Category Archives: Frugality

5 simple switches to lower your grocery bill

Ever since I started living frugally, one of the areas of my budget that continually leaves me feeling guilty is groceries. My husband is the cook, and he has extremely expensive tastes when it comes to cooking. I gave up trying to convince him to live on a beans and rice diet to save money a long time ago. To be honest, the idea of eating as cheaply as possible doesn’t appeal to me much, either. I absolutely admire those families who can feed four people for $50 a week, but we’re never going to be one of them. (We average about $60-$70 per week for the two of us. Judah doesn’t count yet.)

That doesn’t mean we’ve given up on saving money at the grocery store, though. We’re always finding little ways to cut costs without sacrificing the quality of our menus. Here are a few of the ways we do it.

Split chicken breasts

We cook with chicken a lot, because it’s versatile, healthy, and relatively inexpensive. We try to buy chicken breasts when they’re on sale, and stock up. A big way to cut costs on chicken breasts is to buy split, bone-in chicken breasts instead of boneless skinless chicken breasts. They require a little extra prep work, but they typically cost half as much as boneless skinless chicken breasts, so it’s worth the effort. Bonus: you can use the bones in homemade chicken stock.

Homemade chicken stock

At $3-$4 a quart, packaged chicken stock is one of the biggest rip-offs in the grocery store. For the cost of a bunch of celery, a bunch of carrots, an onion, some garlic, and discarded chicken bones, you can make gallons of the stuff. Just put aside the bones from split chicken breasts or the carcass of a whole roasted chicken. We keep them in a plastic storage container in the freezer until we’re ready to make stock. We make a few gallons every other month or so, and freeze them in 1-quart storage containers for later use. It is time-consuming, but not labor intensive. Just make sure you start in the morning on a day when you’ll be hanging out at home so you can keep an eye on it and skim it every so often. You can find our recipe for homemade chicken stock here.

Frozen vegetables

In the summertime, fresh vegetables are cheap and plentiful. This isn’t the case in the winter. You’ll pay a fortune for fresh vegetables that have been trucked from across the country. It’s bad for the environment, and they’re typically poor quality anyway. When vegetables aren’t in season, we buy frozen. They’re not mushy like canned vegetables, and freezing generally leaves most nutrients intact. Broccoli, corn, peas, spinach, cauliflower, and carrots are all delicious.

Spinach

Salads are a great way to sneak green vegetables into your diet, but Romaine is also one of the most expensive things per pound at the grocery store. Instead of paying for Romaine, we typically buy spinach instead. Unlike nutritionally void iceberg lettuce, spinach is full of vitamins and nutrients. It’s cheaper than Romaine, though. To save even more money, you can blend spinach and iceberg for a full salad that’s still nutrient rich. We also use spinach instead of pricey fresh basil for a milder version of pesto.

Tea

Water is the cheapest, healthiest beverage you can drink (especially if you filter it yourself instead of purchasing bottled water). If you want a little flavor, though, tea is an excellent frugal alternative to expensive coffee or soda. It costs pennies per gallon. For a little extra flavor, you can add some sugar or (my favorite) fresh lemon juice.

What are your favorite simple switches to cut grocery costs?

Photo by B tal

How much are you really spending?

At the beginning of this year, Tony was hired for a full-time teaching position, and our income doubled. That sounds like we’re making a lot more than we really are considering the fact that Tony was seriously underpaid as an adjunct professor. But for us, it’s a lot of money, and it’s finally enough to cover all expenses, save a good bit of money, and treat ourselves every now and then.

Along with the income increase, our goals increased, too. Now that we can afford to fund our savings account again, we’re working toward the lofty goal of saving for a down payment and other necessary costs that go with buying a house. We’ve set a tentative deadline for two years.

Aside from buying our car — an admittedly huge expense — and an increase in rent, we haven’t increased our major living expenses at all. We budgeted carefully for the car payment and the increase in rent, and these increases were offset a bit by a reduction in health insurance premiums, so those two things don’t affect our monthly savings allotment anyway.

One thing I’ve noticed, though, is that big expenses aren’t what really affects my budget. I always think carefully before adding a big expense. We carefully looked at our budget before adding a car payment to it, and we thoroughly discussed how much we could afford in rent before signing our lease. I know what to expect when I add a big expense. What gets me though, is the hundreds of tiny little purchases I make throughout the year. The amount is so small that I don’t give a second thought to swiping my debit card, but at the end of the month (or year), it adds up to a significant chunk.

For example, if you buy a soda from a vending machine every day on your lunch break at work, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. It’s just 50 cents a day. But that adds up to $2.50 a week, $10 a month, and $120 a year. Is a soda a day really worth $120 a year to you? If the answer is yes, then great! But most of the time, when I really think about purchases like this, it’s not worth the money to me.

My biggest vices?

  • Starbucks beverages – At $4 each, the expense adds up quickly even if I only indulge 2 or 3 times a month.
  • Movie rentals at the local video rental store – Sometimes we run out and rent a movie if it’s not available on Netflix Instant Play or Redbox. This is mostly TV shows or older movies. We pay $2-$3 a pop a few times a month for the convenience of watching something now, but if we just put it in our mail queue and wait, we wouldn’t have to pay extra at all.
  • Cute baby clothes on the clearance rack – I’m guilty of paying as much as $5.50 for a pair of pajamas just because they’re cute. Yes, it’s clearance, but he really doesn’t need any more clothing. Even if he did, I could get a much better deal at a consignment store.

A few dollars here and there doesn’t seem like a big deal at the time. We’re making more money, we can afford it, right? But these purchases add up. All together, if I buy 4 Starbucks beverages, rent two movies, and buy one outfit, that’s $25 a month I could have been saving toward our house. That adds up to $600 over the next two years that could go toward a house. The $25 isn’t the problem; the problem is that I spend $25 without even thinking about it.

This isn’t to say that I believe in total deprivation. You guys know that I’m all about budgeting for life’s little luxuries. The point is, it’s important to budget for these things. You wouldn’t drop $600 without thinking seriously about it, so why should this be any different?

Sit down and think about the little mindless purchases you make. How much are you really willing to spend when you think about it?

I enjoy treating myself to the occasional Starbucks beverage, but $16 a month seems like too much. If I limit myself to one per month, that’s only $4 a month. That’s much more reasonable to me. Even better, I could cash in MyPoints or Swagbucks (referral link) on Starbucks gift cards and get them for free.

When I really think about those movie rentals, I remind myself that I’m already paying $120 a year to rent through Netflix. I’m not willing to spend any more than that for entertainment, so I should really skip those stops at the video rental store and just wait for the things we want to watch to come in the mail.

And Judah is going to look cute in whatever he wears, whether I pay the clearance retail price or a fraction of that at a consignment store. So I should stay away from the clearance racks and be more strategic in my clothing purchases for him by shopping consignment sales and setting a seasonal budget for how much I can spend to keep him clothed.

It’s important to be mindful about every penny you spend, whether it’s several thousand dollars for a car or a few dollars for a coffee. Every penny counts, and if you’re wasting money on things that don’t really matter to you, it’s easy to sabotage your goals for the things that do matter.

Photo by alancleaver

Cloth diapers 101: Caring for cloth diapers

Yesterday I shared some tips on what kind of cloth diapers I recommend and what to buy. Today I’m going to cover the proper care and maintenance of cloth diapers.

You can use diaper rash creams.

Even though you read everywhere that diaper rash creams are a big no-no when it comes to cloth diapering, the truth is that rule mostly refers to fancy micro-fiber all-in-ones and inserts for pocket diapers. Ingredients in diaper rash creams can interfere with absorbency, and that could be catastrophic for a $20 diaper. But the natural fibers in plain cotton prefold diapers are less likely to repel after using mild diaper rash creams.

If they do start to stink after using a diaper rash cream, it’s easy to strip cotton prefolds. Worst case scenario? You throw out a few diapers that cost you $1-$2. But that’s highly unlikely with tough prefolds. That’s a big reason I prefer cotton prefolds. I don’t want to stress about diapers.

Some creams are more likly to cause issues than others. This chart outlines which diaper rash creams are safe for cloth diapers, and which ones are generally okay for cotton diapers. I use Aveeno Diaper Rash Relief when I notice a little redness, and I haven’t had any issues with my prefolds. And if I do? I paid $1.50 each for them. No biggie.

Detergent really does matter.

Make your life easier — switch to a cloth-friendly detergent for all your clothing and forget about it. It’s not necessary to spend a fortune on specialty “cloth diaper” detergents. This chart gives you a ton of options from fancy specialty detergents to basic powder detergents available at Amazon or your local big box store. I like Rockin’ Green*, but I also buy Ecos at Walmart when I can find it. Both of them work great for cloth diapers. If you’re purchasing from Amazon, make sure you search for Amazon coupon codes to save even more money.

This is one rule that I don’t recommend ignoring. Regular detergents really don’t work well for cloth diapers. Most “free and clear” brands are not cloth friendly because they contain brighteners and other additives that can make your diapers stinky. Your diapers should be free of detergent scent and ammonia smell when they come out of the dryer. If you can smell soap, use less detergent. If you can smell pee, use more.

Laundry doesn’t have to be complicated.

Laundering was the biggest source of confusion for me when I was learning about cloth diapers. Once I started washing the diapers, it made much more sense. Here’s the deal on laundering in as simple terms as possible.

Pre-washing diapers – Diaper covers, pocket diapers, and all-in-ones only need to be washed once before using. Cotton prefolds need to be pre-washed several times to fluff them up and remove natural oils that can deter absorbency. When you receive new prefolds, send them through 5-8 wash and dry cycles. Use hot water and a little detergent. That’s it. It’s time-consuming, but really simple.

Where to keep dirty diapers – I recommend using a hanging wet bag like the FuzziBunz hanging wet bag* because it hangs on a doorknob and has a zipper on the bottom so it’s easy to dump the diapers when it’s time to wash. You could also use an old-fashioned diaper pail with water, but the idea of dumping all that diaper water really kind of grosses me out.

Washing diapers – Separate diapers from waterproof covers and wet bags, and wash them separately. Here’s my washing cycle for my prefolds: Cold wash with no detergent to rinse them out, hot wash with detergent, cold wash/rinse to rinse out the detergent. Then I tumble dry on low. For diaper covers I do a hot wash with detergent, a hot wash to make sure all detergent is rinsed, and an extra cold rinse. With diaper covers I’ve noticed that less soap is better, because they’re usually not as soiled as diapers and excess soap can really mess with the waterproofing. I line dry diaper covers and waterproof accessories (like wet bags).

If you’re exclusively breastfeeding, you don’t have to worry about poopy diapers. They can go into the washer without being rinsed first. That’s because breast milk is so easily digested by baby that the remaining waste is completely water soluble. I don’t rinse my diapers, and they very rarely even stain. If your baby is formula fed or eats solids, you’ll need to shake the waste into the toilet before washing. I don’t have any experience with this yet.

You don’t have to learn fancy folding techniques.

I fasten my diapers with a Snappi. This is the method I use for fastening cloth diapers. There are lots of fastening methods, but so far, this method has worked best for containing my two-month-old’s explosive poo.

In case you can’t tell, I have absolutely loved cloth diapers so far. I’ll be sure to update you on how things are going once Judah switches to solids, because I’m told that will be a totally different ball game. That’s all the more reason to breastfeed if you want to use cloth diapers, though. It really makes things so easy.

I’m pretty sure that covers almost everything. If you have any questions or tips of your own, share them in the comments!

I have not been compensated in any way for the recommendations made in this post. However, I do receive a small affiliate fee for purchases made through Amazon links, which are denoted with this symbol *.

Cloth Diapers 101: Getting started

Before I was even pregnant, I made the decision that I was going to try cloth diapering. I was committed to the idea, but totally overwhelmed. With so many options, laundering methods, and rules, it seems so complicated.

The good news? It’s really NOT as complicated as the Internet makes it seem. Which is actually a pretty good mantra now that I think about it. It’s not as complicated as the Internet makes it seem.

Now that I’ve been cloth diapering for over two months, I’ve gotten into a pretty good groove. I’m going to share some of the things I’ve learned. I have learned a lot, so I’m splitting it up into two posts. I really hope this doesn’t make it seem even more complicated, because I promise, it’s really not.

Cloth diapering is NOT extreme.

The biggest misconception about cloth diapering is that you have to be some kind of intense money-saver or environmental extremist to do it. While those people do cloth diaper, the truth is, it’s really not that much of a hassle compared to disposables, especially if you’re breastfeeding. I’ve used both, and I actually prefer cloth. In fact, I have two packs of disposables left over from my baby shower that I’m going to give away, because Judah will be too big for them soon, and I’d rather use cloth.

Poop is poop, and you’re going to have some gross diaper changes no matter what kind of diaper you use. Changing diapers is a pain in the butt (no pun intended) whether you use cloth or disposables, and nobody includes diaper changes on their list of favorite activities. The only difference between cloth diapers and disposables is two or three extra loads of laundry per week.

I can’t tell you how many disposable diaper users have watched me change diapers and said, “Huh. So those are cloth diapers? That doesn’t seem as hard as I thought it would be.”

You don’t need a huge stash to get started.

If you’re new to cloth diapering, it really doesn’t take much to get started. There are a ton of options, but you really just need a very basic list of essentials.

  • 24-36 diapers
  • 3-4 diaper covers if you’re using prefolds
  • 2-3 Snappies or sets of diaper pins
  • 1 wet bag or diaper pail for storing dirty diapers
  • 1-2 smaller waterproof wet bags for storing dirty diapers in you’re diaper bag when you’re out
  • 24 cloth wipes

It’s not necessary to spend $20 per diaper.

If pocket diapers and all-in-one diapers work for you, then great! I’m glad you’ve found an option that works well for you. I couldn’t bring myself to spend $20 a pop on something my baby was going to poop on. I have a few pocket diapers and all-in-ones, and I may want to buy more to use for overnights or when Judah is resisting diaper changes, but for right now? Prefolds and covers are getting the job done for a fraction of the cost.

Prefolds require a little extra work, but you save the extra time on laundry. They wash quicker and much easier than fancier diapers, dry faster, withstand a lot of abuse, and are so cheap that I really don’t worry too much about messing them up.

I buy the Indian prefolds from Cotton Babies. My covers collection includes some Flips, Thirsties*, Econobums (which I highly recommend for anyone who wants to try cloth diapering on a tight budget — they work well, and they’re cheap), and a couple Bummis Whisper Wraps. Most of my diapers were purchased on clearance, so I have the covers only — no inserts. I use them with regular prefolds. You can see a complete list of my stash here.

You’ll want at least 24 diapers for a baby under four months old. You can probably get away with just 3 or 4 diaper covers, because you don’t change the diaper cover with every diaper change. I only change a diaper cover if a particularly messy diaper leaks through to the cover. Most of the time, that doesn’t happen. I wipe the cover with baby wipe and use it again. Covers may start to stink a little after several changes. When that happens, I change to a fresh one.

Don’t bother with newborn-sized diapers.

Most diapers these days are adjustable, so one size fits most babies from a few weeks after birth to potty training. Manufacturers say diapers fit 7-pound babies and up, but consensus among cloth diapering moms is that the fit generally isn’t great on newborn babies with skinny legs.

You don’t have to buy tiny diapers, though! Unless you have a tiny baby, you probably won’t get much use out of newborn-sized diapers. It can take a week or two for the meconium (yucky black-tar poo that stains) to completely work its way out of baby’s system, and guess what? You’re going to be busy getting to know your baby and recovering from delivery in those first couple weeks.

Do yourself a favor and put a few packs of disposables on your registry and use disposables for the first couple weeks after your baby is born. It’ll make the transition to cloth much easier and cut back on laundry as you recover from birth. If you do have a tiny baby, and you can’t stand the thought of using disposables for a couple months, you can always invest in newborn diapers later. It’s unlikely you’ll need them unless your baby is under 7 pounds, and even a 6-pound baby will only use them for about 2-3 months.

Once your baby is about 10 pounds, one-size cloth diapers should fit fine. The only sized diaper covers I bought were Thirsties size 1s, and they fit Judah great when he was 8-9 pounds. By the time he was 10 pounds, all of my one-size covers fit well enough to avoid leaks.

If you use cloth wipes, you don’t have to make a “wipe solution.”

I had big plans to sew my own flannel baby wipes. But I never got around to it when I was pregnant, and there’s no way Judah is going to give me a solid block of time in front of a sewing machine right now. The good news is these cloth wipes are nicer than anything I could make and pretty affordable. You can also use baby wash cloths, but I found that they’re about the same price and not as soft.

I received a ton of disposable baby wipes at my baby shower, and I only just recently used all of them up. For me, they were a real pain. The instinct is to throw the wipe into the diaper, so I was always fishing disposable wipes out of my laundry. Or setting a soiled wipe aside and throwing it away separately.

I started using cloth wipes last week, and they are SO much easier. Here’s my secret: you don’t have to make a homemade wipe solution. All you need is a little spray bottle of water. I spritz the water on my baby’s butt, wipe him clean, throw the wipe into the laundry with the diaper, and I’m done.

I looked at all kinds of homemade wipe solution recipes and even considered spending the money for a premade wipe solution with all kinds of fancy ingredients. Several people warned me that baby wash based homemade solutions would leave my baby rashy. So I decided to try just water. It’s gentle, it cleans him well, and his skin has actually been less irritated using water than it was using baby wipes.

I bought a small storage container about the size of a disposable baby wipes container. It holds my wipes and my spray bottle and fits easily in my diaper bag. You could also repurpose a disposable wipes container.

Tomorrow I’ll share some tips on how to wash and care for your cloth diapers.

I have not been compensated in any way for the recommendations made in this post. However, I do receive a small affiliate fee for purchases made through Amazon links, which are denoted with this symbol *.

Buyer beware if it’s too good to be true

So you know those Kindle gadgets? Tony’s been talking about getting one for a while. He’s an English professor, so he’s usually got a stack of about 10 books on his bedside table that he’s actively reading. Many of the books he reads are classics that have now entered public domain, which means they’re available for free as e-books. A Kindle makes them nice and portable. Plus, you know, fun toy!

We never updated our tax withholdings for the baby, so we received a sizable refund this year. Most of it is going right into the bank to replenish our emergency fund. But we decided to splurge on a little something, and $140 seemed like a reasonable splurge, especially since our income increased with Tony’s new job.

We put a lot of research into e-readers in general. We considered the Nook, the Kindle, and the Sony. Ultimately, we were pretty sold on the Kindle for a wide array of reasons that I’m not going to get into.

We’d made up our minds, but Tony was only slightly hesitant because he’s convinced that the Kindle will drop below $100 in the next year or so. He’s been saying all along that once the price is $99, he wants to buy one.

So imagine our excitement when we stopped to look at the Kindle display in Target last night and OMG! There was one marked down to $99! It was labeled as “repackaged.”

We were wary at first, so we asked the associate. Was it damaged? He said nope, it had just been opened and returned, and the only thing wrong with it was the torn packaging. Did the same return policy apply to repackaged items just in case there was something wrong? Yep, 90 days with a receipt.

Still a little wary, we headed to the customer service desk just to be sure. A second associate assured us that the only problem with “repackaged” items was that the packaging had been opened, and that we’d be able to return it no problem.

We were obviously pumped. It seemed like fate! Tony wanted to pay $99 for a Kindle, and we’d found a $99 Kindle! We were sold.

After we bought it, we rushed out to the car to open our new toy and take a look. It looked perfect! No scratches, no defects!

Then I realized there was something conspicuously missing … the power adapter and USB cord. I checked inside the box, under the packaging, everywhere. No power adapter or cord. Crap.

Thankfully, we’d covered our bases. Tony went right back into the store and returned it. The customer service rep’s weak sauce excuse? “We take our customers’ word for it when they return an item, and we assume all parts are included.”

Um, what? So someone returned the item opened, and nobody bothered to crack open the box to be sure that all the parts were there before slapping a discount sticker on it and sticking it back on the shelf? Granted, there was a deep discount, but still! If parts were missing, I think it should be clearly labeled on the box so customers know what they’re purchasing. Furthermore, if the store’s policy is not to check returned items, then customer service reps should warn wary customers that the item is “as is,” and it may be missing integral parts. They should not assure customers that the item is perfectly fine except for some torn packaging. What the heck?

If I had gone back to return it, I would have spoken to a manager to complain. Perhaps I could have gotten a gift card or something for our trouble. Unfortunately, I had to send Tony in because Judah had started to fuss in his car seat, and I didn’t want to leave Tony in the car while he screamed his head off. I can typically keep him calm, so I stayed behind. Tony settled for a full refund.

Eh well. The moral of the story is an old one that you’ve certainly heard before: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. If we hadn’t been told the item was returnable, we most definitely would have asked to open it in the store before purchasing to make sure it was functional and all the parts were there. As it turned out, we didn’t get the deal we were hoping for, but no harm was done.

What a bummer, though, right?

This post is not sponsored by Kindle or Amazon. However, the link to the Kindle is an Amazon affiliate link.

How much is laziness costing you?

I’ve mentioned before that Tony and I use a credit card to purchase all of our gas. We pay the bill off every month before it accrues any interest, and we get 5% cash back on all fuel purchases. Since we’re not paying interest, the 5% cash back is basically free money, and keeping an active credit line is important for building and maintaining a good credit score. It’s win-win.

The credit card is through BP, and we only get 5% cash back on BP purchases, so 99% of the time we buy gas at BP. We only buy at another gas station if the cost per gallon is less than we pay per gallon with the 5% discount. Makes sense, right?

At the beginning of December, we started seeing signs at BP gas stations for a new rewards program. Fill up five times, and you receive a $10 gift card. Since we fill up at BP 99% of the time, it should have been a no brainer for us. Enrolling in their loyalty program would net us up to three $10 gift cards for 15 fill-ups in addition to our 5% cash back.

The only catch? You have to print a receipt and take it inside to the cashier to get credit for filling up.

I’m ashamed to admit that we didn’t start participating in the program until last week. It’s the end of January, and we’ve only gotten credit for two tanks of gas even though we did more driving in the month of December than we’ve ever done in a single month. We probably could have already received the $30 worth of gift cards considering all the gas we used last month with holiday travel throughout the state and the move.

The truth is, I saw the signs every time I filled up, and the only reason I didn’t take advantage of the promotion was laziness. It was cold, I didn’t want to drag the baby into the gas station, I was in a hurry and didn’t want to go inside. It was easier to pay at the pump and get on my way, so that’s what I did. But it cost me. We easily would have filled up 15 times in three months, but we probably won’t fill up enough in the next six weeks to receive all three of the $10 gift cards we could have gotten.

Granted, in the weeks after a newborn arrives, I think it’s easy for even the most frugal person to be lazy about saving money. But it’s unlike me to turn down any offer for free money, and that’s basically what I did by putting off participating in this promotion.

I see this type of thing all the time from less frugal people, too. Sometimes it’s easier to pay twice as much for an item at a gas station when you need it than it is to go to the grocery store where prices are much lower. Millions of people would rather pay higher prices for groceries across the board than clip coupons and hunt for deals. Many people spend hundreds of dollars a month on takeout because it’s easier than cooking every night.

Laziness is a harsh word, and I don’t think it applies in all cases. When time is limited, I think it makes sense to value your time over the money you could save sometimes. But my point is, how often do we choose the easy way when just a little bit of effort could save us a lot of money? If you’re taking the easy way out most of the time, you could be costing yourself a fortune.

It’s a question I’m asking myself a lot lately as we adjust to earning a higher income than we’re used to. I don’t want to be lazy about our finances. When you have a little extra money, it’s tempting to take the easy way out, but I’d rather work a little harder to save even a few dollars if that means building our savings and reaching our goals faster.

So it’s confession time: how often do you let laziness keep you from saving money? Think about it, and consider just how much you could save if you made a little extra effort in those situations the majority of the time. It could mean paying off your debt sooner, building your savings faster, going out to dinner once a month, or even taking a vacation once a year. When you make the extra effort to save most of the time, those dollars and cents add up quickly.

Are babies expensive?

Throughout my pregnancy, everyone who gave me advice agreed on a lot of things. I’d love the baby instantly. He’d grow too fast. He’d be worth all of the discomfort of pregnancy. (They were all right.)

There was one thing they couldn’t agree on, though. Half of them said to prepare myself because babies are SO expensive. The other half told me babies don’t cost much at all.

I was really curious to see who was right. Two months into parenthood, and I can see where the disagreement comes from. The answer: it depends.

Baby expenses begin long before the baby is born. We needed a car seat, somewhere for baby to sleep (we chose a bassinet for the first few weeks and a crib for later), clothes for the baby to wear, and diapers for the baby to, well, you know. The rest of the baby stuff is optional, but nice to have.

While it’s possible to buy secondhand, shop around for deals, or accept hand-me-downs (we did all three of those things), the truth is that the initial startup costs for baby can be steep. Thankfully, we have a huge support group of family and friends who gifted us with everything we needed.

Once the baby’s born, formula can be one of the biggest monthly expenses. If your baby doesn’t have special dietary concerns, off-brand formulas can provide the same nutrition for a fraction of the price. The cheapest option is breastfeeding (it’s basically free if you do it exclusively), and I’m incredibly grateful that it’s working out well for us so we can avoid the expense of formula.

Diapers are another huge monthly expense. Newborns use 8-12 diapers a day, so the costs really do add up. Buying diapers on deep discount and using coupons can cut the cost tremendously. So can cloth diapering. By hunting for deals, buying seconds (slightly imperfect but new diapers), and sticking with the economical prefolds and covers system of cloth diapering, I built a stash that will last throughout my baby’s diapering years for under $300. That works out to about $10 a month if the baby spends 2 and a half years in diapers. That number drops even lower if you use your diapers for a second or third child.

Our generous friends and family provided us with enough new clothing and hand-me-downs from Judah’s cousins to keep him clothed for the next year. He has enough outfits in each size that I can get away with doing just one load of his laundry every week. He wears the same things all the time, but that’s okay with me. When he grows out of the clothes we have for him, we can shop garage sales, thrift stores, and clearance racks to keep clothing costs down. Until he’s old enough to complain about it, he’ll be wearing the same handful of outfits every week.

These are just the expenses that you can control, though. The biggest expense for us (and one that we unfortunately can’t do anything about) is health insurance. When my husband and I were both covered by individual policies, the cost to add our son was going to be astronomical — $400 a month added to the $500 we were already paying to insure the two of us. My husband’s new job offers family insurance for about half that, which is a relief. But our health care costs are much higher as a family of three than they were as a family of two.

Later we’ll see changes in our food costs as Judah starts eating solid foods. There will also be education expenses and recreational costs as he gets older.

These expenses that you can’t control are the reason why it’s so important to save money on the expenses that you can control. Cutting costs where ever you can will make it easier to afford the expenses you can’t change.

My point is this: if you’re pregnant or want to get pregnant, how expensive (or inexpensive) your baby will be is entirely up to you. Like so many other expenses, the choices you make will affect your budget. If you buy everything brand new, pay full price for diapers and formula, and fill your baby’s closet with more clothing than he needs, the costs can be astronomical. But with a little careful planning and frugal know-how, your baby’s first year doesn’t have to affect your monthly budget that much at all.

$20 Amazon gift card for $10

You’ve probably already seen this, but I just wanted to pass it along just in case. Right now, you can get a $20 Amazon gift card for just $10 on the deal site Living Social. It’s available in all markets, and if three of you use my referral link, mine is free. :)

Don’t forget to pass it on to everyone you know! If three people use your referral link, yours could be free, too!

Goals for 2011

I’m surrounded by boxes once again, and in two days, we’ll move for the third time in eight months. It’s a stressful way to start the new year, but it’s really a great thing for our family. After eight months of frugal survival mode, we’ll finally be making enough to start building our savings instead of depleting it.

In addition to paid time off and a decent salary, we finally have employer-provided health insurance again after 8 months of COBRA and private insurance (Hallelujah!).

As I’ve written before, though, I actually find it harder to reach my goals when we’re living comfortably. A tight budget keeps me accountable and forces me to live frugally. More money means more temptation to spend frivolously. While this is more money than we’ve ever made, it’s still a very modest salary by today’s standards, and we’re going to have to stay focused if we want to stretch it to reach all of our goals.

To keep ourselves on track, I’m taking a break from packing to list our goals for this year and beyond.

1. Continue to live frugally.

Over the past eight months, we’ve had no choice but to live frugally. There wasn’t enough money available to go out to eat or buy things we didn’t need. Now that we’re earning more money, the temptation to spend will be greater, and we’ll have to stay committed to our frugal lifestyle.

2. Save at least 25% of our income.

The last year that we lived in North Carolina, we were saving about 30% of our total income. We’ll actually be earning more now than we did then, but we have loftier goals so saving will be a little more challenging.

3. Rebuild our emergency fund.

This is savings priority #1. Three moves, four months with no income at all, and four months earning less than we needed to pay our meager expenses have depleted our emergency fund to practically nothing.

4. Buy a second car.

We currently share a tiny economy car. It has served us well for the past four years, but now that we have a child, it’s a little cramped. In North Carolina, I drove the car to work and Tony was able to take public transportation to work and class. Now that we’re living in a city without reliable public transportation (and we’re living about 15 minutes from Tony’s job), sharing a car will be a little more difficult. So we’d like to invest in a second car so Judah and I aren’t stuck at home all day.

5. Buy a home.

We’re definitely renting for the first year in our new city — and likely the second year as well. But now that it looks like we’ll be settling down for a few years, I want to start making plans to become homeowners. That means meeting with a mortgage broker to find out what we need to do to get our credit in order and ramping up our savings for a down payment.

6. Pay off our student loans.

Becoming debt free is still pretty low on my list of priorities. I do plan to increase our monthly payments on these debts, but I’d like to wait until we’re homeowners to really buckle down and pay them off.

7. Increase retirement savings.

As part of his benefits package, Tony’s employer will be matching his retirement savings up to a percentage. We both have Roth IRA savings accounts as well. I will continue to put money earned through freelancing and other money-making projects into my account. We’ll also decide how much of Tony’s salary to contribute to his employer-provided account tax free.

8. Open a college savings account for Judah.

We likely won’t be too aggressive about saving for Judah’s college fund at this point, but I’d like to get the account in place so his grandparents can contribute if they’d like and we can put some money away when it’s available.

I’m so excited to finally have a bit of money to work with, but it’s not going to go far considering all of our goals. We’re going to have to be extremely focused. Stay tuned to see how we do!

Photo by dmachiavello