Cloth Diapers...how much I am really saving each month? The epic change in my washer!!!

Awww...look at Jr.!  Would you believe just moments earlier I had attempted to place him next two very neat stacks of folded diapers?  Ha!  He has entered the destroyer phase, which will likely last well into his teen years.

Disclaimer: This is not a hypothetical situation! There are oodles of posts out there about the types of cloth diapers and huge claims of savings.  The savings are huge and I am here to give you a breakdown of how much we, the Cheapers, are saving each month.  There are obviously some cost involved with cloth diapering-mainly laundering. So how much does that laundering really cost???

Detergent              $  .70/load
Washer                     .07
Dryer                        .95
Hot Water               1.00
Water/Sewer             .35
Total                      $3.07/load

I used the appliance calculator on our local utility website.  Calculations include: HE top loader, electric dryer, electric water heater, and our city water and sewer fees. I feel like the calculations came out a bit on the high side because I have not noticed a increase of more than $10 on our electric bill.  We'll use them for the sake of this example though. I wash every 2-3 days. So averaging 12 loads in a month would cost $36.84.

Monthly cost of disposable diapers                                $ 100.00

Cost of Cloth                                                                -    36.84

Monthly Savings                                                            $  63.16

Wouldn't it be nice to find that sort of change in your washer?!  And to think our motivation for switching Lil' Miss to cloth all those years ago was the ick factor of the chemicals in disposable diapers and not the money savings.  Older and wiser...

St. Nicholas Day...to celebrate or not????

It is the eve of Saint Nicholas day and as a parent I found myself unprepared and unenthusiastic.  Is this a tradition I want to honor? I found I could not even recall the story behind the tradition of Saint Nicholas.  Something about leaving shoes outside your door and having them filled with treats.  As a child(one of five in my family), I recall their being new socks outside our bedroom doors in the morning.  Socks are always welcome.  I must thank my mom, Grandma Clearance Rack(she chose her own very fitting blog pseudonym), for being a practical gifter.  She always has Lil' Miss and all the other grandkids covered with coats, snowpants, and boots.  

Okay, back to the Saint Nicholas conundrum...I had better google this and get the whole story. 

As taken from Wikipedia:

"The whole family gets ready for the saint's arrival on 6 December, with grandparents telling stories of the saint. The most popular one (also the subject of a popular French children's song) is of three children who wandered away and got lost. Cold and hungry, a wicked butcher lured them into his shop where he killed them and salted them away in a large tub. Through St. Nicolas' help the boys were revived and returned to their families, earning him a reputation as protector of children. "

What?!? I feel like this story is too graphic for my 6-year old.  

I, also, learned that this Saint Nicholas day is observed in primarily Catholic and German-speaking areas. That would explain the popularity of the tradition in our corner of the world.  Mr. Cheaper and I(and just about everyone we know) are descended from a long line of German Catholics.  Yep, stick around for a plethora of bratwurst recipes.  

So shall we observe???  No.  If I needed to look up the story, it really must not have been important to me.  I think I'll stick to the non-material holiday traditions.  Up next, tree decorating.

2014 New Year Resolutions...it's not too late!

Can you even remember your 2014 New Year resolution?  Good intentions are often abandoned by the end of January.  Well, its December 1 so there is still one more month to work towards that resolution.  The Cheapers have not let our resolution fall by the wayside.  We set the lofty goal of eliminating $300 of monthly expenses from our budget!  Yes, that is a big number. Yes, I am still feeding the family(and with the same food budget).  We haven't smashed that $300 mark yet, but we haven't given up either.

Here is where we have saved:

• Gym Membership- $74/month
  Cancelled that sucker! We just had a baby, so we are pretty busy.  I'd rather plunk him in the stroller and take a walk as a family than spend my time alone on a treadmill just staring at the wall.
• Car Insurance-$37/month
  Our insurance agent was able to find us a policy that cost less and included more things. Ask your agent about possible changes.  They are experts in their field(if they aren't, find a new agent), so use their experience to your advantage.
• Internet Service-$17/month(we do not have cable)
  First, look at your bill and see what you are actually being billed for.  We were being billed $7/month for the use of the internet provider's modem.  We were able to purchase a compatible modem for $30 with shipping and return the company's modem.  We also called to make sure that we were receiving the absolute lowest price possible for our monthly service.  
• Cell phone service-$83/month
  We switched to Ting.  Read about it here. 

That is $211/month so far!  We hope to pay off the last little bit of credit card debt by the ending of the month and smash our 2014 resolution.  Stay tuned! I cannot wait to celebrate the demise of our credit card debt!!!!

How to get things for FREE and Betty's Black Friday shopping

The ads have been perused and just about all the deals have been deemed not essential by Betty.  There was just one place deemed worthy of a venture out in the cold-my beloved CVS!  I LOVE CVS! I can usually save about 80-90% during a trip to CVS.

How do I save so much and score free stuff? Shop the weekly ad and use your store loyalty card!  Yep, you don't need to spend hours clipping coupons. I do often use coupons and even stack them with CVS store coupons(check out their coupon center right in the store). But today I did my Black Friday shopping early and didn't even need to clip a single coupon.

Check out all the stuff I got!!!!

(not pictured Peanut Butter M&Ms...mmmm)

CVS featured their Black Friday sales in two parts- Sunday-Wednesday and Thursday-Saturday.  We spent $16.63 out of pocket on Sunday and received $18.83 Extra Card Bucks, referred to as ECBs.  These are essentially store credit at the bottom of your receipt and can be redeemed on a future purchase.

Free with ECBs!

I stopped in this morning while the turkey was roasting(returned to a smoky kitchen...oops!).  I picked up all the sale items I needed, paid with my ECBs(just paid $1.27 in sales tax), and was out the door in just minutes(woot! woot! no lines!).  And I went home with $13.76 in ECBs that I will use on sale items next week(EVEN MORE FREE STUFF)!

Gobblin' Good Thursday: Gluten Free Stuffing

Gobblin' Good Thursday???  That is what Mr. Cheaper has coined our Thanksgiving. I would say it is definitely good even after filling the kitchen with smoke already this morning.  We have so much to be thankful for this year.  Welcoming Jr. into the family has brought us all such joy,  espcially for Lil' Miss.  Watching siblings bond just melts my heart. I am thankful that I get to be home with my children to soak in these beautiful moments.

The turkey is in the oven(hence the smoky kitchen) and the larger Cheaper family will be gathering here with us at Casa de Cheaper for lunch.  Traditionally, I make the turkey and stuffing recipe shared with me years ago by a lovely lady from church.  This year, we are switching it up a bit due to Mr. Cheaper's recent Celiac disease diagnosis.  It can be difficult to find gluten free substitutes that still have the taste and texture of the original.  Especially, bread products which tend to be dry and crumbly(and way to expensive to suck that much!)


Gluten Free Stuffing

1 pan gluten free cornbread, crumbled
1 pkg of gluten free stuffing mix
3 stalks of celery celery, chopped
1 white onion, chopped
1 T sage
1/2 C butter
1/2 C orange juice

Melt Butter in pan. Saute onion and celery in butter until translucent. Add sage, orange juice, and water according to package directions. Combine stuffing and cornbread crumbs.

No Waste Wednesday:Philly Cheesesteak Soup

Welcome to the first No Waste Wednesday!  It is estimated that Americans waste on average 20 lbs. of food per month.  That amounts to $28-43 each month!!!  A big contributing factor to food waste is uneaten leftovers...but not here in the Casa de Cheaper!  I've been busy reinventing our leftovers and I am here to help you clean out your refrigerator.



So what was in the Cheaper refrigerator this week???


Leftover beef roast and a green bell pepper nearing the end of its shelf life. Hmmm...




And Philly Cheesesteak Soup was born!!! As Lil' Miss Cheaper observed, "It tastes like a philly cheesesteak AND its just like Applebee's soup(french onion)!"

Philly Cheesesteak Soup

2 C of leftover beef roast, cubed(or whatever portion is in your refrigerator)
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced

2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Montreal steak seasoning
4 C beef broth
Olive Oil
Croutons
Sliced Provolone

Saute onion & pepper until onion is translucent.  Add garlic and diced beef. Saute for 1-2 more minutes. Add Montreal steak seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, and beef broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 to 20 minutes.


Place a layer of croutons in ramekin or oven-safe crock.  Ladle soup over croutons and top with a slice of cheese.  Place under broiler until cheese is bubbly.

Soup's on!


I hope you enjoy!  I will be here cooking up lots more No Waste Wednesdays for you!

Yours Truly,
Betty

$$$...Ting,Ting,Ting...$$$

Yes, you read that correctly. Ting, Ting, Ting...not cha-ching!  Ting saved us lots of cha-ching!

 What is Ting you ask?  Our incredibly low-priced cell phone service.

How low?  Switching to Ting dropped our phone bill 67% for the same exact services we were paying for with one of those popular national carriers that drops a LOT of money on advertising.  Our big box service was even considered an incredible deal after Mr. Cheaper's employer discount of 22%! But paying just a third of that is indisputably more INCREDIBLE!

How much can you save? Check out their website!  It has an easy-to-use calculator that will use the information from your last three months of cell phone usage to give you an estimate of what your bill could be and how much you could save over two years. Ting estimated that we would save $1680 over two years(Our bills have been less than the calculator estimated!).  Sign me up!!!!

http://www.ting.com

Seriously, I cannot praise Ting enough!  It is one of the best changes we made this past year.

Bonus: You can pay with Amazon.  I pay our bill with Amazon gift cards that we earn. ALERT: Future post teaser! You will have to come back next time.

Lesson: Sometimes, there is a much better deal out there than the one you are getting.  Research is key to living cheaper.