We don’t have extra space to store an infant seat that he’d probably grow out of in a month or so from now (if not already!), and we certainly don’t have space to store a massive stroller.

When out, we prefer to carry our son in our arms or in a sling. He seems to enjoy it! I know I do.

But we’ve seen that there are times when having a stroller would be especially handy.

For example, today I have a doctor’s appointment (just a checkup, no worries). Though I could try and hold him, it would be way easier to have a safe place to set him.

We tested a few floor models at Babies R Us. I knew I wanted an umbrella stroller, as they are the most compact. Some had storage options below the seat; others had cup-holders. Some had 5-point harnesses, higher upper weight limits, and reclinable seats.

For a moment, I eyed the fancy Maclaren Volo*. Ah, what a fancy umbrella stroller it is. I knew I could get it on eBay for about $85, too.

Still, that’s more than we needed to pay for our purposes.

We turned our attention to the cheapest umbrella stroller in the store. At $20, it even had a sunshade.

Say we use the stroller a dozen times. That’s more than $7 per time for the Volo, but only $1.66 for the cheapie.

We opted for the $20 stroller. We reasoned that we didn’t think it would get that much use, and that this model would be fine for our purposes.

I hope it doesn’t fall apart on us — replacing it would make our initial cheap decision more costly.

If I thought about it sooner, we could have tried to find a decent used model at a thrift store, yard sale or consignment shop. Oh well, missed that boat.

*Affiliate link

Some financial happenings from the month:

• Our move was cheaper than anticipated, thanks to the brute strength and determination of Shane, his dad and my dad. We did it ourselves through Budget truck rentals instead of hiring movers as originally planned.
• Since U-Haul flaked on my truck reservation, they kept their guarantee and gave me $50. Thanks!
• We bought a new couch. I’m sitting on it now. Worth the money.
• I’m building a stash of cloth diapers for Johnny. The initial expense is, well, expensive, but in theory we’ll save a lot of money by going this route. I’m keeping track of my CD purchases, and so far I’ve spent about $100. I’m not done buying yet. I just found a local CD retailer (Pittsburgh Cloth Diapers) and I’m going to check some out in person before buying. If you aren’t local, that site offers free shipping in the lower 48! Prices are competitive and there are discount codes.
• I tossed a bunch of condiments and abandoned frozen foods from our old place. I then went to Aldi near my new place and restocked up. I could have saved some money if I bought a cooler or made one somehow, but I just didn’t plan it in advance. Moving is spendy.

Financial things for July:

• By golly, I’m going to buy 4 tires this month. It’s time. I hope I can find a good deal and get a set that will truly last a lot of miles. I hope I can keep this under $500. Ick.
• We bought a used Wii* on Amazon tonight. It was $159 + shipping but no sales tax. I had one $5 Amazon gift card thanks to my Swagbucks searches *. We also bought the EA Sports Active game* and multiplayer pack*. Ought to be a good source of entertainment on my free TV, plus a good way to exercise. We’ll scope out a nearby second-hand video games shop to get some more games.
• We’ll need some shelves, curtains, and miscellany for our new place.
• I expect to get $150 back from our old apartment. The deposit was $200 and they’re keeping like $50 for the carpets to be cleaned.
• I expect a $100 gift card from Rent.com for our current apartment referral.

You’re welcome, economy. I’m stimulating the heck out of you right now! Hopefully our purchases will start to simmer down. I do think we’ll be able to add to our house savings this month. I really want to see that ticker start to move in the right direction.

*Affiliate link

Oh my stinkin’ word.

That’s more than I pay for rent. And it’s just a car. I don’t think it even looked that cool.

So you could pay $28,800 + the down payment over a period of three years, but be sure you don’t go over 10,000 miles per year or you’ll pay extra. At the end of the lease, you’ll have to return the car.

If there’s anyone out there who thinks leasing a car for that amount of money is a good idea, please smack ‘em.

—

I was at the mall today to buy some cloth diapers from a mom. I picked up 18 new or like-new prefolds and 6 doublers for $25. I think I got a pretty good deal, as I could have paid $50 or more for the lot if I bought it new.

I have six pocket-style diapers (two Happy Heinys, one BumGenius one size, and three Smartipants). I have some covers that should arrive in the mail shortly.

So far, I’ve been underwhelmed with cloth diapering. My baby has soaked through his diapers and it looks like I’ll definitely need to double up on the inserts. Hopefully that’ll stop the problem!

Also, though I’m still breastfeeding him, he’s also eating some solids. His stools (sorry! TMI I know!) are kind of sticky and semi-solid. It’s not easy to get the stool off the diaper in a non-gross way. I haven’t yet purchased a diaper sprayer but it looks like I need to. Or, I might get some flushable diaper liners. Once he’s mostly on solids, I expect it’ll be easier to get the stool in the toilet. Right?

—

We did it ourselves after all

Though the original plan was to hire movers, we ended up renting a truck from Budget. The moving company came over to give an estimate and they figured it would be no less than six hours for three men to move and unload our belongings. I think it would have been a miracle to do it all that fast.

It would cost $770. I originally thought it would be around $500. The new price was a bit salty, especially since the total price could quickly hit $1,000 if the move took longer.

My dad and Shane’s dad wanted to help. They thought they could move our stuff no problem, and wanted a chance to come out and visit. They’re some of the best dads anyone could hope to have :)

I was concerned about them being able to move my Price is Right bed down all those stairs without injury or damage. The headboard exceeds 500 pounds, and that’s no exaggeration. Combine the insane weight with the bulk and delicate nature of the wood finish (and add 2.5 flights of steps) and you could have quite the disaster.

Fortunately, the three dads know what they’re doing and they’re strong enough to make it happen. The bed was a beast but it (and all my other junk) arrived safely. Everyone was sore and tired afterward, but no one got hurt.

My dad bought some furniture sliders and they worked wonderfully, even on asphalt!

U-Haul FAIL

I made a reservation for a U-Haul. To save me a trip, I called ahead to see if the truck was ready. The truck was supposed to be there at 9 a.m. It wasn’t. The guy who handles truck rentals wasn’t even at work yet — he wasn’t expected in until about 10 a.m. At that time, I called the number back and they let my phone ring for a long time, and then someone answered the phone and denied it was the U-haul.

Completely unprofessional and what a hassle! U-Haul supposedly has a guarantee where “your truck is there when we say it will be, or you get $50.” I will contact the company and hopefully get my $50.

By the grace of God, I was able to get a last-minute rental from Budget. The truck was larger than the one I intended to get at U-Haul and it was more expensive.

At the end of the day, we couldn’t find a gas station near Budget that sold diesel. We called several places and asked around, but they’re just hard to find it seems. Arg. Instead of returning the truck full, we had to pay a $30 service charge. Blah.

All told, our move cost about $250 including moving boxes and packing supplies. I had a bunch saved from our last move, but still needed to buy some. The cheapest deal I could find was $0.97 for a medium box at Home Depot.

Our new apartment was listed on Rent.com and since I used it as a referral, I should get a $100 Visa gift card from the site.

Final thoughts

Being a basement-level apartment, we’re going to need some additional lighting to help with dim days. Maybe some mirrors or special bulbs can help. Any suggestions?

The apartment comes with sheer window coverings, but I’ll need to get some mini-blinds or curtains for total privacy. This apartment is configured in a different way from our last one, so I needed to get a baby monitor so I can hear Johnny if he starts to wake.

We now have our own washer and dryer, and it’s so wonderful to have! It’s a front-loader and I think it’ll keep our energy costs down, plus I’ll save all that money I was putting into coin-op machines.

We still have a bit to unpack and organize. I’m looking forward to making this place our home and getting to know my community a little better!

This is a picture of my free 27″ TV sitting on top of my free TV stand. I acquired both during moves.

I got my TV stand a few years ago while moving from one campus apartment to another. I was taking out some trash and saw it sitting next to the dumpster. It was in great shape and clearly whoever discarded it had no space to take it with them. I hurried to the apartment office, grabbed a dolly and wheeled it inside.

I just got my TV this weekend.

After we packed up my possessions onto our rental truck, we headed over to a furniture store to pick up a couch Shane and I bought last weekend. This was the first new piece of furniture we have ever purchased! We got it for 75 percent off regular price because the side had some minor damage. It’s still functional and comfy as could be.

I have a magazine rack next to it and it covers it pretty well. Anyway, back to the story:

The furniture loading dock is adjacent to the Goodwill donations drop-off point. As we pulled in with our truck-and-car caravan, a woman was about to donate her TV.

I caught a glimpse of it, saw that it was much bigger than my 19″ set, and asked her if I could buy it from her.

“Oh just give it to her,” her husband called out.

The woman said she was ready to give it away anyway, and said I could have it.

And all I had to do was ask. The worst that could have happened? She might say “no.” But you won’t know unless you ask!

P.S. Yes, that is Andy Griffith on TV. Lol! Also, I plan to donate my old TV.

The grandpas (my dad and Shane’s dad) are coming to Pittsburgh on Friday to help with our move to another apartment. We want to be mostly packed by then, ideally everything except our toothbrushes and a change of clothes for the next day. We’ll actually move on Saturday.

We’ve taken two carloads of donations to Goodwill and have made ten or so trips to the dumpster. Feels good, but we still have lots of stuff to toss in boxes!

It’s going to be a bit busy around here for a few days and I might not be able to post for awhile.

Since many people are cutting back on their discretionary spending, they’re finding new ways to entertain themselves. People are staying in more and having game and movie nights instead of spending money. The consumer-driven culture is taking a turn as frugal living becomes acceptable and even idealized idolized.

People, en masse, are spending less on frivolous things. They’re making food from scratch (or at least eating at home more often). They’re socking away more money in the bank than in recent decades. This is great!

And friends and acquaintances are inspiring one another to live on less. Some are taking it a bit to the extreme and treat saving money as a competition.

Well ya know what? It shouldn’t be. If someone pays $40 a week to feed their family and their neighbor harvests bushels of vegetables from their own garden, who wins? They both do!

If one mom buys disposable diapers when they’re on supersale, has a coupon for them and also earns Extra Care Bucks, and another mom diapers her babies in second-hand cloth diapers, who is more frugal? They’re both frugal. They’re making a conscious effort to save money and do what’s best for their individual families.

The frugal community can do well to inspire one another and teach each other new ways to save money. That’s why most of us frugal/pf bloggers blog — we want to share what we know and learn from others. We figure if everyone can save a buck here and there, that’s more money that can be used to build savings, pay off debt, give and live a better life.

We have to be careful that we don’t turn frugal living into a race. That’s not what it’s about.

I think the lovely Meredith said it well in her post here as she poses the question: “Which is more important–what actually fills our shopping carts, or our common commitment to live within budget and belief?”

Have you seen a change in people’s money mentalities?

Here’s some articles that I think you’ll enjoy reading:

Northern Cheapskate warns us to not be greedy with freebies. I agree! It’s easy to get caught up in the exicitement of getting something for free.

The Simple Dollar explains how the sunk cost fallacy can lead us to do something/continue doing something because we’ve already put money into it, and don’t want to “lose” the money. Fact of the matter is — the money is already spent.

It’s Just Change presents a good case for having a car emergency fund (this is in response to my post about using a general emergency fund for car repairs).

The Frugal Dad also has several emergency funds and explains why. It’s a strategy that might work for some, but not others.

Money Saving Mom shares her buy-ahead grocery shopping strategy. It takes some organization and planning, but you can save a ton of money this way!

Christian PF shares a distrubing bit of research findings that show on average, most people don’t donate much of their incomes (we’re talking around 2% here). In fact, the lowest-income earners give the highest percentage of their earnings. Maybe if people had less debt, they’d be able to give more. And maybe there are other reasons.

This week, we introduced solid foods to Johnny. Originally, I was planning to wait until he was a full six months old, but for various reasons we determined he (and we) were ready to start him with solids about two weeks before the six-month mark.

This is fun! It’s such a hoot to see his face as he mushes food around his mouth and then opens it like an expectant baby bird. It took us four tries to find a booster seat that we liked and so far we’re thrilled with this portable seat from Fisher-Price.

I made homemade rice cereal by grinding brown rice in my blender and then following the recipe at Wholesome Baby Food.

Easy-peasy. I have enough rice powder to last awhile, and the leftovers of the first batch of rice cereal are hanging out in the fridge or freezer.

We’ll also introduce barley and oats in a similar manner.

Today, I gave him some organic unsweetened applesauce. It’s not the baby version — it’s the kind adults eat and this is perfectly fine for Johnny, as the contents are simply apples and water. If we weren’t moving next week, I’d portion some of it into an ice cube tray for freezing. Since we’re leaving though, I’ll just make sure Shane and I eat a decent amount of applesauce this week so it won’t spoil.

The jar was about $2 for 25 ounces, or $0.08 per ounce.

In the baby food aisle, I might be able to get four to eight ounces for $2. I’m not sure if it would be organic.

When local apples are abundant and cheap later this season, I might buy a bunch and make my own applesauce in the crockpot.

I plan to make all of Johnny’s food since it isn’t hard at all, it’s much cheaper and I will know exactly what’s in his food. Plus, I’m confident that homemade baby food tastes much better than jarred. I suspect that homemade baby food will make the transition to regular table food a little easier.

What’s more, making his food will make it easier for me to prepare healthier meals for myself and my husband. We don’t eat as many fruits and veggies as we should.

If I’m already steaming some veggies for Johnny, I can puree and portion out some for him, and Shane and I can eat the rest.

Do/did you make your own baby food?

By the end of the month, we’ll be settling into our new apartment — complete with its very own WASHER/DRYER! You do not know how excited I am about these two machines. It’s been six long years of lugging laundry to a laundromat, down the hall or stairs or elevator to coin-op machines, or taking it to my parent’s house. Never again, please!

My disposable diaper stash that I built up before Johnny was born is starting to dwindle. I’m down to maybe 5-7 packs which should last another month or so. While I was able to get those diapers for super cheap, I think I’m ready to try cloth diapers.

I briefly considered doing cloth diapers without my own W/D. While it would be doable, many of you brought me to my senses and convinced me to just play the drugstore game and get disposables for cheap. Doing so saved my sanity in those early weeks and months, and I thank you.

I then shared how I stocked up on diapers pre-baby. And a few months ago, I shared our diaper usage up to that point. We’re mostly on par with my estimates for Johnny’s growth. He’s still in size 3s but ya know what? They seem fairly snug on him already and don’t always hold up to a night of peeing. I’m guessing he’s 17 pounds (we’ll find out for sure on the 19th) so he’s still at the lower weight limit for size 3s (16-28 lbs), but I’ve learned that the weight ranges are only a vague suggestion.

I want to switch to cloth diapers to save money in the long run and reduce how much trash our family contributes to landfills (with disposables, it’s BAD!).

I know many cloth diaperers absolutely love CDing. I don’t know how much I’ll like it.

Will it save money?

I think the cost savings will be substantial over the long haul. I was able to get at least six months of disposable diapers for about $160 (that’s including the newborn-sized ones we picked up in the early days at full price or close to it). I don’t know for sure how much we’ve spent on wipes, but it’s probably around $40. My average cost per diaper was around $0.07 (not including the newborns). Full price, Pampers can be $0.28+ each.

At that rate, let’s say our monthly average is $33. If I keep up that pace, it’s $396 per year or $1,188 for three years of diapering. And that’s if I can keep up that pace. I don’t think I can. When I was pregnant, I had the time to bargain hunt and hit up several drug stores per week for deals.

Since having Johnny, I haven’t done the drugstore deals hardly at all. I don’t have the time, and since I still have a big toiletry stash, I don’t need to right now.

Diaper prices have continued to go up. I think it would be a miracle if I was able to diaper my son for $1,000 if I did all disposables.

Depending on the type of cloth system I go with, it’s looking like I might be able to diaper him in cloth for $300ish until he’s potty-trained (how is this figure, folks?). If the diapers hold up well enough, I might be able to use some of them for a second child.

I’ve found several helpful posts from blogging friends:

The Natural Mommy is an experienced cloth diaperer and explains her process here. She also shows what the cheapest options are. Finally, she has a ’new-and-improved’ cleaning process that’s worth a look.

Surely you’ve heard about or seen the amazing series that The Simple Mom recently did on cloth diapers — it’s not to be missed!

I’m going to get a small amount of diapers to start out (haven’t fully decided on which) to see how we like them. My Pittsburgh bff (hi Renee!) has graciously offered to loan me some of her son’s Happy Heinys to test.

Based on my past posts, I know y’all love to share your opinions on diapers. Consider this an invitation to tell me things or point me to your blog posts about the topic.