The basic idea for making yogurt is:

• Heat the milk to 160F.
• Add yogurt cultures from live yogurt to the existing heated milk.
• Maintain the heat for about 8 hours.

This seems like a great way to do it.

Check out Corrie Haffly’s video on doing just that. If you would like to see the entire story, see here.

While you’re there, check out the idea behind “Free Shipping Day.” On December 17, a coalition of vendors will be offering free shipping to help assure that gifts are delivered by Christmas Eve.

Anyway, the entire article is available here

The Background

I was really interested in using cloth diapers on our baby on the way. I bought small prefolds, covers, snappis, 6 bumGenius 3.0s, and cloth wipes. I was gung ho about it. Then I gave birth to Goliath.

My main thought on the whole cloth process is that you need to be realistic. If you are a person who cringes at the thought of more laundry, cloth diapering may not be your thing. Or, if you are a working mom, travel a lot, etc., it could be a challenge, but you can do it! I am a stay at home mom, which is a perk with cloth, but I also have 3 casual or part time jobs in addition to taking care of my little one. We also get out of the house quite a bit and visit friends, family, and take trips. Cloth can be tricky on the go. Who wants to have a car full of smelly diapers in a bag? Not me. So, we have done the trial and error thing with disposables and cloth and realized that what works best for us is to use both! Most people are usually all in or all out, but I believe we still save money by using cloth when we can, and then looking for the sales and clipping coupons on the disposables.

So, these days, I have a 15 month old. He’s pretty predictable, using about 5 diapers a day, give or take. I usually have to do laundry every other day for the diapers. If at home, we have been using cloth during the day and then a good absorbent disposable at night. I have a kid that wets big time. So sometimes even using the 2 inserts for heavy wetters in the cloth diaper won’t hold over night. I use the 2 inserts during the day for him as well, and they do fine for a 2-3 hour span of time.

He is 26 lbs now, and I’m still using the same diapers I did when he was 17 lbs. I could have used those sooner as well, right down to his birth weight of 8lbs. but like I said earlier, I wasn’t ready! I hope to buy a new cloth diaper here and there, so by the time I have a 2nd child, I would be able to use all cloth if I wanted to. I will get to the numbers and saving money in a minute.

The Smelly Reality

To buy cloth diapers, it means shelling out a lot of money at one time. But, it could save you in the long run. So, it depends how your mind works. Spend $300 right now and possibly never again, OR spend $8.99 every 5 days or so for a pack of disposables. For 2-1/2 years. I’ll try to break it down. (Every situation is different, and there are many varied prices out there on cloth and disposables, but you’ll get the idea)

The Cost of Cloth Diapers

The Cost of Disposable Diapers

For a few months you are probably using 8-12 diapers a day. Then it slows down and could go down to only 5 or 6 a day. Let’s just do an average of what you may potentially spend from birth until your kid is 2-1/2 (the average age of the potty trained kid):

You could spend a good $0.19- $.30 per diaper, depending on the brand.

Let’s say the first 3 months you change diapers an average of 9 times a day. The low end would be $154 and the high end would be $243 for the 1st 3 months.
Then about 7 day for the next 3… You’re looking at: $119.70 – $189

And from about 6 months till your child is potty trained, we’ll say 30 months (2-1/2 years old): $684 – $1080

Add it all up and you could be looking at anywhere from $958 – $1,512- let’s face it, your kid may not be totally potty trained until 3 and you’ll be looking at costs from training pants and overnight diapers too!

Final Analysis

So, if your cloth lasts you the 2-1/2 years (which it should, if taken care of properly), then there is a substantial pro to using them if you’re up for the little bit of extra work. Even if you add in the few bucks it may cost to do a few extra laundry loads a month, and, if you’re like me, buy disposables occasionally when you’re traveling, or need a cloth break:), you will still save HUNDREDS of dollars. PLUS, if you have more kids, guess what you already have to use on them? That’s right. More money saved. You may have to replace a couple or repair wear and tear over the years, but seriously, we’re talking about spending about $500-$600 over the course of at least 2-1/2 years, if not another 2-1/2 on the next child, or spend $1000-$1500 per child; maybe even up to $3000 if you are still potty training at 3 years old.

I think the numbers, as well as the whole green factor does it for me! You’re saving trees and your not adding to the landfill problem. An added bonus to saving lots of money!! So, it comes down to what will work best for your baby and for you. Just be realistic and get ready to either spend the money, or have a couple more steps in the diapering/laundry process. No one will judge you either way! Well, they might, but who cares, do what works for your family.

Questions? I’m no expert, but I can try. I do have a handful of expert friends though, who have used cloth (and varied kinds) longer than I have, so I can try to get you in touch with them if you need some advice on this subject!

Editor’s Note: When you are having a baby shower, it might be worth mentioning to guests that you would like Amazon.com Gift Cards to make a substantial dent in the initial cost.

“After yesterday’s announcement that Living Social would add 25 cities to its deal roster (bringing them to 52 total), it’s clear that the “group-buying” phenomenon is more than just a fad. The model is genius in its simplicity: Sites find local businesses willing to provide large discounts in return for spreading their names to new customers. Consumers log on daily, check out their hometown’s deals and either sign up or ignore the deal. But as this trend picks up steam, more and more competitors are coming on the scene. How do you know which one’s for you? Today we’ve rounded up the top 9 group-buying sites currently online, summarized how they operate and offered a quick review from our own experiences. Enjoy, and happy shopping…”

Read the article in its entirety at Coupon Sherpa

“Today we’ve rounded up 13 pay-what-you-want restaurants from Jersey to Germany. This experiment doesn’t always work (Tiera Sana in Queens closed up shop shortly after trying the model out every Tuesday back in ’08), but perhaps in these leaner economic times, the concept can find an audience. Frugal, but fair prices?”

For more info, check out his full article

Some of you who read this blog may have already seen that I have written extensively about meal planning and grocery shopping . I have recently all but abandoned the electronic versions of my daily planning (save gcal and gmail contacts). In trying to fudge an electronic system to fit into my planning and GTD systems, I decided that it was time to go back to paper.

I am currently saving up for a Levenger Circa system. While I am doing so, I am moving my planning systems to paper; waiting for the day i can afford that punch and notebook. In the process, I found that my current grocery shopping system was starting to show its age. It worked fine, but it just wasn’t very well laid out. I also found that I didn’t like to have to flip through several pages in my book to find my current list. I am hoping that the ability to rearrange pages will make this adventure complete.

A Bit of Googling

After searching around a bit, I found that there were a good deal of pre-printed forms available for not only the circa system, but for pretty much any system out there. This helped out a great deal, as I am now able to get a head start on getting my thoughts in order. While I found a ton of shopping list templates out there, nothing really seemed to suite my needs.

I must immediately confess that I am not a designer, nor am I productivity expert. I downloaded a copy of Inkscape and did my best.

The Final Product

I didn’t say it was pretty. I will say that so far, it’s pretty functional. While I hate to call it a final product, I think it’s pretty serviceable for now. You can download the fully printable PDF here.

To use the form, all you really need to do is start planning your meals on the days on the left side of the form. I am making a huge assumption that you are at the intermediate stage in cooking your own meals and that you have looked at my previous example and are comfortable with making a sensible grocery list.

Once you have made your meal plan, simply use the list on the right side of the sheet to plan our your grocery shopping. While I have mentioned these things in my previous post, I do think a few things bear repeating:

1. Before you head out to the store, double check your pantry and make sure you don’t already have these items in stock.
2. Divide your list by department to speed up your trip.
3. Keep your eyes from wandering over the impulse buy shelves.
4. Keep in mind that many of these items can be bought orders of magnitude cheaper at bulk food stores and farmers markets.

In The End.

I hope this list works for you, and helps you save a little bit of dough on your grocery adventures. But! If you find that there is something missing, or something that might be tweaked to make this make more sense, let me know. Let’s call this list v1, and we’ll keep working on it until we get something that is as dialed in as it can be.

For the full report, see The Coupon Sherpa’s full report.

The idea of coupon stacking is: combining store coupons, manufacturers’ coupons, and possibly other rebates and offers to save big on weekly sales.

Stop by The Coupon Sherpa and check out their latest offering on Coupon Stacking

I seems like alot of people are finding the same thing. Rather than take the heat on a card they may not use, recipients of these unwieldy gifts are now selling them online at great discounts.

From Jeff C.:

“With Father’s Day coming up this weekend, gift card sales are booming as usual. It’s estimated that 3 in 10 shoppers will pick up gift cards for Dad, adding up to 1.2 BILLION in spending. Though they make a great last-minute gift, a staggering number of gift cards are never even used. There’s an estimated $40 BILLION in unclaimed gift cards collecting dust in US homes right this moment. What to do? Gift Card Granny, a leading resource for the buying and selling of discounted gift cards, has compiled an exhaustive list of merchants who offer cards, and provided details on just how much you can get back via each of the top online gift card resellers.

Some are offering as high as 80% of the card’s original value! Check out the full list and make sure Dad’s gifts don’t go to waste this year.”

Check Out the Gift Card Granny

Now, what I would like to do is calculate how much cheaper it is to make them at home. I am sure the answer would be ‘much.’ But it seems like it would be more responsible to cook them at home. Maybe I’ll crank the numbers when I have time.

For the full article, check here.