So...this happened, and at least one person came to the wrong conclusion from the information given.
The above two links are for information on the correlation of toxins in breastmilk and autism rates and a blog post citing said information as a good reason to not breastfeed your children (that is not the entire point of the post, but it is mentioned).
I understand how the conclusion is reached. The problem is that by the same logic we should also reach the conclusion that babies should be grown in test tubes rather than in their mother's womb. How do I make the connection? What's in your breastmilk is also in your blood, so saying that a woman shouldn't breastfeed her baby because of chemicals is also saying that a woman shouldn't grow her baby because of chemicals.
The proper conclusion to come to from the above information (in my humble opinion) is that we need to stop using so many damned chemicals. Haven't we proved the saying 'better living through science' wrong yet?
Sure, science does wonderful things, but science is not so wonderful that we can just replace everything natural with it. I get trial and error, and on more than one occasion I've said - quite enthusiastically - "LET'S DO SCIENCE TO IT!" but isn't it time we dropped all the chemical nonsense.
The problem is how entrenched we are in big-ag *coughmonsantocough* and subsidising shoot-yourself-in-the-foot farming methods. And for everyone out there who says farming organically is unsustainable in practice, I read a fantastic point about that on a paleo blog saying that our current reliability on oil-based products is not sustainable either.
Do I have the answers? No, and I don't pretend to know them either. What I can do is turn my front yard into a garden rather than an ornament. I can choose to clean my home with things like white vinegar, enzyme cleaner and vodka. I can make my own chemical free laundry soap and dish detergent, and my own chemical free shampoo. I can live as cleanly as I have the means to live (which turns out to be more about my personal energy levels than financial means, because clean living is actually cheaper).
I can't ask anyone else to do it, but I can try to lead by example. Not everyone is a fan of the way I like to live or the way I'd like to live in the future. A lot of people (and I mean a lot) think I'm pretty well off my rocker for doing things like avoiding soy (and now gluten thanks to some post-partum thyroid shenanigans). But that's okay. I'm happy this way, and I think a good number of people could be happy this way as well.
If only we could stop falling into the trap that is Man vs. God. We're not God, we're meant to be keepers of the life around us. We should start actually keeping it.
Showing posts with label Thrifty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thrifty. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
DIY - Why it's Weird...and Awesome.
A funny thing happened to me while shopping last week:
I was looking for vanilla beans so I asked the woman stocking the bulk section because I figured that's where they would be. She lead me over to the honey station and picked up a stick in a plastic tube. I asked if they had anything different, like actual beans (because I didn't know the beans were inside of the stick, I thought it was like a cinnamon stick) and she took me over to the section that had actual extract in it where there were two more employees doing odd stocking jobs. One of them explained to me that the beans were actually inside of the stick and the other helped us look for another vanilla bean option - we found one, but it was a lot more expensive. The one helping us look asked me why I was looking for vanilla beans and I said, "to make my own vanilla extract."
When we had finished and I was walking away with my plastic tube of vanilla beans he turned to the woman and said, "don't we sell vanilla extract?"
I was too busy laughing to myself to hear what she said in response.
We live in a society that embraces consumerism. Why make it, when you can buy it? I mean, buying it is just so much easier.
A lot of people tell themselves they don't have time for making things, which is a cute excuse for laziness in my experience. I was one of those people and as it happens I have plenty of time to make my own stuff. The trick is prioritizing. Sure, I'd rather be sitting on my bum playing World of Warcraft a lot of the time, but there are just more important things to be doing. Like making nut milk.
The most recent thing I learned I could make myself is farina hot cereals, specifically rice farina. Why should I do this? Because a 26 ounce bag of organic rice farina costs upwards of $6.99 (Bob's Red Mill). A pound of organic short grain brown rice costs around $1.29 at Sprouts. That means my breakfast costs me $1.08, give or take, when buying it pre-made. It costs me $.32 to $.64 if I make it myself. That's a savings of $.44 to $.75 a meal. I haven't actually done it, so I'm not sure what 8 ounces of rice would come to once ground; probably a bit less than 8 ounces, maybe even half. I eat this almost daily for breakfast, so the savings add up pretty quickly.
Nut milk (specifically almond) comes out $.64 cheaper than the cheapest brand of almond milk, and that's if you're buying almonds at $5.99 a pound - which is the regular price for almonds. The best thing about this one is that you have a bit more control over what goes into the milk. This cost comparison isn't for organic though.
Home-made shampoo is my new favorite thing. It's just rosemary infused water, castile soap, jojoba oil and lavender essential oil. I have a rosemary plant, so it actually saves me a marginal amount of money, but if my calculations including rosemary are correct, it costs about the same unless you're buying conditioner in which case it makes it that much cheaper. I do it more for the ingredient control than anything else, really. Plus my hair looks nicer now, in my opinion.
I also make my own dishwasher detergent, which saves me a bit of money. I'm still working out the most effective recipe, so I'm not sure what the savings are quite yet.
My next pet project is laundry soap. I found a recipe here that I'm going to try.
What do you guys make?
I was looking for vanilla beans so I asked the woman stocking the bulk section because I figured that's where they would be. She lead me over to the honey station and picked up a stick in a plastic tube. I asked if they had anything different, like actual beans (because I didn't know the beans were inside of the stick, I thought it was like a cinnamon stick) and she took me over to the section that had actual extract in it where there were two more employees doing odd stocking jobs. One of them explained to me that the beans were actually inside of the stick and the other helped us look for another vanilla bean option - we found one, but it was a lot more expensive. The one helping us look asked me why I was looking for vanilla beans and I said, "to make my own vanilla extract."
When we had finished and I was walking away with my plastic tube of vanilla beans he turned to the woman and said, "don't we sell vanilla extract?"
I was too busy laughing to myself to hear what she said in response.
We live in a society that embraces consumerism. Why make it, when you can buy it? I mean, buying it is just so much easier.
A lot of people tell themselves they don't have time for making things, which is a cute excuse for laziness in my experience. I was one of those people and as it happens I have plenty of time to make my own stuff. The trick is prioritizing. Sure, I'd rather be sitting on my bum playing World of Warcraft a lot of the time, but there are just more important things to be doing. Like making nut milk.
The most recent thing I learned I could make myself is farina hot cereals, specifically rice farina. Why should I do this? Because a 26 ounce bag of organic rice farina costs upwards of $6.99 (Bob's Red Mill). A pound of organic short grain brown rice costs around $1.29 at Sprouts. That means my breakfast costs me $1.08, give or take, when buying it pre-made. It costs me $.32 to $.64 if I make it myself. That's a savings of $.44 to $.75 a meal. I haven't actually done it, so I'm not sure what 8 ounces of rice would come to once ground; probably a bit less than 8 ounces, maybe even half. I eat this almost daily for breakfast, so the savings add up pretty quickly.
Nut milk (specifically almond) comes out $.64 cheaper than the cheapest brand of almond milk, and that's if you're buying almonds at $5.99 a pound - which is the regular price for almonds. The best thing about this one is that you have a bit more control over what goes into the milk. This cost comparison isn't for organic though.
Home-made shampoo is my new favorite thing. It's just rosemary infused water, castile soap, jojoba oil and lavender essential oil. I have a rosemary plant, so it actually saves me a marginal amount of money, but if my calculations including rosemary are correct, it costs about the same unless you're buying conditioner in which case it makes it that much cheaper. I do it more for the ingredient control than anything else, really. Plus my hair looks nicer now, in my opinion.
I also make my own dishwasher detergent, which saves me a bit of money. I'm still working out the most effective recipe, so I'm not sure what the savings are quite yet.
My next pet project is laundry soap. I found a recipe here that I'm going to try.
What do you guys make?
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Almonds Everywhere!
Sprouts recently had a bulk almond sale for $3.99 a pound of raw nuts. I jumped on it, before I learned that you should buy refrigerated nuts because the natural oils can go rancid quite fast and who knows how long anything has been sitting out in the bulk section of your grocery store. I'm not sure yet if the cheap side of me will win this one; I may continue to buy bulk nuts that are on sale in favor of refrigerated nuts simply because of the price difference.
At any rate, the almond sale means I've been making a lot of things using almonds.
I made almond milk last week that was delicious. I turned it into an awesome tapioca pudding (I love tapioca pudding!). I also ate some cereal with it, because sometimes convenience wins - I should just stop buying cereal altogether at this point.
I made almond meal/flour with the ground nuts leftover from the milk making process. To do that, all you need is an oven or dehydrator to dry out the nut meal. Once it's dry, if you want a finer texture toss it into a blender or food processor for a minute or so, depending on how fine a texture you're looking for.
I mentioned in my last post that I was going to try making flour-less brownies with it, but what I ended up making was a batch of thumbprint cookies. They turned out deliciously, I'll definitely be making them again.
I also made a batch of almond butter with the extra 3 cups of nuts leftover from soaking for the milk. All you need to make almond butter is a food processor and some patience. I might play around with adding things like cacao powder for a chocolate butter, or honey or something, but you really don't need to add anything. The only thing you should be sure of is that your nuts are properly dried after soaking.
After making my own almond butter I've decided that I'm never buying nut butter from the store again. It's so easy to just make your own, and it tastes a ton better.
Actually, all this writing about almond butter is making me crave it. I'm gonna go have some.
At any rate, the almond sale means I've been making a lot of things using almonds.
I made almond milk last week that was delicious. I turned it into an awesome tapioca pudding (I love tapioca pudding!). I also ate some cereal with it, because sometimes convenience wins - I should just stop buying cereal altogether at this point.
I made almond meal/flour with the ground nuts leftover from the milk making process. To do that, all you need is an oven or dehydrator to dry out the nut meal. Once it's dry, if you want a finer texture toss it into a blender or food processor for a minute or so, depending on how fine a texture you're looking for.
I mentioned in my last post that I was going to try making flour-less brownies with it, but what I ended up making was a batch of thumbprint cookies. They turned out deliciously, I'll definitely be making them again.
I also made a batch of almond butter with the extra 3 cups of nuts leftover from soaking for the milk. All you need to make almond butter is a food processor and some patience. I might play around with adding things like cacao powder for a chocolate butter, or honey or something, but you really don't need to add anything. The only thing you should be sure of is that your nuts are properly dried after soaking.
After making my own almond butter I've decided that I'm never buying nut butter from the store again. It's so easy to just make your own, and it tastes a ton better.
Actually, all this writing about almond butter is making me crave it. I'm gonna go have some.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Cloth Diapering
Here is a breakdown of what the current cloth diapering supplies I am using cost me:
So there it is: $171.37. I'm not sure why, but I expected a lower number.
Now, let's break that down:
I change 75 diapers a week (from midnight Monday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday). That's an average of 11, for the purpose of easier math (10.71428.....), a day. With this amount of diaper changing I do laundry roughly every other day using 1.5 ounces of detergent per load. The detergent runs about $7 (rounding up) for 100 ounces which means it will do 66 (rounding down) loads at $0.11 (rounding up) per load. I also use a cup or so of vinegar in the rinse the keep the diapers soft. The jug of vinegar costs about $3.00 (rounding up) on sale for a gallon, or 16 cups, which means it will last me roughly a month.
It generally takes me 3 to 4 months to go through one package of wipes. They cost $11.99 for 576, making them $0.02 per wipe.
We'll say the extra water and electricity that goes into all this laundry costs $5.00 a month. Because I'm not sure of the exact amount. Please correct me if I need to make that number higher.
So my monthly total is $9.79-$16.26.
The diapers I would like to use are $6.99 for 31 ($0.23 per). That would be $69.36 a month.
If I used these diapers I would be spending $53.10-$59.57 more a month. It would take me 3 months or so to pay back my start up cost.
The cheapest diapers are $20.99 for 144 ($0.15 per). That would be $45.36 a month.
If I used these diapers I would be spending $29.10-$35.57 more a month. It would take me 5-6 months to pay back my start up cost.
So even using the cheapest diapers I would save I good chunk of change. It may not seem like much, but it adds up to around $500 a year, not to mention the money I save by cloth diapering our next child.
Overall I'd say that cloth diapering is worth the effort. Not that it's even really that hard right now. It's when you have multiple children in diapers that it gets more difficult (or multiple children in general, really).
- $55.14 - diaper pail and 4 laundry bags. Ordered online.
- $6.84 - snappi. Ordered online.
- $70.61 - 22 prefold diapers. Ordered online.
- $19.99 - one all in one and one diaper cover. Ordered online.
- $13.79 - two diaper covers. Ordered online.
- $5.00 - diaper cover. Purchased at Colorado Baby in Grand Junction.
So there it is: $171.37. I'm not sure why, but I expected a lower number.
Now, let's break that down:
I change 75 diapers a week (from midnight Monday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday). That's an average of 11, for the purpose of easier math (10.71428.....), a day. With this amount of diaper changing I do laundry roughly every other day using 1.5 ounces of detergent per load. The detergent runs about $7 (rounding up) for 100 ounces which means it will do 66 (rounding down) loads at $0.11 (rounding up) per load. I also use a cup or so of vinegar in the rinse the keep the diapers soft. The jug of vinegar costs about $3.00 (rounding up) on sale for a gallon, or 16 cups, which means it will last me roughly a month.
It generally takes me 3 to 4 months to go through one package of wipes. They cost $11.99 for 576, making them $0.02 per wipe.
We'll say the extra water and electricity that goes into all this laundry costs $5.00 a month. Because I'm not sure of the exact amount. Please correct me if I need to make that number higher.
| 300 diapers changed | ... |
| 15-20 loads of laundry | $5-$10 |
| 1/4 package baby wipes | $0.36 |
| 22.5-30 ounces laundry detergent | $1.58-$2.10 |
| 15-20 cups vinegar | $2.85-$3.80 |
So my monthly total is $9.79-$16.26.
The diapers I would like to use are $6.99 for 31 ($0.23 per). That would be $69.36 a month.
If I used these diapers I would be spending $53.10-$59.57 more a month. It would take me 3 months or so to pay back my start up cost.
The cheapest diapers are $20.99 for 144 ($0.15 per). That would be $45.36 a month.
If I used these diapers I would be spending $29.10-$35.57 more a month. It would take me 5-6 months to pay back my start up cost.
So even using the cheapest diapers I would save I good chunk of change. It may not seem like much, but it adds up to around $500 a year, not to mention the money I save by cloth diapering our next child.
Overall I'd say that cloth diapering is worth the effort. Not that it's even really that hard right now. It's when you have multiple children in diapers that it gets more difficult (or multiple children in general, really).
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Little Viking.
Ah, lent. We meet again.
This year I've given up the following:
It's a good time for me to get my ass back in gear. Especially this year, seeing as I've gone soft on myself after having the wee one. Really, since the last trimester.
I was really good about not eating sugary crap until I got to the last month of pregnancy. I would say things like, "one muffin is okay," or, "I'll treat myself."
That kind of an attitude snowballs pretty quickly, so now I suck at not eating sugar.
At any rate.
Lent is the one thing I did more seriously before converting. When I first learned about lent in middle school I was told it lasted until Easter. I never bothered to do the math and figure out that Sundays are technically not included in the allotted 40 days, I just chose something to give up and I abstained from the chosen thing/behaviour until Easter.
This is another reason that hubby calls me his little Viking; I can be kind of stubborn about it.
I've grown lax since converting, but I still prefer to not partake in whatever it was I gave up until Easter including Sundays and Feast days.
~~~
On a random note:
I tried making coconut milk recently. Totally not worth the time and effort. And if you buy the tinned coconut when it's on sale making your own isn't even cheaper.
It took me a whole day to just shred one. Maybe the milk will taste phenomenal. I'll let you know when I actually get it made.
Hopefully in the next day or so.
This year I've given up the following:
- Facebook.
- Giving in to crankiness (inspired by a good friend of mine)
- Sugar - excepting home-baked goods.
I made the exception on account of the amount of soaked oatmeal I eat because I turn it into muffins. That being said, I only use 1/4 of the sugar the recipe calls for anyway.
I know it's still a cop out. - Picking my face.
It's a bad habit... - Video games, vicariously.
Hubby gave up video games and I'm playing them a lot less to try and help him.
It's a good time for me to get my ass back in gear. Especially this year, seeing as I've gone soft on myself after having the wee one. Really, since the last trimester.
I was really good about not eating sugary crap until I got to the last month of pregnancy. I would say things like, "one muffin is okay," or, "I'll treat myself."
That kind of an attitude snowballs pretty quickly, so now I suck at not eating sugar.
At any rate.
Lent is the one thing I did more seriously before converting. When I first learned about lent in middle school I was told it lasted until Easter. I never bothered to do the math and figure out that Sundays are technically not included in the allotted 40 days, I just chose something to give up and I abstained from the chosen thing/behaviour until Easter.
This is another reason that hubby calls me his little Viking; I can be kind of stubborn about it.
I've grown lax since converting, but I still prefer to not partake in whatever it was I gave up until Easter including Sundays and Feast days.
~~~
On a random note:
I tried making coconut milk recently. Totally not worth the time and effort. And if you buy the tinned coconut when it's on sale making your own isn't even cheaper.
It took me a whole day to just shred one. Maybe the milk will taste phenomenal. I'll let you know when I actually get it made.
Hopefully in the next day or so.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
End of Christmas Musings.
One of my major, major flaws is that I go and go and go until I just can't go anymore. I drive until I break down. Sometimes when I break down I'm a minor wreck, sometimes I'm a major catastrophe.
A beautiful example of this behavior in myself has been this holiday season - and, to some extent, getting the puppy. We had company starting the 17th of December. They left Christmas day and my parents arrived the 26th. My parents only stayed a few days, then hubby went on night shift. Then I got sick. Now we're here.
During this time it seems like I had multiple "holy shit, I can't handle all of this" moments. The biggest of these was this morning before mass. This one was triggered by a specific innocent phrase hubby said to me before leaving for work last night, but I had been teetering on the edge for a bit while I was sick.
God bless my husband. He deals with this particular fault very well, and I am enormously grateful for that.
I call this flaw/fault my boomerang flaw because it keeps coming back.
In my nature I am a doer. I like to get things done efficiently, sometimes to a fault. My ex roommate calls me the tetris master for how I load things into a car when moving (I've moved her two, maybe three times now); also for the way I load the dishwasher. I'm weird about the dishwasher. I hate to run it if there is any empty space, and I like to cram as many dirty dishes as physically possible into it before using the dish detergent.
Anywho.
Because I am a doer, I tend to be impatient about things not getting done. This is unfortunate, because I do things faster than most other people and I tend to expect someone to respond promptly to something like a full trash can. Other people just don't care as much about these things, and that's okay.
What I need to work on is being okay with it.
So I guess this fault is really two faults: going and going and going until I cannot possibly go any more mixed with being impatient.
When I was pregnant I was somehow able to turn this off in my head. I was okay with a fairly messy kitchen, and clutter on the breakfast bar.
I wish I had been able to retain that.
So, back to work I go. Hopefully I'll have some luck fixing this; I've tried so many times I've lost track. Although, I think I'm better than I was even last year.
Another thing I've been thinking about is how incredibly blessed I am to have sort of stumbled into my current life.
I love the family I married into, I don't have any weirdness with my own parents, I married the man of my dreams, and we have a beautiful baby boy.
I have no idea what I did right, or if I did anything right, really. It humbles me in an odd way to think about it.
I can say that I think my life is finally coming together, that I've finally figured out the right fork to take at the crossroads. It took some learning and some scars, but I think I may have got it together now (aside from the aforementioned flaw). Not to imply that I'm totally put together, because I'm not. As a side note: anyone who says they are should be carefully observed for signs of mental instability (i.e. living in la-la-land).
That's another topic: the situations and manners in which my scars reveal themselves continue to surprise me. That's maybe a story for another day.
~~~
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
Also, merry Christmas (late), happy new year (late), and happy Epiphany! (late)
heh...better late than never?
A beautiful example of this behavior in myself has been this holiday season - and, to some extent, getting the puppy. We had company starting the 17th of December. They left Christmas day and my parents arrived the 26th. My parents only stayed a few days, then hubby went on night shift. Then I got sick. Now we're here.
During this time it seems like I had multiple "holy shit, I can't handle all of this" moments. The biggest of these was this morning before mass. This one was triggered by a specific innocent phrase hubby said to me before leaving for work last night, but I had been teetering on the edge for a bit while I was sick.
God bless my husband. He deals with this particular fault very well, and I am enormously grateful for that.
I call this flaw/fault my boomerang flaw because it keeps coming back.
In my nature I am a doer. I like to get things done efficiently, sometimes to a fault. My ex roommate calls me the tetris master for how I load things into a car when moving (I've moved her two, maybe three times now); also for the way I load the dishwasher. I'm weird about the dishwasher. I hate to run it if there is any empty space, and I like to cram as many dirty dishes as physically possible into it before using the dish detergent.
Anywho.
Because I am a doer, I tend to be impatient about things not getting done. This is unfortunate, because I do things faster than most other people and I tend to expect someone to respond promptly to something like a full trash can. Other people just don't care as much about these things, and that's okay.
What I need to work on is being okay with it.
So I guess this fault is really two faults: going and going and going until I cannot possibly go any more mixed with being impatient.
When I was pregnant I was somehow able to turn this off in my head. I was okay with a fairly messy kitchen, and clutter on the breakfast bar.
I wish I had been able to retain that.
So, back to work I go. Hopefully I'll have some luck fixing this; I've tried so many times I've lost track. Although, I think I'm better than I was even last year.
Another thing I've been thinking about is how incredibly blessed I am to have sort of stumbled into my current life.
I love the family I married into, I don't have any weirdness with my own parents, I married the man of my dreams, and we have a beautiful baby boy.
I have no idea what I did right, or if I did anything right, really. It humbles me in an odd way to think about it.
I can say that I think my life is finally coming together, that I've finally figured out the right fork to take at the crossroads. It took some learning and some scars, but I think I may have got it together now (aside from the aforementioned flaw). Not to imply that I'm totally put together, because I'm not. As a side note: anyone who says they are should be carefully observed for signs of mental instability (i.e. living in la-la-land).
That's another topic: the situations and manners in which my scars reveal themselves continue to surprise me. That's maybe a story for another day.
~~~
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
Also, merry Christmas (late), happy new year (late), and happy Epiphany! (late)
heh...better late than never?
Friday, September 7, 2012
Cloth Everything! Except at Night.
I'm the kind of person who scrapes every last bit of peanut butter from the jar I possibly can (and then endeavors to wash all the remaining stuff off for recycling): I don't like to waste things. While this weirdness is strongest with foodstuffs I try not to waste material goods as well.
That is why I'm trying to cloth diaper.
I say "trying" because I'm still not using cloth at night. The only reason for this is that I like sleep more than I hate wasting. I'm not sure I'm up for the commitment of changing the little one's diaper every two hours through the night; he doesn't even wake up that often. And when he does, I can just roll over and feed him. Sometimes I wake up and he's latched already, which amazes me since I feel like I'm still learning how to breastfeed.
At any rate. I like cloth diapering a lot. The only thing about it is I'm afraid of the pins. I know you can use the covers as a way to secure the diaper, thus making pins obsolete, but I like the extra security that pins provide for the diaper itself. With pins, I know the diaper is going to stay put.
So what that meant was I tried not using pins and I didn't like it.
Since I am a total noob at cloth diapering, I looked up a video on youtube:
Then I promptly ordered a Snappi. I'm still waiting for it to arrive, and I can't wait!
Yep, I feel like a total loser now; I'm excited about a diapering tool.
I've learned through doing that cloth diapering is really not as hard as I thought it would be. Or as difficult as people talk it up to be. It even taught me something about my laundry machine: how to use the prewash option. I'd never used it before, so I actually had to bust out the manual and look up how to activate the thing.
Another thing to consider making cloth: nursing pads. I go through a lot of these right now, so the cost would be tremendous for me if I used disposable. I did try some disposables that we got on accident (the packaging was not immediately helpful in discerning re-usable vs. disposable) and I found that the wee one would not latch until I cleaned my nipple off. So I had my mom take them back and K-Mart actually refunded her (which was super awesome!). She brought home some cloth ones by the same company - who knew Philips electronics made nursing pads, btw.
Cloth nursing pads are more comfortable and they don't leave any weird residue that baby can taste. Also, they are saving me a ton of money right now.
I also ordered some cloth pads for postpartum bleeding.
I have always hated disposable pads. Even pantyliners. They never stay in one place and I always end up with a sticky paper wedgie an hour or less after putting one on. I'd been thinking about "going green" with my period stuff ever since reading Dyno-Mom's post about it, I'd just been lazy about actually doing it. So I finally ordered some and I am super impressed. I will never use a disposable again and I'm planning on never using tampons either.
These are super comfy and, again, it's easier to do the maintenance than everyone thinks it is.
So the moral of the story - for me - is to try things for myself before being discouraged. Also a determined stubborn streak is helpful if you should fail once or twice at the get-go...like I did with cloth diapers (hence the youtube video).
That is why I'm trying to cloth diaper.
I say "trying" because I'm still not using cloth at night. The only reason for this is that I like sleep more than I hate wasting. I'm not sure I'm up for the commitment of changing the little one's diaper every two hours through the night; he doesn't even wake up that often. And when he does, I can just roll over and feed him. Sometimes I wake up and he's latched already, which amazes me since I feel like I'm still learning how to breastfeed.
At any rate. I like cloth diapering a lot. The only thing about it is I'm afraid of the pins. I know you can use the covers as a way to secure the diaper, thus making pins obsolete, but I like the extra security that pins provide for the diaper itself. With pins, I know the diaper is going to stay put.
So what that meant was I tried not using pins and I didn't like it.
Since I am a total noob at cloth diapering, I looked up a video on youtube:
Yep, I feel like a total loser now; I'm excited about a diapering tool.
I've learned through doing that cloth diapering is really not as hard as I thought it would be. Or as difficult as people talk it up to be. It even taught me something about my laundry machine: how to use the prewash option. I'd never used it before, so I actually had to bust out the manual and look up how to activate the thing.
Another thing to consider making cloth: nursing pads. I go through a lot of these right now, so the cost would be tremendous for me if I used disposable. I did try some disposables that we got on accident (the packaging was not immediately helpful in discerning re-usable vs. disposable) and I found that the wee one would not latch until I cleaned my nipple off. So I had my mom take them back and K-Mart actually refunded her (which was super awesome!). She brought home some cloth ones by the same company - who knew Philips electronics made nursing pads, btw.
Cloth nursing pads are more comfortable and they don't leave any weird residue that baby can taste. Also, they are saving me a ton of money right now.
I also ordered some cloth pads for postpartum bleeding.
I have always hated disposable pads. Even pantyliners. They never stay in one place and I always end up with a sticky paper wedgie an hour or less after putting one on. I'd been thinking about "going green" with my period stuff ever since reading Dyno-Mom's post about it, I'd just been lazy about actually doing it. So I finally ordered some and I am super impressed. I will never use a disposable again and I'm planning on never using tampons either.
These are super comfy and, again, it's easier to do the maintenance than everyone thinks it is.
So the moral of the story - for me - is to try things for myself before being discouraged. Also a determined stubborn streak is helpful if you should fail once or twice at the get-go...like I did with cloth diapers (hence the youtube video).
Monday, April 23, 2012
Blueberries!
Today I bought plants and potting soil. I'm very excited about these things. I bought four heirloom tomatoes, Anaheim and jalapeno peppers (one each), some columbine, and a blueberry plant.
I'm just going to plant the blueberry plant and hope for the best. The tag said hardy to -40° so we shall see.
Today was also the big ultrasound to make sure baby is growing in the proper fashion. Everything is fine. It was cute to see the little feet and hands and things. Also, amazing what the technology shows.
It would appear that on sitting down I have forgotten what I was going to write about. Hm...
So..here's a list of ways I'm thrifty?
If you think you don't have time for baking a cake from scratch there's a nifty trick you can do. One day, when you have five minutes, mix all the dry ingredients together and put them in a tupperware/bag. Stow away for later use. When you need to actually bake the cake, take out the tupperware/bag and add the wet ingredients. Viola! You made your very own "box cake." Note: it's helpful to keep the recipe on hand.
I'm just going to plant the blueberry plant and hope for the best. The tag said hardy to -40° so we shall see.
Today was also the big ultrasound to make sure baby is growing in the proper fashion. Everything is fine. It was cute to see the little feet and hands and things. Also, amazing what the technology shows.
It would appear that on sitting down I have forgotten what I was going to write about. Hm...
So..here's a list of ways I'm thrifty?
- I buy the vast majority of my clothing and household items from Goodwill: I got a changing station there for $20, a nice wood one with two shelves below the padded top (exciting!).
- When it comes to organic cleaners, if I can't clean it with vinegar water I buy whatever cleaner is on sale that meets my standards. Less than five ingredients, etc.
- Organic produce I purchase in much the same way as the cleaners: I scavenge the sale papers.
- I make nearly everything from scratch. I'll be looking into making cereal here very soon.
- I save the produce bags from the store: they make a great substitute for plastic wrap.
- I shop around, keeping a loose price inventory (honey went up $3!!) on things I buy most to make sure I get them the cheapest I can.
If you think you don't have time for baking a cake from scratch there's a nifty trick you can do. One day, when you have five minutes, mix all the dry ingredients together and put them in a tupperware/bag. Stow away for later use. When you need to actually bake the cake, take out the tupperware/bag and add the wet ingredients. Viola! You made your very own "box cake." Note: it's helpful to keep the recipe on hand.
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