Being broke as a joke really isn't funny. This is a phrase I often recite to myself when I'm trying not to freak out about my financial situation. After my husband left, I was left to decide if I wanted to work full time now and rent an apartment forever, or attend school full time, live off of student loans and child support, and ensure a healthy paycheck in the future. I chose to go to school full time. So that means budgeting like a boss. I will say though, that being this broke is teaching me so much about HOW to budget. Being forced to do something certainly will teach you quickly. I have found several ways to cut corners, go without, and purchase things without breaking the bank.
Let There Be (Affordable) Light 3/27/2012
There was one day that I realized that I go through a lot of light bulbs in my house. And it's funny, just in my small apartment, I have 23 light bulbs. Kinda seems like a lot for such a small place.
I found that I was changing light bulbs out every few weeks or so. One day, when I was browsing Sam's Club, I found a solution to the annoying bulb changing I've been having to do so often. I found these:
Priced at about $15 and at a lower wattage but similar light output, I was looking to save money and electricity. It's about $5 for a four pack of regular 60 watt light bulbs and I go through almost one box every one to two months, sometimes a little less. But the cool thing about the energy smart bulbs is that they last as long as 8 regular light bulbs. And depending on your usage, that can mean years of usage. So, while the initial buy can be a little pricey, it's worth it in the end and will save you money!
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Cloth Diapering 3/16/2012
I first heard that cloth diapers came back into style back in 2009 when I was still pregnant with my first daughter. My friend Laurel had researched it and settled on buying some BumGenius brand cloth diapers. As I inspected her order after she received them, I knew I had stumbled upon a new way to save money. There are a million websites out there about all the different brands of cloth diapers, including ones that stay-at-home-moms hand make themselves, as well as information on how to clean them, what the different kinds are good for, sizing information, and then there's different colors and patterns and the list goes on and on. I wanted to cloth diaper my first baby but at the time, I was unsure if I'd have access to a washer and dryer in my home after we left Hawaii. After a short stint living in the in-law's basement with the baby, I ended up moving back in with my husband (we had separated once before) and the house we lived in did not have a washer or dryer. I figured it would be more costly at that point to cloth diaper if I had to use the laundromat every other day or so, so I opted for paper diapers.
Let There Be (Affordable) Light 3/27/2012
There was one day that I realized that I go through a lot of light bulbs in my house. And it's funny, just in my small apartment, I have 23 light bulbs. Kinda seems like a lot for such a small place.
I found that I was changing light bulbs out every few weeks or so. One day, when I was browsing Sam's Club, I found a solution to the annoying bulb changing I've been having to do so often. I found these:
 |
| What DOESN'T Sam's Club have in bulk? |
Priced at about $15 and at a lower wattage but similar light output, I was looking to save money and electricity. It's about $5 for a four pack of regular 60 watt light bulbs and I go through almost one box every one to two months, sometimes a little less. But the cool thing about the energy smart bulbs is that they last as long as 8 regular light bulbs. And depending on your usage, that can mean years of usage. So, while the initial buy can be a little pricey, it's worth it in the end and will save you money!
__________________________________________________________________________
Cloth Diapering 3/16/2012
I first heard that cloth diapers came back into style back in 2009 when I was still pregnant with my first daughter. My friend Laurel had researched it and settled on buying some BumGenius brand cloth diapers. As I inspected her order after she received them, I knew I had stumbled upon a new way to save money. There are a million websites out there about all the different brands of cloth diapers, including ones that stay-at-home-moms hand make themselves, as well as information on how to clean them, what the different kinds are good for, sizing information, and then there's different colors and patterns and the list goes on and on. I wanted to cloth diaper my first baby but at the time, I was unsure if I'd have access to a washer and dryer in my home after we left Hawaii. After a short stint living in the in-law's basement with the baby, I ended up moving back in with my husband (we had separated once before) and the house we lived in did not have a washer or dryer. I figured it would be more costly at that point to cloth diaper if I had to use the laundromat every other day or so, so I opted for paper diapers.
Enter baby number two and as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I dreamt consistently of cloth diapers. I know, that's kind of a weird thing to dream of but saving money really seems to get me excited. I decided to purchase Sunbaby brand diapers because I had read many good reviews about them and the fact that they are very cheap. The reason they are so cheap is because they are manufactured and sewn in China but the owner of the company lives in the United States and she is from China I believe. She promises that her workers are paid fair wages and that she employs no children. She is a mother as well and shares those concerns with us buyers, so I am happy to trust her and still be able to get these diapers fairly cheap.
I purchased 24 cloth diapers, all came with their own insert, then I purchased 6 additional hemp cloth inserts as heavy duty soakers.
The diapers work great on the baby although I still use mostly paper diapers when we leave the house. I don't really like the hassle of carrying around extra bulk in the diaper bag, and just because you use cloth doesn't mean you have to use it 100%. I'll probably come back and report the numbers of how many cents I save per diaper by using cloth because I can't remember it off the top of my head, but last I checked when I was using them on Ava a while back, it was something like 24 cents a diaper with her being in one of the bigger sizes. That's pretty significant in my opinion.
http://www.sunbabydiapers.com/
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"No-pooing" 3/17/2012
Background:
A few months ago I developed a pretty bad case of hives. I was getting them all over my shoulders, back, arms, legs, and even on my face. The morning I woke up with one huge, itchy, red hive pulsating on my forehead, threatening to spread more hives if I dared scratch it, I became determined to figure out the cause of my hives. I consulted with Dr. Google for several days and looked through the health books I have at home. Most of the information I came across explained that it is an allergic reaction, often triggered by foods, beauty products, environmental factors, and a plethora of other things.
I thought I had this totally down. I figured it was something I was eating that I was suddenly allergic to, so I decided to go on an all-raw vegetable and fruit diet for three days. By day two I was feeling pretty good. I had lost weight, I was feeling lots of energy, and I felt very optimistic that I had solved my problem. As long as I stayed away from junk food, I would avoid whatever ingredient or food it was that was causing my hives, and I'd be just fine. Well, on day three, it just wasn't to be so. I started scratching my ankle one afternoon while I was doing homework and looked down in time to see red bumps raising on my skin. I took an inventory of the things I use on my body:
Cosmetics -mostly natural. The cosmetics I buy, I use very little of it and have researched the ingredients in them to make sure they aren't cancer causing or dangerous in any way. They actually contain very few ingredients, and I had been using them for a long time, so it likely wasn't those.
Laundry detergent -At that point, I hadn't figured that I could use anything more allergenic than free and clear powder. That hadn't changed either, so that was pretty much out.
I don't really use a lot of chemicals on a daily basis. I was stumped.
I thought it might be my shampoo since it was one of the few chemical-laden products I put on myself. More Google research later and I came to a decision about a shampoo alternative I had seen in "crunchy parent" forums. I was going to wash my hair with baking soda and condition it with apple cider vinegar. I had my doubts but the hives drove me to it.
The first time I did it I used two tablespoons of baking soda mixed with water in a small bottle, and about a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar also mixed with water as conditioner. The results were pretty amazing. My hair was squeaky clean despite the lack of suds. I was afraid of smelling like vinegar, but I could only faintly smell it after it dried, but I had to sniff really hard to notice it. My hair was clean, shiny and.... less frizzy? After it dried, it looked better than when I use regular shampoo and conditioner.
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Anyway, to make a long story short, over the course of many weeks I have determined (after the doctor could not find the cause) that my hives are a result of stress and lack of sleep since I often feel stressed and don't get a lot of sleep (thank you children). But even though shampoo does not activate my hives, I actually prefer not using it now. Over the last few months I have adjusted the amount of both baking soda and apple cider vinegar to suit my hair needs (I lost a lot of hair post-partum and ended up using less of both) and I can literally feel the buildup when I use regular shampoo.
I found an interesting video about personal care products as well that you might find interesting. I love this video. Please take the time to watch.
Anyway, so using baking soda and apple cider vinegar does in fact, save me money. As well as my hair, my skin, and the earth. It's a good deal all around. I went through shampoo and conditioner pretty fast because my hair is longer but it takes me a loooooooooong time to go through even one box of baking soda.
So for any of you out there interested in saving money (and the planet) give it a whirl.
This website was helpful to me but you can google it and find a million more websites about it out there. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Go-No-Poo/?ALLSTEPS
No poo!!!!
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"No-pooing" 3/17/2012
Wait, whaaa? Did you just read that as "no-pooing?" Is this some kind of weird Mormon thing? Haha. I should just lead you on but I suppose I'll explain. Open mind, people, open mind. I'm talking about not using shampoo. Ever. And it saves me money. Open mind, I say!
Background:
A few months ago I developed a pretty bad case of hives. I was getting them all over my shoulders, back, arms, legs, and even on my face. The morning I woke up with one huge, itchy, red hive pulsating on my forehead, threatening to spread more hives if I dared scratch it, I became determined to figure out the cause of my hives. I consulted with Dr. Google for several days and looked through the health books I have at home. Most of the information I came across explained that it is an allergic reaction, often triggered by foods, beauty products, environmental factors, and a plethora of other things.
I thought I had this totally down. I figured it was something I was eating that I was suddenly allergic to, so I decided to go on an all-raw vegetable and fruit diet for three days. By day two I was feeling pretty good. I had lost weight, I was feeling lots of energy, and I felt very optimistic that I had solved my problem. As long as I stayed away from junk food, I would avoid whatever ingredient or food it was that was causing my hives, and I'd be just fine. Well, on day three, it just wasn't to be so. I started scratching my ankle one afternoon while I was doing homework and looked down in time to see red bumps raising on my skin. I took an inventory of the things I use on my body:
Cosmetics -mostly natural. The cosmetics I buy, I use very little of it and have researched the ingredients in them to make sure they aren't cancer causing or dangerous in any way. They actually contain very few ingredients, and I had been using them for a long time, so it likely wasn't those.
Laundry detergent -At that point, I hadn't figured that I could use anything more allergenic than free and clear powder. That hadn't changed either, so that was pretty much out.
I don't really use a lot of chemicals on a daily basis. I was stumped.
I thought it might be my shampoo since it was one of the few chemical-laden products I put on myself. More Google research later and I came to a decision about a shampoo alternative I had seen in "crunchy parent" forums. I was going to wash my hair with baking soda and condition it with apple cider vinegar. I had my doubts but the hives drove me to it.
The first time I did it I used two tablespoons of baking soda mixed with water in a small bottle, and about a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar also mixed with water as conditioner. The results were pretty amazing. My hair was squeaky clean despite the lack of suds. I was afraid of smelling like vinegar, but I could only faintly smell it after it dried, but I had to sniff really hard to notice it. My hair was clean, shiny and.... less frizzy? After it dried, it looked better than when I use regular shampoo and conditioner.
Anyway, to make a long story short, over the course of many weeks I have determined (after the doctor could not find the cause) that my hives are a result of stress and lack of sleep since I often feel stressed and don't get a lot of sleep (thank you children). But even though shampoo does not activate my hives, I actually prefer not using it now. Over the last few months I have adjusted the amount of both baking soda and apple cider vinegar to suit my hair needs (I lost a lot of hair post-partum and ended up using less of both) and I can literally feel the buildup when I use regular shampoo.
I found an interesting video about personal care products as well that you might find interesting. I love this video. Please take the time to watch.
Anyway, so using baking soda and apple cider vinegar does in fact, save me money. As well as my hair, my skin, and the earth. It's a good deal all around. I went through shampoo and conditioner pretty fast because my hair is longer but it takes me a loooooooooong time to go through even one box of baking soda.
So for any of you out there interested in saving money (and the planet) give it a whirl.
This website was helpful to me but you can google it and find a million more websites about it out there. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Go-No-Poo/?ALLSTEPS
No poo!!!!
