- Where can I find a shower curtain for a clawfoot tub? Preferably not an incredibly boring one. Nor an expensive one..?
- I really want to coupon, but we eat mostly organic, non-processed, whole grain foods. Do you think its worth my time? Any tips or ideas?
-Along the line of couponing, where do you buy your papers? Do the coupons come in any paper?
-Why is my son's favorite color pink? Is it now justifiable for me to dress him in pink? Because you know I want to.
-Will I ever not be hyper paranoid about being pregnant each month? I mean, other than menopause. Not that being pregnant would be the worst thing right now, we would be quite excited...I just really want to be free from the worry and dread...sigh.
- Onto pregnancy, what do you think the ideal child spacing is? I know there is no right answer and it's different for everyone, but just curious.
- Do you follow a budget?
These are just some of the things floating around in my brain. And I needed to get them out! I'm also thinking about how I should be PACKING...because we are moving in 24 days...for real this time. It's hard to believe. Loving life, but thinking too much!
16 comments:
Try to follow a budget, but not always the best at it. I do find that when I take cash to the grocery, I am more aware of what things cost instead of just throwing things in my basket.
Oh, how much fun young mothers are! I love ya!
1. Overstock.com. I found a really cheap rail system for a clawfoot tub. As far as a shower curtain, use any kind your heart desires!
2. So not worth your time. If you can, plant a small garden that you can supplement out of. Your son is at the age where it will be lots of fun to garden with him.
3. I don't coupon cause I am old and have 3 kids. Half the time I can't remember where my glasses are!
4. Let him be him at home. In public, people will judge you though. My son loved to vacuum. For his 2nd birthday someone got him a vacuum. To this day he is still teased about it. Let his favs be a private bond with you and him.
5. No you won't. Unless you take precautions against it. And then you still will take the prego tests. I loved being pregnant! Hubby willing, I would have lots more kids.
6. Your spacing is up to you. I had my first 2, 2 years apart. It was ideal. Number 3 is 10 years behind. It was quite the cultural shock to pack up ALL the baby stuff again and do the carseat. I wouldn't trade it for a minute! Spacing is how ready you are for number 2.
7. Budget schmudget! Need I say more!
Hope this helps!
I need some of those questions answered too! The only one I can answer is the packing one! Being an Army wife made me an expert packer! Start with the things that you don't use much or wont be using for a while (certain dishes maybe, winter clothes etc...) then we cleared a path in the garage to store all of it until it was time to pack it in the moving truck! It might also be a good idea to pack a bag of clothing and items that you will be using right off hand when you get to the new place. Sometimes in all the maddness you forget which box it was in and where!
Good luck and I hope to see some of the others answered too!
Hey you are super talented!!! Love your crafts...for the questions Hmmmm I spaced my kids and never got an accident being pregnant and i think it depends on your kids, and the smallest child at the time. If you have a mellow kid who sleeps thru the night. Another one is great. But i will say...A new born is never easy and a big sacrifice...But they grow up. I don't coupon, takes too much time and a lot of trips to the stores...Hasn't worked for me but i do a lot already and i am not a spender.
Thank you for following my blog, following you too. Marie Antoinette week at my blog. Hope you enjoy it :)
Frenchy
On coupons: http://www.organicfoodcoupons.com/
That has great tips and some coupons.
Plus, trust me, writing to the manufacturer of a product you like actually does work. They will totally send you coupons and they usually send you ones that don't expire. Just be like, "Oh, I love your product, but what the economy being so terrible, I just can't afford it! Do you have any ideas?" And they'll be like, "OMG COUPONS FOR YOU."
And frankly, as long as you're doing the natural birth control thing, you will totally panic about being pregnant. I think it's an amazingly cool idea, but it's not exactly 99.9% effective, you know?
i am barely a year out of college with a little one of my own and WISH i followed a budget but seriously can't!
it is not that i spend on super frivolous things it just seems that some days the world is working against me AND what honestly is the point of not enjoying things NOW
i get saving for the future and do save for the future
but i also realize the importance of happiness now
and for that reason don't have a super strict budget other than when it comes to savings! as long as i put between 300 and 400 in savings each month i figure i deserve a night out or a craft or something new for the little bit!
so as for now my budget plan is savings and happiness...
so maybe that is a budget...but not one i ever feel bad about not following exactly!
We eat (mostly) like you do, so coupons aren't really useful - seriously, ever seen a coupon offered for a bag of lentils? Not hardly.
I have three boys and they each had idiosyncrasies. I agree with the lady above - let him wear pink to his hearts content at home. These things are usually short-lived, except my middle guy still prefers lavender hued quilts above all others.
When we were practicing natural birth control every month was a red alert and I always wondered if I was pregnant. I thought I was just paranoid - maybe it's normal.
Our kids are 15 and 16 months apart and it is so easy now. It was really, really tough having three under 2.5 though.
Yes, we follow a budget pretty religiously. We were 66K in debt last July and by living off of half our income, plus selling stuff and squeezing blood from the stone we're nearly out of debt. We plan to stay on our crazy-fierce budget and use the $$$ to take our kids on a trip around the world. They are 11, 12 and 13 so it'll be a great experience for them.
I love young mamas too; it was nice remembering all the questions I had too.
YES! You need a budget! You are so young, and from experience of being your age not too long ago, I wish I had applied then what I know now. If you don't have a budget you will most likely be squandering in 10-15 years. We mainly use Dave Ramsey (www.daveramsey.com). Not everything in his system, but a lot of it.
I enjoy your blog and ideas so much! You are very talented (and busy)!
Hi Caroline -
Gosh, tough questions! I eat mostly organic too and it always bothers me that there are not usually coupons for the organic brands I buy. I try to stock up when the grocery store has them on sale. Even though it's more expensive, I think it's worth it. Also, I have a list that tells what fresh fruits & vegetables are better organic and which ones are ok to eat not organic.
Thanks for your comments on my blog about running. I had a pair of New Balance shoes that are a couple years old. After I got hurt last week I went and got fitted for a new pair. I wish I had the new shoes before I injured my knees! Thanks also for becoming a follower! I'm looking forward to following you too!
Alissa
I try and eat organic too, another sometimes cheaper option is to buy local, like a farmers market....their food is not GM and usually grown with less chemicals than store bought produce, even though not truly organic.
I learned natural child spacing like NFP myself and YES it is 99.9% effective. And I think when you are comfortable with doing it you won't panic about being pregnant before you're ready. The hardest time to do NFP is with return of fertility after childbirth or upon weaning from BF.
I am on the side of 2 years being ideal myself. have you read Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon? if not I recommend it. Great book.she discusses tribes and how they needed strong children and after having a baby the man would move OUT of the house until the child was walking...b/c that is how long they believed it took for a woman to recover full health to produce another strong healthy child. I think that given our current foods we eat it takes AT LEAST that long to recover health,our foods have alot less nutrients unless you are very picky about what you eat.
yes I follow a budget, I take cash only grocery shopping. And only have a set amount to spend every two weeks. It makes you aware of what your are buying and you dont' buy whims.......
I have the same issues with coupons--we eat organic, non-processed (and gluten-free) and it's nearly impossible to find coupons for ANY of that stuff. ::sigh::
As for the budget? We are CRAZY about our budget--but we also paid off $70k in debt last year by doing so and are now 100% debt free :) We used Dave Ramsey to get ourselves debt free & follow his budget advice. Cash only, for everything. Makes you realize how much you spend on frivolous things.
Hi Caroline.
I love your honest post! I took a finance class this year, and I've begun using a budget and the envelope system. It has truly changed my life. I love it. I'll be glad to email you the Excel template I use. All the calculations are in place, so you can enter what you spend and it will tell you how much more you have left in each category.
Also, I saw someone above talked about planting a small garden. My brother and his son started several years ago with raised bed gardens. They used the book Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. It is fabulous, and it is really easy. I have 2 raised beds this year, and I hope it will counteract some of my grocery budget.
Good luck with the kid questions...can't help you in that area!
Me and my sister are 3 years apart, and my girls are 3 years apart. We have liked it. Although, we were going to wait longer for #2 initially. And a budget. The Husband has an Excel spreadsheet of our budget on our desktop, a double-click away. I feel like I need some kind of degree to understand it, but yes, we have one and stick to it!
I work for Whole Foods and we have a book called the Whole Deal which has coupons in it. It is also online as well. I am always hit or miss with coupons. It depends on what I am getting. Some months I am very successful and other months there are no coupons for us. I would also try going to the vendor website as well. They might have a section to sign up for coupons or post them somewhere.
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/coupons/
As for everything else, I am so with you. Questions on my mind all the time. I can't help you there.
Hey, I'm new to your blog, just became a follower cause I'm lovin it :)
I have the perfect post for your question about couponing. Funny, because I just posted my thoughts and tips on this whole thing. Called Money Saving Monday.
I am useless on almost all of those questions - no coups, no kids, etc. However, I did once have a clawfooted tub. The shower "curtain rod" was PVC pipe framed in a square and the "curtain" was a set of window curtains. It sounds awful but it didn't look bad.
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