The Must Haves

Friday, Natalie will turn one-month old and now that we have this whole parenting thing figured out I thought I would share some thoughts on some of these things we just had to have. There are a number of items that seem, let’s say extravagant, like the diaper caddy, the turtle that floats in the bath water with a digital temperature reading, but I’m giving the biggest scam passed on to parents as.....The Diaper Genie, or the Diaper Genie Elite II...whatever.

First of all, congrats to the guy or gal at playtex that came up with thing. It’s gotta be a cash cow for them with HUGE margins. Let’s start with the price, I believe it’s right around $30 and the refills are about $6 or $15 for a set of three.

For those that haven’t seen the diaper genie, it’s about a two foot tall white cylinder with a foot pedal to open the lid (not exactly groundbreaking technology). It does have a set of claws at the top that open up and close after the diaper goes down into the holding area. So you essentially have a double seal there, the lid and the claws which seal the bag. Needless to say, there is no odor, but we dump Natalie’s diapers in our bathroom trashcan with no lid occasionally and I don’t smell anything anyway.

Meanwhile, our 13-gallon rubbermaid trash can with a lid locks in smells really well. That was $24 dollars and is every bit of 13 gallons so it holds a full bag of trash. Bags that cost anywhere from $4-$7 for 30-40 bags.

At this point you might be wondering how many “bags” are produced from the Diaper Genie refill. Well, we just finished our first refill and guess how many bags...5, that’s 5 not 50, 5! So thats about $1 a bag. Plus you make the bag yourself. You pull the plastic out, tie the bottom and when it’s full, you cut it from the refill ring, tie it and start the process over leaving you a log of diapers to take to the trash can. I’m not a math wizard, but 5 refills for about $5 compared to 30 bags for the same price (that hold more) seems a bit off. Plus, when there are no more babies, no more need for this specially designed trash can. 

I think Tiffany has even figured out that it’s a bit of scam. Her point is that it looks nicer than our trashcan in the kitchen. My point is that they make white rubbermaid trash cans that would look fine in a nursery. My advice, no need for the Diaper Genie.....it only makes your money disappear.