Helpful Websites

For those of you looking to save money, there are a couple of things you need to do. First, you must save money on things you already buy (i.e. coupons, sales, garage sales, etc.). Second, and maybe more importantly, you must also control the money you have. For those of you interested, I have added some helpful blogs/websites to my blog. Here is quick and easy access to more information about deals and saving money.

First, I have included StlMommy. This is a blog which will narrate deals going on (some only in the Stl area, others outside), and LOTS of freebies! I have already ordered several free samples. She puts the link in her post, and her blog is easy to navigate.

Second, I added Dave Ramsey's website. To really get control of your finances, it is important to budget and control where your money goes. It is also important to follow his plan and get out of debt. I have linked to his radio program website. Not only can you listen to his show live, but you can listen to archived shows.

Good luck!

New home, new challenges...new projects!

So I know it's been forever since I've written on here. Things have been crazy...well, I really don't have an excuse. Summer is over, fall is here, and we have plenty of new issues on the baby front. Now my baby is seven months old, and she is no longer a newborn! Just when things were getting easier, they get harder with new challenges! That just makes things more exciting, right?!

My husband and I ended up moving this summer...what an ordeal! However, we now have a cute little house, instead of an apartment, with a yard! We absolutely love it here.

So do you remember my garage sale? It was totally a bust. It rained, and it didn't even look like we sold anything. However...we are having another one in a couple of weeks. I am working on decluttering (since we live in a tiny house now), and getting rid of TONS of stuff. I'm tired of stuff sitting around, stuff that we don't need. Like why do we have three colanders? There's no reason for that.

The cymbal and stand finally sold on craigslist...and then we had a trip to the emergency room...so that took care of that money! haha! That's how it works I guess.

So my new money-making endeavor is swagbucks. You all have to try this. I've been doing it for a week, and I already received a five dollar amazon gift card. What you do is search on swagbucks.com (it's a search engine, like google), and they award you "swagbucks." You then can redeem them for gift cards or other stuff (but again, we don't need more stuff). The point, for us, is to use them for things we need, things we would buy anyway. Definitely try this out!

Hmm...

Sorry I have not checked in for a few days...not too much new is going on here. My baby is now seven weeks old which is exciting! She has been sleeping through the night for awhile now, and next week we can start extending her nighttime sleep. I am looking forward to that.

I am still working on gathering things for our garage sale. I am a little discouraged, because we have not sold anything else since my last post:(. I had a good lead on a bunch of my books, but since he hasn't responded to my e-mail, I think that might've fallen through. So...I think we will re-submit our craigslist post, and put the cymbal on ebay if we do not get any responses.

Back on the baby front, we are still having leaking problems with the Fuzzi Bunz. My husband thinks that they just don't fit her well enough yet. I'm not sure. I don't think it has anything to do with the fleece not repelling, because the liners are plenty wet. It just seems they are not holding enough. I am dealing with it for now, hoping it will get better with time.

That's all for now...

More Money and Peaceful Times

We have now sold something on craigslist! We posted our cymbals and one cymbal stand on craigslist last night, and we have already sold one of them. I was a little worried when my husband went to QT and couldn't find the guy who said he wanted to buy it...but he was there, and he did. My husband's boss is interested in the other cymbal and stand as well. Woohoo! I also posted several of my books on Amazon last night.

So I went to a garage sale today. It makes me excited that garage sale season is underway! I love shopping and hosting garage sales. Not too much longer...less than a month...until our garage sale! I am busy gathering anything and everything sitting around, not being used.

On another note, I put my baby girl's carrier toy on this week. She absolutely loves it. We were getting ready to leave, and she was screaming. I put her in her carrier and then attached this toy, and she immediately stopped. She just watches the flower in the middle as it plays melodies. She even bats at the other hanging toys, which is the first time I have really seen her reach out for anything. Very exciting. I definitely recommend the Bright Starts Petal Pusher Carrier Toy Bar. It will make your little one peaceful and happy.

Cloth diapers, who knew? Part II

So I finished stripping the diapers, and have used them now for about a day. As a side note - I can't believe how terrible the disposables were that I used during that time! I do not recommend Huggies Snug & Dry diapers. I think that every diaper I used leaked.

Back to the Fuzzi Bunz: I do know that the "stripping" process definitely took care of the odor that was beginning. And the diapers have not been leaking like they were. I have only noticed it a bit around the legs. My friend, who also uses them with her newborn, said that she noticed leaking around the legs, and just needed to tighten them up a bit. I will try that and see if it helps. Overall, I am very happy with the progress we've made.

Time to make money

So since the baby was born, we have taken a break on our attempt to sell stuff we don't need. Now that things are settling down, we have decided to start clearing stuff out. This also has a bit to do with our desire to be European, that is, having less stuff, being able pick up everything and move at a moment's notice. We went to look at apartments on Monday, because we possibly could be moving, and we had to turn them down because we have too much stuff! We are only two and a half people (along with a fun-loving dog), how could 1000 square feet be too little! We are in desperate need to get rid of anything we're not using.

Anyway, I have put an e-mail out to some people I know seeing if anyone wants to buy my books. So far I have potentially sold 6 out of 12 of the books. Next step will be to post the unwanted ones on Amazon. I hope they all will sell. They all can probably be considered textbooks, which are the best sellers on Amazon.

The next step will be to post some cymbals and other musical items on craigslist. We will see how that goes. For some reason, my husband and I have had the worst luck with craigslist. We have tried to sell things on it, and have no interest. We have also tried to buy things on it, and it never works out! My husband says there are too many people on craigslist; it doesn't work as well as it used to. However, it would be nice to not have to ship these cymbals if we sold them on ebay. I am afraid they would not travel well. It's good to know, though, that musical instruments do not lost their value too much by being used.

Next, we are planning a garage sale for the middle of May. I have been going through everything we own collecting things we don't need for the sale. I read that you should not throw anything away when preparing for a garage sale, that you would be surprised what one would buy. It will be in a subdivision garage sale, so I'm hoping we will have lots of traffic.

So there you have it! If you're wanting to turn your junk into cash...sell, sell, sell! Amazon is great for books, craigslist/ebay for musical instruments, furniture, and garage sale!

Cloth diapers, who knew?

So if any of you are around the age of my parents, when I say cloth diapers, you say "yeah right!" Or, "those make great cleaning rags once you decide you can't do it!" Well, I have to say that we have been using them for almost three weeks, and they are great! Of course, we still have a long way to go. However, cloth diapers are much different than they were when I was a baby. These are not the same diapers that once needed to be folded and pinned. We are using Fuzzi Bunz brand cloth diapers. Check these out: http://www.fuzzibunz.com/

Now, we chose this brand mainly because of two reasons. First, we liked the idea of the snaps. They don't wear out like velcro does. Second, we liked the adjustable legs. Since we chose the one size fits from newborn to toddler, the adjustable legs seems to be practical.

So, are these the best brand? I'm not sure. I do know that I have been having a bit of a problem with leaking. Sometimes this happens overnight, but the past few days we have been having problems just after an hour or two. I think it might be time to "strip" the diapers.

What is stripping, you might ask? This comes from the Fuzzi Bunz website:

1. Get a good detergent like Vaska for FuzziBunz – a residue free environmentally friendly detergent.
2. Run all of your diapers through a hot wash with Vaska for FuzziBunz TWICE!
3. Run all of your diapers through a hot wash with NO detergent.
4. Run a cold rinse. If you have hard water you may want to add a water softener such as Calgon Water Softener to soften your water and help release any left over detergent.
5. If you still see bubbles in your rinse run another cold rinse.
6. You can either sun your diapers or tumble on low. We recommend the Sun!

I will try "stripping" and see if it fixes my problem, and let you all know!

Beginnings

So this is my first post! Let me catch you up. I have a beautiful little girl, who will be six weeks old in a couple of days. We have had many interesting experiences so far...from a beautiful new smile to a horrible incident of poop on the wall. There have been many new things to learn, but it has been exciting getting to know this little person.

Since my husband and I try to be as frugal as possible, we have implemented several money saving practices. First off, I have been clipping coupons. Secondly, we decided on cloth diapers, Fuzzi Bunz brand. Also, we are selling off anything and everything that people will pay for.

So I am excited to join the blogging world, and discuss my thoughts on being a new mom, and all the ways to save money!