May It Be Frugal frugal chatter thread 2014

[Frugalbigmama]

Angela, my oldest never wore pullups etc. He went from diaper to underwear. Even at night I put a pull up on him instead of diaper and it was dry each morning so re-used for 2 weeks then decided I guess he doesn't need it. I let him take the lead and once he showed an interest in the potty I encouraged him and that was the end of diapers.

[MrsSunshine]

ok don't laugh.. i forgot it was a new month title. couldnt' find the old one. im like what the heck.
and now my computer is acting weird. going slow. may restart it.
anyway. good day. picked up a few items to make spaghetti on Sunday. have a roast in the crockpot. tomorrow's dinner hopefully.
saturday going out for brunch on a friend for my birthday. and then later to a legion for someone else's birthday.
got a card from my mom today. she made me cry. it said how proud she is of me. never heard her say that.
i'll set out a plan for the month later. when dh is gone to work and i can think.

[Natalka]

Angela, we didn't use pull-ups either (my theory, just a way for the companies to keep making money longer by keeping kids in diapers, which is how most parents use them anyway).
Our first start was at 16 months, didn't work, so we left it. Tried again at 18 months, and that was the ticket with toilet training. We used the absorbent underwear (don't know what they are called), and they worked great. Very few accidents, things went very well. He was totally trained by two.

I think it's just a myth that boys are harder to train than girls.
What it takes is consistency on the part of the parents, and for parents - not to make a big deal out of things, it's just a natural process. You don't need a potty that sings or is all decorated, going to the bathroom should be utilitarian!

Good luck with it!

[MrsSunshine]

Angela. if its any consolation both my sons were nearly 4 before they were potty trained. the dr. basically told me. unless there are significant disability issues. 99% of people don't attend highschool untrained. a little harsh, but i knew what he meant.
every child is different, learns on their own terms. just like any basic development. take everything you hear with a grain of salt.

[jasperandchar]

Great name! Happy May day!

Being even MORE frugal is going to be a huge challenge this month, but it's a must.

Eating out of the freezer and cupboard even more than usual is the biggest thing.

Natalka know that you are not alone, I'm in the very same boat as you and your family

[MrsSunshine]

so with the hydro. 7-11 and 5-7 mid peak, these are now reverse of what they were. and 11-5 is on peak

[jasperandchar]

Good luck to all of you with tight budgets this month-hope some of you are able to grow some fresh veggies to help out your budgets. We normally do, but as we are away quite a bit this summer it would be too neglected I think.

J and C-it has been my experience that when you give the kids a clothes allowance they are suddenly more selective and careful with their money vs your money when choosing their items and suddenly even more interested in hand me downs and thrift stores. I simply added up what I thought I spent on clothes for my daughter in a year, divided by 12 and handed it over once a month and said go for it with a reminder to put a bit aside for big ticket items like winter coat and boots.

My daughter receives a CPP survivors pension each month from her birth dad who passed away before we adopted her. Currently it is $230 per month and as she turns 15 next month I told her I will give her all this as a monthly allowance starting June 1. It may sound like a lot( and more than we give her at the moment) BUT it has to pay for everything for her other than school supplies and school fees. In other words- clothes, bday and Xmas gifts for friends and family, movies, cell phone if she chooses to get one, high school lunches next year if she is too lazy to make one etc,etc. All her personal expenses. My reasoning is that once she is 18, that money will come straight to her from CPP anyway, up until age 25 if she stays in school so she needs to learn to budget it now. In the meantime she just gets her money once per month and I don't get bugged for money every day and if it doesn't last until the end of the month there are no loans. She rarely runs out before the end of the month and she knows if she wants/needs more she can accept a babysitting job!

Lizzie great strategies you are implementing at her age and great life skills you are teaching her as well (budgeting, responsibilities, shopping and so much more)

[jasperandchar]

I will think of some goals for this month and post later on.

I am curious to know, based on yesterday's question of the day, do you or your kids wear the same shirt or pants several days before washing?

Dh thinks it's gross I will wear a t-shirt a couple times and jeans up to 4 times before washing them. Where he comes home from work, changes into jeans and a t-shirt at 6 pm and in pjs by 9 pm and that outfit is "dirty" and goes in the laundry. Drives me so nuts, I often pick them up and fold them nicely and put them back in his drawer on the bottom and he has no idea...

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

I will re-wear pants a couple times for sure, I will wear them later in the week, etc and the same goes for tops, dh does the same, oldest boy will re-wear pants a couple days later if they are clean, my youngest does it sometimes but not very often he has germ issues. I do the same with oldest's shorts he wears to bed as pjs, they end up on the floor in the am and I refold and put back in his dresser

[jasperandchar]

Ok. I have a question for all of the parents.
Our LO will be 20months old next week. The dental hygienist was talking to me today about her older child who just turned 18months old last week. Apparently they have been putting him on a potty since he was 12 months old, grandma takes care of him 3 days a week. She said that her LO did #1 & #2 yesterday on the potty and really is nearly potty trained during the day. My neighbour's youngest son is going to be 3 in November and I'm pretty sure they aren't potty training yet. Dh and I were thinking about potty training our son during the summer because he won't be attending daycare at that time, so I would be responsible for potty training him at home. Many people have told me that potty training boys is harder than potty training girls. Our Lo will often let us know when he is poopy. We use disposable diapers. I want to get him some good potty training pants. I have read good reviews about Hanna training underwear, saying that they absorb a ton of pee when there is an accident. Suggestions? Input? We have not potty trained before.
* Just remembered that I can sign up for the potty training freebies.

I have 2 boys, the 1st one was 3.5 years yes years old before he was completely potty trained (adhd) he just wouldn't do poop in there he would pee in the toilet. My 2nd son was super easy he rarely peed in his diapers from 9 months onwards and was fully potty trained by 1.5 years old. I used the thick potty training shorts that WM or other stores sell but to be honest I think that the briefs would work better and a lot cheaper. I've heard some people have success with peeing on a cheerio.

[lilo0003]

I have boys too and the truth is every child regardless of gender is unique for every milestone & trying to compare our kids will make us crazy. My oldest announced one day “no more diapers”, I put him in his bob the builder underwear and we never looked back. My youngest was a tough nut to crack. It did not help that his daycare provider would put him in a diaper as it was easier for her. Needless to say she was fired after a few days of that. Then I switched him to a preschool and he arrived in underwear and came home dry in underwear, he was 3.5. The best part about the toilet training is the money you save.

[MrsSunshine]

when it comes to wearing clothes. i wear lounge pants for 3-4 days. and tops too unless im going out.
dh wears the same jeans and work shirt. he doesn't get 'dirty' unless he spills food on it.
kids well one wears the same clothes until i tell him to change them.. the other will change daily.
one day they will understand the demands of laundry and that will change.

[Frugalbigmama]

Wonderful daycare stories lol.. I had one of those lazy ones too. My 1 year old was being given "cookies/candy for snack. I requested that he not be given cookies/dy/chocolate bars etc. So the next afternoon she brought out the junk for the others and he went to grab one she told him no and gave him cut up fruit or something. Really? make my kid feel sad and left out. I'm sure the other parents didn't want their kids eating the crap she was feeding them either. I pulled him right after that.

[jasperandchar]

Here is my meal plan for the next 2.5 weeks

Monday - April 28th - Chicken fingers with fries for kids and leftovers for dh & I think (lol)
Tuesday - April 29th - deer meat in crockpot (new recipe) and oven roasted chicken with gravy
Wednesday - April 30th - jaden made pogos
Thursday - May 1st - pizza from freezer for boys and toasted chicken sandwich for me (Nel is gone all weekend)
Friday - May 2nd chicken fingers with fries (Nel is away all weekend)
Saturday - May 3rd - hamburgers on the bbq (Nel is away all weekend)
Sunday - May 4th - pizza kit for boys


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Monday - May 5th - chili in the crockpot will serve with noodles and buns of course, dh & I like the chili w/ noodles it may sound weird but it's yummy (haven't made this in years so I am counting this as my new recipe)
Tuesday - May 6th - ham with mashed potatoes ( will pull from gravy from the freezer for potatoes)
Wenesday - May 7th - Logan makes dinner
Thursday - May 8th - pork chops on the bbq
Friday - May 9th - pizza kit for the boys and eggs for dh & I (meatless for adults)
Saturday - May 10th -
Sunday - May 11th - Steaks on the BBQ


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday - May 12th - new recipe by me night thinking a Chinese dish of some sort using pork
Tuesday - May 13th - pea meal bacon with scalloped potatoes
Wednesday - May 14th - Jaden makes dinner
Thursday - May 15th - chicken on the bbq with rice & veggies
Friday - May 16th - macaroni casserole (meatless)
Saturday - May 17th - canned deer meat with canned potatoes and veggies
Sunday - May 18th - burgers on the bbq

[momof5boys]

Ok. *rant warning*
I came home pissed off from that dental appointment. I hadn't gone to that clinic in years. After being at the clinic for 1.5hrs (including new paperwork), I didn't even get my teeth cleaned! They had booked me in for a 2hr appointment, shortened the appointment to 1hr and neglected to tell me. Their policy had changed and they don't book 2hr appointments anymore, but they booked my next appointment for 2hr with a note NOT to shorten it. Every time I come in for a dental appointment I have to take 1/2 a day off work without pay. Now the pregnant dental hygienist that I dealt with today will be gone on leave before my next appointment, May 14th. I had dh take LO to daycare for me so that I could take the morning off work and get my teeth cleaned. The dental hygienist did a visual examination and a periodontal measurement (first time anyone has ever done this). I had quite a few 3s (good) and 4s and a few 5s, which apparently is not good. She said that a 5 means that I have bone loss. The 4s are reversible with diligence. The front teeth in my mouth were better, 3s and even some 2s. Dh said that this is all based on statistical averages, they don't have numbers from my previous exams to compare it to. The dentist was busy with a priority case, so he could not do an examination and no x-rays were done. I really felt like this appointment was a waste of my time. I was frustrated and flustered. I was home before dh even left to work, which in theory means that LO didn't even have to go to daycare (even though I pay a monthly rate). I'm going to leave LO there fore a while and let him play, like dh said.

My plans for the morning...in no particular order. Laundry, take one cat outside on his harness and give him a good comb over...he'll like that, go grocery shopping (didn't get around to it yesterday), deposit my cheque, then get LO...after he has eaten lunch. He has been really cranky since Saturday night...as in screaming inconsolably.

Honestly, I would find another dentist after all this nonsense! Did you have to pay for this visit?

[momof5boys]

Now that the sun is shining, I'm back to not using the dryer at all which shows in the energy consumption we use. I always check our energy consumption each morning to help us stay on track. It becomes a bit of a game to see how low we can take it. We do have an electric hot water heater so I always am reminding the bunch here to take short showers.

The seeds I planted are growing nicely now with the warmer weather. Baked buns, bread and cinnamon buns this morning. Also cleaned the bathrooms and did two loads of laundry so I'm taking the rest of the day off and heading for a walk!

I guess our biggest goal for May/June is to keep tackling the LOC. We took out a small LOÇ when we bought this home (worth much more than our old house). We should have this LOC paid off by end of next year if we keep attacking it as we have been doing And all this is on just my hubby's salary which is well less than $40K. We just live very frugally because we still have one son in a private school and also support a family in Kenya.

All the best to everyone as you try meet your goals