RookieMoms Blog

Apparently our theme for the month is frugality. We didn’t plan this, but it keeps coming up.

My new friend Greg told me that it’s one of his secondary missions in life to be mentioned on my web site. If it doesn’t happened, he threatened, he’s going to start his own site called “CheapAssDad.com.”

I ran into him during lunchtime the other day at a fancy European-style market hall, where most folks are tempted to put together a delicious lunch at a salad bar, for a pretty high price per pound. Greg was proudly toting a bag of green beans and a whole carrot that he selected from the regular bulk produce area of the store.

“Why should you pay salad bar prices for these vegetables?” he questioned.

Hopefully this question is rhetorical because I would be embarrassed to tell him that the salad bar just feels more inviting than his big unwashed carrot and unsnapped green beans. More than anything, however, I was just pleased to see a man choosing raw vegetables to go with his lunch over a bag of chips. Congratulations to Greg’s mom for raising such a good boy.

I just saw that mod*mom and our friends at Babyccino have been blogging about the Phil & Ted stroller, the slickest buggy around for a two-kid family.

Both Heather and I debated whether this was a (major) purchase we needed as we had our second babies. We both decided to skip it, although it sure does look nice. Instead, we typically wore the small baby in a Bjorn and pushed the toddler in a stroller.

Pic by wayne

As the small baby got too big for the Bjorn, s/he got promoted to the stroller and the little dudes had to walk.

Then one day Julian decided he would get in the undercarriage of my cheap-o universal stroller, and we both loved it! It is so much faster to get two kids from a city parking space to a destination two blocks away (in San Francisco, two blocks distance is considered a pretty good parking space) when I am not relying on the little man walking on his own two feet. Julian says that it’s his clubhouse.

Who needs Phil & Ted?

I started “no buying new things” month on Friday. And it’s going pretty well. Except for I’m not exactly saving money since things like “expensive exercise class” are not *things* and are allowable.

Some highlights:

• I found a never-worn skirt in my closet for my fancy dinner date with Alec. I even wore it with the tags on in case it didn’t work out so I could make it look more desirable at the clothing swap (but that was weird of me).
• Talked two co-workers into joining me on my mission and we celebrated by eating lunch out at a restaurant. At least it wasn’t take-out but maybe we should have walked to the cafe if we’re really trying to reduce our global footprint. Hmmm.
• My sister-in-law birthed a brand new (VBAC, you go girl!) niece for me on Friday and I’ve assembled a nice gift box of a home-made baby wrap, baby necessities (like infant tylenol and zinc), and a gift certificate for food.
• No other shopping. Yet.

I also found a great list for fresh inspiration on making toys out of ordinary objects Unclutterer.com; Milo’s first birthday is this month, so he may be cashing in on this find.This site has so many good ideas to clean up my life. If I get around to it. Maybe while I’m lying around the house not buying new stuff this month, I’ll make time? Nah.

Ok, now that I think of it, we have a bunch of related RM activities:
Activity #221: Play choo choo in a laundry basket
Activity #222: Have a (yoga) ball
Activity #80: Fake em out
Activity #123: Introduce the Tupperware

And then there’s the whole free/cheap ideas category for outings and non-toy fun.