I have calmed down since my last entry. Cloth diapering is pretty easy now. I do have to be very careful about diaper rashes. Both kids are prone to them, and flannel does not wick moisture away from the skin. I hope we've saved enough soon to buy some fancy schmancy ones. Instead of 18-odd disposables per day, we're going through three (naps and nighttimes; the toddler uses a special overnight diaper at night, so it's not figured in). That's quite a bit of money, even after the cost of washing them.
Did you know that we've had basic cable for over a year, and I had no idea? Yes. We got it in spring of 2009. We got it so I'd have something to do while nursing the baby. I've never been able to read books while nursing, and I was out of shows to watch on Hulu.
Well, what do you know? The only thing on basic cable during the day is lousy soap operas. I hate soap operas. I can't even put it into words. It's odd to feel this strongly about TV shows, but something about them makes me so crazy I could spit. I would rather watch Dragon Tales all day. While sitting on nails. And eating spiders.
So, anyway, I thought we'd canceled it. I don't really know why. I don't remember ever saying anything to The Guy about it. Sometimes it's like I assume he downloads information direct from my head. He should just know these things, right?
(Oh heavens. If he had a direct link to my brain, he'd be completely neurotic by now.)
Well, come to find out we hadn't canceled it. We were paying $25/month for a service we didn't even use. Idiots. So we canceled that. This is a good thing because The Baby had to switch to formula a couple of months ago, and that stuff is expensive. It's like powdered gold. Even the cheap stuff. I look forward to her turning one year. We will be swimming in money once we don't have to buy formula.
Right?
I calculated all the savings (not including buying less meat and cutting the cable) since I started this blog. A conservative estimate puts us at $85. This is not a ton of money if you just look at the number. But $85 is a week's groceries. $85 is three baby or wedding gifts. $85 is formula for a month.
These small bits of money make a difference. Most of them don't even require extra work. We make more money by doing less. I like this.
Since some of these things I didn't start until halfway through the month, the monthly savings is more like $120.
If you add to that $120 the $25/month for cable and the $15/week eating less meat, our savings are up to $205/month.
The next item on my 100 Things list is more air drying. I don't much care for it. It creates more work for me, and we don't have the space for a drying rack or a clothesline. I won't even consider hanging clothes outside. In the winter, it's too cold, and in the summer there are spiders. I will never be a crazy enough tightwad to brave either of those. But it's still a quarter a day. Not much by itself, but it's one of (hopefully) one hundred.
I tumble dry only the things that really need it: pants, my husband's work shirts, towels. I would air dry the pants and towels, but they mildew long before they get dry. Instead of drying eight loads per week, I'm drying just two. I let the laundry pile up for a few days (not the cloth diapers; I wash those nightly, but I don't put them in the dryer). We'll live. We have plenty of clothes. Then I wash four loads and only toss a few items from each into the dryer. When all the washing is done, I dry the combined load in the dryer.
Yes, this means we have damp clothing draped all over the place for a day. It's more than a little annoying. But hey! It's $.24/day! Not too shabby. Add to this the extended life of our clothes, and it's probably more.
I prefer conservative estimates. The worst that will happen is we save more money than we thought we would. I like surprises.
either your kid eats a ton or you don't have a costco near you. Their formula is $20 for two large canisters and when MJ was on formula she went through 4 a month and I even put some in her cereal. You need costco. The membership itself is returnable efore it expires. Since MJ didn't use formula for the whole yr we had a membership and I wasn't buying anything else there I returned our membership. No questions were asked. Also I used to dry all andys tshirts on hangers. I hung them on the shower rod. They were done before our next shower. And then I just moved the hangers to his closet. It sorta saved me a step...or at least didn't add any.
ReplyDeleteNo Costco. We have a Wal-mart. Yippee. The canisters are $11--658 grams--, and they make about 3.75 days' worth of formula (Emmy eats about 40 oz/day). How big are the Costco canisters? If they're larger, it might be worth it to drive to Madison and stock up weekly or monthly. Otherwise, this is the best we've got
ReplyDeleteSurely they have Costco in other places. Ya know. I mean, I would imagine the farther west you go, the more Costcos there are. So, go west of Madison. haha.
ReplyDeleteI think $85 is a number to be proud of! That is a really good chunk of change.
40 oz a day? I know she can't have milk yet, but she COULD be drinking water or watered-down juice for some of that liquid. These guys: http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-to-tell-how-much-formula-your-baby-needs_9136.bc?page=2 say more than 16-24 oz of day might be blocking her appetite for other (AKA CHEAPER) food. Oh, and more nutritious, something something, yada... Also? Cheaper.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, hi!
Hi!
ReplyDeleteShe eats a lot of solids, too. The girl is just huge. She's almost 25 pounds and is constantly (CONSTANTLY) crawling or climbing or cruising. I think she just needs a lot of fuel.
Just as a suggestion, on the air-drying clothing...
ReplyDeleteI don't really separate my laundry much, because I don't own much that truly bleeds. But the one way I do separate it is based on what needs to go through the dryer, and what can air dry.
I don't personally need to do more than 2, maybe 3 loads of laundry in a week (and only 3 if I'm doing sheets or towels). 1 load is always my work clothes (which I always air dry), and the other load is always everything else. So if I only have time to do one load of clothes, I can just do the work clothes and let them dry overnight, and it only takes me like 30 minutes of time I need to be actively attending to it.
In your case, it might help if you could separate your laundry into dried and not-dried, so that you could do it more continuously. You would constantly have damp clothes hanging to dry, but you might be able to dedicate one spot for them so they aren't all over the house.
Plus, it tends to cut down on the "OMG I HAVE NO CLEAN CLOTHES!" emergencies. :)
Also, do you use cold water to wash your clothes? I have always done this, because my parents have always done this. Even without special cold-water-specific detergent, I have never noticed that my clothes aren't clean when I'm done. Plus, they last longer, since the colors don't bleed as much, and things don't shrink. It's something to think about, if you don't do it already.
Do you know that this thing never tells me if someone comments after I've commented? They need to take a lesson from FB...
ReplyDeleteAnywho, yes, in general I refer to two basic sizes of formula canisters one as large and one as small. I know there are smaller canisters but really only as samples right? I wish I had a large canister in front of me to tell you the grams but at Costco a twin pack of LARGE canisters was 19.99 and tax. I would say going out of your way to go to Costco once every other month and buying a few twin packs would be WELL worth it. Or, ask around at church. I bet there are people who go to Costco already. Invite them over for dinner after they hit up Costco and grab some formula for ya. I bet it would be a great way to get cheaper formula AND have some great fellowship :)