How to Use a Diaper Genie II Without Buying Refills

A long time ago (actually as recently as March) I worked at a child development center in the toddler classroom.  I worked with a herd of 12 toddlers, eight hours a day, five days a week.  We weren't one of those centers that required children to be potty trained so I ended up changing a lot of diapers.  Of course, you don't want diapers stinking up the classroom so for a long time poopy diapers were just thrown into a trash can right outside the classroom door.  It was kind of a pain in the tuchus.  

Then, a miracle happened.  We had an amazing intern in our classroom who saw our plight and bought us a diaper genie.  It was awesome...until we ran out of the bags.  We were a non-profit center and we couldn't afford to keep buying refill after refill.  Thankfully, I was unwilling to sacrifice my new found convenient diaper disposal method and I figured out how to jury-rig (yes jury and not jerry) the diaper genie with regular bags.  So follow me you money saving mommies (& daddies) to learn the way...

Keep reading to learn how to make me less expensive!

What you'll need:

• A diaper genie
• A 10 gallon bag
• A blue bag holder (Yes, I know.  You only need one though.  The diaper genies come with one so you should have one already. If you bought your genie at a yard sale, I promise you only need to buy one)
• A largish rubber band

Supplies

 1. Open up your bag and put it through the middle of the refill from the bottom.  Only about 2-3 inches should stick up over the top. 

 

2.  Tuck that 2-3 inches into the gap in the refill.

3. To secure the bag in place use a large rubber band (I used a large hair tie because that's all I had handy) and place it in the gap as well, holding the bag into place.

4.  Open up the diaper genie and put the bag in through the top and click the refill place.  I find it helps if you put your hand into the bag while you hold the diaper genie open with your foot and push the bag as far down as you can. 

Ta da!

Just remember you will need to replace the bag more often since you don't have the crazy stretchy bags that come in the refills; but, it's super easy to change and a heck of a lot cheaper.  I hope it helps other mamas!