In Response :)

Stacey asked:
I always tend to overbuy and end up with things I needed for an earlier child but don't need for the new one. Do you think it's bad to wait on certain purchases until we need them? Like diapers or medicine? My first daughter used a pacifier. When preparing for a second I bought them to match all her outfits. However she would never use one. None of my kids since would take one. I am trying to convert into only buying what I need from buying everything. However I have this nagging urge to just have everything so I am ready for anything. How do you bypass this?



Hm. Well, for starters I'm super cheap. I have a hard time buying the big bag of rice, even though I *know* we'd use it. So far, for the baby, I've only bought things that experience tells me I *will* need again. But if the buying bug gets you, you can always just leave the tags on and return things you didn't need?



I actually struggle with this kind of thing all the time, from the opposite end, because I feel like I should be "stocked up" and I never am. I'd rather clean out our pantry/diaper basket/toothpaste tube entirely before spending money on more.



That wasn't a good answer, I'm afraid! :)



Jamie (who is giving away an awesome prize pack on her blog!) said:



I do want to know what kind of coupons you used and what store you did this at!!!! I sooooo want to learn the tricks of multiple coupon use...



I am so not the go-to person on coupons (go here for that). I never, never, never, never, never use them. But my good friend Amy sent me this link:


[Updated 7/30/08 - Coupons removed, since our local Target decided they were "fraudulent." What? Just because I found something on the Internets and then posted it on my blog it's not totally legit? Whatevs. Tell it to Al Gore, yo. ]

(Amy has printed off and used these coupons more than once!)

And then I looked through all those free baby magazines they always send me and found THREE more Target coupons for the Pamper diapers/wipes set.

This is a feat that will likely never be repeated in my life. :)


Sarah said:

I never realized that a baby is so expensive! Babies need a ton of stuff, don't they?!

I kind of feel bad about the baby-expenses tracking. My original intention was to show how cheap a baby is. You know, $10 added on to the grocery bill for diapers and you're done. I, too, am surprised by how expensive it has been for us.

I should point out a couple of mitigating factors, however:

1. Babies of working moms cost more. You have to buy a pump and bottles and dressy maternity clothes and I have a theory that an at-home mom might go through fewer nursing pads, but... I don't really know. Additionally, I think it would be fair to say that, even if you breastfeed, most working moms cannot pump enough to keep up with baby's needs, and can expect to do at least some supplementation with formula (though I was lucky enough not to have this problem myself). So, even though we don't have to pay for daycare, I think it's still more expensive to have an at-home dad than an at-home mom.
2. With your first baby, you'll get tons of presents! People bought us pretty much everything we needed. Clothes, car seat, high chair, toys, etc. However, now that we're on our third kid, the gift well has run dry, a lot of our stuff is worn out and/or expired and/or proven unsafe (bottles, possibly car seat), PLUS this baby is arriving a season off from her sister and can't wear any of the same clothes. Inconvenient, that.
3. Almost half of what I've personally spent so far has been on my progesterone shots. Which almost no one else needs. On the other hand, I do not pay the premiums on our health insurance. I think most people have probably spent at least $400 on health insurance premiums in the 6 months I've been pregnant. So, still a bargain!
4. Use cloth diapers. We did completely for our first, and actually really liked it. Why we don't anymore? Lots of reasons, mostly because our washing machine is a PIECE OF JUNK, even though we bought it BRAND NEW just a couple of years ago. GRRRR. (Hey, you know what would have made more sense than a new leather couch? Oh, a washing machine.)

Anyway, I just didn't want anyone to see that tally at the right and think they couldn't afford a baby. All babies really, really need is love, your arms, mom's milk, some swaddling clothes, and a car seat (if you have a car!). The rest is icing.

LeeAnn (oh my gosh, does she not have the most beautiful red hair?) said:

If you have diapers, clothes, blankets and the stuff you bought over the weekend, you're probably set, right?

Uh... ;) Pretty much. On my list still are:

• New nursing bras (which I should have bought before my LAST baby, because mine are really shot now!),
• A bottle warmer (yet another working-mom expense there),
• Car seat (which we borrowed from my SIL who is also pregnant now, also it might be expired, we have to check),
• Double stroller (how did our Graco Duo Glider get SO SO trashed in just 2 1/2 years? Lots of use, and lots of shoving it into the trunk of a Corolla? We're thinking about getting a Sit 'n' Stand Deluxe, if anyone has any experience.)
• Evening primrose oil and red raspberry leaf supplements (I took these at the end of my pregnancy last time, as I'd read they help prepare your body for labor. Not sure if they did anything, but my labor was only 5 hours. Worth it? YES.)
• Fish oil capsules. (I've heard that taking fish oil after the birth of a baby helps ward of post partum depression. Worth a try? YES. )
  

Are any of these items "needs"? Nah, probably not. But is this baby worth a little splurging? Yes she is. :)

Wow that got long! Sorry!

Nesting

I decided to stock up on some baby essentials this weekend.

Infant Acetaminophen - $2.19 (actually prefer to use ibuprophen, but they don't make the lovely dropper/bottle cap, which I prefer when I'm working on 0.5 hours of sleep)

125 Lansinoh Breastmilk Storage Bags - $23.37

9 BPA-free bottles (now the cheapy Gerber and Evenflo bottles, which fit the Medela pump, are available BPA-free at Target) - $8.97

264 Lansinoh Nursing Pads (so not even enough, sadly) - $24.00

Infant fingernail clippers - $2.49

56 Size 1 Pampers & 210 Pampers Sensitive Wipes - (They PAID me $3.01 after I used a crazy number of coupons.)

Johnson's Baby wash - $1.09 (after $1.00 off coupon)

Total Spent (including tax): $62.65

I don't usually use coupons, but wow.

And that counter thing on the side over there? Kind of stressing me out.

What You Won't Find Here

I'm constantly amazed at the deals other bloggers post on their web sites. Particularly from stores like CVS and Walgreen's, I see all these photos of piles of free products brought home every week. It's incredible!

But I won't be doing that, not here, not at this blog. Partially because we don't have those stores. Partially because, even when things are free, I can't bring myself to buy things I don't need. My goal, frugally, isn't to get as much stuff as possible for as little money as possible. I don't clip coupons, because I rarely find coupons for things that we need (rice, beans, GF flours, bananas, etc.), and because I don't really agree with the process. The paper they are printed on, and the gas I'd use to drive around to the different stores, and the time and energy away from my family... it's just not worth it to me.

For me, personally, it's about deeply examining what "need" is, because I think we have lost that concept in this culture. Do I "need" disposable diapers, when I have perfectly good cloth ones? Do I "need" fancy shampoo, or should I be contented that I have the ability to buy shampoo at all? Do I "need" the pre-packaged, pre-measured, fancily-boxed gluten-free-labelled rice mixes, even if it's cheap or free, when I can buy bulk rice and bulk spices and spare our planet the packaging and the ink and the garbage?

I feel that I have a moral responsibility to live within the income with which we've been blessed. I don't want to offend anyone, but I feel that when we take more than we need (and I too, do it every single day), that we are over-consuming. And over-consumption? Is really just greed, isn't it? When we spend beyond our means (And we, at the GFF house, do it all the time!), are we really saying we deserve more than we've earned? And that just doesn't really seem right to me.

Or I could be wrong. It's been known to happen! ;)

Why I Don't Use Coupons

It's simple, really. When's the last time you saw a coupon for a bag of dried beans or bulk rice? For bananas? For a head of lettuce? Maybe you have access to coupons like that? I don't.