Money Saving Mom®

The following is a guest post from a reader who asked to remain anonymous

Growing up, my family vacationed in 5-star hotels and spent more at a single meal in a gourmet restaurant than my husband and I currently spend on groceries for an entire month!

Needless to say, the disparity between my financial situation and that of others in my family has led to some pretty awkward situations. While my own struggle with contentment is something I need to put in perspective, I’m pretty sure my family would do some things differently if they understood.

If someone you love has far less income than you, or is simply in a financial slump, they’d probably like for you to understand these concepts, too.

Remember that I Need To Plan Ahead

What seems like no biggie to you may be huge to me.

Let me give you an example: One year, my parents, siblings, and our families were together for a rare long weekend. Someone suggested that every family unit could pay for a couple meals throughout our visit. Sounds fair, right?

The problem was that my family rarely eats out on our own, especially at sit-down restaurants. And even when we do, we plan ahead, have coupons in tow, and usually drink water. We simply could not afford to foot the bill for 8 adults, plus children.

The situation was awkward, to say the least! Others footed the bills, and we felt like absolute heels. However, we simply couldn’t justify dipping into our meager savings or going into debt over a family get-together.

Let Me Serve You, My Way

The next time a family gathering was planned, I suggested (plenty of time ahead) that each of our families take care of two meals, however we wanted to do it.

For our part, my husband and I cooked up a pretty impressive breakfast — if I do say so myself! I was able to make room in our budget and pair coupons and store deals to purchase the needed groceries ahead of time. I also used some Crystal’s freezer cooking strategies to reduce my time in the kitchen that week!

Everyone was impressed, and I was glad to be able to do my part. Some of the others did take everyone out to a favorite restaurant, and that was okay, too.

Realize What I Can (& Can’t) Give

Even if I realize that I make one tenth of what some others make, giving them a $10 gift when they give me a $100 one feels crummy. Seeing my kids receive more gifts from extended family than they do from me is difficult, too.

My one sister was out-giving me with my kids at Christmas — in a big way. I told her how I felt, and that I wanted my kids to receive more from their parents than extended family. She completely understood but didn’t want to spend less on my kids than she did her other nieces and nephews.

She now gets my kids each a gift (usually after asking me for ideas, first), and then buys them savings bonds with the remainder of what she wants to spend.

Know that Conversations Can Easily Exclude or Embarrass Me

I’ll try to be excited for you when you tell me about your home renovation or trip to Bermuda, but I just won’t have much to contribute to the conversation. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t share your exciting news with me, but please realize that if everyone else is spending a lot of time talking about things I don’t have or can’t do, I’m going to feel left out.

I’m not trying to be antisocial, but I’m pretty sure that saying “My husband glued down the part of the Formica countertop that keeps popping up,” wouldn’t quite fit in.

And then there’s Christmas.

In our own home, we try not to make Christmas about the gifts or money, but when you tell me what you gave your kids and ask me what I got mine, it’s hard for me not to feel like a bad mom. It’s also a little embarrassing when people ask my kids what they “got for Christmas.”

I do try to make our celebrations enjoyable, though, so I’d much prefer that we be asked what our favorite part of Christmas was, or something like that.

At the end of the day, I don’t want to be seen as “the poor one” or pitied for my (current) lot in life. I just want to be loved and appreciated and included in the festivities.

The author is a freezer-cooking , baby-wearing, stay-at-home mama who does some freelance writing while her 3 young kiddos nap. She’s married to a wonderful man who’s the pastor of a small country church and prefers to remain anonymous due to the content of this post.

photo source

Testimonial from Krissy:

After purchasing a house in August of 2013, everything seemed to break! This included the garage door opener, the washing machine, the couch frame, and then the furnace — all within three months of moving into the house!

We called a company that we had done business with in the past for a repair estimate/inspection. Since our furnace was 21 years old, we were told that “if” we found parts it would be very costly and there was no guarantee on how long this repair would hold out. We were charged a $135 service fee for this estimate and inspection.

We discovered that we had a home warranty and tried to go through them for the repair. After two weeks, we still had a broken furnace and didn’t seem to be getting anywhere with our home warranty, so we called the company that did the initial inspection back.

They told us it would cost us $3500, plus $300 for a humidifier (which we really wanted), and then the original service call fee of $135. That is $3800 — and we’d already spent $135 with them for the initial service call!

Our options:

1. 12 months same as cash, no interest. (We had savings but were worried about an extra $330 payment each month, the savings would be gone before we paid it off. We did not have the cash in our normal budget.)
2. Finance the project (interest, interest, interest… and again, no extra cash.)
3. Pay in full.

We choose option 3!

We used almost all of our savings, but because we paid-in-full, they waived the $135 service fee and gave us a cash discount. We paid $3650 — saving $420 — which made the humidifier FREE!

We have to build our saving back up, but we have a brand new furnace/humidifier and NO PAYMENT and NO INTEREST from a charge!

Guest post from Elise

Baby food pouches came out a few years ago when my now four year old was a toddler. They were immediately a huge hit with many of my mommy friends. I have always made my own baby food, so I never bothered to purchase any of the store-bought pouches.

After the birth of my third son earlier this year, I was still committed to making my own baby food. However, a few weeks ago I was walking through the baby section and found myself in the baby food aisle. The colorful, transportable, spoonless, feed-as-you go food pouches were calling my name and persuaded me into buying two of them for a busy-on-the-go week… just to see what all the fuss was about.

The price was less than alluring at $1 a pouch (sale price), but I figured this was just a one-time purchase, so it wasn’t a big deal. The problem was, after using one of the pouches, I was hooked! I was amazed at how easy it was to feed him while we were out and about — so much less mess, and he seemed to like it, too!

So, I started researching refillable pouches online and was dismayed with how expensive they were. I wasn’t willing to invest that much, especially since this was our last child and I would only be needing them for a few months and would probably only use one or two pouches a week.

I was expressing my desire to do some sort of inexpensive, re-fillable pouches for all of our upcoming holiday travels to my husband; and he all the sudden chimed in, “Can you use the spout from the pouch you just used and put them in one of your icing bags?” Genius! Have I mentioned how glad I am that I married an engineer?

So, that is what I did. I took my two empty pouches, cut out the spouts, removed the foil as much as I could, and ran the spout and lid through the dishwasher. Then I dug out my cake decorating supplies and found my plastic, disposable piping bags and went to work. If you decorate any cakes the assembly will be pretty easy for you!

Amazingly enough, the lid will screw on over the plastic and still lock into place. I will not guarantee that these homemade pouches are completely leak proof. But throwing the pouch into a plastic baggie (that I re-wash later) is something that I am used to doing whenever I packed up my re-usable plastic containers, anyways.

And, best of all, the piping bags that I buy are quality enough that after I feed my baby I re-wash the tip and bag for another use! Thus far, I am on my third use with one bag and it still works like a charm! (Quick tip: turn the bag inside out to pull out the spout!)

Approximate Total Cost:

12 Disposable Piping Bags = $3.99

2 Pre-filled Food Pouches = $2.00

TOTAL = $5.99 for 14 pouches (plus the 12 piping bags can be reused)

Not bad if you ask me!

Picture Instructions:

Carefully cut out the spout remove as much foil as you can. Wash thoroughly by hand or in the dishwasher.

Push the spout as far down into the disposable piping bag and snip the end with scissors. Reach in again and push the spout down as far as you can again to create a tight seal.

Twist on the lid and lock it into place.

Carefully fill the bag with your home made baby food puree. (Consider filling it with applesauce or yogurt for your toddlers for when you are on the go). I recommend using a tall cup to hold the bag in place so you can be careful not to get too much on the sides of the top of the bag.

Twist off the excess bag and secure in place (I used a twist tie, but you could probably use a rubber band or even just tie it off.)

Feed your ridiculously cute baby!

Or let ridiculously cute baby feed themselves!

Elise Haroldson has enjoyed eight years of oneness with her dear husband Steve (who really deserves the credit for this amazing idea!). They have been blessed with three active little boys, ages 6, 4 and 10 months and love living on a 15 acre homestead in IL. Elise strives to maintain an orderly, budget conscious, fun and Christ-centered home, all while dabbling in the fine arts of gardening, baking, sewing, and photography. She currently enjoys writing a quarterly “Cutting Corners” article for her church’s women’s newsletter.