Homegrown: Veggies, Herbs, and More!

It's that time of year again; SPRING! Though here in New England, the spring weather is just a tease right now, it's right around the corner. The trees are budding, the flowers are sprouting, and I have an itch to garden.

Which is strange, since I used to hate helping my mom in the garden.

Seriously though, I really have been having the itch to garden. I'm not very interested in flowers; they're pretty and all, but that's about it. So I decided (and we've talked about it so many times) to start a vegetable garden. I thought it would be pretty difficult seeing as how we live in a corporate building and there isn't much of anywhere to actually plant anything. Then I went to my parents' house and my dad showed me his garden (he's growing basil and rosemary I think. or is it Thyme..) and I knew I could do it to! (Because anyone who has been reading this blog knows that I do just about anything my parents do)

So I high tailed it to Job Lot and bought:

 

THIS AWESOME STARTER GREENHOUSE THINGY!

This was perfect for me for a number of reasons.

1. I have nowhere to grow
2. I have limited space indoors (seriously I have almost no counters with sun)
   
3. It was cheap

Mine came with 36 little peat moss pads for $5! FIVE DOLLARS. I'm pretty sure that's cheap! (The one pictured retails at $8.99 for 25 peat pads.)


It was super easy to use. I just had to water the pads until they expanded to the point of not taking anymore water in, sowed my seeds of choice, covered with a little bit of potting soil (you can probably get something more super awesome), misted it, covered it, put it in a sunny window. BOOM. Greenhouse.


I have two. One is the 36 seeder where I have:

• Tomatoes
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini
• Scallions
• Baby Spinach
• Green Beans

Then a 10 seeder that I have:

• Bell peppers (A variety of colours so I have no idea)
• Jalepeno peppers

Once these little guys reach transporting size (and I'm praying that they do), I'll be putting them in (painted of course) terra cotta pots outside. My house is conveniently built where if I go out the back, there's a section of the roof that is about waist high and gets full sunlight. :)


I will keep everyone updated on the progress of these plants and I encourage you all to make a mini garden and keep me updated! (I think this whole operation cost me all of $15)


Happy Gardening!


:: Celeste

The Importance of eBay and Craigslist Part Two: Craigslist

Welcome to part two the eBay/Craigslist lecture. Now that we're all professional eBayers (did you buy anything yet?), let's talk about an equally convenient, yet vastly different avenue.

Craigslist

Craigslist is definitely more intimidating that eBay. With eBay, unless there is an issue, everything is handled electronically and there is no person-to-person communication. Craigslist is just the opposite. Maybe you prefer it, maybe you're like me and think every person on Craigslist is an axe murderer. Loosen up and listen up. 

CL is like the Salvation Army of the internet. It has everything. At first when Adam started using it, I was totally sketched out. I mean, the layout of the website is so basic it looks like it's been slapped together by some weirdo living in his mom's basement. (I hope the guy doesn't still love with his mom; I'll feel bad about that comment) Also, the idea of him going out to meet strangers who are selling things like phones (he was big on buying and selling parts for his phone for a while) was TOTALLY freaky. It didn't help that we lived in a bad part of town at the time and I was convinced everyone could just open fire at any moment. 

Then we sold a musical instrument. We drove an hour away from home to a mattress store to meet two Brazilian men who wanted to take a look at it. It was just us, them, and the mattresses. I guess one of the guys wanted it for his brother back in Brazil. I wouldn't know; he was speaking Portuguese pretty much the whole time.

In the end, no one came out from the back room with a gun, no one followed us to the car, and we went home $1200 richer. Granted we used it to turn our heat and hot water back on, but still. It was pretty sweet.

Since then, we have been using it for a whole bunch of things. Adam uses it to grow his business as a music teacher. Many people post on CL looking for a guitar or piano teacher, a musician to play at their wedding or party, and even studios looking to hire teachers. Craigslist is responsible for making it possible for me to stay at home with Nikolai. Thanks, Craigslist.

Craigslist is also a shopping mall for... well it's a shopping mall. Adam did all his big ticket Christmas shopping for me on Craigslist. Sounds weird, I mean, going out and buying people's used stuff for a Christmas present? Saved us hundreds. I got:

• A Wii
• A hard drive with 80 Wii games
• A moving water picture (like in the Chinese restaurants! I always wanted one)
• A Digital photo frame
• A Camcorder 

Not that I was adamant about getting any big ticket items, but when he told me the Wii and HD with 80 games cost him $125 altogether, I was so proud of him!

Some of the items were brand new, but even the ones that were second hand, it hardly matters once it's hooked up or hung up on the wall! Why pay more than you have to?

One of my favourite CL purchases are my Valentine's day decorations. Being a new family, we don't have a big collection of decorations like my parents do. A lady had too many, so she sorted out the ones she didn't want anymore, put them in a bin and put them up for sale on CL. $25 later, my house is all Valentine's out! Beat that, Martha Stewart.

But Craigslist isn't all about buying and selling. There's a pet section, a job section, apartments, cars, classes, rants and raves, personal ads, volunteer groups, and just about anything else you might want to search for in your area. (or in other areas!)

For the avid Craigslisters (Adam), there are the smartphone apps. Craigslist Pro for the iPhone and Craigsnotifica for Android. These apps allow on the go CLing, searching within x miles of your zip code, and registering different keywords. Definitely worth checking out.

Like any other website, you do have to be careful. Meeting in a public place is probably best and because I'm a baby, I suggest power in numbers. Meet with a buddy. Be smart about meeting up with strangers. Also, if you're 14, please don't even read this post.

Happy Craigslisting!

:: Celeste

The Importance of eBay and Craigslist Part One: eBay

Aside from Facebook and Twitter, Craigslist and eBay are probably the most widely talked about sites on the internet. Okay, maybe that's not true. Google, Yahoo, YouTube.. well still, they're pretty popular! Unfortunately, it seems that both sites are not looked upon to kindly by the public. It's always "oh, you have to watch out on eBay." or "Be careful with Craigslist. It's sketchy." Well let me tell you something: they're right.

But we're not going to talk about why you have to be careful on eBay and why Craigslist is kind of sketch. I'm going to talk about why both sites are awesome. And, if you use your common sense properly and follow my tips and tricks, both will lead you to savings savings savings.

eBay

Hello, Hong Kong! My personal favourite thing about shopping on eBay is buying from international sellers, particularly the Chinese. I've gotten things from diapers, to dresses, to cell phone cases to corsets-- all from China. The only thing is you have to wait about a month for your package to come in, so don't buy anything you need in less than a month. It's probably not economically friendly to be buying from out of the country, but when my wallet says I can dish out $20 for a screen protector for my phone instead of $0.99 (and free shipping!), then I'll buy in the USA. Besides, with my extra $19.01 I can go to a locally owned pizza parlor instead of $5 medium any topping Dominos crap. I like to think it evens out.

Gems: I don't mean actual rhinestones. I mean the diamonds in the rough. The 'one man's trash' deal. There are things that people will put online just to get rid of, and they don't even know what they have.

Auctions vs. Buy it Now: You have to use your judgment here. I usually refine my searches to exclude auctions because I can't be bothered to wait. (I don't spend much time on eBay looking for gems) A lot of times with  auctions though, especially if it's not that popular of an item, you can save some money. I find that with the things I buy that have similar items for auction, have flipped prices. The buy it now might be $5.00 with $0.99 shipping and the auction will be $0.99 with $5 shipping, so keep your eyes peeled for those sorts of things.

eBay Stores: I tend to shop from eBay Stores as opposed to the 'individual' sellers. I feel more secure and more confident about my purchase knowing that it's not just coming from a box in someone's attic (that's where Craigslist comes in!). eBay stores will also link you to other, similar seller's stores if you don't see what you are looking for. It's a great way to do online shopping.

The Dos and Don'ts (By Celeste Leigh. To be followed at the buyers discretion)

• Do get a PayPal account. PayPal is safe, secure, and quick. As a buyer, you will be rated by the seller. Sellers like quick payments and PayPal will go through immediately. You also do not have to give any personal information to the seller which is better for everyone.
• Do check the seller's rating. I normally don't buy from anyone who has less than 98% positive feedback. You can click on the little number next to the % to view the feedback left by previous people this person has made a transaction with--both buyers and sellers.
• Do real all the information provided about a product. People who sell on eBay for a living will make even the cheesiest things look super gorgeous. Double check sizing. I had the misfortune of buying (the cutest) dress because I didn't properly measure myself. When I got the dress in the mail, I ran upstairs to my room to try it on. Got it on, looked at myself in the mirror and went; "OMG I LOOK SO CUTE." turned around, and got a full shot of my panties. Needless to say I was taller than the model. 
• Don't buy used clothing, bedding, electronics, phones, what have you. Well, you can if you want, but I personally advise against it. You can see as many photos of the item as you want, but if it isn't brand new, you never know how you are going to receive it. Unless the seller lives nearby, chances are you won't be able to look over the product before making your purchase. (Though I encourage you to sell these things. People will buy anything! Isn't that terrible?)
• Don't forget to read about the seller's return policy. 
• Don't buy Coach products on eBay. Or any designer for that matter. You are not getting a deal. People go to the outlets (I used to work for Coach, I know how it goes) and buy the bags/accessories SUPER CHEAP because outlets are great and then sell them for just under the MSRP, turning around and pulling a huge profit. Please, for the sake of retail employees and the frustration it causes, do not give re-sellers the victory.

I feel like I had more to say on eBay but I can't think of anything else at the moment. Like I said before, shop using your common sense and you will do fine. Beware of shipping though. Something may look like a good deal, but then the shipping is twice the price of the item! This is not uncommon.

Happy Shopping!

:: Celeste

The Importance of Piggy Banks: Your Child's Savings

Just about every parents wants better for their children than what they had. It's one of the biggest ways to one-up someone. That, and we just straight up love our children. But there are so many different types of savings accounts and programs, it's overwhelming. Where should I put my child's money? Well I'm not going to tell you. What I am going to share though, is how we save for our baby.

We started with the baby shower. Many people, I'm sure, use what money they get from their shower to buy things that they need that they didn't get. Luckily for us, we either received all the big ticket items as gifts, or as hand-me-downs so there wasn't much that we needed to buy for our bundle-to-be. Because of this, we took every penny given to us and stashed it away.

When he was born, we opened him a savings account. We didn't want to wait. He already had money sitting at the house, but it would be much better served collecting interest, right? Adam's friend works at Citizen's Bank and showed us a wide variety of savings accounts we could use for the baby. We went with a College Saver Account and I personally would recommend this to anyone who has Citizen's nearby. This account requires a minimum deposit of $25/mo (forgivable by one month per year I believe) and has a $1000 incentive for saving until he is 18. The savings is not required to go towards education (though we all hope it will)

By depositing $25/mo for 18 years, that's $5400. Not bad, huh? Though if you read the previous article on budgeting you will see we actually give him $40/mo on 4 week months, and $50 on 5 week months and that's almost double!

Next we decided to do something that my parents did for me and paid off big time. Any money from Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation is all savings. Alongside that, any (and I mean any. My parents were strict with this and I intend to be as well) money received from a member of the family (Birthdays, Christmas..) is savings money. Money from friends is for spending.

When I was a kid, this was the most evil thing my parents could come up with, in my opinion. When all my friends' birthdays came 'round, they went on a Toys R Us spree with their money, while I watched my mom adjust my bank book.

Then I grew up and realized that they were right, because they always are. I didn't use my money to pay for college. I bought a car. A brand new (at the time) 2008 Toyota Yaris. A hefty down payment cut my monthly bill quite nicely.

Then I moved out!

Then I went to Disney World!

Then I moved into a nicer area to start a family!

And none of that would have been possible without that savings. Now I think back to my friends and I can say, "when you spend your birthday money on a Gameboy Color, I used mine to go to Disney." It makes me feel cool.

On top of family money though, my parents found another way to take my money! My job! Yes. They took my hard earned, sweat and tears (literally) and put it away. Not all of it, just half. From my very first job until I moved out, half of my paycheck went into the bank. But really, living at home with a prepaid cellphone, my only bills were gas, my car payment, and car insurance. I didn't really need to have full pockets, and once again, I'm thankful for it and hopefully, Nikolai will be as well.

The last way we save for his future is the simplest, most basic way. A piggy bank. All of our spare change goes into his piggy bank and at the end of the month, we roll it up and deposit it into his savings. Every little bit counts.

Happy Savings, Happy Children!

:: Celeste

How Deep are YOUR Pockets: Budgeting

Budgeting is something young folk like myself and my dear fiance tend to disregard completely. We thought we had it under control for a long time. Turns out our way of 'budgeting' was hurting us more than it was helping us. A typical day of 'budgeting' might have gone something like this:

"How much do we have in the checking account?"
"Three hundred sixty-five dollars"
"Okay, I have to make a car payment, so we have like 200"

And that week, that $200 would act as spending money. That is how we went about our weeks. We kept a mental note, never writing anything down, and on weeks we didn't have a bill to pay, spent like we actually had money to spend.

Then the checks started bouncing. Rent checks, which, if that has happened to anyone else here, knows that it's far more embarrassing to bounce a rent check than a store check because, I mean come on, it makes you look like irresponsible to the person who is giving you a place to live.

So we started cracking down. Now I know that budgeting is extremely personal. Everyone has different income, different expenses, and different ways of keeping track of things. However, for those of you who might be with nary a guideline like we were, my method might be inspirational, helpful, or maybe just a base to your own plan.

The first thing you need to do, before money even comes into the equation, is make a list of all your expenses. All of your expenses. Don't leave out your before work Dunkin' run because it's only 'a couple bucks'. List them all.

Second, take a big hard look. Do you really need to order Chinese for lunch every day, or do you think you might take a little extra time to make a cheaper (and healthier!) lunch. For those of you who are super tight on money, or even those of you who aren't, examine everything on that list and decide if you absolutely need it or if you could come up with an alternative.

Remove from the list what you are willing to sacrifice. Don't panic yet, you still might be able to do some of those things, but for the time being, give them up.

For the sake of convenience, all my examples are going to come from my own budget, with a few slight changes to make it easier to understand. (And because I am terrible at math so making up an imaginary budget might just confuse me a little too much)

After we made our list, our expenses were as follows:

• Gas
• Car Payment
• Car Insurance
• Cell Phone Bill
• Groceries
• Ceramics
• Sewing
• My Student Loan
• Adam's Student Loan
• Internet
• Dining Out
• Nikolai's savings account

Next, put monthly dollar amounts to the expense. (Gas can be weekly. Who keeps track of monthly gas anyway?) With some, it might be just a guess, but don't worry.

• Gas $45/wk
• Car Payment $165
• Car Insurance $135
• Cell Phone Bill $120
• Groceries $120 (see entry on grocery shopping)
• Ceramics $45
• Sewing $20
• My Student Loan $50
• Adam's Student Loan $50
• Internet $35
• Dining Out $40
• Nikolai's Savings $25

Set that list aside. You're going to need it to compare/adjust/what have you.

Now you want to break down those monthly payments into weekly payments. Things like Groceries, Ceramics and Sewing all got put into a weekly 'household' allowance in cash. Paying with cash is a big deal because once it's gone, it's gone. Do not be tempted to 'keep track' of you allowance on your debit or credit card. It won't be worth it.

• Gas $45
• Car Payment $50
• Car Insurance $50
• Cell Phone $30
• $80 cash (Groceries, household, and spending money)
• $20 My Student Loan
• $20 Adam's Student Loan
• $10 Internet
• $10 Nikolai's savings Account
• $40 ($20 cash each) Dining Out

Wait a minute, $50 every week for a car payment is way more than $165 a month! For good reason. The thought of putting $50/wk towards a payment is doesn't seem as bad as putting $200 towards my car instead. If I were to pay monthly, and add the extra $35, I might be inclined to say, "Well, I sort of wanted that $35 for something else.." The same is true for Student Loans and Nikolai's savings.

Another thing you need to take into consideration is the 5th week every three months. That's 4 extra pay periods (if you are paid weekly) to apply to your monthly bills, so within a year, you should be a month ahead of your bills. Cool, huh? So there is a way to get ahead without feeling like you're falling behind!

Note: Rent is not included in my list because Adam has about 5 different jobs. Two of those get paid at the end of the month and those alone pay our rent so we do not factor that income in our budget at all.

Okay, now here's where you have to be diligent. Paying your bills by the week. What we did, because it was the easiest, is we signed up for online bill pay. It's a lot easier to keep track of for us and it saves us from writing checks every single week. We own a small business so we use that account as our main checking account through Citizens Bank and their online bill pay is very easy to use. If you are worried that you might forget to pay weekly, you can set up scheduled payments so you don't have to worry about a thing.

So now that we have our week squared away, let's add up our weekly expenses and compare it to our weekly income. (Total household income)

Income: $700* (this is a rough estimate for the sake of easy math.)  
Expenses: $355/wk
__________________
Remaining: $345

If you're like me and you see that big chunk of money that you have left per week and you start hopping around and thinking of paint colours for the kitchen, don't. Instead, open up an IRA and a savings account. It's good to start setting up for your retirement no matter how far off it may seem. It's also a good idea to have a household savings account for many obvious reasons. We, for example, are saving for both a wedding and a house.

Whatever you have remaining, put 10% of that into an IRA so in this case, $35/wk

Of the $310, put 25% of that into your checking account to start building a cushion, $78

• Having a cushion, does not mean having 'extra' spending money. The cushion is for unexpected expenses. Car repairs (oil changes sneak up on me every time), late fees (though hopefully you don't have any now), other life things

Put the remaining $232 into a savings account and do not touch it. If you do this every week, for one year, you can have $12,064 saved. Don't believe me?

$232x4wk = $928 for every month with 4 pay periods. There are 8 of these. $928x8mo= $7,424

$232x5wk= $1,160 for every month with 5 pay periods. There are 4 of these. $1,160x4mo= $4,640

Put that together to make a full year of savings and you have just over 12k. Plus interest.

I do recognize that we are fortunate enough to have low expenses and a (relatively) steady source of income. We also have the drive and the desire to have money and to save it. We live below our means so we are able to achieve this goals and give Nikolai and our future children the best that we can, and also for them to learn the importance of being smart with their earnings.

I think that our method of budgeting is the right one for us, but may not be the right one for someone else. I do encourage everyone to give it a try if you are having problems managing your money. I am in no way an expert at saving money (just ask my mother), but I do like think I have a handle on things.

So off you go now to make your lists and track your expenses.

Happy Saving!

:: Celeste

* As Adam is a professional musician, gigs come up. Taxes are also coming up! Any extra income we receive goes straight into the savings account. Except for my taxes, with which I am buying my dad's Jetta.

Cut It Out: Saving Money Through Laundry

Yet anther topic just about everyone can relate to: Laundry. I have the fortune to not pay any utilities (my landlord rocks), but after years of living with my parents, I am well aware of what an expense laundry actually is. I have also learned, from having a pukey baby, laundry is never ending and just when you think you're fully stocked in detergent and dryer sheets, you're out at the store buying more. Tired of the seemingly never ending, "Oh honey, we need laundry detergent," I thought to to myself a whole bunch of what ifs. The what ifs turned to whens and now I share with you my laundry secrets.

Down With Sorting: Lump all your laundry together. Seriously. Down with sorting. When I did laundry for my mom, I was an obsessive sorter. White, Brights, Lights, Jeans/Blues, Blacks, Greys, Earth Tones. What the-- now that's out of control. Not only was I going totally overboard wasting time, but also wasting water and energy with smaller loads. This may not apply to larger families who can still sort and make full loads, but for my family of 3, it would probably take every white sock, shirt, and panty to make even a medium sized load.

I have yet to have any colors bleed onto anything else. The only times I actually sort is if I have new jeans or towels. Those will probably bleed for a few washes, but jeans and towels are big/heavy enough that I can make a decent load of them fairly quickly.

I also wash the baby's clothes with ours. Like the whites, it would take far  too long to conjure up a load worth the energy and water I'm using, what with his pants being a whopping 8 inches tall. A lot of moms couldn't believe I did this, I mean, don't you need to use special baby detergent? Well sure. I just wash our clothes in baby detergent too. No big deal.

Some Like it Hot: But the laundry doesn't. Washing clothes in cold water will save you money and the energy that is required for heating up the water for warm or hot wash cycles. I have been washing in cold since I've been washing and my clothes come just as clean, though this seems to be a topic of debate among germophobes. 

Throwing in the Towel: Washing a towel after every use is like washing PJ pants after every use. There's no real need. I mean, come on. What do you use a towel for anyway? To dry off. To dry off your clean body. Hang it up, let it dry, then use it for another two or three times. Cutting down the number of towel loads you do will cut down on everything big time. Towels, after all, take the longest to dry.

Recycle Denim: I used to think I was pretty grody for doing it, but apparently, it's more common than I thought! Wearing a pair of jeans two or three times a week, is another good way to save on laundry, much like the towels. Naturally, clothes get messy so if you drop the gravy train, by all means, please put them in the wash, but for a day of hanging out or errand running, throw them over the back of the chair (or in my case, the bassinet that I still have to move to the basement) and give them a little extra love later on before washing them.

Going Halfsies: See the 'fill line' on your detergent cup? Ignore it. If you use half the amount of detergent you normally would, I promise you won't notice a difference, and that's coming from someone who washes poopy diapers on the daily. (see my article on Cloth Diapers for cleaning and sanitizing)

While you're at it, nix liquid fabric softener altogether.

Walking the Line: If you have the opportunity to, (I can't wait) Line Dry. Clothes that are hanging out on a line get naturally freshened and softened by the air, and aside from a line of thin rope and clothespins, it's free! In the spring and summer months, unplug that dryer and get a little old fashioned. When I was a kid my mom used a clothesline and I used to love running through the sheets and the towels. The clothes always smelled so good too.

In the winter months or rainy days, a drying rack can be used in place of the clothesline. It doesn't have the same effect as line dried clothes, but for those of you gung-ho about significantly reducing the use of your dryer, it is a pretty good alternative. My mom used to dry all my jeans this way because teen jeans are made of so much spandex they just love to shrink in the dryer.

My mom also uses the pipes in her laundry room (in the basement) to things like dress shirts, chef coats and anything with beading or sequins on it. If my laundry room weren't 5x5 I'd come up with something creative like that, but it's dryer central for me for now. 

The way I Felt: Literally. Felt. Or rather, felted wool. Felted wool dryer balls.

Wool Dryer Balls

These are great, and I only just started using them in place of dryer sheets. I have heard of people using tennis balls, but the general consensus I have found was that wool balls are preferred. They get all up in between your clothes, cutting dry time (and for anyone paying their own electric that's a big hooray). I'm sure the more you put into the dryer, the more you can cut down on time. I have two of them, both of them on the smaller side and I've noticed that with large loads, the dry time is shorter by 15 minutes (75min to 60min), and smaller-medium loads by 15-20 minutes. I'm sure my landlord is thanking me.

I hate dryer sheets. Really. I think maybe I'm just a little crazy but one of my household pet peeves is the remains of the dryer sheet while I'm folding laundry. 

The wool balls do everything a dryer sheet is meant to do. They reduce static and they soften your clothes (so you really can nix the fabric softener), even jeans! They do get a little pilly, but you can shave them down with a sweater shaver/sweater brick, or leave them! I leave the pills on mine because I read somewhere that the pills create extra surface texture, making your clothes softer.

But really, the best thing about these? You can make them yourself. (Tutorial HERE at GoodMama) And I really mean you can. You don't have to have a crafty bone in your body, and you can still make them. Just make sure that you get felting wool yarn, not machine washable yarn. While wool is expensive, I don't know if it is any more expensive than other yarns, since I am not a knitter. I paid $6 for my wool yarn and got 3 dryer balls out of it. I like to think that $6 to cut out the cost of ever having to buy dryer sheets again, plus the savings on your electric bill is absolutely justified. My mom did say she saw felting yarn, for $1 at Job Lot, but I haven't checked it out yet.

Happy Laundering! 

:: Celeste

Not Your Grandma's Diapers

The idea of cloth diapering isn't new. In fact, it's been around for centuries--officially, anyway. Swept up in a world where convenience overpowers anything else, however, cloth diapers are usually looked upon as a hassle or 'gross' by the modern mom. I agree that the idea of not disposing of something covered in pee or poo is pretty nasty, you've got to imagine that cloth diapering moms aren't just leaving poo sacks all around the house, right? Right. So today I'm going to let you in on my experience with cloth diapers and maybe shine a little bit of glory light on the situation.

 A modern take on cloth diapering

When I first had the thought about using cloth diapers I admit I was a little scared. My mom cloth diapered both my brother and I so I had thought "well, why not?" And then the thought of folding and pinning had me all up in a panic (what if he won't stay still and I poke him?) so I decided to do some research.  To my surprise, I could hardly find anything on flat diapers because diapers like the G Diapers, Bum Genius, and Bumkins (to name a few) are sweeping the cloth diapering nation.

Well, because my dad is an avid Ebayer, and Nikolai was going to be his first grandchild, he and my mom hopped right up onto the internet and found what I consider to be THE BEST DIAPERS EVER. (pictured above, though I have yet to buy that colour)

I do have two of the G Diapers and they are really nice, but I have three issues with them:

• They are quicker to leak than my other cloth diapers
• They are expensive. I believe mine cost $26.99 for two diapers (and the inserts maybe?)
• They are sized.

What I love about the snap diapers, aside from how stinkin' cute they are, is that they will grow with my baby. It's very convenient to be able to buy 10 or so diapers (that's all I have as of right now and it's all I need because of how frequent I do laundry. It's incredible.) and not have to worry about buying more when he doesn't fit in them. That's probably my absolute favourite feature.

I also love how they function. They are completely lined with fleece, and then a (very grabby) terry insert goes between the fleece and the outside, you snap it up and baby is diapered! When it's time for a change, I pull the liner out of the diaper/nappy put both pieces in a bowl of water and a tiny bit of non-chlorine bleach where it can sit until I am ready to do laundry.

I may or may not be obsessed with the price. I'm sure there are American brands of these diapers somewhere, but because of her prices and selection, I buy them at the Ebay store linked above. Each nappy with lining is around $5 shipped from China. How many people can say they diapered their baby for years on $50? Okay, maybe not $50 because I'm sure I'll be needing more than 10 by the time he is potty trained, but you see my point.

I have noticed less diaper rash, not that he had much before I started on cloth, but when I was doing research, I read that cloth diapered babies suffer from less diaper rash and that puts many a mama at ease.

Now, cloth diapering, like breastfeeding (maybe a future post?), is a big choice to make. The type of diaper you put on your baby has nothing to do with his/her health, but diapers are such a big part of baby life that maybe it's worth looking past the pampers. I've come up with several reasons why you might want to make the switch, but also the downside of cloth diapers.

PROS

• Cloth diapers will save you a significant amount of money. Let's say you change your baby seven times a day (an average). That's 2,352 diapers in one year. There's about 96 diapers in a case, let's say. You'd need to buy 25 cases of diapers in a year, and at about $25/case, that's $625 in disposable diapers per year. Whoa. Put that money away for the holiday season.
• Eco-friendly. Having grown up in a town that houses the landfill for the entire state (not actually that impressive though, since RI is so tiny), I have to say that I would not like to be responsible for putting 2,352 diapers/year/child into it. It smells bad enough without having baby poo in it.
• Washing is easy! I personally do laundry at the end of the day when the baby has gone to sleep. While they are waiting for their turn in the wash, I have a large bowl of water with a little bit of non-chlorine bleach that they soak in during the day. The bleach cancels out any odor and since he is so little, his poo is still pretty creamy and soaks right into the insert so I haven't had to do any diaper to toilet transfers yet. I do wash the diapers with all my other laundry. They are too small to make a separate load of without wasting water/energy and in the months that I've been doing it, have not had any damage, poop or otherwise, done to my other clothes. To me it's the same as washing a shirt that got spit up on or something.
• Again, they're so cute.

CONS

• You have to wash them. This isn't necessarily a con, but it could be. I know a lot of families just starting out may be in an apartment like we are, but may not be fortunate enough to have laundry in their unit, or even on the premise. I feel that I would still use clothies even if I didn't have my own washer and dryer, I would just buy more and upgrade my bleach bowl to a bleach bucket. I can understand that it might present a hassle though.
• Working mom? I'm not sure how day care works exactly, since I was well out of diapers when  I attended, for that short, short point in my life, and I get to stay home with mine. I imagine that if you made sure to have a good supply of clothies in your diaper bag, and provided a wet/dry sack for your day care provider that it could definitely work. There are a lot of cloth diapering moms out there and even more than that, there are a lot of working moms! Someone must have figured it out!
• Shipping. This con only applies to the snappy diapers that I buy on Ebay. Because they ship from China, they take about a month to arrive in the mail. Buy in bulk, folks

As much as I love cloth diapers, I haven't thrown out the Huggies entirely. I do still use disposable for overnight use. The substance inside them that turns the pee into a gel is more comforting on the no-leak front then just cloth, especially having a baby that pees like a faucet and sleeps like a rock. I also use disposable diapers when I go out to visit someone. As soon as I buy a wet/dry bag though, I'll probably kick this. I just don't want to carry around poo diapers with me or have them sitting in my diaper bag. Having a wet/dry bag will help a lot with this, especially since we are a very social family.

I also didn't start using cloth diapers until Nikolai was about 3 months old. He was a very skinny baby so when I did up the snaps so they would fit him, the diaper was so bulky his little pants couldn't fit over his bubble butt. Not only that, but getting into the swing of just being a mom, I couldn't seem to be able to get into the swing of using them. Now that I have, though, I wouldn't go back for anything.

Something that I just recently stumbled upon (when I was doing an image search, actually) was a blog by a woman who is putting on a phenomenal fund-raiser! Covered in Hope is what it is called and she is collecting used (and I'm sure new as well) cloth diapers for babies and children in Ethiopia. If her campaign is still raging when Nikolai is potty trained, I will absolutely be donating my diapers to her. I will also most likely be purchasing some specifically for her and the children, and if you could spare the $5, I encourage you all to do the same.

Diapers for Ethiopia is linked with Covered in Hope where you can make a $1 donation and she will send a diaper to the children of Ethiopia for each dollar donated.

Happy diapering!

:: Celeste

 

Saving Money- First Stop: The Grocer

I figured the first thing I should post about is something that everyone can relate to: the grocery store. The grocery store is the first place people (at least people like myself) tend to overspend. It's very easy, especially with all the delicious snacks and the brand names and what have you. It has taken me almost a year of trial and (loads of) error to get this method of grocery shopping down pat.

:: First and foremost, never and I don't say this in jest, never go to the grocery store hungry. It is a mistake I all too often make, and the things that I buy on impulse will sit in my pantry for weeks and weeks and weeks until I give up on them entirely.

:: Secondly, if you are the type to do so (and I know I have to get into this habit), make a list. Make a list and stick to it. Straying from the list once will lead to a second, a third, and finally, defeating the purpose of making a list in the first place.

:: Third, read the fliers that come in the mail. Make a note (either on your list or in a little notebook that you can take to the store with you) of the sales, but be careful. If yogurt is on sale, and no one in the house eats yogurt, there is no sense in buying it. (This is something I was guilty of for a long time) Just because there is a good deal on something, doesn't mean it should be purchased. It is also a good idea to compare prices from different stores.

:: Fourth- Store Hopping* Now I know that anyone from Rhode Island is probably reading this and saying, "Is she nuts?" I am not. I also can not take credit for this method. My wonderful future brother-in-law introduced me to store hopping, and I absolutely feel the need to share this with the world.

However, you don't want to start at X Food Store, and hop over to Y food store. Find a super saving market. The stores in my area are Price Rite and Save-a-Lot. These types of stores are usually found in lower income neighborhoods and are absolute gems for those of us who are just squeaking by. The great thing about these types of stores are their incredibly low prices, particularly on cereal, bread, and meats. (I'm such a sucker for chicken nuggets) Produce can be hit or miss, depending on how much traffic the store gets. The Price Rite I shop at frequently does not get fresh produce in as much as the one in downtown Providence because there are far more people shopping at the Providence location so they are getting fresh produce daily.

Here is where your list of sale items will come in handy. Compare the flier prices to the prices at the super savings market. Sometimes regular markets are cheaper, but most of the time they aren't.

The only downside to these markets is that while they carry a wide range of product, they don't carry everything. Their inventory in constantly changing,  so while they may have a constant supply of Rice Krispies, for example, they may one day disappear from the shelves. It happens, but that's alright. You should also bring your own shopping bags because the plastic bags here cost $0.10. Not a large sum of money, especially since they are giant and sturdy, but for the sake of throwing in some eco-friendliness, you can bring your own bags.

Now once you've milked the super savings markets, go on over to your neighborhood grocery store to pick up what's left on your list. I bet you're surprised at how much you don't need to purchase here. First thing you need to know is not to pay full price for anything. Okay, there are some things that you might need that won't be on sale, but for the most part, I never buy anything at full price.

:: Fifth, I don't buy anything that is part of a 2/$5 (or 2/$6, 2/$7....). I really don't know how I got that idea into my head, but it has saved me a whole lot of money. If I see the little 2/$5 tag hanging on the shelf, I don't even bother looking at what the item is, so I can't be tempted into buying it. Most of what's on that type of sale is something that isn't necessarily needed in my house anyway. Mostly I feel that $5 just adds up too quickly.

:: Sixth, If there is a store brand available, it's worth it. Buying store brands is a great way to save money with only changing the packaging. I have not yet noticed a difference in taste or quality. I had read somewhere that often times the same manufacturers make the same product and then slap a different label on it. I believe it. If ever I find that again, I'll be sure to link up.

I mean really. Wouldn't you rather buy Stop & Shop cookies at 2/$3, than Keebler at 2/$5? You get to save a whole $2! And think if you do that with most, if not, all of your groceries, how that would add up?

:: Seventh, is something personal, based mostly on my own diet. I don't often use coupons because coupons are either not worth it for me (save $1 on THREE boxes of cereal? Well I never intended to buy that much cereal so instead of actually saving money, I end up spending more to get the coupon value.) or they are put out for products that I don't eat (frozen foods, products with high fructose corn syrup, or foods sweetened with aspartame [any yogurt that isn't organic])

When I DO find a coupon worth using though, I'm even stingier about that. Save $1 on 2 (cans of soup for example) If the soups aren't on sale this week, I'm going to hold my coupon until the next week when they might be 2/$4 because after my coupon, I get them 2/$3 when originally they're about $3.19 a can.

Phew. I think that's all, and while it may seem like a lot to swallow, it's mostly just me explaining my craziness. I'd like for everyone to give it a try and let me know how you make out!

Happy Shopping!

:: Celeste

* Because I am from Rhode Island, where no one seems to think it's worth it to drive 15 minutes from home without considering it a day trip, the idea of store hopping is pretty shocking. Everything in our area, however, is pretty packed together. For people living somewhere where a grocery store is an hour away, I feel for you. :( I have about 25 grocery stores all within 20 minutes in any one direction.