Grocery shopping

In the past couple months, I have reduced my shopping trips. I was going once a week. I hate shopping, so I decided it was high time to quit going so often. I grow food and cook from scratch,so this was the next most logical step to take towards my quest for food self-reliance. So I figured out to shop only once every two weeks. That went real easy. So easy in fact, I probably could have gone 3 weeks on my last grocery trip if I had planned a couple of items better. So I had my shopping trip to Kroger today. I planned on enough to last 3 weeks. In reality, it should last an entire month. I will need to make a trip to town later this week, and there I will pick up my remaining 3 week supplies at Aldi. (My local Kroger and Aldi are not in the same town, and I really wish they were!)
My biggest challenge so far has been having enough dairy products. We currently use about 4 gallons of milk a week and use lots of cheese. So in order to have a months supply of milk, I have been freezing it. Kroger has had some fabulous deals on milk lately and I have been getting it for $1.76-2.00/gallon. That is dirt cheap around here!
Milk in the freezer.

At this point, it makes monetary(and health) sense to be producing our own dairy. However, I have a toddler and my dh is away from home often. We want to have more children (God willing) and I need to keep in mind that pregnancy and breastfeeding and diapering, etc, etc all take alot of time when I have to do alot of it by myself. So I have to pick and choose until I have children old enough to help me more. I would really love to be able to raise all of our animals products and entirely quit going to the grocery! Did I ever mention I hate shopping?

Note: I wanted to add a note just to clarify my shopping habits. We NEVER just keep a week or two worth of food at our house. I feel that would be irresponsible of me. I always have canned foods and meat in my pantry and freezer. If I don't go to the grocery one week, we won't starve. When I talk about grocery shopping, I'm talking about things like dairy products, fresh fruit and veggies (when we aren't growing them), toilet paper, soaps, juice, crackers, cereal, etc. It also includes restocking the pantry/freezer as needed. These would include(but not exclusively) beef, chicken, pork, canned fruit/veggies, flour, yeast, sugar, etc. My ultimate grocery goal is to be able to shop for 6 months at a time, or even better, one year!

Better Times Living link and other links

Here is a very useful website I found years ago when I was living by myself and didn't have a penny to spare. I have come across it again and felt that it's worthwhile passing on to those who may find it useful also.
It will be added in the right column with the other websites that I visit.
http://www.bettertimesinfo.org/2004index.htm

Also added some other new links to the side bar.

Disposing of Disposables...Diapers and wipes

Using cloth isn’t what it used to be! No pins, rubber pants or toilet-dunking here! You can even purchase diapers gently used if that doesn’t bother you. Or make them! There are so many resources online to help you with all aspects of cloth diapering! We have been using cloth with our 16 month old since she was about 3 weeks old. I love the independence that using cloth gives to me. No quick trips to the store because we are running low. And every child we have in the future can reuse the same diapers until they fall apart! Now that saves money and sanity, not to mention less in our landfills!
Here is how we do it.
I really like prefolds and Thirsties diaper covers.

I fold the pf(prefold) diaper into thirds longways and just lay it in the cover.

It’s that easy! No learning different folds and no pins. You can easily add extra layers for heavy wetters. I just lay a terry cloth Kissaluv doubler under the pf. However you can use any type of doubler that suits you. I have even done 2 pf’s in the cover for naptimes. The Thirsties diaper covers have a laminated interior that makes it easy to wipe clean. They also have leg gussets so nothing leaks or oozes out. You know what I’m talking about!

My baby is on the thin side, and so far no explosions or messes outside the diapers. Try that with disposables! Now there is one drawback of laying a folded pf in a cover like this as compared to actually folding and pinning the diaper around the child. It is the runny poopy messes. Like I said, they don’t leak OUT the diaper, but they can and do mess the entire inside of the cover. So, with this method, it pays to have extra covers so you can wash the messed ones. As far as the wet diapers, I just lay the cover out to air dry and reuse it later in the day.
I also use some fitted diapers and wool covers. They work just as wonderful as pf’s and Thirsties. I just don’t have as many of them.
We also use cloth wipes instead of disposables. I absolutely, hands down, think they are superior to ANY throwaway one I have used. I made them out of old flannel receiving blankets. I cut them into 8” squares and put 2 squares wrong side to each other. I then sewed the edges with an overlapping stitch. I didn’t even turn the edges to hem. I just sewed them straight across. They are holding up fine.. If you have a serger, that would work great too. I just don’t have access to one. I made 4 dozen of them, and that amount has always served me well. To use, just get them wet and go at it!

Here is my diaper stash:
Infant Prefolds – 24
Toddler Prefolds – 12
Fitted Diapers – 6
Thirsties covers – 5
Wool covers – 5
Wipes – 48
Wet bags – 2 (for holding the dirty ones until wash day)

Websites I recommend:
http://www.diaperswappers.com/ a great place to buy, sell, swap diapering products
http://www.diaperpin.com/ for ratings on all diapering products and companies
http://www.thediaperhyena.com/ how-tos, caring for your diapers, make your own resources

My diaper routine.
How do you wash them, you ask? After I change the diaper, if it is only wet, it gets thrown into the wet bag until wash day. If it is a messy diaper, I dump the solids into the toilet then I rinse the diaper out in our utility sink. It has a pull-out spray faucet to rinse the diapers.

The waste goes down the drain into our septic. That diaper gets thrown into the wet bag also. Treat your wipes the same as the diapers. If the cover gets dirty, it gets rinsed also. Do not put the laminate covers in the wet bag! They attract the ammonia and do not clean out as well. I keep an old plastic dishpan in the laundry for the covers. Now it’s wash day. Around here that comes about every other day or two. I set my washer on rinse only and dump the entire contents of the bag into the wash. The wipes, covers and the bag get thrown in as well. Run through the rinse first to get the urine and any missed solids rinsed out. After that, run a normal wash cycle with your detergent of choice. I have used Allen’s Naturally and Charlie’s Soap, both successfully. Make sure you use a detergent that has NO ADDITIVES of any kind. They coat the diapers making them less absorbent and they will stink. As far as water temperature, a scalding is not always necessary. In the summer time, I hang my diapers outside so I can get away with washing the diapers in cold water. In the winter, I hang them indoors and it seems if I don’t wash the diapers in warm or hot water, they tend to stink. See what works for you. After the normal wash cycle, I run the diapers in an extra rinse just to make sure there is no detergent residue left. We have hard well water, and that makes it harder to cut through the soap residue. My experience is that if I don’t do the extra rinse, my daughter will get a rash and the diapers will stink. I line dry all the diapers. When they are dry, I typically throw them in the dryer with a clean, wet wipe for 10 minutes to soften them up a bit. I especially do this when I indoor dry. It seems to turn them into cardboard.
Some things I have learned along the way is to make sure you don’t throw the laminate covers and bags into the dryer to often. It shrinks and wears them out. The wool needs different care. Refer to the instructions that came with your wool, or see some of the links above. Experiment with different thicknesses of diaper and the covers to find what works for your situation. My daughter was such a heavy wetter very early on, I tried so many variations of folding, doublers, covers and wool to find a solution. With persistence and a will to do it, you too can cloth diaper your children!

Make your own...

SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK

1/2c hot water
3/4c sugar
3/4c powdered milk

Blend together in a blender (or mix well by hand). Store in frig or freezer. Makes 1 can.

Make your own...

EVAPORATED MILK

1-1/2c warm water
1c powdered milk
1tbsp butter

Mix milk and water together in a small saucepan. Add butter. Heat and stir at medium until the butter is melted. Use right away, or cool and then refrigerate. Equals one store-bought can.

Making a grocery budget

I can't believe it's already November! Where does the time go?! Christmas is next month!!! The weather is finally starting to act seasonal around here. So glad to get rid of the heat, but not looking forward to snow and freezing cold weather.
Anyways, I have been working on budgeting and planning ahead with our finances. I have myself set to a grocery budget of $200 per month to start out. This will includes toiletries and other such supplies. I know I can do it, and if I'm real smart and frugal, I know I can whittle it down to about $140/month (or $35/week). This is my goal anyhow. So right now, I'm working on menues based upon what I have on hand plus sales. For anybody that has a Community Market in their area, they are having some great sales now thru Saturday. They also have Great Scot, Sack 'n' Save and Fulmer listed on their website, so I would think all these places run the same sales. If you have one of these stores nearby, it's worthwhile to go to their websites and sign up for their weekly emails. There is always a coupon in the email. Each week you can vote on which coupon should be in the next weeks email. Sometimes, there are great deals to be had with these coupons. Then again, some weeks I don't print out the coupon because it's an item we don't use. If you can get to one of these stores, make sure you bring your coupons! They are having a super double coupon event. Coupons up to $1 are doubled. Coupons between $1-$2 are worth $2. Then coupons worth $2 and up are face value. Top that with the sales, and you could really make out this week!
I am also working on a price book so that I can quickly compare prices between stores and know if it's a good deal or highway robbery.
So between making menues based on whats in-stock in my home and current store sales, using a price book and using coupons; I believe I can start the month out right and keep within my grocery budget! On top of that, I am trying to learn the CVS extra bucks program. So saving money, here I come!