I am part of a MOPS group at my church and there are a couple of moms there that make their own baby foods. I will consider that for our next child. I think I was so crazed at the time to even think about making baby food with our little girl.
My husband tried making laundry detergent once and it didn’t really come up as he expected. It ended up not cleaning clothes as well. We just recently purchased a front load washer, so now we are using high efficiency detergent.
We’ve been trying to buy in bulk for some items, but we’ve been also watching the price per unit for things. This is probably why I buy most of our groceries at Aldi’s, which is mostly generic items. We have had our deep freezer for quite awhile and have stocked in with various items. During the winter months, I started freezing meals. I”m still trying to find recipes or things that I can easily freeze for meals.
Last year, I started growing some herbs, but I may consider growing some vegetables. I think I may try growing them in some pots and putting them on my deck(which is where most of the sunlight is).
I’m currently reading Miserly Moms. It has some interesting insight and things I haven’t tried yet. I will definitely check your recommendation though.
Thanks for sharing your insight. I will definitely try your recommendations.

Look for cloth diapers on your local craigslist or freecycle group, or go for the prefolds with velcro covers. Since you’re at home and can do a wash every day, you won’t need that many. For washing, you can make your own laundry detergent, which costs ~ 5 cents per load. The Simple Dollar (www.thesimpledollar.com) did a couple of great articles about it. If you can get your hands on some old towels or flannel sheets, you can make your own baby wipes, which you can just throw in with the diapers.

Our grocery bill is quite small, and I almost never use coupons because name brands with coupons are still more expensive than generics. The price book is a great idea, though. If you have the space, consider buying in bulk and getting a chest freezer. That’s best bought new or close-to-new, since old models are energy hogs, but ours was $298 from Lowe’s and holds plenty for our small family. The bulk food tends to make us cook from scratch, and we haven’t bought bread or cereal (we make our own granola) in months.

If you have any available space outside with some sunlight, start a small vegetable garden. You can make a no-dig garden, which is really easy to start. Leaf lettuce is a great thing to start with, since it’s expensive in stores but grows and grows and grows in the garden. If you like peppers of any kind, you should try to grown them. A 6-pack of plants that costs less than $2 can give you more produce than you know what to do with. When space is limited, it’s best to grow things that are expensive at the stores; you can get carrots (”grown-up” carrots) cheaply, so why grow them? Though if you have the space…

I caught the frugal bug after reading The Complete Tightwad Gazette, which you should be able to get at the library. If your local library doesn’t have it, try to get it through your state’s library sharing program. I bought my own copy after I borrowed it from the library because it’s so useful. I think it’s great that you’re staying home and made sure you could live on one income first.

I wish I would have been able to breastfeed longer, but unfortunately I was put on medication that caused some bad reactions with my little one, so I had to stop. I had continued to pump, but noticed that my milk supply had decreased quite a bit.
For our next child, I may consider making baby food and hopefully trying to breastfeed longer. The costs of baby food, even when they are on sale, add up over time.
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