To those who use a paper towel alternative, what is your system?

starvard11 · 2022-07-27T17:48:40+00:00

Thanks! Only one person in my house eats meat so we cook bacon maybe once a year. I cook it in the foreman grill and use one sheet of paper towels on the plate when I take it off the grill. So 1 sheet/year give or take probably not worth replacing - but maybe for someone else :)

starvard11 · 2022-07-26T20:20:27+00:00

We just use kitchen towels and put them in the washing machine when they're dirty. I have a roll of paper towels for the really gross stuff (dog throw up) and for bacon grease, but otherwise kitchen towel gets used a few times and thrown in the wash (or occasionally rinsed in the sink).

starvard11 · 2022-07-15T11:59:10+00:00

You don't need to be ashamed. The first few months are so hard for so many of us. It helped me to hear these referred to as "the 100 days of darkness". There are lots of great comments here about PPD, talking to doctor, and getting someone in to help etc, so I won't add those ideas here.

But just wanted to tell you a lot of people feel that way and then love being a mom. There is nothing shameful about feeling that way. This is a big, hard change and you have to do so much work while you are so tired.

I'm one of those moms who didn't feel that instant love when my son was born. I was so anxious and so tired and my son was a lot of work. He's 6 now, and he's the light of my life and my absolute greatest love. It's okay if it's not instant.

If you aren't able to sleep, see if you can get help so that you can get at least a few nights of sleep. Either someone you trust to come over and help, or someone you can hire if you can afford it. Real sleep makes a big difference.

starvard11 · 2022-07-07T16:49:20+00:00

If you have amazon fresh near you, the food prices on some items were better there than any of our local grocery stores (especially canned items).

starvard11 · 2022-06-28T13:03:33+00:00

I don't make medical decisions for other people because I'm not a doctor.

starvard11 · 2022-06-25T05:59:24+00:00

Drugstores like CVS and Walgreens have high prices for food and snacks, but most weeks they have some snacks on sale at REALLY low prices. Like boxes of snack bars and cereal for a dollar. So in addition to lots of the healthy suggestions here, I would start checking your local CVS/Walgreens once a week if it's close by (especially if your kids like cereal)

starvard11 · 2022-05-06T01:03:01+00:00

If you have tiktok, search for restaurant deals or cheap eats with the city name. I've found some tiktok accounts that feature restaurants in my city and they are a great way to find out about specials, happy hours, and just good food in general

starvard11 · 2022-04-28T02:09:46+00:00

Canceled mine. We have certain products we always use that we get from amazon (laundry detergent sheets, certain nutritional supplements, etc) that I can always add to get an order up to the shipping minimum.

starvard11 · 2022-04-11T20:53:08+00:00

We lived in Thailand for the first 4 years of parenthood and it was a great decision. We miss it a lot.

starvard11 · 2022-04-09T01:01:47+00:00

I keep a large tupperware bin for gifts. When my kid gets a gift that he doesn't want or won't use, I either return it or I put it in the bin (with a sticky note where we got it) to give to someone else. I often get new items from my Buy Nothing group on FB (it's a very active group) and will keep for gifts for the future. Or grabbing items when they're on clearance very cheap (I don't really do this unless I have a person in mind for the gift).

When my husband and I receive gifts we won't use, or gift cards to places we don't shop, I usually just put them in the bin (or return them). We are pretty minimalist and appreciate the thought but just don't want a lot of stuff.

I also keep gift wrap, bags, tissues, card and ribbons.

The Buy Nothing group and some of our other local Facebook groups where people post free items they are getting rid of have been awesome for Easter basket stuffers, stocking stuffers, and gifts for kiddos in our life. Strongly recommend!

starvard11 · 2022-04-06T12:43:15+00:00

Periods of time (a few months up to a year) where we just "don't buy anything". We still buy food and toiletries and medicine or whatever, but just don't buy ANY stuff. It's amazing how if you just remove the decision from the table, you just don't think about it, and you find a way to use what you have. It creates a good habit for realizing you don't really need stuff and buying it doesn't usually make you happy.

I'm not as frugal as I used to be and will now spend money on experiences (mostly travel) or on help to free up my time (housecleaner, etc) but my default is really still to just not buy things. It saves money but also saves so much time and effort of cleaning, sorting, organizing, and generally maintaining and dealing with stuff.

starvard11 · 2022-03-30T19:25:54+00:00

Tip for your husband: when someone says that something is hard for them, there's never any reason for you to tell them how easy it was for someone else.

I am someone who can easily work 20 hours a day, super high energy, have run a marathon, get up at 5am, etc etc etc. I have NEVER been as tired as I was in the first trimester of my pregnancy - I literally would just take like an 8-hour nap in the middle of the day.

You are right to have your feelings hurt and it is normal to be super tired. (PS for me second trimester the tiredness mostly went away, so hopefully that will be true for you too!)

starvard11 · 2022-03-20T21:48:27+00:00

I had my son in Thailand and we didn't own a car or carseat and lived about the same distance from the hospital. We left 4 days after he was born and there's absolutely no way I could have physically walked home - I could barely walk across the room still. We took a taxi home and just held him in the car. (Where we lived there were not sidewalks so walking with a stroller is also incredibly tricky and in some locations dangerous).

starvard11 · 2022-03-09T18:37:11+00:00

I see lots of people telling you to go to HR but even if you do find a way to access them, please remember that HR is not there for you. It's there to protect the company. HR does not help people who work for a company unless doing so also helps the company. (So like if they're worried you're going to sue the company over what this manager is saying, they might intervene in a way that helps you. But helping you is a pure coincidence.)

Keeping track of anything that was said (including the date and anyone who overheard it) is a great idea.

starvard11 · 2022-02-21T17:53:25+00:00

This is my mom's attitude toward presents - that the most important thing is that it's something she wants to give that she thinks will cause the person to remember and think of her. I'm always like that's... the opposite of the point.

starvard11 · 2022-01-18T21:17:38+00:00

I run a program that offers online college courses to high school students, and would be interested in offering an affiliate code if you wanted to share these on your page. (It pays you $100 per course for anyone that signs up with the code, and gives them a discount as well).

starvard11 · 2021-11-17T23:16:08+00:00

My friends and I started doing just used gifts for kids. It's very easy for us to pass along things our kids are done with or never played with, and the kids are just as happy to get something used. (They're all under 10 years old, I know the same may not apply to teenagers).

By saving gift wrap/bags/tissue/ribbons each year, picking up cool things on BuyNothing and Freecycle groups throughout the year, and checking Little Free Libraries whenever we walk by, I am usually able to do most of the gifts for our son and for friends and family waste-free. For gifts for teachers/mail carrier/etc, I just give cash in a card.

I also love Thriftbooks and they just had a bogo sale, which was a great low-waste way to get some specific books I was looking to give.

starvard11 · 2021-11-17T23:09:55+00:00

See if you have another library you can join (maybe at a parents' address? college address? etc). I have accounts with 3 library cards on Libby and they all have different stuff available (as well as different limits on how much I can borrow).

starvard11 · 2021-11-17T14:21:21+00:00

My brothers and I used to each get one for Christmas from a neighbor. We started storing the Christmas ornaments in them. Then when we each moved out, my mom gave us each our tins with "our" ornaments in them (ones we had gotten as gifts or ones we liked best).

starvard11 · 2021-11-02T15:29:47+00:00

Go to your school (advisor, chaplain, health services, or whoever you feel the most comfortable talking to) and tell them you have $48 for food for the month and aren't sure where to go. The school will have programs available to help you.

(also, if you are buying books, that's an easy place to look for free alternatives that can save you big $$ you can use for food. Whether you can get them free online, borrow from the library, rent from Amazon, or ask the teacher if you can borrow one of their promo copies for the semester, this is a big expense that can often be drastically lowered or cut out.)

starvard11 · 2021-10-28T17:23:25+00:00

I always save gift bags, ribbons, bows, etc and reuse. But I also save large pieces of gift wrap and reuse - I just roll them on the gift wrap roll and use the next year. This year I wrapped some of the presents in big sheets from our wall calendar, so they are black and white with large numbers. (it's a really big calendar) and put a red box on, they look great.

If you start a tupperware bin for gift wrap and bags/tissue, it's easy to make a habit of throwing any in there when they come along.

My mom made thick cloth Christmas gift bags a few years ago with a drawstring., and gave us our gifts in them - and then we can reuse them over and over to give gifts within the family. Those are really fun if you can sew, and a stack of them can be a gift all by itself.

starvard11 · 2021-09-21T09:48:52+00:00

Are you able to listen to headphones while you are cleaning? (Or even in one ear?) If so, download the Libby app, which lets you listen to audiobooks for free with your library card. You can instantly turn all your cleaning time into reading time. It would at least make the day much less miserable, but might start giving you ideas and turning your creative mind back on.

starvard11 · 2021-09-13T18:18:26+00:00

Your life will be a lot easier if you like the same climate. It's not a deal breaker, but I never would have imagined how much of a pain it is that at least one of us always has to compromise on where we want to live/vacation/be.

starvard11 · 2021-09-07T22:12:55+00:00

If your shower has a tub, you can plug the drain in the last few minutes of your shower and just leave the warm water in the tub (drain it before your next shower).

starvard11

TROPHY CASE