Our Recent Goals

Brady and I have been wanting to start saving, saving, saving lately. It's difficult with our economy right now and 2 kids, one being brand new. So, I will share some of the things we've been doing. If you want to ask questions, that's fine. I would love to mentor and show a positive example of saving! We've just started, so we don't have much to show, but I hope that in 6 months, we will be a great example for all.

Things we have done to save $$...

1) Eat out less. This means bringing food to work for lunches and dinners. No more quick runs to Jason's Deli or Agave for me. No burgers and fries for him. Not only does this save the pocket book, this will hopefully help us lose weight!

2) Buy smart. Sometimes the name brands are the exact same as the off brand. In fact, many name brand companies create their own off brand, so esentially it IS the same! We've been saving a LOT buy purchasing off brand. Yeah, sometimes you get some things that aren't to your taste, but then you just make note of it in your brain bank and don't get it again. We've been pleseantly surprised that most of it tastes great! We've even been purchasing the off brand laundry detergent and fabric softner, bleach, etc. None of us have become rashy either, lol. If you want to buy non-grocery items at a discount, check out Craigslist or resale stores.

3) Cloth diapering. Now, Alayna will be out of diapers soon, so we haven't invested in cloth for her, but our little man is fully cloth diapered. After research and some dear friends using cloth, I quickly got over the "ick factor." I realized that cloth diapering is soooo so so much different than I ever imagined! It's not like it was back in the 70s (or before) where you had to fold flat diapers and dunk them. Now they're made just like regular diapers and you just toss them in the wash without touching them. The laundry bag even gets washed along with the diapers! It's amazing. I will post more about different cloth techniques. If you're not interested, feel free to just skip over those blog entries.

4) Homemade disposable and cloth wipes. I've made homemade disposable wipes ever since Alayna was a little babe. These are FANTASTIC! They work WAY better than store wipes and smell better too. My husband definitely prefers them. They're super easy to make too and they last a loooooooong time. I will post the recipe in a later entry. I also just started making cloth wipes. I keep them stored in a wipes warmer and after I use them, I throw them into the diaper laundry. This saves even more $$.

Other than saving $$, Brady and I have both been wanting to lose weight. Now, this is a bit more difficult for me because I'm nursing and I have to make sure I have the correct caloric intake to maintain my milk production. I haven't quite mastered it yet, but I'm trying! If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, you MUST download the Lose It application. It's free and it's AMAZING. This has helped me tremendously! Other than eating out less and eating a bit healthier, we've been trying to stay faithful with our Wii Fit Plus. Not easy and we still slack, but like I said.... we're trying. That's what really matters.

So 2010, we're going to kick your hiney and save, save, save and lose, lose, lose!