Frugal Friday

[ecosophia]

Welcome back to Frugal Friday!  This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which have changed as we've proceeded. (As things have settled down to a nice steady conversational pace, for example, I've deleted the rules about only one tip per person per week and about limiting the length of comments; I was worried early on about people flooding the forum with too much too fast, but I think we're past that risk.)

Rule #1:  this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc.  I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2:  this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #3:  please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about.  Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #4: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

With that said, have at it!

Comments

Breastfeeding

[michele7]

People tend to forget how soothing nursing is for babies. When my 3rd child was a toddler, he fell and got a deep cut right above his eyebrow. We rushed off to the local doctor (this was in Japan) and I breastfed Cody while the doctor stitched him up. The doctor said that was the easiest stitches he had to do on an infant because he was being soothed at the breast.

Re: Breastfeeding

[methylethyl]

It really is like having a magic comfort-the-baby wand. Absolutely everything that upset the baby... the answer was nurse the baby.

Re: Breastfeeding

[michele7]

My youngest nursed until she was two. The only times she wanted mommy's milk was first thing in the morning and if she got hurt. She would only nurse for a few minutes just to take the edge off or kick start her day. When she stopped it was bittersweet. It was nice to have my body belong only to me, but I lost a very easy soother. Getting over the sore nipple hurdle at the beginning is the roughest part. And the more you nurse, the easier it gets and the more milk you make.

Re: Breastfeeding

[methylethyl]

:)

Yeah, mine were all weaned after 2nd birthday, and that was a huge bonus. Might've gone longer, but for us, nursing was inextricably connected to them sleeping in our bed. At about age 2 they got impossible to share a bed with-- all arms and legs and thrashing and flailing! Had to wean them in order to get them into their own beds... I remember being at kind of a loss with my eldest, when he'd get a bump or scrape, after we weren't nursing anymore, like "oh, no, what do I do now?"