Living a ‘green’ life is often portrayed as being more expensive than mainstream living. The reality is that being ‘green’ often is quite frugal and can save you a lot of money!
Here are some small steps towards living green that can save money:
- Recycle :: The more you recycle, the fewer trash bags you use! We only use 3 or 4 bags a month and buy trash bags once a year or less! Of course, if you live in an area where you’re charged by bag of trash or pay for weekly trash service, the more you recycle means the less trash you produce and the less you have to pay to get rid of it!
- Compost :: Once again, this helps save a little on trash bags for us! We compost our food scraps which produces rich compost for gardening. Another benefit, our trash rarely smells so we only take a trip to the dump every month or two!
- Cloth Napkins :: Never buy paper napkins again! We’ve been using cloth napkins throughout our entire marriage. We were given a few, bought a pretty set of 6 at a yardsale for $.50 and I’ve made several! We’ve spent less than $3 -4 on napkins. They just go in the wash with our clothes and they’re so small they don’t make a huge impact on laundry.
- Replace Paper Towels :: We haven’t purchased paper towels in 3 or 4 years. Instead we use kitchen towels and dish cloths for typical kitchen uses and use rags made from my husband’s old white t-shirts for messes and tasks like disinfecting countertops, cleaning the bathroom, wiping up spills from the floor and so on. We store the used rags in a small trash can in a closet and wash about once a month.
- Programmable Thermostat :: You can set the temperature to automatically lower at night as well as when you’re out of the home, saving electricity {and money} without putting much effort into it!
- Conserve Electricity :: Turn off lights when you leave a room, turn off electronics that are not being used, unplug kitchen appliances when they’re not in use and unplug electronics when you go out of town or if you rarely use them.
- Shop at Thrift Stores :: Not only do you typically spend less when you shop at a thrift store but you are also ‘recycling’ and giving an item a new use!
- Combine Errands :: With a little planning and organization, combine all of your errands so you don’t have to run to town multiple times in a week. Also, if you’re tempted to spend when you are running errands, only going once should cut down on temptations and save you money!
What green steps are you taking? Are these steps saving you money?
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While organizing the nursery closet before Weston’s birth, I emptied out a small diaper box and decided to challenge myself to fill it up with clutter throughout the day!
While putting away clean dishes, I took a few extra minutes and went through the cabinets and drawers finding cookie cutters, baby spoons {we don’t need 10}, skewers and a creamer that’s never been used.
There were a few toys that Paxton never plays with that were added in and a shirt he doesn’t wear from the boys’ room.
I quickly went through my closet and dresser and I found a sweater, 2 shirts and a skirt that I don’t love and haven’t worn often.
And there were other odds and ends found throughout the house like a water bottle, a lanyard and some yarn.
I really didn’t put much time or effort into ‘de-cluttering’ but another box of stuff is leaving our home!
Living clutter free involves small steps. Start with one box, it won’t take much effort to fill up but you’ll feel great once you see that stuff leave your home!
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During the summer of 2008, I found Crystal Paine’s blog, Money Saving Mom. We were already living frugally since we had just gotten out of college but, like most college graduates, expected our standard of living to increase upon graduation. Thanks in part to Money Saving Mom, we were inspired to continue living on basically the same budget we had in college and start saving money for a house downpayment! Over the years that I’ve been a Money Saving Mom reader, I’ve been inspired by Crystal {she and her husband paid cash for their first home!}
I was excited to hear the news that she was writing a book and even more excited when the book came in the mail for me to review! I immediately started reading The Money Saving Mom’s Budget and finished it within a day.
This book is full of all kinds of practical information for getting your life in order. It begins with a chapter about goal setting which I found to be very inspiring. We already set financial goals for each year but haven’t really put much thought into long term goals. She poses the question, “where do I want to be financially five years from now?” This question prompted thinking more long term in regards to our finances.
The second chapter is devoted to clearing out clutter and streamlining your life. Practical strategies for getting rid of physical clutter as well as commitment clutter are mentioned. She poses questions to ask about your clutter such as “do I use this item regularly?” and “is this item taking up space I don’t have?”
As the title implies, budgeting is covered. The book outlines baby steps to take towards budgeting. She suggests during the first month establish a grocery budget, the second month use bare-bones budget which covers basic necessities and by the third month you’ve worked your way up to a full-fledged budget. Taking these baby steps is a great way to not get overwhelmed with budgeting and give up!
One chapter is titled “Twenty-Five Ways to Lower Your Grocery Bill Without Clipping Coupons.” This chapter is full of money saving grocery tips such as have a meatless night once a week, stick with simple meals that use inexpensive ingredients and don’t throw out your leftovers. Just applying one or two of these suggestions could cut quite a bit from your grocery budget.
The final chapter is “Embrace Today” and Crystal writes about contentment, which I believe is a key to living a frugal life! You have the power to choose contentment, “a cheerful attitude can go a long way in less than ideal situations; you can either complain about the thorns or you can savor the roses that bloom in their midst.” Ways to cultivate contentment are listed, including create a gratitude list, choose to stop comparing yourself to other people and choose to be a giver.
There are helpful worksheets in the back covering financial goals, priorities lists, time budgets and budget sheets.
This really is a book that anyone can benefit from. If you’re just starting out on a journey to get your finances in order, this book is full of valuable information that will help you! And even if you’ve been living a frugal and debt free life, there are things you can learn from saving on your grocery bill, being inspired to set lofty goals and focusing on contentment.
Pre-order The Money Saving Mom’s Budget. The release date is January 10, 2012.
Disclosure: I received this book to review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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I love setting goals and achieving them! I enjoy the challenge some goals present as well as the accountability that comes with having them written down.
I’ve been thinking about my goals for 2012 for a few months now. Knowing that I’m starting the year as a mama to two, I didn’t want to overwhelm myself with a ton of goals. I decided to keep things very simple this year but if I achieve each and every goal on my list for 2012, that will still be quite an accomplishment!
Goals for 2012:
Personal:
1. Read 1 book per month.
2. Memorize 1 verse/passage of scripture each month.
3. Write at least 8 blog posts per month. {I want to be more consistent with blogging this year!}
Family:
1. Read 6 parenting books with my husband.
2. Daily family devotions and prayer.
Financial:
1. $8,000 towards the principal of our mortgage.
2. $1,750 towards car savings.
3. Set up a legal will. {I believe this has been a goal for 3 years now! 2012 will be the year!}
4. Start college savings accounts for the boys.
So that’s it, they’re fairly simple this year and completely do-able! The financial goals make me a little nervous. Mathematically paying $8,000 towards the mortgage and $1,750 towards car savings, doesn’t work with my husband’s salary but with my transcribing, selling things and being creative, we hope we can achieve these goals!
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Posted by Rachel on Dec 27, 2011 in baby, pregnancy | 32 comments
Weston is definitely our surprise baby! With Paxton, everything was planned, we were trying when we got pregnant with him and he was induced according to our plan. With Weston, from the beginning he’s been a surprise! We weren’t planning on getting pregnant with him {although we were thrilled when we found out} and his entrance into the world was quite a surprise too!
I was due December 31 but hoping I’d be a day or two overdue so he’d be born in 2012 {Paxton was born in 2010 and I liked the thought of even birth years!} I just knew since he was my second baby that I’d be miserable around 32 weeks to the end of the pregnancy but I was wrong! I felt fabulous throughout the entire pregnancy, I had quite a bit of energy and I was still able to do everything as normal with Paxton {including putting a sleeping 20-month-old into his crib at 38 weeks pregnant!}
Since Paxton’s birth was so fast for a first time birth {5 hours from the time they broke my water and started pitocin until the time he was born}, I was convinced that my second baby would come quickly and one of my fears throughout this pregnancy was not making it to the hospital on time!
On Tuesday, December 20, I was 38 weeks 3 days pregnant and I had quite the day! I cleaned our home thoroughly, did some pre-Christmas de-cluttering and a lot of laundry! By the end of the day I was tired from all of the ‘nesting’. That night when I laid down to go to sleep, I felt what could best be described as a burrowing sensation. I could feel his little head moving further down. I had never felt anything like that with Paxton! I didn’t sleep very well that night and then Paxton woke up around 2 am and he slept the rest of the night with us. I had trouble sleeping, I kept tossing and turning and just couldn’t get comfortable.
Wednesday morning I woke up feeling really good especially considering the rough night I’d had. I did decide to take the day easy though since I didn’t want to do anything that could put me into labor, especially since John David was working late that night. Paxton and I stayed in our jammies well into the morning. I updated our finances, scheduling our mortgage payment so we wouldn’t have to worry about that on January 1! The day was pretty typical except for John David being gone all evening. I put Paxton down around 8:00 and I was feeling tired too so I decided to go ahead and get in bed after starting a load of diaper laundry.
I stayed up waiting for John David to get home and he finally arrived around 10. We stayed up talking and playing Words with Friends until 11:30. Once again I felt the burrowing sensation when I laid down. I was having an occasional contraction but they were typical Braxton-Hicks. I went to sleep fairly easily.
Between going to bed at 11:30 and 1:30, I woke up 2 or 3 times having a mild contraction. While I was having the contraction, I’d walk to the bathroom, pee and then walk back to bed and go back to sleep. They were slightly uncomfortable but nothing painful. After the contraction I had around 1:30 I was unable to get comfortable so I got out of bed, went to the bathroom again and then turned on my lamp.
I had another contraction at 1:40 and decided to start timing them since it was appearing that they were getting closer together. I had contractions at 1:40, 1:48, 1:54, 1:58 so they were very quickly getting closer together. I wasn’t incredibly uncomfortable as long as I was standing so I could sway my hips and move around with the contractions. I had a little bit of back labor with Paxton and these contractions were very similar, the contraction would start in my back and move around to my belly and my back hurt more than anything! I decided to run out to the laundry around 2 to run the final rinse on diapers and I came back in and my contractions were still 4 minutes apart.
I still wasn’t sure if I was really in labor or if it was false labor. I knew you were supposed to go to the hospital when contractions were 5 minutes apart but I really wasn’t in horrible, unbearable pain. Around 2:30, I woke up John David and started packing the hospital bags. I still wasn’t convinced I was in real labor even though the labor book we were referring to at this point indicated that I was in active labor. Finally, we decided it was labor and we needed to start really preparing to go to the hospital.
John David called my friend Ashley around 3:20 to see if she would come stay with Paxton. While we were waiting on Ashley, I was packing a bag for Paxton and gathering stuff for our bags while John David was loading the car. {I should add here that John David got the clean diapers out of the wash and hung them on the drying rack. I had been very concerned about leaving dirty diapers at home when I went into labor so this was a relief!}
Ashley arrived around 3:35 and we gave her a few instructions for Paxton and we left after I had a contraction while attempting to get into the car. At this point, contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and I had about 3 contractions which were so uncomfortable since I couldn’t move much. Riding in the car made the back labor even worse!
We arrived at the hospital around 3:30 and got a front row spot so I was able to walk in. We went into the registration room where I had 2 more contractions. After I was checked in, they sent us to a waiting area and I had 3 contractions which were very intense and I had the urge to push.
A nurse came out and we went to an admitting room where I changed into a gown through another contraction. I was checked and was dilated to 10 centimeters! I was wheeled into a delivery room while having contractions lying flat on my back which was so uncomfortable. At this point I also was fighting the urge to push.
We got into the delivery room and I was moved onto the bed. I was hooked up to a monitor at 3:58, had my blood drawn and an IV put in. At this point, I had an overwhelming urge to push and was begging to be allowed to push. The nurses kept telling me to just breathe through the contractions and not push because the midwife was not there yet. {I should add that this period of not being able to push was the worst part of the whole labor and delivery. My body was ready to do what it was supposed to do and trying not to was so hard!}
While waiting for the midwife to arrive, John David ran out to the car to grab our camera and while he was gone and as our midwife was arriving, I couldn’t fight the urge to push anymore. I pushed and my water broke. Then John David got back and the midwife was there and I was finally able to start pushing! It was such a relief to be able to push. It didn’t feel good nor was it easy but it was so wonderful to be able to do what my body needed to do.
I pushed about 4 or 5 times in a period of 5 minutes or less and Weston was born at 4:16 am! It was such a relief to feel him come out. I was so excited that I had delivered without any medication but a bit embarrassed at how loud I was while delivering him!
Weston weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces and was 20 inches long! {Paxton was 8 pounds 8 ounces, so he was considerably smaller!}
Unfortunately I did rip at the site of my old tear but thankfully it was only a second degree tear instead of a third degree which I had with Paxton. Finally, after stitches {which to me was almost worse than the delivery even though I had local anesthesia} I was able to hold him again and count his fingers and toes.
I unwrapped him for skin to skin and nursing, he latched on perfectly and started nursing right away, it was completely natural for both of us. It was amazing how much more confident I felt nursing him, I suppose 15 months of breastfeeding experience gives a mama confidence! After Weston finished nursing, we moved to our postpartum room around 6:30 am.
We’re still in disbelief that labor started at 1:30 and Weston was born at 4:16! That’s only 2 hours and 45 minutes of labor!
Around 2:30 that afternoon, John David went and got Paxton and brought him back to the hospital to meet his new brother and spend some time with us! He noticed Weston right when he walked in the room and was thrilled to see ‘baby’!
We’re adjusting well as a family of four. Paxton has not acted jealous of Weston and is taking his role as big brother quite seriously!
We feel so blessed that I had a quick and easy labor and delivery and we have another healthy and beautiful son!
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