Re: Shoe string budgets

[Guest guest]

I do the same for cleaning.

We use baking soda/vinegar/lemon juice/essential oils for most of my

cleaning.

I do but dishwashing detergent and dish liquid but I get them on sale too

and stock up.

I use Soap Nuts & vinegar in our washer.

As for other things in the budget....we have been blessed to have some room

in our budget now to buy a few things in bulk.

We still can't afford to buy a cow or anything but I stick to the

basics....ground meats......

Ground Beef, Ground Pork (add my own spices for sausage), Ground Turkey and

Whole Chickens (we buy Murray's most of the time.....a compromise...not

organic but decently raised).

We are gluten free so we also buy bulk GF grains.....rice, rolled oats,

quinoa. I can get it at least 50% cheaper on sale from

my co-op is 25-50# bags than I could if I bought in 1-2# bags.

I use eggs a lot as proteins. We buy either local ones or free range from

the store. Sometimes you can find coupons for them. When I did...I bought

more and made

things for the freezer...quiches and custard casseroles.

Meal planning as really helped me with our budget. I helps to keep track of

what I have in the pantry so I can make better use of those " odd " items that

seems to never

get used.

Shoe string budgets

Cleaners - i no longer use them anymore. I buy the large gallon

bottles of vinegar and the 5lb (?) bags of arm and hammer from bulk

stores. That is what i use for cleaning. Oh i can buy dishwasher

powder from the co op pretty cheap per lb so i do buy it as i think it

works better than my vinergar and soda. But when i run out and have to

wait for my next co-op trip i use it to get me through.

I also usually uses water for teeth brushing or baking soda (not often

though). Sometimes some VCO etc. Hydrogen Peroxide or witchahzel

with cinnomon. Things non toxic around the house.

..

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[Guest guest]

Just thought I'd put my two cents in.... I recently signed up for a

group called FREECYCLE. It's specific to your area and you can

look for things you need for free - and you can give away things you

no longer need. So far I've received some baby clothes for my daughter

and a blue bird house.

Carol S.

[Guest guest]

This is a reply to a post under " Re: Re: Chicken Choices " but I'm

transplanting it into the " RE: Shoe string budgets " thread since that

thread seems more appropriate.

> The

> worker i met with here when i applied for it said that it is not

> often they get clients who teach them a thing or two about diet

I got along so fantastically well with the nutritionist at the WIC office in

NJ - it was quite pleasant to go visit. I have not yet met the

nutritionist down here, I think I may end up doing that in April.

> So make suggestions and print off the info from

> WAP site on the WIC guidelines they would like to see implemented.

Good idea! Especially now that I have a printer from freecycle - it came

with ink and all!!

if you get more milk than you like they sometimes will change

> the coupons to give you more cheese.

I wish! They don't give me nearly enough milk to drink so I don't have any

excess milk to spare for yogurt so I end up supplementing with my FS.

They're getting really stringent with the upper price limit for cheese too,

so it is just easier to do the raw cheese on the FS.

What I'd really like is if I could get grains instead of cereal!! (DH eats

most of the cereal because I refuse to touch it. I can't even get

non-instant oatmeal thanks to whomever wrote the WIC requirements.)

also we can get the milk labeled no hormones etc.

Right now I get a hormone free milk that tastes remarkably like the Jersey

milk I used to get from the HFS. I can't stand Holstein milk... bleh.

If it weren't for the FS we would be choosing mortgage or food. So i know

> how you

> all feel who say the money is not there.

Yeap! I did that for a few weeks (choosing rent over food) and then

realized I really needed to apply for FS because skipping meals when PG is

just plain stupid.

> When he makes the extra $250.

> we are over money wise, and do not qualify for them at all. Makes no

> sense at all. In their eyes $250. = $550.

>

The income limits don't make sense to me either. I'm just looking forward

to when baby comes because even though she'll be exclusively BF, we become a

3 person household and so our benefit rate goes up significantly.

> Do you still have medical insurance through jobs or are you getting

> state help with tat also? If so i wanted to tell you that in my

> state if a PG female applies in her last trimester her medcial card

> will stay open and she can use home birth midwives etc. that wil be

> covered by the state insurance. Maybe in your area too.

I do have the state Medicaid for pregnancy. It covers all three trimesters

and midwives as well as home birth. I haven't found anyone that does

homebirth here. I really like my midwife though so I'm happy delivering at

the hospital if that is the best I can get.

> Try posting on Craigslist for other like minded people - try under

> the kids and baby stuff. Post that you want to meet other NT, NN,

> WAPF people and are interested in getting in contact with local food

> co-ops that buy food/beef in bulk or interested i nstarting a beef

> share if anyone else is interested. You could pool the money etc.

> Here it avgs less than $2.40 lb (can be way more but i shop

> around!).

Great idea! I will see what I can do about that.

Our phone book has farms in the yellow pages. I started calling all

> of them until i found some that took FS.

>

> I also found some local Farmers who have CSA's that would take payments

> from me with

> the FS card at the Saturday market. I called around until i could

> find one who would take 4 weeks of payments 1 time a month with FS.

That is also a great idea! I will try that.

Thanks!

-Lana

[Guest guest]

Wow, I already buy several packages of KerryGold butter at a time when

I find it, because it isn't always available at my grocery store. I

freeze all but the package in use. I could have really stocked up on

that sale at Whole Foods if I were close to one!

~Leah

On 3/24/08, Lana Gibbons <lana.m.gibbons@...> wrote:

> Freecycle is wonderful! I've gotten pretty much all of my maternity

> clothing off of it (I'm just wearing larger sizes, not maternity specific

> stuff). I've also gotten a dresser, printer, patterns to sew my own

> clothing with, and many, many other useful items. I'm even gonna pick up a

> kombucha scoby from a listmate. Our list has even had grains, legumes

> and other food items coming through recently.

>

> Right now my diet is most like the isolated swiss diet in NAPD - lots of

> dairy (milk, butter, cheese, buttermilk, half-and-half) supplemented with

> grains (as well as potatoes and some legumes) and more butter or cream with

> my veggies I eat meat only a few times a week and when I do it tends to

> be chicken (sometimes fish when I can afford it) - and I make sure to use

> the bones for stock to cook my grains in. I do spend the extra money on

> pastured chickens because I just don't like commercial ones (they taste too

> bland so I end up not eating as much of them) and I only buy organic livers

> (since they're the only ones I can find that aren't sickly looking). My

> biggest expense is easily the dairy...

>

> On to how I save money:

>

> Most supermarkets have online sales circulars that they'll email to you

> weekly if you have a savings card with them. I check the local circulars

> every week for good deals - be it on cheese, produce, meat, grains, etc.

> The supermarkets near me are almost always running buy-1-get-1 on something

> (and occasionally even buy-1-get-2!!) A good example is WF is having a

> blowout sale on Kerrygold butter: 2 for 3.99! I never thought I'd see it

> that cheap and will be buying several more and hopefully getting a rain

> check so I can buy a handful next month too (these are wonderful things

> because they'll give them to you even if you're the one that bought the last

> ones).

>

> I'm still working out what I'm doing with cleaners - I have baking soda and

> vinegar for a lot of things. I've been thinking of adding some 35% H2O2 for

> areas where I don't like the vinegar smell. I use commercially produced

> castile soaps right now for the dishes, my skin and the laundry, but am

> reading a book on how to make my own to see if I'd save enough money to make

> the effort worth it. I don't use toothpaste as I've found my teeth do

> better with just water. I use a salt and 3% H2O2 mix for deodorant (it

> works fantastically compared to the salt crystals I used to use) and I make

> my own saline to use for things like mouthwash and nose spray/eye drops/ear

> drops when needed.

>

> When I do have to buy clothing (such as when freecycle doesn't have any

> available) I tend to visit small consignment stores. They often have items

> sitting around for a long time so not only are they cheap because they're

> second hand, they're also marked down anywhere from 33% to 75%. Most of the

> stuff I pick up couldn't even be hand made for as cheap as I find it. For

> the most part, I only buy two items new: socks and underwear - and typically

> they're on sale when I do.

>

> I plan to cloth diaper and since water is included with my apartment the

> extra loads of laundry won't impact me financially (I calculated out the

> yearly savings to be a minimum of $1,000). There are several sites out

> there where you can get second hand cloth diapers for the cost of shipping.

> I'm also planning to try out some homemade mama cloth when baby comes along.

>

> That's about all I can think of right now.

>

> -Lana

>

>

> On Sat, Mar 22, 2008 at 4:50 PM, cstraq1 <cstraq@...> wrote:

>

> > Just thought I'd put my two cents in.... I recently signed up for a

> > group called FREECYCLE. It's specific to your area and you can

> > look for things you need for free - and you can give away things you

> > no longer need. So far I've received some baby clothes for my daughter

> > and a blue bird house.

> >

> > Carol S.

> >

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

If you really want to save money on diapers and laundry/water, and

some time in the short and long run, you can do IPT. We have done it

with both our little ones and many in our area have done it as

well... the best part is by 6 months to a year they may be completely

trained, making life much easier and more affordable for all in the

family

>

> > Just thought I'd put my two cents in.... I recently signed up for

a

> > group called FREECYCLE. It's specific to your area and you

can

> > look for things you need for free - and you can give away things

you

> > no longer need. So far I've received some baby clothes for my

daughter

> > and a blue bird house.

> >

> > Carol S.

> >

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I did read quite a bit about IPT and was planning on trying it - it is a

very interesting theory, and does seem to model the native practices. I got

even more interested when I noticed my friend's newborn son prefers to pee

just *after* his diaper is removed.

I haven't gotten to the point where I've checked the library for books yet,

so this may be a silly question, but what age can they start climbing up to

the toilet on their own? (Or do you use the trainer potties?) Our

bathrooms aren't designed so great so if baby were to tip off the toilet

she'd likely hit her head on the tub... :/ I know most of the IPT is done

attended, but I'm just curious when she can start safely doing it herself

when I'm not home.

Thanks!

-Lana

On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 8:55 PM, louisvillewapf <louisvillewapf@...>

wrote:

> If you really want to save money on diapers and laundry/water, and

> some time in the short and long run, you can do IPT. We have done it

> with both our little ones and many in our area have done it as

> well... the best part is by 6 months to a year they may be completely

> trained, making life much easier and more affordable for all in the

> family

>

>

[Guest guest]

IPT? what is that? infant potty training?

" There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the

world.

We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts:

what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it. "

- Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) American Educator

Re: Shoe string budgets

If you really want to save money on diapers and laundry/water, and

some time in the short and long run, you can do IPT. We have done it

with both our little ones and many in our area have done it as

well... the best part is by 6 months to a year they may be completely

trained, making life much easier and more affordable for all in the

family

>

> > Just thought I'd put my two cents in.... I recently signed up for

a

> > group called FREECYCLE. It's specific to your area and you

can

> > look for things you need for free - and you can give away things

you

> > no longer need. So far I've received some baby clothes for my

daughter

> > and a blue bird house.

> >

> > Carol S.

> >

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

The most thorough book we have found on the subject is Infant Potty

Training by Boucke? I don't have our copy at the moment as

someone is almost always borrowing it... that being said, the best

way to learn IPT is by doing. Now on number two it is vastly easier

than number one.

They make little potties (baby bjorn for example) that are perfect

for IPT (it makes you wonder what they made them for if not IPT

because of there size, etc...). We keep two scattered around our

apartment. Our little girl had some bowel trouble, watery poo, a few

months ago and took herself in the middle of the night because we

leave one by her room... didn't even wake us up and no mess in her

bed to ever deal with.

As soon as a kid can walk they can usually take themselves on these

potties pretty easily. As soon as they can sit (our son was 4 months

old or so) you can leave them " unattended " sitting on it with a toy

or something if need be when you think they need to go but also need

to do something else. Thus, it also helps them develop a little

faster (our daughter started walking at around 8 months or so... just

stood up off the potty and started toddlering along). Just make sure

they are not in a place they will get hurt if they fall off (which

they will).

If you do IPT, you need to make your own floor cleaner as you will

have a few more accidents than otherwise (easy recipe, 2 cups water,

1/2 cup vineger, few drops vegetable oil based soap, optional

essential oils, we make it in large batches since in a given week we

probably have to use about two quarts of it).

>

> > If you really want to save money on diapers and laundry/water, and

> > some time in the short and long run, you can do IPT. We have done

it

> > with both our little ones and many in our area have done it as

> > well... the best part is by 6 months to a year they may be

completely

> > trained, making life much easier and more affordable for all in

the

> > family

> >

> >

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Many others call it 'Elimination Communication " or Diaper Free Baby

http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/articles/potty-infant.htm

http://diaperfreebaby.org/? <http://diaperfreebaby.org/? & MMN_position=1:1>

& MMN_position=1:1

<http://www.theecstore.com/index.php?main_page=page_3 & zenid=9387fecc1a2862b1

1cf8d40078046bbc>

Re: Re: Shoe string budgets

IPT? what is that? infant potty training?

" There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the

world.

We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts:

what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it. "

- Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) American Educator

..

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98830/stime=1206462615/nc1=5191947/nc2=5191951/nc3=3848642>

[Guest guest]

There is some good elimination communication discussion on the mothering

boards as well.

For natural cleaners, you can put peroxide in one spray bottle, and

vinegar in another (can dilute it by half, I don't cuz we're really

messy). The combination of the two is said to be as antimicrobial as

bleach. I use it all over the kitchen, and for the baby messes.

I bought all my diapers, etc. used and made others out of receiving

blankets from my baby shower and freecycle. I was so sad when my sewing

machine broke!

If you really need Freecycle scores, don't just go by the email digest.

Check online at 5:30 or 6 PM, and again at 11 PM. People post stuff

before they leave work, but not on the boss's time, and before they go to

bed.

Desh