I just read a CNN Money article about ways moms around the country are trying to save money in these tough economic times. One stay-at-home mom makes her own laundry detergent by grating natural soap, boiling it, adding Borax, baking soda and essential oils, and letting it cool overnight. That sounds like a great idea. I might take a cue from this mom because our family does countless loads of laundry each week and like everything else, the cost of store-bought detergent has risen to about $5 for a 25-load jug of the soapy stuff. And with two almost-six-year-olds (one of those a rough little boy) and a messy 15 month-old boy, we go through laundry like crazy.
That same CNN mom is trying to help her family by growing her own herbs and shopping at a local feed store to buy eggs. I'll definitely have to check around Tahlequah to see where our feed stores are. Another good idea would be to find farmers' markets. These places can get you fresh fruits and vegetables and cost less than the grocery store.
We have ample space in our backyard for a small garden, and I've been looking at the inexpensive seeds that can be bought at Wal-Mart. This would be a great time to start my own garden, not only because store-bought veggies and fruits are so expensive, but because now would be a good time to plant.
The article mentioned other ways families are trying to save, including clipping coupons, finding discounts (like buying in bulk: can we say SAM'S CLUB?), eating leftovers, buying generic products and some moms have even resorted to BREASTFEEDING just to save money on formula.
Now, what a novel idea. Breastfeeding to save money. I wanted to laugh at this phrase in the article, "breastfeeding instead of buying expensive formula." Wow. Now, I'll admit the money issue was a small factor I considered when I decided to breastfeed, but I wanted the best nutrition for my new baby and not to mention the countless other postive factors. The fact that some of these moms only decided to breastfeed after the formula about broke the bank is beyond me. I understand that some moms can't or aren't able to breastfeed, and it's everyone's individual decision, but the ones who are doing it just to save money sounds selfish, in my opinion.
Other ways to save money include cutting down (or out) eating out. My family can attest to that. Last week Jake and I were both extremely busy at work and both working late. Since we have one car, I go to pick him up at work, we swing by to pick up the baby from daycare then go to the twins' school to pick them up from their after-school program. By the time we get home we're all exhausted and no one has much energy to go stand in the kitchen for an hour to cook. So what's the easist solution? "Let's just pick something up." Those 'somethings' added up four times last week to a total of about $100. $100!
Needless to say, we're going to have a tight food budget this week because of that. Since we both get paid bi-weekly and have the same payday, we have to stretch our money. We've chosen simple meals that won't break our budget, and hopefully we won't be as tired this week even though the twins have two t-ball games, their birthday party is Saturday and Logan and I have our baby sign language class on Thursday. But we'll do it somehow. We always do.
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