So I got this idea from Hippyfreeks thread about working outside of the home. What do you all do to cut back and save money to stay home with your kids? We use cloth diapers and breastfeed, which makes babies "free" until around 8 or 9 months, then all we really have to buy is extra fruits and veggies to mush up for baby. (until they become eating monsters like my 2yo!!!) We do activities like the beach (we live very close), walks, playgrounds, library(!!!), and when its really hot and humid, or freezing cold we go to the mall where they have an indoor play area for little tykes. We rent movies form the library or trade with friends. We cut coupons, and look online for coupons. We make most all food from scratch and use the slowcooker a lot, which cute down on oven/stove usage. We rarely go out to eat. My husband takes a thermos of coffee along with a lunch to work every day. We use hand me downs, and lots of thrift store clothes. I also make a lot of clothes, because I have trouble finding clothes to fit short chunky babies, especially with a big puffy cloth diaper. We clean with vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, castile soap, hydrogen peroxide, essential oils, and orange oil. We NEVER use the dryer. I hang everything up, even sheets. (Well, actually we had 2 straight weeks of DOWNPOURS recently and major flooding, so I used the dryer then) We live a very simple life, and we just enjoy each other. I never regret staying home, I would sacrifice anything to be with my kids. I love being frugal - and I'd love to hear more ideas!
I don't have kids, but I agree on cooking from scatch. It's cheaper then buying ready-made or going out and you know exactly what you eat, so it's also a bonus for your health. I don't even have a dryer, just hang everything on that metaldryer. It's a big plus for your moneybag, as well as for the environment. actually a lot of moneysaving is also good for the planet
http://www.borntolove.com/frugal-index.html I foudn this website, it has some cool ideas....even making your own daipers out of recieving blankies!!! we need to learn to become more frugal. I'm making a lot of my own baby foods, but still keep some jars on hand for 'emergency,' or on a night we don't have supper and have nothing in the house to eat. I cook a lot from scratch, too. My mom always used to buy those pre-packaged meals and stuff and couldn't figure out why she was spending so much at the grocery store and we never had enough suppers for more than 2 weeks, if that. So i took over the shopping, buy LOTS of ground beef, which makes nice and cheap meals, potatoes, yams, rice, frozen veggies....i dunno...but yeah, i spend lots of time cooking now. At the moment, we're doing disposable daipers, cuz my mom doesn't want daipers in her washing machine and refuses to see the power and water bill go up more...but we're moving in a month, so cloth daipers, here we come.... I hang as many things out to dry as I can. There's no clothes line at my mom's place and a small back yard, so there's not too much room, but I get out there what i can. Especially bedding...I LOOOOOVE going to bed with fresh-smelling bed clothes! I make alot of my own clothes....Cody never buys new ones, so we don't have to worry abotu him, lol....and leane, we get a lot of second hand stuff from my MIL, and once she stops growing so fast, I'm going to make her a lot of clothes, too. We try to limit the use of our car and walk most places. We never go out to eat, and the odd time that we DO get something I haven't cooked, it's usually something like sushi from the grocery store, which is aout $5. I make most of our gifts for people, which are usually better recieved anyway. ummm....can't think of much else right now, i'll list more if i think of some...
play checkers: save all the different colored tops off milk or juice jugs till you have enough for a whole game of checkers. Then cut open a box of cereal (after cereal is gone) and draw the squares onto it. clothes~ I love thrift shops and yard sales! and thankfully my kids didn't mind wearing hand-me-downs from someone.
in order to be a SAHM, I had to learn to live on just one income. It's part of my job description to make sure we don't overspend. We don't eat out very often (even less often now that we cannot eat gluten or sugar!). But what has saved us the most money is that we quit using our credit cards, and eventually got them totally paid off. We make at least one or two extra house payments every year, which in theory should shorten our mortgage by 5-10 years! Instead of blowing money on frivolous stuff, I always pay extra on all our debt each month. I quit shopping at Walmart. No, it was not saving me any money to shop there, I always ended up buying things not on my list and spending way more money than necessary. AND, I found that I kept having to replace the cheap junk whereas spending a little bit more meant it would last much longer and actually save us money in the long run.
