I LOVE Trader Joe's!!

How much money do you think I paid for all this?

These are my groceries for the next week and a half. I was good this week. I made a menu, a shopping list and then went shopping. I even got a couple big ticket items, like cheese (why in the world is cheese so darn expensive?!), wine and a gallon of organic whole milk ($5.70, I think this was the most expensive thing I bought). I've really been working hard at stretching our dollars latley because, well, we just don't have that many of them.

When I first heard of Trader Joe's I thought there would be no way I could afford to shop at such a cool store, but I was wrong! It's pretty much the only place I shop for our groceries because of a few reasons: it's affordable, their store brand is actually really good, they have a huge selection of ethnic foods and almost everything in the store is natural/organic. The atmosphere is also really fun, the workers are helpful and friendly and they are awesome baggers. Seriously, these guys and gals can really pack a bag, they are so efficient. My cart was filled to the brim, with a few items up front, next to my daughter and the bagger got it all into 4 bags!

Trader Joe's allows me to  feed my family organic without going broke. I love it! I hope you have a Trader Joe's near you because you'll love it. If you've never been there before, check it out, I promise you won't be dissapointed. Oh yeah, how much did I spend? $107, not bad huh?!

**I was not compensated in any way for this post. I think everyone should know about Trader Joe's.

Fluff Talk Thursday: Cloth Diapering on a Tight Budget

Thanks again to Beth over at Happily Domestic for hosting Fluff Talk. Such a great resource for us cloth diapering parents.






One sure conversation starter is to mention that you use cloth diapers. I've found that people react one of two ways. It's either something like, "Wow, you're brave." and "Really? Gross!" Or, the more rare (but my favorite), "Cool! Me too!! What's your favorite?" When I'm in a discussion with a parent who hasn't used cloth and the topic comes to cost, they often look shocked when I tell them the price of one diaper. I always have to explain that, yes, $15-25 for one diaper can be expensive, BUT you have to keep in mind that (if taken well care of) you can use that one diaper over and over. It's well worth the money!

I've often found that one reason people choose not to cloth diaper is because of the potentially high start up cost. It can be difficult to come up with two to four hundred dollars all at once to put up for diapers. Or, as in my case, convincing my husband that we should spend that much money on diapers all at once. By they way, it took a lot of convincing and deal making, but we did eventually come to an agreement and I now have a pretty decent stash.

My advice for starting up a stash as financially painless as possible:

• Prefolds and covers! While this is not my favorite option, it's the one I started with and it works! Prefolds are cheap. In my case, I was lucky and found a big bag of about 40 of them at a thrift store in Missouri for $5! They were really thick and worked great under my Thirsties and Bummis covers. You will need quite a few prefolds, but just a few covers, as they can be wiped out and reused until baby poops.
• Enter giveaways. There are a ton of mommy bloggers who review and giveaway diapers, myself included. I won my Katydid this way and I love that diaper! There are also many online cloth diaper stores which host giveaways weekly. Kellys Closet is one of them. These sites also run deals all the time. I got 6 brand new, pink, Bum Genius all in ones for $106 on a closeout deal. I was really proud of that one!
• Along the same lines as entering giveaways, look for deals. This takes some time and effort, but it's definitely worth it! I'm constantly looking for sale and clearance diapers. Most every cloth diaper site has a sale or clearance section. I've also found pretty good deals on gently used diapers. If you buy one or two diapers at a time and build your stash slowly, you can save a ton of money.
• Take good care of your diapers! The longer your diapers last, the less of them you'll need to buy. You'll especially want to take good care of your diapers if you want to use them for more than one child. And, yes, that is very possible. I use Rockin Green detergent for all my diapers, hang my covers and throw the inserts in the dryer. When the sun's out, I put everything outside and it comes in so fresh and white! Just imagine the savings over disposables if you were able to use a stash for two babies!
• If all else fails, make friends with a cloth diapering mama and let her know you'd be happy to take her stash off her hands when she's done with it :)

I know there are other and better ways to build a good stash for little money, but these methods worked for me. I truly plan to use my diapers on another child, if one should come along. I haven't done the actual math for this scenario, but I'm sure the savings will be tremendous!

In the interest of saving time and money.....

Ever since becoming a stay at home mom a year ago, I've been doing everything I can to stretch our dollars and become more organized. A household runs much more smoothly if it's organized and neat. Of course, getting everyone on board is another task all together! I've always planned the weekly menu and made my shopping list from it, but now I'm going to try to take the extra step and actually PLAN out a weekly menu. What I mean is, I'll actually put thought into it, like: what would my family like to eat? how can I balance the meals so that they are healthy and yummy? I also have to plan around such things as days when I watch my nephew. I don't think I'll attempt to make beef wellington with baked Alaska on a day when I have two babies to take care of :) Another, important part of planning that I hadn't been doing is writing down the weekly menu. I think this will make me much more accountable and organized. So, here is the dinner menu for this week: I'd love to hear thoughts, advice and suggestions, I really would!

Monday: sloppy joaquins (a Rachel Ray recipe) and salad

Tuesday: chicken rolls (an old family recipe) and green beans

Wednesday: balsamic chicken (another Rachel Ray), french bread and sweet potato casserole

Thursday: Ziti with tomato cream sauce (my favorite vegan recipe) and broccoli
Friday: baked potato soup and salad

Saturday: basil cream chicken pot pies (another R.R.)

Sunday: probably leftovers, or if I'm feeling energetic then curry chicken with coconut rice

So, would you like to come eat at my house this week????