1. Groceries: We spent $34.54 at Aldi this week. There were some sales that I wanted to take advantage of, plus we had to restock on sour cream, tortillas, milk, and... snack items. Total spent on snack items was $14.53. Husbands and kids always get blamed for snack purchases, but in reality $10.00 of the snack spending was mine. I bought a canister of nuts, bar of $2.00 85% dark chocolate and box of protein bars. Those are much more expensive than less-healthy Hubby snacks. So, I take the blame and responsibility for reducing snack spending.
2. Cooking: I cut leftover homemade bread into cubes for stuffing, made taco seasoning, and cooked and froze sweet potatoes. Aldi sweet potatoes were $0.99 for a 3lb. bag last week, which was a smashing deal. I got some extra for the freezer. I also picked the last of the green tomatoes out of the garden and put them in an egg carton to ripen.
Meals we had this week were: Egg & bean burritos, oatmeal, sausage & rice, buffalo chicken pasta, turkey soup, egg & sausage tortillas, leftovers and a couple potluck meals.
3. Cloth diapers: So, my cloth diaper adventure really needs a whole post for itself. But I did do some frugal things this week in regards to increasing/improving my stash:
I used some baby shower gift cards to buy one diaper cover and one AIO diaper. Walmart had several Thirsties brand diapers and covers on sale for a good price, so I bought one Duo Wrap size 2 for $8.25 and one all-in-one (AIO) diaper for $12.36. I also bought some other things, which (after more cloth diaper research) I've decided to return. My order was over $35 and thus qualified for free shipping, plus I used Ebates to save another $0.87 or so.
I also made a gusset pattern for the Econobum covers that I'm reviving.
Right now, my stash includes the following:
-12 cotton prefolds
-1 Thirsties diaper cover
-3 Econobum covers (need work)
-1 Thirsties AIO diaper
-1 set Boingo clips
-3 Snappi clips
-1 wet bag
-1 pail liner
-12 Thirsties cloth wipes
Some of the stash was given to me and some of it I bought. So far I've spent $18.74. I've also spent an additional $15.48 on cloth diaper sewing supplies- snaps and Babyville PUL fabric. I am waiting for another trip to Joanns to purchase the snap pliers for $12.00 with a coupon.
Last week I started trying out different prefold folds and covers. I thought the prefolds would last as long as our disposables have, but apparently not. They will last longer than an hour, but no longer than two hours before becoming absolutely SOAKED. It appears I have a "heavy wetter" on my hands (or the prefolds I have are too small). After doing some internet searches, I discovered why people like bamboo or hemp inserts: they're 40% more absorbent than cotton. Of course all the materials (cotton, hemp, bamboo, microfiber) are finicky in their own way and each has their pros and cons. I also read all sorts of cool tricks and improvements to increase absorbency and/or eliminate diaper rash for cheap. I look forward to report on some of these experiments in the following weeks.
So far I've used $34.22 of my $100.00 cloth diaper budget. I also have another $45.12 worth of merchandise on its way to my house: the AIO diaper, a pocket diaper and bamboo inserts. Lastly, I want to remember to save $12.00 of my budget for the snap pliers. With all of those costs added up, I have just $27.40 left to spend. How I spend this will determine which kind of diaper works best for me; prefolds and covers, pockets or AIOs. If the AIOs work best, I'll most likely exceed my budget by $50.00 or more. But I've come to the conclusion that it would still be saving money if I used the expensive diapers; just not as much money. But the diapers would be there for the next kid, or available to sell and I might be able to recoup some of my investment.
4. Lastly, I cleaned out the chicken coop and saved the manure to use on my garden.
What frugal things did you do this week?
2. Cooking: I cut leftover homemade bread into cubes for stuffing, made taco seasoning, and cooked and froze sweet potatoes. Aldi sweet potatoes were $0.99 for a 3lb. bag last week, which was a smashing deal. I got some extra for the freezer. I also picked the last of the green tomatoes out of the garden and put them in an egg carton to ripen.
Meals we had this week were: Egg & bean burritos, oatmeal, sausage & rice, buffalo chicken pasta, turkey soup, egg & sausage tortillas, leftovers and a couple potluck meals.
3. Cloth diapers: So, my cloth diaper adventure really needs a whole post for itself. But I did do some frugal things this week in regards to increasing/improving my stash:
I used some baby shower gift cards to buy one diaper cover and one AIO diaper. Walmart had several Thirsties brand diapers and covers on sale for a good price, so I bought one Duo Wrap size 2 for $8.25 and one all-in-one (AIO) diaper for $12.36. I also bought some other things, which (after more cloth diaper research) I've decided to return. My order was over $35 and thus qualified for free shipping, plus I used Ebates to save another $0.87 or so.
I also made a gusset pattern for the Econobum covers that I'm reviving.
Right now, my stash includes the following:
-12 cotton prefolds
-1 Thirsties diaper cover
-3 Econobum covers (need work)
-1 Thirsties AIO diaper
-1 set Boingo clips
-3 Snappi clips
-1 wet bag
-1 pail liner
-12 Thirsties cloth wipes
Some of the stash was given to me and some of it I bought. So far I've spent $18.74. I've also spent an additional $15.48 on cloth diaper sewing supplies- snaps and Babyville PUL fabric. I am waiting for another trip to Joanns to purchase the snap pliers for $12.00 with a coupon.
Last week I started trying out different prefold folds and covers. I thought the prefolds would last as long as our disposables have, but apparently not. They will last longer than an hour, but no longer than two hours before becoming absolutely SOAKED. It appears I have a "heavy wetter" on my hands (or the prefolds I have are too small). After doing some internet searches, I discovered why people like bamboo or hemp inserts: they're 40% more absorbent than cotton. Of course all the materials (cotton, hemp, bamboo, microfiber) are finicky in their own way and each has their pros and cons. I also read all sorts of cool tricks and improvements to increase absorbency and/or eliminate diaper rash for cheap. I look forward to report on some of these experiments in the following weeks.
So far I've used $34.22 of my $100.00 cloth diaper budget. I also have another $45.12 worth of merchandise on its way to my house: the AIO diaper, a pocket diaper and bamboo inserts. Lastly, I want to remember to save $12.00 of my budget for the snap pliers. With all of those costs added up, I have just $27.40 left to spend. How I spend this will determine which kind of diaper works best for me; prefolds and covers, pockets or AIOs. If the AIOs work best, I'll most likely exceed my budget by $50.00 or more. But I've come to the conclusion that it would still be saving money if I used the expensive diapers; just not as much money. But the diapers would be there for the next kid, or available to sell and I might be able to recoup some of my investment.
4. Lastly, I cleaned out the chicken coop and saved the manure to use on my garden.
What frugal things did you do this week?
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