How frugal were you as a mother?

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Heloise
Posts: 835
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 12:11 pm

Re: How frugal were you as a mother?

Post by Heloise »

mbrudnic wrote:You all had to have been Stay-At-Home Moms.
I was always a stay-at-home mom.
BevMoore
Posts: 1012
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2015 11:04 pm

Re: How frugal were you as a mother?

Post by BevMoore »

My late husband was the stay at home parent and he insisted on disposables when he was on duty. Even so he just could not handle poopy diapers. When he was forced to change one he ran to the toilet afterwards. If someone had a poopy diaper (my kids were twins) and hubs knew I would be home within the hour he saved the job for me LOL!

Evenings, weekends and days off I switched to cloth because I knew it was cheaper. But even I had a hard time with the ick factor so that was the only time I washed with hot water and diapers went into the dryer until they were bone dry.

Bev
BeckyO
Posts: 926
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:32 am

Re: How frugal were you as a mother?

Post by BeckyO »

I was a very frugal mom
cloth diapers, line dried, a mix of homemade and commercial baby food. I nursed my babies along as I could provide what they needed. I cooked Everything from scratch. Every left over was converted to soup, salad or casserole. I sewed all their clothes, unless they were hand me downs. I mended. I scouted all the free entertainment I could find. Even found a co-op free pre school for a few hours a week. I used "Mothers' day out' at several churches (children were entertained with puppets, skating, games and crafts while Mom was free to do whatever). Frugality continues in my household, just not as hardcore.


I read Bev's post. When traveling I did put paper diapers, usually cut in half inside the cloth diapers because of the "ick" factor in disposing of or storing cloth diapers. Disposable diapers of that time were not very reliable. If baby moved they might tear off. But if I put cloth and a pair of rubber or plastic pants over then they were safe.
Heloise
Posts: 835
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 12:11 pm

Re: How frugal were you as a mother?

Post by Heloise »

LOL, Bev!

I always laundered diapers in the hottest water available, too. Hot water equaled sanitizing and disinfecting in my mind.

As for being able to stomach poopy diapers, it wasn't until I had kids of my own that I was able to somewhat deal with dirty diapers... even then I never got used to it. As a babysitter I used to gag, heave, and wince my way through poopy diaper changes, and everyone used cloth back then, so there was always the toilet dunking and bobbing step to deal with afterwards, followed by a quick hand-wringing before putting the diaper in the pail.
Heloise
Posts: 835
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 12:11 pm

Re: How frugal were you as a mother?

Post by Heloise »

BeckyO wrote:Frugality continues in my household, just not as hardcore.
Same here. Having been raised frugally and having raised my own family frugally, it's in me to stay.
Heloise
Posts: 835
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 12:11 pm

Re: How frugal were you as a mother?

Post by Heloise »

BeckyO wrote:When traveling I did put paper diapers, usually cut in half inside the cloth diapers because of the "ick" factor in disposing of or storing cloth diapers. Disposable diapers of that time were not very reliable. If baby moved they might tear off. But if I put cloth and a pair of rubber or plastic pants over then they were safe.
What a neat idea. The closest thing I did to your idea, was I used disposable diaper liners. They resembled the old dryer sheets for static cling, and could be flushed down the toilet at change time, helping to reduce mess and odour in the diapers. The other thing I always did was use two diapers when changing, which made for a bulky bottom but added a lot of absorbency. Rubber pants over the diapers always.
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