Budgeting without a Brain

I hate budgeting.  I an ideal world, I would spend all the money I wanted and there would always be more.  Yes, you may have some of what I'm smoking - it's very good stuff.  The problem I run into the most with budgeting my husband's money is discipline and self control.  I really have neither.  If I have the money with me, it's likely that I'll spend it.  And because I have three children, I'm not really comfortable leaving the house with no debit card.  I realize that, logically, there is very little reason why I need one.  I can check before I leave if I need gas, and if my car breaks down or someone starts choking, I'm going to call my husband to come to my aid, and he'll have money on him, but it still makes me nervous to not have it.

And so we've devised the cash only system.  This of course isn't new - I've read about it before, and I'm sure some big money guru talks about it extensively in some book somewhere that costs a bunch of money.  But since my blog is free, I figure I'll go into it some here.

First we break down our expenses into PMS

Primary

Material

Superfluous

Primary means things we pay for monthly, even if some of them aren't strictly "necessary."  In this category goes:

Mortgage

Car Payment / Insurance

Cell Phones

Autopay entertainment (like Netflix)

Credit Cards and other Loans

Material means things we need but aren't automatic withdrawals and aren't necessarily a stable cost. In this category goes:

Groceries (encompasses food, cleaning supplies, and toiletry type products)

Dog Supplies

Diapers

Gas

And Superfluous means stuff we really don't need, for the most part. In this category goes:

Junk food and soda

Clothing (which is sometimes a need, but not the way I do it!)

Fast Food

Entertainment (pretty much just means date night)

My husband gets paid once a month, and soon as it hits his account we take a small chunk out and put it in savings, and pretend like we never got it. Alternately, we could put this money towards out debt, and it'll probably end up there eventually, but having SOME savings is pretty important.

Then we figure out how much money we have left after all the bills will be payed (because sometimes rates go up, and some payments are only every other month, etc). Then we sit down with a Nice Google Doc and plan out our month. First we allot money to the Material category, deciding about how much we'll need for groceries, etc. This stays relatively constant every month, so it doesn't take a long time to figure out. As the month goes on we may adjustments, though.

We set aside a chunk of our money for “miscellaneous expenses” - things like vet bills, or signing Luke up for soccer, car repairs, etc. If we haven't spent this money by the end of the month it goes into savings, but I think we have yet to encounter a month where we don't spend almost all of it (three kids, four dogs, two cars? Yeah).

And then comes the Superfluous category. After everything else has been settled, we look at how much we have left for the month, and decide what we can afford to spend on Junk food from the grocery store, fast food, and random clothing items that Kes things are “SUPER CUTE, OMG!” It's rare that our kids actually NEED new clothes, probably because I constantly buy them things. Anyways..

After deciding how much goes in each sub-category, we withdrawal enough cash to cover what we've decided on. And before you get any ideas, remember that we have four dogs AND an alarm system. ;) lol. We keep the cash in labeled envelopes that I made all by myself (omg I'm so crafty!) – one for each category.

The reason this works is that it means I won't spend the money unless I leave the house intending to spend it. So when I leave the house for play group and lunch with Andy, I'll grab enough cash for lunch. But when I leave the house to go to the doctor, I won't grab any cash, and therefore I can't stop for lunch! And when the cash is gone from the envelop, the budget is done for the month. No exceptions.

So priority definitely matters here.
Savings
Monthly Bills
Necessities
Emergencies
Everything Else

It still takes a little bit of discipline, because I still have a debit card with me when I leave the house, but it's a lot easier to exercise self control somehow. Knowing that I “left the money at home” lets me think that I don't ACTUALLY have it with me, and therefore I can't spend it. Prior to the Cash Only System, we had a fast food budget, and always “overdrew.” And we never had a junk food budget, but I decided that we really need one when I added up all the junk food we bought in a month (we drink a lot of soda around here).

And that's pretty much it! It's not complicated, but it works for me, the Queen of Self Control. ;)

Removing Paper Products, and other good tips

The economy sucks right now.  I think it might be getting better, overall, but budgets are still tight, especially for families, and especially for us LDS families who have a tendency to breed frequently. :p  I have a few money savings tips that may sound a little gross, but can make a pocket book really stretch.

There are obviously more ways to save money, but I picked some of the easiest and least obvious to detail here.  Everyone knows that growing your own produce, owning your own dairy cow, or slaughtering your own chickens is cheaper than buying things in the store.  You can make your own breads, pastas, sauces - you can make everything from scratch if you want!  And yes, you will save money.  But me personally - I don't have the time it takes to do these things on a regular basis.  Maybe if I *really* wanted to do it, I could find the time, but meh.  So here's a few easy, not at all time consuming ways to save money every single month.

If you use coupons diligently and regularly, you probably won't save as much as my estimated savings suggest, because with coupons you can get things nearly free (or totally free) if you play your cards right.  But, assuming you DON'T coupon for whatever reason, here we go!

1) Ditch the paper towels.  Whatever you can do with a paper towel you can do with an old T-shirt, a raggy bath towel, or some other form of mildly absorbant cloth.  Just toss it in the washing machine with your load (or by itself if you want, but that sort of defeats the cost savings), or toss it in a diaper pail and wait until it's full. I use towels to clean up everything.
** Kid spills - water, juice, milk, anything wet.
** To dry the floor after I mop so that I don't slip and die
** Pee - from kid pee (potty training yay!) to dog pee, it's pretty much all the same, and they come clean in the wash.
** Puke - see the comment about pee
** If you're squeamish about getting your hands dirty (in a literal sense), then you can invest in some rubber or plastic gloves to wear so your skin doesn't touch the towel.
** Use cloth diapers to clean windows and mirrors - they don't leave fuzz and are reusable.
** We go through maybe one $1 roll of paper towels every two months, because we use it for things like bacon and... yeah, pretty much just bacon.
Estimated Savings of ditching paper towels: $4 a month (more if you use the higher quality paper towels)

2) Ditch the toilet paper.  You might want to keep some around for guests, but as far as your kids and spouse go "Family Cloth" is a definite savings tool.  If you lack sewing skills, you can take old cotton t-shirts and cut them into squares, or use baby wash cloths (can be bought at Walmart for $1 for 5, I think?), or you can make them yourself with a needle and thread and some fabric.  For poopy messes, you can soak the cloths in a vinegar solution or leave them in a wet bag until it's time to rinse, or you can rinse them immediately after use and then toss them in a pail.  Again, if your squeamish about getting your hands dirty, rubber or plastic gloves will do the trick nicely.
This saves our family oodles a month, given that our one-year-old and our new puppy both have a strange fetish for unrolling, chewing on, or otherwise destroying entire rolls of toilet paper at a time.  Add in the ones that get soaked when the bigger kids play in the bathroom sink, and really we go through A LOT of disposable toilet paper!
Estimated Savings with Family Cloth: $15 a month (more if you use higher quality toilet paper)

3) Ditch Disposable baby wipes.  Use cloth wipes instead.  You can buy them online, you can make them, or just like Family Cloth you can use the cheapy wash cloths or old T-shirts - whatever you have on hand.  You can make a wipes solution to soak them in or spray them with, or you can just use plain old water - that part is up to you.
Estimated Savings with two in diapers: $8 a month

4) Ditch Disposable Diapers.  This is a HUGE savings, especially if you have more the one child in diapers.  See my blog entry on the detailed savings of cloth diapers here. Cloth Diapering Saves Moolah
Estimated savings of cloth diapering: $12 a month

5) Ditch Commercial cleaning products.  A gallon of vinegar costs around $2.  A box of baking soda is about the same.  Ammonia isn't expensive either, and neither is rubbing alcohol.  And all of these things can be used to clean your home just as effectively, and with just as much germicide as expensive, commercial cleaning products.  And the added bonuses - better for the environment, less harsh fumes, and no artificial chemicals.
White vinegar solution: 1 part vinegar, 1 part water.  You can use this to clean your kitchen, your bathroom, your tile or hardwood floors, and even your carpets.  You can even add it to your laundry as a fabric softener.
Rubbing alcohol: 1 cup alcohol, 1 cup water, 1 Tablespoon white vinegar.  Use this to clean crome fixtures, windows and mirrors, or to make your tile floors nice and shiny.  Added disinfecting bonus.
Baking soda: sprinkle directly on the sponge or mix with water to make a paste.  Use this to clean your kitchen, your bathroom, your counter tops, your walls.  You can also use it to fix slow running drains (not clogged ones though).

Ammonia solution: 1 tablespoon ammonia, 1-2 cups of water.  You can use this as an all purpose cleaner, to clean your kitchen, bathroom, walls, mirrors - pretty much anything.  It's the harshest chemical in the bunch I've listed, so reserve it for the tough jobs.
Furniture polish: mix 1 cup olive oil and 1/2 lemon juice.


So what have we replaced with basic, cheap products?
a) Fabric softener
b) Toilet bowl cleaner
c) Window cleaner
d) Furniture polish
e) floor mopping solution
f) pet stain and odor carpet products
Estimated Savings of ditching the commercialism: $16 a month (depending on how much you clean)

6) Ditch the soap!  No, not altogether, but ditch the fancy bottles of hand soap you get at the store with the cool pumps and the pretty scents.  Maybe buy a couple of those in order to reuse the pumps, but stop buying them monthly.  I don't know about you, but my children are somewhat obsessed with washing their hands (and by that I mean playing in the sink with a bottle of soap).  Since I rarely want to stop them from playing independently, I just let them use an entire bottle of hand soap in one sitting - I'm just lazy like that.  They do this a few times a month, not to mention the soap I use normally (two in diapers, LOTS of poop - you get the idea), and we're talking like seven soap bottles a month, give or take.
Soap is super easy to make, even if you don't want to use lye and animal fat.  You just need a bar of soap, a pot of water, some essential oils (coconut, lavender, whatever you prefer), and some glycerin if you want to go that way.
Estimated Savings of Ditching Commercial Hand Soap: $7 a month

7) Ditch Laundry Detergent!  Like hand soap, I don't mean literally.  Tough you can use vinegar as a fabric softener, you still need some kind of detergent for your clothes.  However, instead of paying a bundle of money for what comes out to be water, dyes, perfumes, and a little bit of cleaning solution, you can easily make your own detergent.  All you need is a bar of soap (of your choice), washing soda, Borax powder, scented essential oils (if you so choose), and lots of water.  If you do as much laundry as I do (five humans, four dogs), this will save you bundles of money!
The added bonus of Borax is that it can be used for lots of different things, including the killing of ants, roaches, and fleas.
Estimated Savings of Ditching Laundry Soap: $10 a month

Review Time! (there will be a test on this later, of course)

Monthly Savings:

Paper towels - $4

Toilet Paper - $15

Baby Wipes - $8

Diapers - $12

Cleaning products - $16

Hand soap - $7

Laundry Soap - $10

Monthly Total - $72

Yearly Total: $864

And the icing on the cake: you can tell people that you went to Disney World this year because you wiped your butt with a washcloth!

Cloth Diaper Savings, Part Uno

Cloth diapering saves money, as long as you aren't going totally crazy and buying a diaper of every brand in every color or pattern and every variety.  There is of course nothing wrong with doing it this way, it just won't be a money saving hobby. ;)  There are plenty of other reasons to cloth diaper though, including the environment, lack of chemicals, generally less diaper rash (though not always), etc etc.

I admit that it always irks me to hear people say "I save thousands of dollars a year because I use cloth!!!!!11"  Really? Thousands? That's a little hard to swallow, especially with just one kid in diapers, and such arguments somewhat invalidate the whole system.  I'm here to be realistic about what cloth diapering has to offer, as opposed to convincing you that disposable diapers are the worst evil in the world and will make you declare bankruptcy.

I'm only here, in this post, to detail the cost comparisons between cloth and disposable.  If you're looking for more info about cloth diapering in general - what kid of diapers, what brand, laundry, folding flats, etc - then you're in the wrong place.  To stick all this information together would take me forever.  I will most likely make such a post in the future, but not right now (nap time only lasts so long and all).

The savings with cloth can vary greatly, depending on what brand of disposable diaper you would use, how often you change your baby, where you buy your diapers, whether you use coupons... so for simplicity sake, I'm going with the information I pulled from Amazon Mom's subscribe and save program.  I've laid out the details of package size, cost of package, and cost per diaper, in case you decide that I don't change my baby enough or change too much or just want to compare Amazon cost with, say, Sam's Club.  I'm using the Luvs brand for this blog post, because I consider it middle of the line in cost and quality - a nice average compromise.  I'm also using what I consider an average growth curve based on the babies on my mommy forums. ;)  So anyways, here goes some math!

Basic diaper cost info:  Luvs brand via Amazon mom.
Diaper Size (pound range): quantity in package / price of package / price per diaper

Newborn: (to 8) 152 / $26.36 / $0.17


Size 1 (8-14): 300 / $32.29 / $0.11


Size 2 (12-28): 258 / $32.29 / $0.13


Size 3 (16-28): 234 / $32.29 / $0.14


Size 4 (23-37): 204 / $32.29 / $0.16

Size 5 (27+): 168 / $32.29 / $0.19


Pull-ups (2T-3T): 108 / $28.04 / $0.26

Wipes: $0.03 (Huggies brand wipes, though if you use a store brand they may be $0.1 or $0.2 per wipe)

How many newborn diapers do you need?

Average Mom seem to change her newborn about 12 times a day, and uses 1-2 wipes per change.  So 12 diapers and 18 wipes comes out to $2.58 per day.  A box of Luvs will last four roughly 13 days, so let's just say that's when you move baby up to size 1s.
Total cost to diaper with newborn: $33.54

How many size one diapers do you need?

Average Mom appears to change her still small baby 8-12 times a day, so for the sake or argument let's go with 10.  Still using 1-2 wipes per change based on contents of diaper.  Daily cost - $1.46  A box lasts 30 days.  Let's say baby is in size 1 diapers for 2 months, so you'll need 2 boxes.
Total cost to diaper with size 1: $91.60

How many size two diapers do you need?

Average Mom is changing her baby about 8 times a day now, still using 1-2 wipes per.  Daily cost - $1.40.  Baby is in size 2 for another 2 months so you'll need two boxes and have a few left over unused (boo).
Total Cost to Diaper with Size 2: $86.54

How many size 3 diapers do you need?

Average mom still changes her now roughly 5 month old baby 8 times a day, and still uses 1-2 wipes.  Baby poops less now, saving a smidge bit of wipe money. Daily cost - $1.15.  Size 3 seems to last a very long time for most babies, so let's say they are in size 3 for 4 months.  The boxes don't quite average out, so we'll say you bought 4 boxes, and then bumbed up to size 4 a little early.
Total Cost to Diaper with Size 3: $166.06

How many size 4 diapers do you need?

Average mom changes baby around 7 times a day.  Same amount of wipes as before, since even though she may use less on the bum, Baby now eats solids and gets messy all over.  Daily cost - $1.39.  Size four diapers seem to be the longest lasting size, so let's say Baby, who is now 9 months old, is in this size for 6 months.  That means roughly 6 boxes (technically it's 6.28 boxes).
Total Cost to Diaper with Size 4: $243.15

How many size 5 diapers do you need?

Baby is now 15 months old, and Average Mom will change him roughly 6 times a day.  By this point Average Mom has no doubt slackened on her wipes usage, and now only uses them for poop, which happens roughly once a day.  However, she now uses wipes to clean hands, feet, fingers, and the face.  Daily cost - $1.29  If we're assuming the Baby begins the potty training process at.. oh.. 28 months? Then we're in size five diapers for 13 months.  Some kids will move up to a six in here somewhere, but for the sake of simplicity let's say Baby stays on the smaller size and skips size 6.  14 total boxes.
Total Cost to Diaper with Size 5: $479.06

How many Pull Ups do you need?

This is where it gets tricky because of that whole "every kid potty trains differently" business.  Let's assume, for the sake of simplicity and/or argument, that your kid will day potty train within 3 months of starting Pull-up usage (so at the age of 31 months, 2.6 years).  Let's also use an average of 4 Pull-ups a day, because it'll be more when the kids starts out, and less by the time the process is over.  This means that you'll need 3.3 packages of Pull-ups.  You bought 4, and will use the remainder towards the night training section.  We're going to pretend you're not using any baby wipes now.
Total cost of Day Training:  $112.16
After that, your kid needs Pull-ups only at night until the third birthday (5 months).  You'll need one more pack of Pull-ups, and you won't end up using all of them.  Sadly, you can't buy them one at a time.  You could buy a smaller package, but again - I'm just estimating things here.
Total Cost of Night Training: $28.04
Potty training phase total: $140.20

Now, some cloth diapering folk will tell you that you need copious amounts of diaper cream, because disposable diapered babies apparently have some kind of constant diaper rash.  I never had this issue, and ended up using maybe 1 tube of diaper cream per year.  Apparently my kids are freaks of butt nature, so I'll add a couple tubes to be more average.
Total cost of a rash free rump: $16

Phew, we've made it for three years.  Let's review, okay?

Newborn: $33.54

Size One: $91.60

Size Two: $86.54

Size Three: $166.06

Size Four: $243.15

Size Five: $479.06

Potty Training: $140.20

Rash Cream: $16

Total: $1256.15

I'd like to reiterate that this isn't a sure number.  I never spent that much to diaper one kid, because I was stingy with my wipes, used less diaper cream, didn't change that often, and my second kid is moving from size 4 to Pull-ups (skipped size 5).  But at the same time, my almost 4-year-old was in size 6 diapers for a year, and now he wears size 7 at night if we're being cheap.  He skipped Pull-ups, and went straight to the Underjams for potty training.  He was expensive to diaper, so I guess it all evens out.  Your child may not grow like Average Baby did in this post, and you may not behave like Average Mom.  That's why they are averages, and I've included numbers so you can do the math yourself.  Anyways, we now have the rough cost to disposable diaper a child to the age of 3.

So how much does cloth diapering cost for 3 years? 

Cloth Diaper Savings, Part Dos

Starting we left off before.

How much does it cost to cloth diaper for three years?



The most beautiful thing about cloth diapering is that it can cost as little or as much as you want it to, for the most part.  You can spend $4 on a diaper, or you can spend $40.  The cheapest option is the most complicated to get on your baby, so I'm actually going to run with what it seemingly the most popular brand of diapers.  It's user friendly, and middle-of-the-road in cost.  Please meet Mr. BumGenius.

They come in a variety of pretty colors, you can get Velcro or Snaps, and one-sized of fitted sizes.  I'm gonna go with one sized for this blog post, because it's obviously the most versatile.

Average Cost of one OS BG (it varies, of course): $23.

How many do you need? Well, that depends on how often you want to wash them and how much your kiddo does his/her business.  On average, people like to have a stash that's about 24 diapers big, and find this lasts them 2-3 days.  Some people like to have more, some even like to have WAY more, and some get by with less.  But we're working with averages here so..

Total cost of 24 OS BGs: $552

OS diapers fit best between 10-30 pounds, but can fit up to 35+ pounds if your munchkin is the right size and shape.  But let's say they start fitting at 10 pounds.  This means that, prior to 10 pounds, you're gonna have to use something else.  You can use disposable diapers, but if you're goal is to be eco-friendly while saving money, then you should go with newborn sized cloth.

Average Cost of one Newborn BG: $13

How many do you need? Again, this varies.  Many people will say, again, to have 24 of these.  But most people don't use strictly one size diapers for the newborn phase, and won't buy a full stash of these.  So let's say you go for 10 BGs, and then you get some prefolds (12) with covers (3).

Average Cost of Prefold: $1.25

Average Cost of Cover: $11

Total Cost of 12 prefolds and 3 covers: $15 + $33 = $48

Total Cost of 10 NB BGs: $130

Total Cost of NB Stash: $178

When you're kiddo is potty training, you'll most likely want some cloth trainers.

Average Cost of one BG Trainer: $11

How many do you need? Let's go with 5 a day.  If we're sticking with laundry every 2 days that's a total of 10.

Total Cost of Cloth Potty Training: $110

Along with the diapers you need some cloth wipes as well.  You can use the cheapy wash cloths from Walmart that are like $1.20 for 5 or something like that.  You'll need about 12 a day, just like the diapers, so you can buy 6 5-packs to have some extra for the face, etc.

Total cost of wipes: $7.20

And that's pretty much it.  You can use special, expensive laundry detergent, but you don't have to.  Special detergent may be needed depending on what you normally use, but it's not that much more expensive than normal stuff.  You can use a wipes solution, but you don't have to.  You can buy a toilet sprayer, extra inserts, Baby legs, disposable liners... but none of that is necessary, just useful and/or fun.  Let's assume you want none of these things, and your costs are done.

Total Newborn Stash: $178

Total Regular Stash: $552

Total Potty Training Stash: $110

Total Wipes Stash: $7

If you haven't yet, you can check out my detailed costs of disposable diapering here: Cloth Saves Moolha, Part 1.  If you already have or you don't want to, the final conclusion was that the total cost of disposable diapering for one year is: $1256.

Sooooo....

Total cost to Disposable Diaper for 3 years: $1256

Total Cost to Cloth Diaper for 3 years: $847

Total Savings by using Cloth: $409

But wait! What happened to "I'll save thousands of dollars using cloth!  $400 =/= Thousands!  It's not even half of one thousand!  Boooo!  You lie!"  If this was your reaction, then you're forgetting one important factor - cloth diapers can be reused for future children, or resold to something like 30%-60% of what you paid for them originally, IF you take care of them.  You may need to repair to replace the Velcro, or the leg elastic, or the snaps to get more good use out of them, but that's not particularly expensive to have done, and even less expensive if you know how to do it yourself.

If you spend another $100 to repair all the BG diapers that you used on your first kid, then the cost of cloth diapering your second child is exactly $100.  The cost is disposable diapering your second child? $1256.  So after two children, you've saved $1565.

You should be able to easily get 60% cost back by selling your newborn BG stash - that's $78.  If you have to spend $100 to repair your OS diapers and then sell them, you should be able to get at least 50% back - a total of  $276 (or $176 after repairs).  And you should be able to get 60% of the cost of the trainers back easily enough, totaling $66.  So you could sell off your entire stash and receive roughly $320.  Add that to what you saved originally, and you save $729 by cloth diapering, even if you only ever use them for one kid.

And as I mentioned before, I picked a middle of the road diaper and filled my hypothetical stash with it.  You can save a ton of money by purchasing pre-loved (used) diapers, or using a totally different kind of diaper (like pockets, prefolds and flats, etc).  And if you really want brand new AIOs, there are brands that cost less than $23 per diaper.

So really, if it's your GOAL to save money but not completely lose the convenience factor, then your savings will be about $400 minimum, and you can go up and down from there depending on the decisions you make and how hard you try.  Cloth diapering definitely saves money if you want it to.