No meal plan last week due to the blizzard and my having 2 dinners out on the company dime (which was less fun than it sounds). Here's this week's plan:
Saturday 2/16 - Sandwiches and fruit (we had lunch out at The Counter and were all still VERY full at dinner time)
Sunday 2/17 - Dinner at Mark's sister's house
Monday 2/18 - Spanish rice and black bean taco bowls
Tuesday 2/19 - Roasted chicken and red potatoes
Wednesday 2/20 - Pierogi bake
Thursday 2/21 - Dilled chicken salad (leftover roasted chicken)
Friday 2/22 - Leftovers
For breakfasts this week I'm trying a breakfast quinoa recipe - anything with coconut milk is tops in my book!
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Frugal Friday (Saturday): Dry vs. Canned beans
This week's Frugal Friday is extending into Saturday due to the need to soak dry beans overnight. Sorry about that - we're still bouncing back from the blizzard last weekend and the very busy week I've had at work.
So I've seen a bunch of suggestions online saying that it's more economical to cook dry beans than to use canned, with the slow cooker being the best choice for cooking in terms of energy efficiency. We're using a lot of canned beans in recipes as of late so I decided to put that to the test this weekend.
1 pound of dry beans equals roughly 2 cups of volume. According to the Internet, 1 cup of dry beans will produce 3 cups of cooked beans (assuming most liquid is cooked off or drained). A 15 ounce can of beans produces 1.5 cups of cooked beans when drained and rinsed. Therefore, we can expect a 1 pound bag of dry beans to replace four 15 ounce cans of beans (6 cups / 1.5 cups = 4).
I purchased two 1 lb bags of dry black beans from Target for $1.39 each. I probably could have found them cheaper at Aldi or Stop & Shop on sale, but we were there anyways so I got them there. One 15.5 ounce can of Stop & Shop brand black beans is $0.67, while the same size can of Goya beans is $1.00. By cooking dry beans at home, portioning, and freezing, that $1.39 bag of beans will replace four cans of canned beans. That's a theoretical $0.35 per can equivalent for cooking dry beans and $0.67 per can to buy them - you clearly save money by cooking dry beans rather than using canned!
(How many times do you think can I use the word "beans" in this post?)
The actual results of my home-cooked beans experiment: Two 1 lb bags of dry black beans produced 7.5 portions of 1.5 cups each (the equivalent of one can of rinsed/drained black beans). I soaked overnight and then cooked the beans for around 6 hours on "low" in the crock pot, so the cost of electricity for cooking is negligible. I packaged them in 1 quart freezer bags and once they cooled I put them in the deep freeze. Rounding down, I got 7 can equivalents from the 2 lbs of beans. 2 lbs of beans cost $2.78, for a can-equivalent cost of $0.40 apiece. Since the best price I found for canned black beans was $0.67/can, we're still saving money.
As a nice side benefit, my home-cooked beans are completely free of any added salt (as a helpful hint when cooking beans at home, do not add salt during cooking as it can make the beans tough). Low sodium canned beans are either unavailable or hard to find in store brands, and having the beans be salt-free means we can adjust seasoning to taste.
So I've seen a bunch of suggestions online saying that it's more economical to cook dry beans than to use canned, with the slow cooker being the best choice for cooking in terms of energy efficiency. We're using a lot of canned beans in recipes as of late so I decided to put that to the test this weekend.
1 pound of dry beans equals roughly 2 cups of volume. According to the Internet, 1 cup of dry beans will produce 3 cups of cooked beans (assuming most liquid is cooked off or drained). A 15 ounce can of beans produces 1.5 cups of cooked beans when drained and rinsed. Therefore, we can expect a 1 pound bag of dry beans to replace four 15 ounce cans of beans (6 cups / 1.5 cups = 4).
I purchased two 1 lb bags of dry black beans from Target for $1.39 each. I probably could have found them cheaper at Aldi or Stop & Shop on sale, but we were there anyways so I got them there. One 15.5 ounce can of Stop & Shop brand black beans is $0.67, while the same size can of Goya beans is $1.00. By cooking dry beans at home, portioning, and freezing, that $1.39 bag of beans will replace four cans of canned beans. That's a theoretical $0.35 per can equivalent for cooking dry beans and $0.67 per can to buy them - you clearly save money by cooking dry beans rather than using canned!
(How many times do you think can I use the word "beans" in this post?)
The actual results of my home-cooked beans experiment: Two 1 lb bags of dry black beans produced 7.5 portions of 1.5 cups each (the equivalent of one can of rinsed/drained black beans). I soaked overnight and then cooked the beans for around 6 hours on "low" in the crock pot, so the cost of electricity for cooking is negligible. I packaged them in 1 quart freezer bags and once they cooled I put them in the deep freeze. Rounding down, I got 7 can equivalents from the 2 lbs of beans. 2 lbs of beans cost $2.78, for a can-equivalent cost of $0.40 apiece. Since the best price I found for canned black beans was $0.67/can, we're still saving money.
As a nice side benefit, my home-cooked beans are completely free of any added salt (as a helpful hint when cooking beans at home, do not add salt during cooking as it can make the beans tough). Low sodium canned beans are either unavailable or hard to find in store brands, and having the beans be salt-free means we can adjust seasoning to taste.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Frugal Friday: Hot Cocoa Mix
This is a new thing I'm trying, called Frugal Fridays. I'm going to attempt to post about something frugal that we've tried each week on Friday (makes sense, no?).
With a blizzard barreling down on us, I've been thinking about what kinds of foods are nice when you're snowed in (and potentially without power for days given CL&P's performance in recent years). I realized that hot cocoa fit the bill perfectly - it's hot, tasty, and only needs hot water. Then I went and looked at the ingredient list of commercial hot cocoa powder and was kind of horrified - corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, cellulose gum, soy lecithin, even artificial flavor. Um, doesn't the cocoa give hot cocoa its flavor? Why is artificial flavor even needed? Some name brands contain artificial sweeteners (which we don't eat in our house) or even more chemical soup.
I went online and found a recipe for homemade hot cocoa powder, courtesy of Alton Brown. Now, Alton's recipes have never steered me wrong and this one was no exception. The ingredients are super-simple:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
2.5 cups powdered milk
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cornstarch
Pinch cayenne pepper.
Combine in a mixing bowl and mix evenly. Fill a mug halfway with the mixture and add hot water, stir to combine.
I already had the salt, cornstarch, and cayenne pepper so I stopped at Aldi to pick up the powdered sugar, cocoa, and dry milk. I measured and mixed and ended up with 5.5 cups of hot cocoa mix. I put 1/4 cup into a mug, added hot water, and it was AWESOME! Just like store bought hot cocoa, but it dissolved easily and tasted more rich.
(Kindly ignore my cheap pink laminate countertops. They came with the house and we've been too poor to remodel.)
The question - is it really frugal? I spent $2.49 on the cocoa powder, $1.39 on powdered sugar, and $6.99 on dry milk. Based on the quantities in each package I have a per-cup cost for each major ingredient of $0.885/cup, $0.185/cup, and $0.655/cup. For the quantities used to make 5.5 cups of mix, the ingredients cost me $2.90 (neglecting the extremely small incremental costs of salt, cornstarch and cayenne).
So for those keeping track at home, 22 1/4 cup servings of homemade hot cocoa cost $2.90, for a per-serving cost of $0.13/cup. The cheapest package of Stop & Shop brand hot cocoa comes with 17 1/4 cup servings and costs $3.29, for a per-serving cost of $0.19/cup. If you go for name brand hot cocoa you'd spent roughly 40% more per serving. Plus, the homemade powder has simple ingredients with no wacky food chemistry involved - a win/win!
With a blizzard barreling down on us, I've been thinking about what kinds of foods are nice when you're snowed in (and potentially without power for days given CL&P's performance in recent years). I realized that hot cocoa fit the bill perfectly - it's hot, tasty, and only needs hot water. Then I went and looked at the ingredient list of commercial hot cocoa powder and was kind of horrified - corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, cellulose gum, soy lecithin, even artificial flavor. Um, doesn't the cocoa give hot cocoa its flavor? Why is artificial flavor even needed? Some name brands contain artificial sweeteners (which we don't eat in our house) or even more chemical soup.
I went online and found a recipe for homemade hot cocoa powder, courtesy of Alton Brown. Now, Alton's recipes have never steered me wrong and this one was no exception. The ingredients are super-simple:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
2.5 cups powdered milk
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cornstarch
Pinch cayenne pepper.
Combine in a mixing bowl and mix evenly. Fill a mug halfway with the mixture and add hot water, stir to combine.
I already had the salt, cornstarch, and cayenne pepper so I stopped at Aldi to pick up the powdered sugar, cocoa, and dry milk. I measured and mixed and ended up with 5.5 cups of hot cocoa mix. I put 1/4 cup into a mug, added hot water, and it was AWESOME! Just like store bought hot cocoa, but it dissolved easily and tasted more rich.
(Kindly ignore my cheap pink laminate countertops. They came with the house and we've been too poor to remodel.)
The question - is it really frugal? I spent $2.49 on the cocoa powder, $1.39 on powdered sugar, and $6.99 on dry milk. Based on the quantities in each package I have a per-cup cost for each major ingredient of $0.885/cup, $0.185/cup, and $0.655/cup. For the quantities used to make 5.5 cups of mix, the ingredients cost me $2.90 (neglecting the extremely small incremental costs of salt, cornstarch and cayenne).
So for those keeping track at home, 22 1/4 cup servings of homemade hot cocoa cost $2.90, for a per-serving cost of $0.13/cup. The cheapest package of Stop & Shop brand hot cocoa comes with 17 1/4 cup servings and costs $3.29, for a per-serving cost of $0.19/cup. If you go for name brand hot cocoa you'd spent roughly 40% more per serving. Plus, the homemade powder has simple ingredients with no wacky food chemistry involved - a win/win!
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Cloth diapers for Wiggle
So we did the cloth diapering thing part time with Lily, and we didn't start until she was ~4 months old. I've never used cloth on a newborn, so our stash is exclusively one-size diapers which typically don't start fitting nicely until a baby is ~2 months old. This newborn cloth diapering thing is new to us and I've been trying to plan out a diaper stash for baby Wiggle!
With Lily's diaper stash, the biggest mistake I made was investing in a certain brand/style of diaper before we was sure it was the most effective choice for us. I went nuts and got a half dozen Thirsties Duo pocket diapers - only to decide 6 months later that stuffing pockets is a time-consuming pain in the ass. Also, at around the 1 year mark of use we started having issues with the Thirsties, where the pocket material began looking a bit threadbare and the Aplix (velcro-like) closures got less secure. As we tried other brands/systems of diaper (BumGenius 4.0 pockets, GroVia All-in-ones, Flip hybrids) we found that we preferred those other methods. By then we had a half dozen expensive Thirsties Duos that were way too worn to resell. I should have bought one of a bunch of different options and then we could have sensibly spent money on the ones that worked best. It wasted a lot of money when we added it all up.
For Wiggle I plan to keep it simple for the newborn stage: covers and prefolds and maybe one or two AIOs for when we're out and about. A newborn is changed so frequently that there's really no need to worry about heavy absorbency. I can buy a newborn prefold package that will let me wash every other day for the princely sum of around $100. That same amount of money would buy four 88-count boxes of newborn Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive disposables (on Amazon, the best prices I know of without serious couponing). For a newborn that many disposables would last us roughly 5-6 weeks, so the newborn prefold package will have paid for itself before my maternity leave is half over! Newborn prefold packages don't get a lot of wear and tear because they're used for a relatively short time, so resale value would be high if we chose to unload them after Wiggle can fit our one-size stash.
We'll still have some disposables in the house for when we come home from the hospital if I'm just not feeling up to starting diaper laundry right away. Mark knows how to wash diapers already (it's not hard), and I can give instructions to relatives or friends who might be over to help out. With prefolds and covers, doing diaper laundry is no more difficult or time-consuming than washing clothes.
Of course, once Wiggle starts daycare we'll need to send disposables. The center we use doesn't handle cloth unless there's a doctor's note and we're OK with using disposables there. By then we will have transitioned to the one-size stash anyways. We found that even part time cloth diapering for Lily still saved money in the long run, or at least until she started potty training. Now she's day trained but still needs a diaper at night, so our disposable diaper expenses are very low - we basically have Pullups in the house for when we're out and about and that's it (this is only because I've been too tired to actually sew cloth trainers for her).
Based on our experience with Lily, I think the foundation of our one-size stash will continue to be the hybrid/cover and prefold style with a few AIOs. Covers and prefolds are the most economical choice and we know that we hate stuffing pockets, so it seems like a pretty straightforward decision. We do like AIOs for when we're out of the house or have a babysitter, though. The nice thing about part time cloth diapering is that you don't need anywhere near the stash that a full time cloth diapering family would need, so that also costs less (but of course there's the ongoing need to purchase disposables for daycare).
With Lily's diaper stash, the biggest mistake I made was investing in a certain brand/style of diaper before we was sure it was the most effective choice for us. I went nuts and got a half dozen Thirsties Duo pocket diapers - only to decide 6 months later that stuffing pockets is a time-consuming pain in the ass. Also, at around the 1 year mark of use we started having issues with the Thirsties, where the pocket material began looking a bit threadbare and the Aplix (velcro-like) closures got less secure. As we tried other brands/systems of diaper (BumGenius 4.0 pockets, GroVia All-in-ones, Flip hybrids) we found that we preferred those other methods. By then we had a half dozen expensive Thirsties Duos that were way too worn to resell. I should have bought one of a bunch of different options and then we could have sensibly spent money on the ones that worked best. It wasted a lot of money when we added it all up.
For Wiggle I plan to keep it simple for the newborn stage: covers and prefolds and maybe one or two AIOs for when we're out and about. A newborn is changed so frequently that there's really no need to worry about heavy absorbency. I can buy a newborn prefold package that will let me wash every other day for the princely sum of around $100. That same amount of money would buy four 88-count boxes of newborn Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive disposables (on Amazon, the best prices I know of without serious couponing). For a newborn that many disposables would last us roughly 5-6 weeks, so the newborn prefold package will have paid for itself before my maternity leave is half over! Newborn prefold packages don't get a lot of wear and tear because they're used for a relatively short time, so resale value would be high if we chose to unload them after Wiggle can fit our one-size stash.
We'll still have some disposables in the house for when we come home from the hospital if I'm just not feeling up to starting diaper laundry right away. Mark knows how to wash diapers already (it's not hard), and I can give instructions to relatives or friends who might be over to help out. With prefolds and covers, doing diaper laundry is no more difficult or time-consuming than washing clothes.
Of course, once Wiggle starts daycare we'll need to send disposables. The center we use doesn't handle cloth unless there's a doctor's note and we're OK with using disposables there. By then we will have transitioned to the one-size stash anyways. We found that even part time cloth diapering for Lily still saved money in the long run, or at least until she started potty training. Now she's day trained but still needs a diaper at night, so our disposable diaper expenses are very low - we basically have Pullups in the house for when we're out and about and that's it (this is only because I've been too tired to actually sew cloth trainers for her).
Based on our experience with Lily, I think the foundation of our one-size stash will continue to be the hybrid/cover and prefold style with a few AIOs. Covers and prefolds are the most economical choice and we know that we hate stuffing pockets, so it seems like a pretty straightforward decision. We do like AIOs for when we're out of the house or have a babysitter, though. The nice thing about part time cloth diapering is that you don't need anywhere near the stash that a full time cloth diapering family would need, so that also costs less (but of course there's the ongoing need to purchase disposables for daycare).
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Meal Plan - 2/2 through 2/8
In an attempt to rein in what is an absurd level of spending at the supermarket (seriously - a family of two adults and one toddler should not be spending $800 on food in an average month) we're now planning our weekly meals. We fell victim too often to the "nothing for dinner" syndrome which resulted in either an expensive stop for takeout or an impromptu shopping trip where impulse buys racked up. We've also found that we waste an embarrassing amount of food. You know the drill - where you need one bell pepper for a recipe, buy a bag of three to get the best deal, and two go bad in the vegetable crisper. Not only does it waste money but it's wasteful of natural resources. We've been planning for months to cut back on food expenditures, especially with baby Wiggle on the way in June. It's just that we have even more motivation to be more frugal in budgeting while Mark is out of work - like several other things, that was the kick in the pants that we needed to do better.
We're creatures of habit for breakfast and lunch. Dinner is where everything goes to hell in a handbasket without effective planning. So on Saturday mornings I sit down and plan our meals for the week and in the afternoon while Lily's napping one of us goes grocery shopping. As an aside, you know you're a parent when your idea of a relaxing Saturday afternoon is getting to go solo to the grocery store!
Here's the plan for this week. You can see we're running heavy on the crockpot meals because Mark finds them easiest alongside job hunting, errands, and doing things around the house. I only list the main dish - this this time of year it can safely be assumed that our standard side is a bag of frozen steam bag veggie (unless it's a meal where it's an integral component, we skip starchy sides like rice or potatoes). I'll link to recipes when they're available online.
Saturday, 2/2 - Awesome Sarah's Soup (the abbreviation cracks me up)
Sunday, 2/3 - Crockpot mac & cheese
Monday, 2/4 - Leftover mac & cheese
Tuesday, 2/5 - Mild yellow chicken curry (one of the meals I prepped and froze earlier this month)
Wednesday, 2/6 - Slow cooker Cuban black beans with rice
Thursday, 2/7 - Leftover chicken curry
Friday, 2/8 - Homemade pizzas (dough made in bread machine, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and toppings of everyone's choosing)
We're creatures of habit for breakfast and lunch. Dinner is where everything goes to hell in a handbasket without effective planning. So on Saturday mornings I sit down and plan our meals for the week and in the afternoon while Lily's napping one of us goes grocery shopping. As an aside, you know you're a parent when your idea of a relaxing Saturday afternoon is getting to go solo to the grocery store!
Here's the plan for this week. You can see we're running heavy on the crockpot meals because Mark finds them easiest alongside job hunting, errands, and doing things around the house. I only list the main dish - this this time of year it can safely be assumed that our standard side is a bag of frozen steam bag veggie (unless it's a meal where it's an integral component, we skip starchy sides like rice or potatoes). I'll link to recipes when they're available online.
Saturday, 2/2 - Awesome Sarah's Soup (the abbreviation cracks me up)
Sunday, 2/3 - Crockpot mac & cheese
Monday, 2/4 - Leftover mac & cheese
Tuesday, 2/5 - Mild yellow chicken curry (one of the meals I prepped and froze earlier this month)
Wednesday, 2/6 - Slow cooker Cuban black beans with rice
Thursday, 2/7 - Leftover chicken curry
Friday, 2/8 - Homemade pizzas (dough made in bread machine, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and toppings of everyone's choosing)
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Merrily we Pin along
I, like most people, use Pinterest as a way to collect cool ideas, 95% of which I will never actually execute. Aside from sewing or knitting, I can think of maybe 4-5 projects that I've actually pinned that I ended up going through with. The rest are kind of like dream or mood boards - it would be cool, but we/I lack the money/time/energy to do them.
One area where pinning works for me is in sewing or knitting projects. For sewing, it's because I'm still a beginner and am way cheap about buying paper patterns at the store, so tutorials and how-tos and free patterns online are awesome. Knitting is a little different because I'm an advanced knitter and only rarely need tutorials, plus I use my Ravelry queue to stay organized, but I like to pin specific projects in specific yarns/colorways to remind myself of what yarn purchases I'd like to make.
I've started pinning for Baby Wiggle. Since we have most of the big ticket stuff that babies need, the baby will be in our room for a while and then sharing Lily's gender-neutral bedroom, and we aren't finding out the sex until delivery, there's not much to do to get ready aside from small fun projects. Some of my upcoming baby projects are:
Sewing
Roll-up diaper changer
Burp cloths
Car seat canopy (disclaimer: absolutely not for use while the car is in motion)
Car caddy
Knitting
Gift Wrap Romper - this is going to be Wiggle's coming home outfit!
Surplice Baby Jacket
Newborn Vertebrae
Stay-on Baby Booties
Baby Surprise Jacket (3-6 month size for fall/winter wear)
Small Things Sweater (also knit in 6 month size)
Would anyone like to take bets on how much of this I actually finish in the next ~20 weeks?
One area where pinning works for me is in sewing or knitting projects. For sewing, it's because I'm still a beginner and am way cheap about buying paper patterns at the store, so tutorials and how-tos and free patterns online are awesome. Knitting is a little different because I'm an advanced knitter and only rarely need tutorials, plus I use my Ravelry queue to stay organized, but I like to pin specific projects in specific yarns/colorways to remind myself of what yarn purchases I'd like to make.
I've started pinning for Baby Wiggle. Since we have most of the big ticket stuff that babies need, the baby will be in our room for a while and then sharing Lily's gender-neutral bedroom, and we aren't finding out the sex until delivery, there's not much to do to get ready aside from small fun projects. Some of my upcoming baby projects are:
Sewing
Roll-up diaper changer
Burp cloths
Car seat canopy (disclaimer: absolutely not for use while the car is in motion)
Car caddy
Knitting
Gift Wrap Romper - this is going to be Wiggle's coming home outfit!
Surplice Baby Jacket
Newborn Vertebrae
Stay-on Baby Booties
Baby Surprise Jacket (3-6 month size for fall/winter wear)
Small Things Sweater (also knit in 6 month size)
Would anyone like to take bets on how much of this I actually finish in the next ~20 weeks?
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Yet another thing I swore I'd never do...
Making a baby registry after a first baby. Yeah, I did it - turn me in to the Etiquette Hell people right now.
We want to upgrade our infant car seat. We loved the Chicco Keyfit that we got as part of a travel system before Lily was born. It's absurdly easy to install correctly (even a seatbelt install) and to use, and we liked the color/fabric choices much better than any of the alternatives at the time. Unfortunately the stroller that came in the travel system is a behemoth which in the end we only used a handful of times. In mid-2010 the travel system with the 22 pound Keyfit was still quite popular and we didn't want to spend the extra money on the system with the Keyfit 30, so we didn't.
Lily transitioned to the Boulevard in my car at 9 months and then in Mark's car at 11 months. She had not outgrown the Keyfit yet; that would have happened by length (really, torso height) somewhere around 13-14 months. What if Wiggle isn't as skinny as Lily was? I know people whose kids hit 22 pounds at 6-8 months, which would put a June baby right smack dab in the middle of winter when outgrowing a 22 pound infant seat. We really want Wiggle to get through his/her first winter in the infant seat. We don't have a garage, so loading a non-walking kid into the car is substantially easier when you can strap them into the seat in the house, pile blankets on top, and then just snap it into the base. Add snow, ice, and cold wind and a 3 year old to wrangle and it becomes really important to streamline the process of getting into and out of the car as much as is humanly possible! Our existing bases are compatible with both the Keyfit and Keyfit 30 so there's no need to make an additional investment there. With the Babies R Us trade in event, we can trade in the Keyfit for a 25% off coupon that we can use on a spiffy new Keyfit 30.
The other part of this is getting a Chicco Liteway Plus stroller to replace the big Cortina. We went and checked it out last weekend at BRU and it's really a sweet option. First you use it as a stroller frame with the Keyfit - the seat just snaps in. Then, it converts to a normal umbrella stroller which most babies can ride in from around 6 months or so. Lily took several test rides in toddler mode and liked it so much she cried when we tried to take her out! Mark and I both liked the way it handled and how lightweight it is, plus the umbrella fold is a dream - even smaller than the City Mini. I got a little award at work that comes with a monetary bonus that after taxes will cover the cost of the Liteway Plus (especially with the 20% off coupon that we'll get from the purchase of the Keyfit 30).
If you have a Babies R Us/Toys R Us rewards card, you get points for spending money in those stores. You also get registry rewards points for anything on a registry that's purchased for you. Besides the car seat and stroller, there are some other things we'll need to buy for Wiggle's arrival - mainly bottles and bags for me to store breast milk, plus my beloved Medela micro steam bags and cleaning wipes. They're not really expensive but they do add up and you need to buy a lot of them; a box of 100 milk storage bags or 100 Drop Ins for bottles only lasts around 5-6 weeks once I'm back at work and sending bottles to daycare. Plus while I plan to sew and to shop at Once Upon A Child for wardrobe needs, I want one or two cute and wholly unnecessary items bought just for Baby Wiggle - maybe some Aden & Anais swaddle blankets! Babies R Us mails you a completion coupon a few weeks before your due date - I won't pass up a 10% off coupon for things that we need and would be buying anyways.
So I made up a registry. I always thought it was kind of tacky to do that for babies after the first, barring a situation like having multiples or a very long age gap where parents would have gotten rid of all of the baby stuff (and if they'd kept it, it was probably expired). I certainly don't expect (or want!) a baby shower, "sprinkle", or anything of the sort for Wiggle. But we want the reward points and we want the completion coupon, so we went ahead and did it - my apologies to Emily Post!
We want to upgrade our infant car seat. We loved the Chicco Keyfit that we got as part of a travel system before Lily was born. It's absurdly easy to install correctly (even a seatbelt install) and to use, and we liked the color/fabric choices much better than any of the alternatives at the time. Unfortunately the stroller that came in the travel system is a behemoth which in the end we only used a handful of times. In mid-2010 the travel system with the 22 pound Keyfit was still quite popular and we didn't want to spend the extra money on the system with the Keyfit 30, so we didn't.
Lily transitioned to the Boulevard in my car at 9 months and then in Mark's car at 11 months. She had not outgrown the Keyfit yet; that would have happened by length (really, torso height) somewhere around 13-14 months. What if Wiggle isn't as skinny as Lily was? I know people whose kids hit 22 pounds at 6-8 months, which would put a June baby right smack dab in the middle of winter when outgrowing a 22 pound infant seat. We really want Wiggle to get through his/her first winter in the infant seat. We don't have a garage, so loading a non-walking kid into the car is substantially easier when you can strap them into the seat in the house, pile blankets on top, and then just snap it into the base. Add snow, ice, and cold wind and a 3 year old to wrangle and it becomes really important to streamline the process of getting into and out of the car as much as is humanly possible! Our existing bases are compatible with both the Keyfit and Keyfit 30 so there's no need to make an additional investment there. With the Babies R Us trade in event, we can trade in the Keyfit for a 25% off coupon that we can use on a spiffy new Keyfit 30.
The other part of this is getting a Chicco Liteway Plus stroller to replace the big Cortina. We went and checked it out last weekend at BRU and it's really a sweet option. First you use it as a stroller frame with the Keyfit - the seat just snaps in. Then, it converts to a normal umbrella stroller which most babies can ride in from around 6 months or so. Lily took several test rides in toddler mode and liked it so much she cried when we tried to take her out! Mark and I both liked the way it handled and how lightweight it is, plus the umbrella fold is a dream - even smaller than the City Mini. I got a little award at work that comes with a monetary bonus that after taxes will cover the cost of the Liteway Plus (especially with the 20% off coupon that we'll get from the purchase of the Keyfit 30).
If you have a Babies R Us/Toys R Us rewards card, you get points for spending money in those stores. You also get registry rewards points for anything on a registry that's purchased for you. Besides the car seat and stroller, there are some other things we'll need to buy for Wiggle's arrival - mainly bottles and bags for me to store breast milk, plus my beloved Medela micro steam bags and cleaning wipes. They're not really expensive but they do add up and you need to buy a lot of them; a box of 100 milk storage bags or 100 Drop Ins for bottles only lasts around 5-6 weeks once I'm back at work and sending bottles to daycare. Plus while I plan to sew and to shop at Once Upon A Child for wardrobe needs, I want one or two cute and wholly unnecessary items bought just for Baby Wiggle - maybe some Aden & Anais swaddle blankets! Babies R Us mails you a completion coupon a few weeks before your due date - I won't pass up a 10% off coupon for things that we need and would be buying anyways.
So I made up a registry. I always thought it was kind of tacky to do that for babies after the first, barring a situation like having multiples or a very long age gap where parents would have gotten rid of all of the baby stuff (and if they'd kept it, it was probably expired). I certainly don't expect (or want!) a baby shower, "sprinkle", or anything of the sort for Wiggle. But we want the reward points and we want the completion coupon, so we went ahead and did it - my apologies to Emily Post!
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