Self-propelled - two very awesome words

One of our cost cutting efforts was to cancel the lawn service. Duh! you say, but for a mere $50 per month, only during the summer, we have avoided approximately one hour of marital argument time PER WEEKEND for as long as we've been paying someone else to do it. We fundamentally disagree about the phrase "it needs it". And we completely recognized that we were paying for weekend peace rather than lawn care.

A luxury we can no longer afford at $300 per year (leaf work in the fall is $75),

So a while back I started looking for a self propelled mower for cheap. Yes we have a push mower, but it didn't start well six years ago when it was lodged under our deck. Cousin 4 and Nannie contributed money to this endeavor when it became apparent that I was being too cheap in my search. Cousin 4, being male, can go into pawn shops and mower shops and not get swindled. He found a lovely used mower for $125.

And have I mentioned our vertical lawn. It's the reason we have to have a self propelled. This picture depicts at least ten vertical feet but at times it feels like a hundred. This is Tennessee the land of no flat land. And the steepest part of our yard has two Sweetgum trees. Female Sweetgum trees. (Think "seeds" and not "balls" and this makes sense.) Which means they emit stickerballs. Thousands of stickerballs. Which no mower machine has trouble with, but the person behind the mower will roll the length of their foot on a regular basis. So take your vertical lawn and add one thousand stickerballs. This makes mowing the lawn A LOT more difficult.

However! Now we have a self-propelled mower instead of a plain push mower.

The planets aligned this morning in that I was awake, the boys were not and it was 72 degrees outside! So I mowed the front lawn this morning for the first time in at least 5 years.

Things I've learned this morning:
Self-propelled are some of the most beautiful words in the english language.
Self-propelling downhill makes you have to trot to keep up.
Self-propelled are some of the most beautiful words in the english language.
I am SOOOOOO out of shape.
Self-propelled are some of the most beautiful words in the english language.
There is NO breeze today but loads of humidity.
Self-propelled are some of the most beautiful words in the english language.
It is pretty satisfying to see a neat lawn and know you did it yourself.

Tightwaddery and tiny accomplishments

I've gotten a lot done lately, or at least I feel like that. I think this is mostly due to me lowering my expectations on calling a chore done. I've started to put it on my list as being "done" if I work on it at all. Today I spent 10 frantic minutes balancing the checkbook, did not get it up to date, but did get some progress made, and therefore I put it on my "to done list". Other things that took about the same amount of time, yet made my got-er-done list include making 3 phone calls, paying three bills and picking out books at the library.

I've been reading the Tightwad Gazette during middle of the night feedings and rockings. There are large chunks of this book that are seriously out of date. For instance, the tip that you can save on your phone bill by requesting pulse service instead of tone service. Also, she repeatedly suggests writing thoughtful letters instead of paying 9 cents per minute for long distance. I think it's been nearly as long as we've been married since we paid for long distance per minute.

On the other hand, some things are timeless like eat simpler meals, hang dry laundry if you can, shop garage sales and thrift stores, and how to find more storage space in your house. The last of which made me want to call my former neighbor to give her some space saving ideas. Then I realized that since she moved, and doubled their square footage, she probably doesn't need these tips any more.

Baking more from scratch probably wouldn't save me much money due to how much I might bake non-edible items. Also mixes and baked goods are extremely cheap! Can you really bake 2 dozen cookies for less than $1.29?

I have made a Tightwad Gazette grocery notebook this week. The Gazette, combined with the show Extreme Couponing, has encouraged me to at least examine if we could use coupons to save money beyond the Aldi prices. For several years, each time I've examined prices at non-Aldi stores, Aldi still has THE best prices and generally tastes better than Kroger brand. As a result, I've stopped looking at prices and don't know what things cost right now. The notebook will help me with this. The notebook is a portable listing of the place, size, cost, and cost per unit of products, listing one item per page. For instance, sliced bread has one page and I can list what Aldi, Kroger, and Walmart have for standard prices. That way I'll actually know a sale when I see one.

*DING!*

Since Hank was born, I've gone to the grocery store about twice as often for 3 items that I feel cannot wait. This is driving me nuts and, I'm sure, costing me more in impulse purchases. Also, I'm eating a TON carbohydrates and still weigh less than I did when I was 28 1/2 (AKA when my body decided to have a new, standard, larger number.)

*DING!*

Rechargeable batteries are great - EXCEPT IF THEY ARE SIZE D! We are very firm believers in rechargeable batteries. When I was like 12 and my dad realized that we teenagers were plowing through tons of AA batteries for our Walkmans, he bought us a charger and enough batteries so that some could always be on the charger and some always in our Walkmans. We basically stopped needing to buy AA batteries. Incidentally, just within the last year or two have I called my daddy to tell him that THOSE SAME BATTERIES from when I was twelve, have now officially died. Me and my husband agreed and we trashed those 4 batteries. Yes folks, that's 20 years.

We have also recently tried to use some size D rechargeable batteries from my husband's childhood. These would not run any of our kid's toys. We thought they were just dead. But then I read the actual batteries. Size D rechargeable batteries have a different amount of volts than disposable batteries. A lower amount of volts. Which means they will not run the baby swing, or the bouncy seat. Why did the battery mafia do this?!

Still, the single D battery that runs the vibrator part of the bouncy seat still only costs us about $6 per month. Gee, is it worth $6 per month to be able to get to sleep with a newborn in the house. OMG YES!!!

*DING!*

There is a children's book for adults called "Go the F**k to Sleep". Our local library has one copy. There are 14 holds on this book. That means that 14 people have requested this book when it is available. That has made me laugh many times in the last 48 hours. Sooz, I really wish you and I could snicker over this book. I do miss you on a regular basis!

*DING!*

We got to go to story time at the library today for the first time, and then play on the playground with the help of my local grandma. Yes, going to the park requires two adults for me, right now. Later, when Quint is better trained to public playgrounds and/or stopping when I say STOP, I'll be able to do this alone. But right now, I cannot chase a toddler and make sure no one steals Hank at the same time.

*DING!*

Hubby got his lap-band adjusted the other day. He had mentioned that he wanted to start eating better when he had that done, but he failed to mention that he would also be going hard core low carb - except for cookies. I had dreams of soon being able to make meals that Quint, Hubby and I could all eat - and therefore we all stop eating separate things at separate times. But no. If I don't eat a metric ton of carbs per day lately, I literally get dizzy while moving the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Protein is great. But carbs are a must. So the dinner I spent 3 days planning (this is a crock pot recipe that says it takes 20 minutes to prep) was eaten this evening by just me. I was not at all hurt that he didn't want to eat my cooking (how can you dislike something you haven't tried?) but was just more frustrated that I had planned for three days to prepare supper for my husband and I, to no avail. The primary ingredient was potatoes.

*DING!*

When you're home all the time with a toddler, you REALLY have to mop more than once a week. Otherwise the ants go marching one by one, horrah, HORRAH!

*DING!*

DING! is what my family says during our marathon phone conversations to indicate a complete and total subject change.

*DING!*

Why is it that when I ask my husband to help me with the kids I sometimes get the question, loaded with contempt, "Did you get a nap today?!" Indicating that he didn't get a nap today so he shouldn't have to do something. Sure I got a nap, but I also got up 2 hours earlier than you for the day and was up a total of about 2 hours during the night with feedings. Who is more oppressed here, WHO I ASK!!

*DING!*

My husband is wonderful and helpful and after I answer the above question in the affirmative, we split the current duties down the middle and get to work.

Speaking of which, he's trying to comfort our upset newborn without the aid of mammarys. OK, when you misspell mammarys, the suggested corrections are stammering, menageries, hammertoes, and miniseries. That's just funny. And I still spelt it rong. Gotta go.

It's the little things in life...

Priorities shift as you get older, and they also shift when you realize that your regular paychecks are about to dry up with no real replacement in sight. As my birthday approached, I realized there were several things I had been wishing for around the house that certainly fell into the category of non-essential. Of course the non-essential category has greatly expanded recently.

While trying to cut our budget anywhere we can, some regular purchases have started to seem extravagant. My favorite food in the whole wide world is the Aldi brand of microwave macaroni and cheese. A whole meal of this wonderful goo costs a whoppin' $0.87. Sometimes it's $0.99. But a blue box of mac and cheese is only $0.35 and you get twice the food. So one third the price and twice the food means that my favorite cheesy goo costs 6 times more than another mac and cheese that's still pretty good. The slightly smaller loaf of honey wheat bread is sometimes double the cost of the whole wheat bread.

So with these kinds of cuts in mind, here is the list of stuff that Mom bought me for my birthday which had been on my non-essential list. You ready?
Two more foot stools to scatter around the house.
Two more cheap face clocks.
Two new cheap napkin holders of the simple style that I like.
A slide for Quint.
Two new Teflon coated pans ($10 and $7 respectively).
A gallon jug of that wonderful softsoap handsoap.
Batteries - D, AA, & AAA those suckers add right up! And size D recharables don't have the same voltage and therefore don't run baby toys correctly.

None of those things are very expensive, but they added up.

Another thing I've shifted lately, is my diaper purchasing. I had been using Diapers.com, buying a million diapers at once in order to avoid shipping costs, and having huge boxes of diapers arrive at my house for about $0.22 cents per diaper. And that's my favorite brand too. Seemed like a pretty good deal since you can pay $0.30 per diaper if you're not paying attention at Target or Walgreens. Aldi sells diapers starting at size 3 (Quint's current size) for $0.15 each. Until recently, Aldi diapers had one slightly annoying feature that made me willing to pay more for my favorite diapers. Aldi diapers are just as good for Quint as my favorite diapers, they were just folded in an annoying way. But they've changed recently and aren't folded that way any more! So now I have absolutely no problem with cutting our diaper costs by 30%! So this means that I can diaper Quint for $20-25 per month.

Complete subject change:
I FOUND MY CELL PHONE!! It was in the front yard, covered in watery mud, and lit up and worked when I opened it!

Back to original subject:
It's amazing how much money you can save by just never, ever going into a store. I've noticed that I blow about $3 every time I go into Walgreens. Simple solution. Don't go into Walgreens. And when you need OTC medicine (thus negating the drive thru), walk quickly down boring aisles. Don't even think about walking into Hobby Lobby, Lowes, or WalMart. Only walk into the dollar store with a specific list and STICK TO IT! Also, I've got to start sticking to my Aldi list. The snacky-carb aisle gets me every time. On the other hand, I need to buy some better snacks for Quint.

Ok, so I don't have a good conclusion or wrap/up thought to this post, so you'll just have to make do with the fact that my brain has jumped to a subject other than this blog, and deal with it.

Cheers!