I have twin girls who are now 2 – I cannot even explain how many nappies and wipes we went through daily!”
“Where do you scan them on the Boots app?” another asked.
With Laura replying: “It’s a separate app for the Boots recycling scheme!”