oh baby!

Don't know if anyone else is into figuring out this baby thing, but if you are, here are 2 homeade bargains I found today@ mormonchic.com:

Homemade Baby Food
Fruits & Vegetables
* Wash fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly to remove any chemical residue.

* Steam or boil your baby’s favorite fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables until mushy. Use fresh fruits and veggies for the most nutritional value, frozen next, and canned as a last option. If you use canned veggies, be sure to use the "No Salt" versions. Use little or no spice.

* Puree the fruits or vegetables very well for smaller infants, or leave a bit coarser for older ones. For variety, mix two fruits together. If these are the first foods you are feeding your infant, you may even want to strain the pureed fruit. You can purchase an inexpensive baby food maker that does this for you.

* Spoon into ice-cube trays and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze.

* At meal time, simply pop out a few cubes of food and allow to thaw to room temperature or defrost in the microwave for a few seconds.

* You can make weeks worth of meals at a time!

I'm totally digging the idea of storing it in ice cube trays and just popping them out and nuking them at meal time. Ingenius!

Homemade Baby Wipes
1 roll of Bounty or Viva paper towels (others will shred)
Use a serrated knife or coping saw to cut the roll of paper towels in half.
You'll also need a container-- a leftover "large-size" store-bought wipes container (the kind that comes in a roll) that has a hole in the lid; or a Tupperware container that's about the same size, you will have to lift the lid each time.
2c water
1T Johnson & Johnson Baby Oil
1T Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo (other brands will mold before you finish the roll)
After you cut the paper towels in half, put one-half aside for the next batch. In the container, Stir the liquid mixture well, and then place the half-roll of paper towels in the container. Put the lid on, and shake a few times to saturate the towels. Lift the lid and pull the first "wipe" from the middle. They should tear off easily after that. These cost about 50 cents a batch, as opposed to $2.00+ for store bought brands.

I prefer Frugality to Reality

Sorry for the delay! I've been stranded in the southern hemisphere without a husband it has a way of doubling the workload. No worries, we're moving back to the land of deals and Mexican food in a week and a half, woooot!

Anywho, thanks to our fav newlywed for the tasty website from about.com on frugal living for parents. It's got some handy tips, and I must say my avorite is the first:

I have six kids (four still at home). For a snack, I save the juice from
canned fruit. I add a little water and make pop-cycles. The kids love it and I'm
not throwing the juice down the drain.

Genius! I could got for a mandarin orange pop right about now!

Pinch those pennies!

This site comes from alert cheapskate Sabrina, who manages to feed (and not strangle) a family with 4 of the cutest kiddos the planet has ever seen.

"...It's a great way to share good finds on deals with other people in your area. It's called pinchingyourpennies.com and there are different discussion forums for every state in the U.S. I'm telling ya, since I started pinching pennies a few months ago, we've had a better food storage than we have had in YEARS. I have cake mix, cookie mix, Ragu pasta sauce, tampons, deoderant, toothpaste, Mac and Cheese - all for FREE! I do it by getting the coupons that come in the newspaper every week, then holding on to them until a really good sale comes along. Then I bring in my coupons to get amazing bargains on stuff! It works!"

Thanks, girl! Keep doin' what you do and looking MAAAHHHHVELOUS at the same time!!

FEEEED me Seymore!

I hear it's cold up north (I wouldn't know, we're sweltering south o' the border!) but no matter what the weather is, it's always a good time for ice cream, especially Cold Stone! Until Wednesday February 28th, they are offering buy one get one free with a printable coupon found here.





And on the food tangent, where do YOU do your grocery shopping? In Atlanta, my hands-down-favortie place for great food prices is Aldi. It's the best place to get kitchen staples like flour, cake mixes, canned foods, and frozen foods. They generally have only one brand per item, but holy crap it's so cheap I don't care. You lose a few frills as it is a simple warehouse-type store, but you'll need to head to your local store for perishables anyway. Good for food storage-type foods. It's a German company, and I think it's still centered mainly in the south, but if you are anywhere near one, it's worth it!