How I'm saving $920 in 12 months

{image from: my couch in the living room}

 

A couple years ago when I discovered Amazon Mom and was saving 30% on my diapers and wipes, I felt like I had hit the jackpot. I couldn't believe that I was able to get so much bang for my buck (with free shipping, to boot).  I was so bummed when Amazon started cutting back on their diaper discounts, but what can you do?  I mean, babies need diapers.

Around this time last year, Trey and I had a monthly $40 budget envelope for diapers and wipes.  Chandler was being changed just about every hour on the hour at daycare. We had recently found out that we were expecting a third child, and we knew that when baby #3 arrived, our diaper expenditures would double.  Yikes! $80 every month was NOT an option.

I had heard of cloth diapering but perceived it to be either too trendy or too archaic for me.  When I read a few articles like this one (Cloth Diapering 101) and found out that I could potentially save thousands of dollars over the course of my children's birth to potty-training years, I decided to get over myself and really consider giving this cloth thing a go (Smith Family Budget Reduction Strategy #5).   Fortunately, around this time, two mommas in my life agreed to educate me on the ins and outs of cloth diapering (thank you Sarah and Nicole!).  Their expertise and encouragement were just the push I needed to finally buy my first batch of cloth diapers. 

The upside:

• On average, I save 25 cents every time I change a diaper 
• Your son can wear  a spider-man diaper and shoot imaginary webs at you
• I have only have one extra load of laundry every 2-3 days
• I am saving the planet (okay, probably not)
• If we're low on diapers, we don't have to make that annoying, unplanned trip to the store
• Cloth diapers are made to last and can be passed down through multiple children
• They have excellent resale value and can sell for as much as 70% of their original value

The downside:

• Poop (also pee)

See my other posts:
Can I test out cloth diapering first?
Cloth Diapering Products We Love

Money Laundering

You know the type  - waving their freak flag in the air.  The folks that make their own laundry soap. WEIRDOS! Do these people even care about hygiene?  Obviously not, or they would go to Target  and pick up some Target brand "Up & Up."  If you buy the 150 oz Target detergent for $8.38 you have a steal at just 11 cents a load.  How cheap is that?

[insert deafening silence]

It's not cheap.  Not at all.  Not one, but two of my lovely sisters were washing their clothes with detergent that cost them 1 cent a load.  That's one penny folks.  That's like having your washing machine toss you a dime every time you throw in a new load.  And my sisters didn't smell funky at all.  I sniffed them just to make sure.

{image from littlehouseinthebigd.com}

  Several months back, I did it (Smith Family Budget Reduction Strategy #4).  I went to the supermarket.  I picked up the 3 ingredients.  I made the laundry soap.  Trey laughed; he mocked; he thought it was a little overkill.

Nearly 5 months later, with 1/3 of the laundry soap recipe still left in the bucket, that was maybe the best $6 I ever spent. Even better?  Next time it will only cost me $1 for the bar of soap because I have plenty left of the other 2 ingredients.  Now my husband praises me at the city gates because this is one less thing we have to add to our shopping list.

In lieu of posting my own "how-to" here is a fabulous one that utilizes the exact same recipe we do:

Homemade Laundry Soap: A How-to (with pictures!)

Beans & Rice, Rice & Beans

If you've listened to Dave Ramsey's radio show for any length of time you've heard him say that to get serious about paying off debt you need to live on "beans & rice, rice & beans."  This phrase (I think) is more of a philosophical statement meant to encompass your approach to spending in all areas.

{image from delicious-cooks.com}

Fortunately for us, we happen to love beans & rice, rice & beans.  In fact, we eat it... every weekend... nearly all weekend (Smith Family Budget Reduction Strategy #3).  Before you think we're martyrs, let me just say that these are legit -- I mean fantastically, amazing, belly-filling, soul-gladdening beans.  Trey's mom fixed them for her family while he was growing up, and it was his very favorite meal.  We have this meal on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for dinner... and Saturday and Sunday for lunch, as well.  You may think this is excessive, but in many countries (say, Brazil, for instance) people eat beans and rice every single day.  Would you believe that this rhythm means that we only spend a few dollars to eat all 5 meals on the weekends?  Could you imagine what you could do with the money you saved?  Over the course of a month, that's 20 meals we've replaced -- with pennies on the dollar. 

Confession: When we were going down to one income, I just did not see how we could continue to support our Compassion and World Vision kids.  As we crunched the numbers and weren't sure that we could even afford health insurance for me, I asked Trey if we could cut out the $120 a month total we send to them.  I even imagined over the course of 6 years how much of that money could have been diverted to paying ahead on student loan debt (enter Shannon's wicked heart).  Trey was not receptive to this request.  In fact, he was dead set against it, and said that surely there would be a way that we could make this work. His reasoning was that if we could afford trips to the zoo or Netflix, we could re-prioritize to help put food in the tummies of hungry children.  As sometimes happens in our marriage, Trey was right... and I'm so glad he stood firm.

It's been months since we've been on our beans & rice routine, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I realized that the amount of money we are saving -- by eating food that our sponsored kids eat daily -- is the amount of money we needed to continue to sponsor them.  What's more, it stirs our heart towards gratefulness that He has so richly provided for us so that we can help others.

The up-side:

• Beans are a super food - packed with protein and rich in vitamins & minerals
• Dietary fiber - in this house, with these boys, any source of dietary fiber is a plus
• It's easy - one pot of beans takes us through the weekend
• It's cheap - huge bag of rice, huge bag of beans - eat like kings for months

The down-side:

• Beans, beans the musical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot
• Beans, beans they're good for you heart, the more you eat, the more you...

How we do it:

Around 1:00 on Friday afternoons, I do the following:

1.  Heat up stock pot
2.  Melt 2 TBSP bacon grease (reserved from bacon drippings a la Little House on the Prairie)
3.  Chop up 1/2 sweet onion and saute in bacon grease
4.  Rinse 1-1/2 pounds of pinto beans 
5.  Add beans to stock pot
6.  Fill stock pot with water 2 inches from the top
7.  Leave on a slow boil for 3-4 hours
8.  When husband get's home from work, have him magically season the beans with salt, sugar, and Cajun seasoning until it is practically perfect in every way.
   
9.  Throw rice in the rice cooker.
10.  Serve a bowl of rice covered in beans with plenty of bean broth
11. If you're really feeling froggy, grill some corn tortillas and put strips into your beans & rice
12.  Send me an e-mail thanking me profusely for having changed your life forever
13.  Replace the time you would have otherwise spent on cooking those four additional meals with way more exciting things.

Cost:
20lbs beans - $15 *HEB (that will get you through 66 meals) = 23 cents a meal
10lbs rice - $5 *Aldi (covers at least 30 meals)   = 17 cents a meal
1 sweet onion - $1 (covers 5 meals) = 20 cents a meal
Pack of white corn tortillas - $1.38 (covers 5 meals) = 28 cents a meal

If you're counting -- that's 88 cents a meal for our family of 4 (Ellie doesn't count yet).

Breakfast on the cheap

{image from skinnytaste.com}

On weekdays we try to make a concerted effort to have breakfast as a family before Trey heads off to work.  In the morning rush of getting ready, the thought of getting breakfast prepared and assembling everyone at the table can be daunting for me.  The most obvious solution, cereal, is costly and never seems to fill anyone up.  To add to that, eating wheat-free has meant a lot of other traditional breakfast foods were off the table (literally).  Our happy solution for the past 5 months has been oatmeal (Smith Family Budget Reduction Strategy #2).  It takes 4 minutes to heat up in the microwave -- enough time to brew a pot of coffee for myself and steep a cup of tea for Trey.

Why it works for us:

• Our morning bowl gives us 8g of dietary fiber and 10g of protein
• Breakfast for the entire work week costs us less than $2.50 (50 cents a day!)
• The kids love the predictability and routine, so much so that when Chandler wakes up he immediately launches into a chorus of "Eatmeal, Eatmeal, Eatmeal!" 
• If we want to change things up, we can always add in extras from our pantry like craisins, walnuts, or even a tablespoon of peanut butter at little cost to us.

Ingredients:
Old Fashioned Oats - around $2 *Aldi
Brown Sugar - $1.19 *Aldi

Movie Night Mondays

image from www.slashfood.com

I have a fabulous recipe for an easy, no-stress Monday night.  It's one of our key Smith Family Budget Reduction Strategies (that's supposed to sound really impressive and official)

Ingredients:
2-3 apples (I love Granny Smith or Pink Lady but we get whatever apple HEB has for <$1 per lb.)
1- 8 oz block of cheese (I like Sharp Cheddar; Trey prefers Colby Jack)
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1 TBSP coconut oil
1 family-friendly DVD from the library
1 bottle of Two-Buck Chuck

Directions:
1. Slice apples
2. Slice cheese
3. Pop kernels in coconut oil on stove top.  Here's How!
4. Bring popcorn, cheese, and apples to family room
5. Pop in free DVD rental (courtesy of your friendly local library)
6. Pour a small glass of wine
7. Sit down and enjoy!

Total cost = around $3 each movie night

Cost Breakdown:
Apples = $1.25 *HEB
Cheese = $1.39 (we use 1/2 block each movie night) *Aldi
Popcorn Kernels (32 oz bag) = $1.29 (ONE bag makes 120 cups of popped popcorn) *Aldi
Coconut oil = $6 (ONE container of oil makes popcorn for the whole family 63 times) *HEB
Two-Buck Chuck = $2.99 (one bottle = 6 movie night glasses) *Trader Joes
DVD (free) *Crowley Public Library

Can I "test out" cloth diapering first?

It's difficult to "try out" cloth diapering because it's a large initial investment that pays for itself within 6 months. With that said, I can think of a few economical ways you might get your feet wet before jumping in:

1) Craigslist. I know. Gross.  But. Here's a secret.  Diapers have excellent resale value.  They often sell for 70% of their initial value.  Check online.  Check on craigslist. This is good news for you when you want to sell off your stash.  It also means that there are great deals to be had.  I scored 11 diapers for $55 off of Craigslist from a sweet little Indian family that was moving back to India.  These diapers had been used for 3 years and were still kickin'. It allowed me to pilot my cloth diapering program with Chandler before Ellie arrived. It also allowed me to see the downside to velcro and the upside of snaps since the velcro was in rough shape and a major pain in the butt, but the lone snaps diaper looked good as new.

OR

2) Buy prefolds and covers -  Get a pack of prefolds (I highly recommend GMD Cloth-eez) and a few Thirsties snap covers (adjustable).  You can sometimes score some "irregular" diapers from the website that are marked down considerably but work just as well.  I got a dozen large size for $24 that way.  Covers are about $13 each but you can usually score cheaper ones by looking at the "open box" option on Amazon or the "seconds" section of cloth diapering websites.  This will allow you to determine if cloth diapering is for you. As a caveat, however, prefolds are a bit more cumbersome than pocket diapers.  The good news? If you don't mind prefolds, pocket diapers will be a breeze.  I personally love prefolds, and still use them often with Ellie even though she easily fits in the pocket diapers.

OR

3) Buy Alvababy diapers from China.  I recommend the $6.99 double gusset color snap because those are the most like BumGenius.  I own their $4 and $5 diaper but those do leak at times.  If you want to stock up on 7-8 of the Alvababy double gusset first (rather than the 3x  more $$ Bumgenius), you can get an idea of whether or not this is for you.  If you don't like them, resell them and recoup some of those costs.

*Don't buy a diaper pail and liner while you are testing it out.  Just dedicate small trashcan with a grocery bag and dump the small load of diapers in and toss the shopping bag in the trash. 

*Pick up a small box of Tide Ultra Powder detergent.  Just use 1 to 1 1/2 TBSP for each load.

If you decide it's for you, then go forth and get the good stuff. You will still save major money in the end.  I started off with the tiny trashcan in the garage and the Craigslist diapers.  But once I knew this was going to work for me, I bought the Charlie's soap, pocket diapers, hemp inserts, and pail liners so that life would be easy.  I love cloth diapering.  Every time I am running low on diapers, I just do a load of laundry.  It's kind of like magic.

Cloth Diapering Products We Love

Newborn: We used a prefold and wrap method for our newborn.  It was leak-proof and easy.  We ordered a dozen of the prefolds and had 3 covers.  You can reuse the covers several times, so you only need a few.

GMD Cloth-eez Prefolds- Newborn Size - $24 a dozen ($2 each)
These babies are the standby that women have used for generations to diaper their babies.  They are super cheap ($2 each) and a great fit for newborns before they transition into pocket diapers.
Thirsties Duo-Wrap Snap Cover 6-18lbs - $12.75
This is a great cover that allows you to adjust the size.  Simply snap this baby over the prefold and you have a waterproof protector.
Snappi Diaper Fasteners - 3 pack $9.75
Such an upgrade from diaper pins.  This grabs with plastic clips that keep you from worrying about poking yourself or your little one.

Excellent Video about this Newborn system
This is a great little video (2 minutes long) that shows exactly what we used for newborn cloth diapering.  The only difference is that we bought the Thirsties cover with snaps (not velcro) because velcro wears down in the laundry and snaps can be used forever and ever without "wearing out"

12+ lbs: We use a pocket one size diaper.  We have about 12 diapers designated for our 2 year old and 15 for our 5 month old.  We could probably get by with far less but received many as baby shower gifts.

BumGenius 4.0 Snap Diapers - $17.95 each
These are my very favorite diaper.  They can be used all the way up to potty training time.  Seriously,  I tried these on my son when he was 3 1/2 just to see, and they totally fit him.  They are wonderfully made, and I can interchange them easily between kids.  If I am using one of my 2-year-olds diapers for my 5 month old, I just have to adjust 3 snaps in a row in order to get a perfect fit.  I own a Fuzzibunz, and both my kids leak immediately.  I have heard wonderful things about Fuzzibunz from parents who have thinner kids, and I think that must be the ticket because our Fuzzibunz diaper is just a leak factory on our wide babies.  Helpful BumGenius Video

AlvaBaby Double Gusset Color Snap Diaper - $6.99 each
These diapers are the cheaper version of the BumGenius and manufactured and sold from China.  They ship free but it does take a long time for them to arrive (3-4 weeks for us).  They actually snap smaller than the Bum Genius because they have 4 different size settings (rather than 3). They are truly good diapers.

Overnight:

Joey Bunz Premium Hemp Insert - Large - 3pk - $18.75
My middle child would always wake up soaked before we switched to cloth diapers because there was no way to adjust the absorbency.  With cloth diapering, I am able to add or remove layers as needed.  Overnight and for afternoon naps, I love the Joey Bunz Premium Inserts.  They are so much better than the other hemp inserts out there.  They dry quickly and pretty much bullet proof.  I got the large pack because they fit the Bum Genius perfectly at its largest setting but can be folded easily to accommodate the smaller diapers.

Wipes:

Baby Wash Cloths (Edged) - Buy at Wal-mart/Target/etc.- $4-$6 in store
I have 3 different kinds of wipes: the OsoCozy, Hemp, and Gerber Wash Cloths.  The best (and cheapest) option is to go to Walmart and pick up a pack of baby washclothes that are edged (see picture in link for example of what I mean by "edged")

Laundry System: You are going to want to do a load of diapers every 2-3 days.  You simply take the liner out of the pail and empty the contents into the washing machine.  The agitation of your washer will naturally remove the inserts from your pocket diapers, so you don't have to.  If you dry your diapers, do so on a low heat setting.

Simplehuman Diaper Pail - $36.64
So this is really a step trash can but it is the best diaper pail that I can truly imagine. The planet wise liners fit it perfectly, it has wheels so it can be easily moved.  It has a lock so that no pesky pets or curious toddlers can get inside, and it has a step lever so that you never have to touch the lid to open it if you don't want to.

Planet Wise Diaper Pail Liner ($16.50)
You will want to buy 2 liners  - When you are doing a load of cloth diapers, you will wash the liner with the load.  You'll want the extra one handy so that you always have a liner in your diaper pail.

Charlie's Soap Laundry Detergent - $13.99
I really like this laundry soap and it lasts for months and months because you only use a tablespoon of it at a time.  You have to be really mindful that you don't use detergent that will leave any sort of chemicals in the actual diaper, and Charlie's fits the bill.

Tide Ultra Powder
Tide Ultra is a save the day product.  Cloth diapering moms swear by it, and I've used it interchangeably with Charlie's and had great success.

Simple, Helpful Cloth Diaper Laundry Video