Suddenly down an income and expecting our third child, it was time to cut costs. We cut down on a lot of things like going out to eat, entertainment, cable, auto insurance (yay Progressive!), almost everything we could, including finding ways to stretch a dollar at the grocery store.
My husband is a sewer and drain cleaner and has insisted on 1-ply toilet paper since we moved in together, so I found myself the perfect 1-ply - Cottonelle. I loved that toilet paper because it wasn't like the stuff you find in public bathrooms and schools, but it made my husband happy. The only problem with that stuff is the fact that we have a lot of people going to the bathroom everyday at our house, and we were burning through toilet paper like nobody's business! In the spirit of cutting back I bought a big pack of Scott toilet paper.
I was adamant about not using this stuff before. It was thin and flimsy and it takes more sheets to...um...do what it does than other toilet paper. I can't believe I'm talking about this!! But we were cutting back and I was going to sacrifice. What I found out was this: A roll of Scott toilet paper lasts forever compared to my precious Cottonelle!!! I used to buy toilet paper all the time, but no weekly pack of toilet paper anymore! And this giant pack I bought recently (that I haven't had to open yet) will last us about 14 years or so! Well, maybe a little less, but, you get the idea!
I generally buy store brand whenever I possibly can, and I've found that several of the Target brand items I buy - I actually prefer over the name brand! One example: I am a big fan of the Market Pantry milk at Target!
Also while trying to pinch pennies I gave the plain looking loaves of bread at the bottom of the shelves a chance.
I wasn't expecting to like this bread, it was only about 74 cents per loaf, but I was pleasantly surprised! I actually like this bread just as much as the bigger brands of wheat bread and it's dirt cheap which is good since we go through about 4 loaves per week!
I've also recently switched Little Man from Luvs diapers to Target's Up and Up diapers, and I like them better for him! I think they fit him better than the Luvs did. I'm not a fan of Huggies at all, but I do like Pampers diapers, but when you look at the price difference per diaper Pampers are just ridiculously expensive for something they're going to wear for just a couple hours or less before it gets changed. Little Man also drank Up and Up formula back when he was using bottles. I want to say the Up and Up formula was about $10 cheaper per can than the name brand can... with identical nutrition info!!
I also tried to be a coupon user, but haven't gotten myself disciplined enough to find them, print them, remember to use them, etc. A huge money saver was planning all our meals for the week and making one trip to the store rather than 3 or 4!
I hope you enjoyed my ramblings about toilet paper, milk, bread, and baby stuff! And just for the sake of keeping with the toilet paper topic... I changed 7 poopy diapers today between the 2 babies! SEVEN!
Goodnight.
