So I mentioned a while back something about my "new role" as a homemaker and soon-to-be stay-at-home (wow, hyphens!) mom. Compounded with the hot weather outside, I have been doing lots of research about different money-saving things, and that's what this post is about. I've got another post below with pictures of the garden and my 38-week photo, so you may want to scroll down if this doesn't interest you.
Back at the beginning of June I started clipping coupons. This has taken some skill to decide what to clip and what not to clip, and how to file the coupons for easy access. Then Erin told me about CVS shopping. I have been shopping at CVS for a few weeks now, and I have started to become addicted to saving money and getting good deals there. It is really quite a rush. I have found that with the coupons I use and the Extra Care Bucks system, I can get a lot of things that are usually pretty expensive (laundry detergent, deodorant, etc.) very cheaply. Pretty simultaneously I found that there is this whole world of people out there (mostly stay-at-home blogging moms) that have this system down and spend a LOT of time finding deals and getting a whole bunch of stuff every week almost completely free.
So with this experience, I have learned a few things about Chad and myself. One, I am not interested in spending the time to read every money-saving blog to make sure I don't miss out on a single deal. I mean, you could spend all day, every day, just reading blogs and websites that have to do with saving money. Another thing I've learned is that I am not going to shop at a million different places just to get one deal here and one deal there. At CVS I can get pretty much all our toiletries/household items for a really good price. Then, right across the street is the grocery store we usually shop at, so it's almost as good as one-stop shopping to go there after CVS. I hate shopping at Wal-Mart anyway so it's fine that I don't need to go there very often, except for certain things like frozen strawberries that we like for smoothies (they are superior to the ones that we get at the regular grocery store. Weird, I know.) Another thing is that we are pretty brand-loyal when it comes to certain things like toothpaste. So to me, it's not a good deal to get really cheap toothpaste when I am just wishing we had paid the extra dollar to buy our regular kind of toothpaste. Also, we like fresh fruit and veggies and we are soda drinkers, so I buy all those things no matter what (although I got a great deal at CVS last week on Dr. Pepper). So anyway, thanks to those of you who have enlightened me on the finer points of couponing and saving money. It's fun and it works for me right now.
So in light of this, my latest research has been on using cloth diapers. I've been asking other moms I know who use them what their take is. Here is what I have discovered in my limited research, so far: one thing is that I think people have a misconception of what cloth diapers have become. This is another thing that you could spend weeks or months researching and still not really know everything there is to know, and that is because there are so many kinds of cloth diapers now. I mean really, there are SO many websites with different kinds of diapers, reviews, etc. that it can quickly become overwhelming. I am looking at diapers that have an outer shell that fastens with snaps or velcro with some kind of absorbent insert that you remove and wash and reuse. They are really pretty fancy. From what I have heard, these kinds of cloth diapers actually "perform" better than their disposable counterparts, with a lot fewer leaks and blowouts. I also think people associate cloth diapers with granola earth-mother types, which I think is another misconception. Yes, a lot of these diapers are organic and they don't fill up landfills and that is really important to some people, but the two main reasons I have found people going with the cloth diapers is the amount of money you can save over the course of 3-ish years that each child is in diapers, and the better performance of the contemporary cloth diapers. So, I think I am going to try a few just to see if I like them. Chad might be a little harder to convince. :) Anyone out there who uses a certain type of cloth diaper who wants to chime in with what you use and how you like them, feel free to comment.
So, that's what I've been researching/reading/doing lately. Time for bed.
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4 comments:
I love that you are a researcher...me too. I read every parenting, breastfeeding, scheduling, discipling,etc book that anyone would recommend prior to Cy's birth. Don't know alot about cloth diapers...I do know that Cassie Bundy uses them and Lori Burk was going to give them a try so you might check with them. i know that they are really fancy now and alot easier to clean, but for our family, I couldn't imagine taking the time to clean 10-ish diapers a day...in this case, we went for convenience. And we really haven't had a problem with leaking or blowouts with the disposable diapers yet.I would love to hear what blogs/websites you would recommend regarding deals and savings. Enjoy the rest of your week~
1) you are way too cute pregno
2) why don't you hook me up with the CVS plan so I can save money because I promise you I don't intend on reading blogs about it (other than yours)
3) you are totally correct about those frozen strawberries
4) your vegies look awesome and
5) Mirm introduced me to the adding spinach to my fruit smoothies for a dose of vegetables at first I was like are you kidding and I like spinach but now I'm addicted!!!
and finally less than 2 weeks and I will be seeing your cabin!!!
Hollie, I am not sure that I will use cloth diapers on a newborn b/c of what you said, and the fact that whether they work well or not depends a lot on the size of the newborn. I have talked to Cassie and she really likes them.
The best website I have found the explains the CVS thing is http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/03/cvs-101.html. Sorry Reebs, there's way too much information there for me to repeat it all on my blog, and there are so many people that know so much more about it than I do, so I would suggest reading that one entry if you're interested. The gist is clip coupons every week and file them in a system that works for you (that you'll be able to find things), look at the CVS circular every week for good deals and deals that offer extra care bucks, and match them up with your coupons. Subscribe to the money saving mom blog through a feed like Bloglines, and she does the matching for you. Another website I subscribe to and read is dealseekingmom.com. They both update quite a bit though, which is why I suggest just subscribing to them in a reader. I wish there was someone in Lubbock or west Texas that matched up deals at United with coupons, because that is my favorite grocery store here (the only other real option being Wal-Mart).
Also, I think I will need to try the spinach in smoothies thing. We planted a bunch of spinach last year but didn't this year for some reason. Maybe we can do a fall crop. Chad is the big smoothie drinker (although he says that I was the one who started us on the whole smoothie thing, which I don't remember) and he likes spinach so I think he would probably like that.
Hope you like the cabin Rebekah. Shawn and Emma have been up there this session, and I hear it looks really nice now with the walls painted and some carpet down! I can't wait to see it myself...that will most likely be our kid's first "road trip" after he is born.
Go for the cloth diapers! I chose disposables for my kids and I am about to switch to cloth and I wish I had started in cloth. Also, I am all about saving money, clipping coupons,and figuring out ways to save money. So we should compare notes. :)
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