Today's Shopping Trip

Several weeks ago, we traveled to Iowa, & I got some Earth's Best diapers for Harper girl.  Though I love Earth's Best, the diapers just did not agree with her.  Harper's bottom was absolutely covered in blisters & they didn't improve for a week, even after returning to cloth diapers.  It was horrible.  Because the reaction was so severe I called the company, & they were kind enough to send 6 free food product coupons, & 2 $0.55 coupons. 

Today, the girls & I went to Toys R Us to return the second, unopened package of diapers, & to use my coupons to stock up on baby food for our upcoming month of travel.  

Here's my haul:  3 EB organic puffs, 1 box of  EB organic cereal, 2 boxes of EB organic teething biscuits, 6 Earth's Best organic pouches, & 6 Babies R Us baby food pouches, $29.84 full retail. 

After coupons the total was $11.18, but I had the credit from the returned diapers, so I only paid $1.35! Not too shabby! 

Make It Do: Creating a Shaded Child's Wagon

We've been spending a lot of time outdoors, & it has been absolutely wonderful being able to enjoy some sunshine & watch the girls play together.  The only unfortunate thing is our backyard doesn't get much shade, so while I'm hanging laundry & Harper is sitting in our little utility wagon, she's basically roasting in the sun. 

 

Rather than go in search of a more child friendly wagon, I decided to rig up an umbrella on the wagon in a rather ghetto fabulous way.  One rubber band, a large twist tie, & a safety pin later, the umbrella was secure, & the girls had some serious shade in their wagon.

Of course, by the time I got the wagon all arranged, Harper decided she wanted to get out and walk. Oh well, at least it will be ready when the next load needs to be hung! 

Ghetto Fabulous Flip Flop Fix

Bug's a little particular when it comes to her shoes, so after hearing her whine that her flip flops were indenting her heels, one too many times, I figured some action was necessary. 

I simply hacked off the elasticized portion with scissors.  A two second fix, & now she has two pairs of sandals she'll actually wear. 

She was so thrilled with the results, she insisted I take a picture & then she ran around the shouting, "I love my pwip-pwops!"  Who knew?!

Saving Money on Baby Food

The vast majority of the time I make my own baby food,  & while homemade is much more environmentally friendly & economical, while preparing for travel, I often have to buy expensive baby food. 

Several weeks prior to our trip I made a phone call to Beech Nut, to request one of their toddler kits, which includes coupons for free product.  Upon telling the super friendly customer service representative that I had filled out the online form multiple times with no results, she offered to send me 2 of both the toddler kit & newborn kit. 

The kits came promptly & with the coupons I was able get several boxes of baby cereal, 2 boxes of teething biscuits, & 4 jars of baby food, for FREE! 

In addition to the free Beech-nut, I stopped by Big Lots & picked up some Dole Squish'ems.  They're 100% fruit, and at $1.80 a box, which makes each pouch only $0.45; a phenomenal price. 

Shopping smart, using coupons, & seeking opportunities for free products certainly can reduce the costs of store bought baby food, though for me, nothing beats feeding our little one from scratch, & not filling up the landfill. 

Cute Kids Room Organizers

Any parent knows that kids stuff can become quite overwhelming rather quickly.  Here are some seriously awesome & functional ideas to help organize the rooms of the children in your life.

Check it out here!

Make It Do: Big Girl Undies In A Pinch

Once Emerson was potty trained, (Hallelujah!), I was shocked by the price of little lady underwear.  Even on clearance, underwear can run $2 or $3 a pair, which, in my opinion, is exploitation for the amount of cotton received.

While putting away laundry, the solution came upon me:  dress bloomers.  These underwear shaped little bloomers, which are designed to cover unsightly diapers are the perfect solution.  They run rather large, so I pulled out the 18 month bloomers & they are the appropriate size for our 3 year old Emerson. 

I just love solving a problem with things we already have!

Hooray for Recycled Dishes!

I recently came upon these Re-Play children's dishes at our local Walmart.  They're inexpensive (approximately 5 a package), made from recycled milk jugs, BPA free, & manufactured in the USA.  The plates have deep wells, so it's easy for E to scoop her food , & the plastic very thick & sturdy.

While the plates are not microwavable, they're dishwasher safe & durable as all get out.  If you're in the market for some sturdy, environmentally friendly children's dishes, I'd highly recommend buying from Re-Play.  They're fabulous!

Natural Fever Reducer

Source

Emerson's currently sick & last night her fever spiked to103.7 & she was maxed out on fever reducers.   Feeling desperate, I remembered an article I read suggesting onions could draw down a fever, & figured it was worth a shot.

I simply cut the onion in half, put the cut side on the bottom of her feet, & covered her feet with socks to keep the onions in place.  Within 15 minutes E's fever was down to two degrees & her room smelled like a burger joint.

Of course this remedy requires a compliant patient; not one who freaks out & pulls off the sock/onion combo within a half an hour.  Regardless, if you're looking for a fast, natural way to draw down a fever, try the onion method.  It definitely seemed to work.

Lotus Bumz Cloth Diapers--$7.32 each

I don't usually share deals, but because this one is a fabulous deal on cloth diapers I figured I would pass it along.  Right now if you sign up with Keekoo (a daily deal site specializing in maternity-child products), you will receive a $10 credit.  You can then use that $10 credit toward one of their daily deals, Lotus Bumz one size pocket diapers.  I was able to 6 for $7.32 each, which is pretty fabulous for a new cloth diaper. 

Here's how:
In order to use the $10 credit you must spend $50, so I chose 6 of the $8.99 diapers, which then brought my subtotal to $53.94, enough to have the $10 credit applied, lowering the total to $43.94.  The online reviews look excellent, & since we're about to have 2 in diapers I'm THRILLED to get a deal.  If you're interested sign up here, but hurry, the deal expires tomorrow at 11 am eastern.  

I love cloth diapering & it is a fabulous money & trash saver.  If you're looking for more information about cloth diapering check out my posts here & here & feel free to ask questions in the comments.  I'm happy to help!

Frugal Fashionista: Mother/Daughter Edition

It has been a while since I've shared our frugal fashions, so I figured there was no time like the present. I also included where the cost of the items I could remember...

Dress:  Target clearance--birthday present last year

Tank Top:  Liz Lange maternity--$2 after clearance & coupon

Cardigan:  Banana Republic--Christmas present

Leggings:  JC Penney--$1 after $10 off coupon (oh how I miss those)

Boots:  Steve Madden--Christmas present


Don't mind the smudgy mirror & terrible quality of this photo

Cardigan:  Steve Madden TJ Maxx

Shirt:  Motherhood Maternity--hand me down

Skirt:  Avatar





Shirt:  Liz Lange Maternity--$5 at Goodwill

Jeans:  Liz Lange Maternity--$2 at garage sale


And why not include our little sweetheart...

Seersucker Dress: Hand-me-down

Thank goodness you don't have to spend a ton of money to feel fashionable!

Super Saturday Shopping--Target & JC Penney

We had several days this week where Emerson & I had to be out of the house, so we killed time at Target & JC Penney.  (Forgive the poor picture quality, I had to take the pictures with my ghetto fabulous 4 year old cell phone)

At Target I found some fabulous clearance deals:  

• Biore facewash:  Originally $5.99 on clearance for $4.18-$3 coupon from Biore facebook=$1.18

• 2 Biore astringents w. bonus facewash: Originally $5.99 on clearance for $4.18-$3 coupon from Biore facebook=$1.18 each

• 4 pack of Cascade tablets: $0.97-$0.50 P&G newspaper coupon=$0.47

• 20 pack of Finish tablets: Originally $4.97 on clearance for $2.38- $0.50 manufacturer coupon=$1.88

Grand Total:  $7.31-$5 Target Giftcard from prior purchase=$2.31 OOP after tax

Bug enjoying her free pretzel

Today we made a rare sojourn to the mall to get our Free Auntie Anne's pretzels & get our oil changed & while we were there we stopped by JC Penney's to see if there were any deals to be had.  I have to say the store looked great & I love their new ad campaign, but I for one am sad to see their store coupons vanish & along with their copious clearance racks.

Of the very few items they had on clearance I found this little American Living dress for Emerson.  It was originally $44 (WOW!!!) & I paid $2.

Hope you got some excellent deals this week.  Happy weekend!

Sewing Marathon Results

I'm a terrible seamstress.  Just terrible.  It took me an extra week to make my 8th grade pillow in Home Ec.  Thank God I don't live in a time when I would be responsible for sewing absolutely everything we need. 

That being said, I have found that minimal sewing is essential to our little frugal life.  Today I spent the better part of the day sewing with some extra flannel we had, & here are the results:

I made 7 cloth diaper doublers, 16 cloth wipes, 10 cotton ball replacements, & 6 flannel breast pads.  Hopefully this will go a long way toward helping once Little Baby arrives & we have two babies in cloth diapers & I'm nursing. 

I'm happy to say that all of the above didn't cost us a dime, but I am very thankful I don't have to do this every day.  Seriously.  

Emerson's 2nd Birthday

Emerson's 2nd birthday was last week on Thursday and we had a great little celebration. 

We took her to Petco where this nice guy let her pet his dog.

She checked out all of the little Nemo's

&  far less pleasing animals like rats.

 

 

Then we headed to the park for swinging

& other fun. 

 

It was a great day & Emerson had a lot of fun.  Happy 2nd birthday Doodlebug!

5 Reasons One Parent Should Stay Home

theguiltyparent.com

 

 

When I became pregnant I read about calculating the true value of my second income.  After we took out the cost of  into daycare, using disposable diapers, purchasing baby food &other contingencies we figured that, best case scenario, I would make around $3,000 a year.  To us, it just wasn't worth the money & sacrificed time with Little Emerson for me to have that second income.

While I'm certainly not saying that staying at home is the right choice for everyone, this article certainly sheds light on the decision making process of one parent staying home.  If you're trying to make that decision, this is definitely worth a read.  (Thanks Julie!)

Goodwill Goodies

I rarely purchase new clothing for Emerson.  We have been blessed with hand-me-downs & if I purchase clothes for her I prefer used clothes because I already know how they're going to look when washed & find it so disappointing when new clothes don't wear well.  $1 (or cheaper) prices can be found with sales at Goodwill or garage sales, so those are my favorite places to hunt for kids clothing.  I haven't had much luck at our local Goodwill, so when we traveled to Indiana & to Texas I had to hit up some of my favorite Goody stores. 

Here is just a sampling of some of the items purchased: 

From the left:  Cherokee sweater, Hanna Andersson skirt, Disney jeans, two Carter's night gowns (my favorite for newborns), Baby Gap sweater, & Gymboree dress.  All for $7!  Many of the items are beautifully detailed & in absolute immaculate condition.  Not only are these items for our girls precious, but I find such joy from finding beautiful treasures on the racks. 

Perhaps my favorite treasure from my recent Goodwill adventure are these brand new, cutie pie Missoni wellies!  They were a splurge at $12 for the pair, but I figure both of our girls will get to wear them, so that brings down the price to $6 per daughter...right?!

If you haven't considered buying clothing second hand, I HIGHLY recommend it.  Not only is it good for your wallet, it's good for the environment too.  In my book, there's nothing to lose. 

When It's Ok To Pay Retail

I am currently 1 week away from my 3rd trimester & with Emerson coming 3 weeks early, I am beginning to feel the clock winding down.  One of the many, many things on our to do list was to get E in a big girl bed before the arrival of Little Baby.  At the suggestion of you lovely readers I searched craigslist & freecycle to absolutely no avail.   After weighing all of our options & with time winding down, we finally had to bite the bullet & buy a brand new bed as economically as possible. 

Using the refund from our Flex Spending Account we bought these bunk beds& trundle from Amazon for $422 after a $20 deduction from my Swagbucks giftcards.  Though I doubt we will use the trundle as a bed, we essentially paid $141 for each bed, which seemed to be a fair price.

We chose to build the top bunk as E's bed so as to avoid (for now) purchasing 2 additional mattresses &  additional guard rails.  We then bought a Serta twin mattress for $99 from Big Lots, which was by far the cheapest price I found for a name brand mattress in our area. 

When it came to bedding I spent absolutely no money.   I have sheets & a blanket leftover from my freshman year of college & my MIL gave my husband the above quilt when he was having house guests for our wedding.  Emerson has been very excited about her bed & I feel pleased that we purchased he a lovely bed as economically as possible.  On to the next thing on the to do list...

Pregnant Lady Fashion Show

Dressing during pregnancy & finding clothes to fit make the word style all but impossible.  I've been trying to be more adventurous with my clothing selections & use of non-maternity items.   Here are a few of my looks of the last week.

Left:
Maroon & Brown Shirts--Hand-me-up (thanks sisters!)
Belt--Target several seasons ago
Skirt--Local Hippy Shop
Boots--Unknown origin?  They were one of the pairs I had resoled, needless to say I've had them a while.


Right:

Scarf--Gap
Sweater--Macy's
Leggings--JC Penney $2 after coupon!
Boots--Steve Madden



 Don't mind the incredibly poor picture quality & smudgy mirror, just a little reality for you...



Scarf--Unknown, Christmas present years ago
Sweater--Anthropologie
T-Shirt--Motherhood Maternity
Jeans--Calvin Klein// These are actually my regular jeans that are held up with the help of a rubber band & a belly band.  I've finally perfected that combo. 

Happy Weekend!

Cloth Wipes & More Found Flannel

It appears that unless some miracle happens, we will have two in diapers once Little Baby makes her appearance.  In anticipation I was hoping to make more cloth wipes, but I had run out of flannel & couldn't bring myself to go out & buy some. 

Fortunately, over Christmas my Mother-in-Law let us "shop" her basement & I came away with some receiving blankets that were perfect for wipes!  Then my flannel cup runneth over when a two pairs of pajama pants ripped at their very stressed seams & after trying to mend them once before, I figured it was time to give up the ghost.


Out of 1 1/2 of the receiving blankets I made cloth wipes, & out of the remainder I hope to make some cloth diaper doublers.  I'm not sure what I'll do with the 4 panels of flannel from the pants, but it's rather thin, so I think it might be better suited for cotton face pads.


Any other suggestions for my fecundity of flannel?

You Know You're Cheap When--Salvaging a Ripped Diaper

We only use disposable diapers at night & when we travel & I have to say I sort of hate them.  They're expensive & can occasionally rip into shreds.  While traveling home from San Fransisco I had a diaper tab become totally detached from the diaper.  Grr.  Even though I try to pay $0.10-$0.15 per diaper (after coupons & sales of course), I just couldn't see throwing away $0.15.

 I used packaging tape (scotch tape hasn't held in the past for me) to tape down the interior & exterior of the ripped tab.

Though it's unlikely that the taped seam will touch Bug's skin, I taped a piece of toilet paper down over the seam, just in case.  After about 1 minute worth of work the diaper was as good as new.  It might put me into the cheapskate hall of fame, but I think it's a totally worthwhile effort. 

Homemade Christmas--Buggy Blanket

Bug & her beloved Purple

Our little Doodlebug LOVES her blanket.  I'm not a fabulous knitter, but I knitted her two while I was first pregnant.  One sort of fell apart, and the other, which is more the size of a shawl than a proper blanket, is Emerson's absolute favorite.  She calls it purple & cannot stand to be away from it.  I unfortunately learned this the hard way when we forgot to bring it to the Museum of Sciences in San Fransisco & she had a total melt down hissy fit.  Seriously.  Rolling on the floor screaming.  We were those parents unable to control their child.  You're welcome, society. 

In the hopes of creating another blanket for Bug to love I decided to knit her a brand new blanket for Christmas. I tried to do this as frugally as possible, so I deconstructed the first blanket I made her.  I then used a Michael's giftcard from my FIL & paired that with weekly 40% off coupons to gather materials as cheaply as possible.  And today, after what seems like forever, I finally completed the project. 

Bug's blanket folded in half

I also decided to use up the remaining scrap yarn & I made it into a little baby doll blanket.  I'm hoping she'll be satisfied carrying the little doll blanket so we won't have to lug around old purple or new purple when we go to museums, but we shall see.   

Either way, I'm proud of myself.  It took a lot of time & it's not perfect, but I'm so happy to be able to give Emerson something that I made with my own hands this Christmas.  Now I just need to start knitting a blanket for Little Baby as well...