Another Informative Cracked Article-5 Stupidest Habits You Develop Growing Up Poor

Man, I just love browsing Cracked and my most favorite thing of all on the site is the lists. I just posted one of their lists a while ago but I came across this one written by the same person titled "The 5 Stupidest Habits You Develop Growing Up Poor" and I can honestly say that from my personal experience that every point he brought up is true, at least in my case.
I grew up very poor even though my parents made decent money. Where did it all go? Money just seemed to be piddled away due to lack of foresight, impulse purchases, restaurant food, lack of budgeting, etc. When I moved out on my own I started living the same way, it never even occurred to me to do it any other way because that was how I grew up, I was working 50-60 hours a week and only paying $300 a month for my apartment but still never seemed to have any money left at the end of the month. I didn't even have a savings account! If only I knew the things then that I know now. I cringe to even think of how much money just went to waste on disposable items, food and entertainment. Thankfully all of that changed or I wouldn't be writing this blog!

Here's a summary of the 5 points as well as my comments but really just go check out the actual article, the guy is hilarious, he approaches bleak topics with a very dark humor that I just love!

5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor

I just came across this article on Cracked and even though the way their articles are written always give me a good laugh there is complete truth to this one and it's a good honest read. I'll sum up the points of it here but you should definitely go check out the whole article, you might learn something. But be warned, the language is very NSFW, which to me makes it a lot funnier!

1. You get charged for using your own money (bank overdrafts and fees)
2. There is an industry that profits by keeping you poor (payday loans)
3. No credit can be just as damaging as bad credit (being financially responsible by never taking out a loan, etc)
4. Your next expensive disaster is always around the corner (not having an emergency fund will cost you more)
5. You're always in survival mode (working crappy jobs just to pay the bills instead of taking a risk for a better job or school because it's more expensive right away)

And if that made you depressed check out one of their other articles, they have tons of cute lists and weird stuff.

Newborn Baby Stuff-What your really need and what you don't

Old post alert! I have a couple mostly written drafts that I kind of forgot about after quite a long time. I'll be filling them in, updating them a bit and posting them in the next little while. No use in wasting a perfectly good but no longer personally relevant post!

We really didn't do much research before buying baby stuff and we could have saved a great deal of money by not buying some things and getting other items gently used. We listened to family members that hadn't had children in 20 years, buying items they told us we absolutely needed to have as well as following lists that other people posted on the internet and just buying things we thought were cute. Shopping with other people was the worst because they would always point out items that they deemed essential.

Essentials

• Diapers: Only get 1 or 2 packages of newborn size, you may not need them for long, I think we only needed them for 2 weeks before Alice was into a size 1. If your baby is small you can always go out to get more or get someone to pick them up for you.
• Receiving blankets: Babies leak at an astounding rate, you will need to mop up spills that you never thought could come out of such a small creature. A large receiving blanket can also be used to swaddle or go over the stroller to keep out the sun while on walks
• Baby washcloths and towels: You will need to give a lot of baths to clean up the aforementioned leaks.
• Baby shampoo: You can use this as body wash as well. We bought a huge bottle and just used it up a couple weeks ago.
• A sling or carrier (Moby type wrap, Ergo or Ring-Sling)
• Convertible car seat: You can use this kind from birth until your baby is bigger, saves you from buying an infant car seat and then having to buy another once your baby reaches the weight limit of 20 pounds or so (it will be sooner than you think!)
• Onesies that snap at the crotch:  you will be changing a lot of diapers and you want the quickest, easiest access possible, especially late at night.
• Stretchy waist pants: Easy on,easy off, young babies don't really straighten their legs to make it easier for you to put pants on them. Baby jeans? Hahahahaha

Might Need

• Lightweight stroller: If you plan on wearing your baby you may not need to buy a stroller at all. A lot of carriers are good until your baby becomes a toddler and by then they might just want to walk everywhere anyway.
• Jumperoo: We found this to be quite useful, we put our lady chick in there and got some stuff done around here, kept her busy and happy for up to an hour sometimes! We were able to resell it for a good amount too.
• Pump: If you're planning on boobing your kid you won't be able to get away from them for more than an hour or 2, and believe me, you WILL want to get away from your kid at some point. It doesn't matter how cute they are, you will want and need a break! Pumps are expensive, see if a friend has one they are done with and just replace the shield and hoses or give it a good boil.

For Later

• Shoes: You won't be able to get them on or keep them on your tiny person's little curled up feet and your baby doesn't need them until they start to walk anyway. At 7 1/2 months old I could finally get shoes on my kid, she outgrew 3 sizes of cute shoes before she even wore them
• High chair: You don't need one until your baby starts solid foods and wants to be included in family meals when they are at least 6 months old. No use in having it take up space for that long before you need it. Jon hates ours with a vengeance. The day we bought it he nearly threw it into traffic.

Don't bother

• Scented body washes and lotions: Those "relaxing, calming or bedtime"scents may smell nice but they aren't going to help your baby sleep. Just use baby shampoo to wash your little dude, it smells nice
• Bassinets: As soon as your baby can roll over they can roll out of these
• Change table: We have a kitchen cart from Ikea that we used for our microwave for years, perfect size to strap a soft change pad onto
• Baby books: Most books have a corresponding website
• Diaper genie: The refills are expensive and apparently they don't work that well keeping the smell in and are sometimes hard to use. We use a metal canister garbage can with a foot lever lined with a scented bag that we get from the dollar store. We change it whenever it gets full/every 2 or 3 days and it holds the smell in just fine and it's hands free.
• Diaper bag: I just use a large purse, you really don't need to bring that much stuff with you if you're just running out for groceries. I used to bring tons of stuff with me but I've pared it down to just 2 diapers, travel wipes case, a receiving blanket, a folding change pad and a plastic bag. That's it. If I'm going on a lengthier outing then I bring 1 more diaper and a change of clothes.
• Travel system: It seemed like a good idea so that's what we went with, an infant car seat that attaches to a stroller. Nope. The stroller is extremely heavy with a very large wheel base. We could barely get it through doorways and down aisles or onto a bus and walks to the store took more time and effort than they should have. It could only be steered with 2 hands, making it nearly impossible to hold a grocery basket and push at the same time. Our baby had already outgrown the carseat in height by the time she was 7 months old. We've since bought a lightweight stroller and convertible carseat.
• Newborn sized clothes: We had one newborn outfit when Alice was born, she wore it home from the hospital and maybe once more before she outgrew it. It was a gift, all of our other clothes were 0-3 months, so what if they were a bit baggy on her. You don't know how big your baby is going to be, buy bigger. If they are on the smaller size or preemie you can always buy more clothes in that case.
• Frilly/Fussy Clothes: Don't even bother trying to get on a turtleneck or 1 piece that has to be taken completely off every diaper change. Ditto for clothes with big puffy skirts, you won't be able to get the whole thing out of the way and it's going to be a disaster if you have to change a poo diaper while your little lady is wearing it. Grandparents WILL buy all of these things for you, just smile, nod and then give the offending outfit away. They don't know any better, that's how kids were dressed eleventy thousand years ago. I guess they hadn't invented the crotch snap back then.

What to buy used:

• Jumperoo/Exersaucer: We bought ours new but should have bought used. Our kid loved it but learned to crawl soon after and didn't want to play in it anymore. We got just a couple months use out of it.
• Bouncy Chair/Swing: Don't pay the $50+ for a new one, somebody will have one on Craigslist for probably $20, these don't get used for that long either
• Clothes: Babies outgrow clothes at an astounding rate, you'll put an outfit on your baby and a week later that same outfit will be too tight. We hardly bought anything new, a lot of clothes were found with tags still on from thrift and consignment stores.
• Baby tub: These are outgrown pretty fast as well, you'll be lucky to get 7 months out of it before your baby wants the big tub.
• Strollers: You can get really nice, gently used strollers for a good price on Craigslist. I notice that most the time the person states the reason for selling as they have a car and just use the carrier when they need to go into a store or need to upgrade to a double, etc.
  

Never buy used:

• Carseats- If it's been in an accident then it's no longer safe to use and should be replaced. You have no way of telling when you buy one from Craigslist, you only have the word of the seller. Carseats also expire after a certain number of years, usually five or six from the manufacturers date.
• Walkers-Outlawed in Canada. Looks like an exersaucer with wheels. Gives babies who otherwise wouldn't be able to walk the ability to move too fast and reach too many hazards. I've also seen these on Craigslist, people find them in storage from 20 years ago when they had kids and are trying to get rid of them.
• Drop-side cribs-  They are now illegal but not everybody knows this so may be trying to sell one they found in their storage/attic, etc

I'm sure there are probably more things to add to all of the lists but that's all I could think of for now.

Rich Frosted Chocolate Mug Cake

Lately I've really been enjoying making various mug cakes.  They are ready in just a couple minutes and make less dirty dishes than making a whole cake, not to mention that a whole cake would go to waste for us because there aren't enough people to eat it!

I think I've finally perfected the chocolate one the last time I made them so I'm going to present my recipe on the blog. Sorry, no pictures of the process since I made them quickly and late at night when the baby (oops, toddler now!) was resisting going to sleep. They were so rich and yummy!

Here's what you need to make 2. Just half the recipe if you are alone and have a chocolate craving. Or make the whole thing and devour it and feel sorry for yourself when you get the biggest stomach ache you've ever had in you life!

For the cake:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• a handful of random melt-able chocolate (we had these truffle things that we were given for Christmas so I used 6 of them) use whatever you have around, chocolate chips, half a mars bar, whatever, as long as you can microwave it!

I defeated the purpose of making cake in a mug by mixing my stuff in bowls, if I was only making one I would have mixed it in the mug, it's just easier to do it this way if you're making multiples!

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in one bowl and whisk the milk, oil, egg, and vanilla in another. Pour the wet into the dry and combine.  Now microwave whatever chocolate you are using until it's just melted and stir it into your batter. Pour half into each mug and microwave for 1 minute 45 seconds. You may have to play around with the time depending on your microwave, start with 1 minute and then add 30 seconds, it might be done after that long.

The cake and mugs are going to be very hot so they will have to sit for a bit, this gives you time to mix up the frosting. For this you need:

• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon soft butter or margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon milk or cream

Just mix everything together with a fork, easy as that! You can spread the frosting right onto the hot cake before serving or you can do what we did, our cakes were really deep so we just spooned on a dollop of frosting for every inch of cake we ate!

*A quick change for if you want brownies in a mug instead of cake, omit the baking powder and use 2 eggs instead of one

*Other yummy add-ins: sprinkle of cinnamon, teaspoon of instant coffee, caramel, a peppermint patty pushed halfway down into the batter, etc!

We're still here.......

....but we're tired. The kid is just starting to sleep a bit better after cutting molars at only 14 months old so hopefully I can pick back up and post on the blog more often. It's been a whole month with zero posts, I have been cooking and baking but it's been the same stuff I've already posted.

So here's a quick update on how we're doing:

• Grocery budget. Still doing decently, coming in around $250-$280 for the past couple months depending on whether we need to pick up any bulk items
• Schedule. Awesome, Alice and I are up between 8 and 9 every day, she naps between 1 and 2, she's in her own bed and asleep by 8 most nights with the occasional exception where she won't sleep until 9. So much better than it used to be but she still wakes up a lot at night. I've also been getting dinner ready by 6 and we get the apartment cleaned up before 8. No more dishes sitting around all night and crumbs all over the floor
• Spending. Oops, we've done quite a bit of shopping due to receiving Christmas money, cashing our Swagbucks in for Amazon and Paypal giftcards and forgetting about the once every 3 months HST rebate cheque. I shop a lot more wisely than I used to, most items were useful things, kitchen stuff, socks, underwear and whatnot. Jon bought more gear.  I put money into Alice's RESP.
• Saving for a house. Putting a bit away at a time, it's going to take a very long time to get enough to buy a house. At this point we might be better off moving to a 2 bedroom place this summer, something on the top floor so that we're not bothered by people upstairs. I honestly don't know how much longer I can put up with the noise, right now they are talking loudly and thumping around right above me.
• Takeout. The occasional lunch, something cheap like a slice of pizza or McDonalds with a coupon. We're doing very good! We have a planned takeout night coming up for my birthday, we're ordering in Thai or Chinese but making our own rice to save about $2.
• Treats. If we want sweets I usually just bake something. We rarely buy chocolate or pop now. I haven't had licorice since the summer! Today we both had a can of Coke and a chocolate bar and I really didn't feel well for a while after.
• Exercise. I have not resumed jogging,  I would like to do it in the morning but it doesn't fit into my schedule and I'm too tired at night and just want to rest. The weather has also been pretty crappy, this morning it was so cold that I didn't take Alice to baby time at the library. When it's not unusually chilly it's pouring rain.
• Job search. I honestly haven't really been trying after the initial attempt. I'm so tired from so many night wakings, feedings and trying to stay awake long enough to get her back into her own bed that I don't know how I would have managed if someone had hired me! Will try again if Alice ever gets to the point where she's sleeping halfway through the night. 15 months of sleep deprivation is really taking it's toll on me. I think I need to just leave for a weekend, hide out somewhere and sleep. Haha.

I think that's about it for now, it's midnight and I've been interrupted trying to write this post about half a dozen times now.

21 Fast cheap and healthy snacks for you and your kids

I'm going to start off by saying that we've always been horrible when it comes to organizing meals other than dinner. We used to have our morning coffee/tea at 9 or 10, then maybe some cereal around 11 or 12 and then stare blankly at the cupboards and fridge around 2 or 3 when we were really hungry. This usually resulted in grabbing takeout, eating too much and then not having dinner until very late at night when the lunch food coma wore off. Not to mention that you really don't feel like doing much when you're very full so a lot of lazing around was going on.

We've drastically changed our eating habits now that Alice is with us, she's tiny and needs to eat small amounts more often since she's constantly on the go and growing. Everything needs to be healthy as well to fuel her little body and brain when she's playing hard. She also doesn't like to sit in her chair for extended periods of time and gets restless and throws her food when she gets bored.

Snacking also works a lot better for me than sitting down and eating a midday meal, snacks are faster to prepare, you can eat them on the go or while you work on things around the house and they keep my blood sugar even as I'm one of those people that gets dizzy and cranky between meals.

So here's a list of some of the things we have throughout the day between meals or as a small lunch.

1. Veggies and dip - Celery, carrots, broccoli, cherry tomatoes and cauliflower with salad dressing. Ranch dressing is our favorite, caesar is tasty as well.
2. Sliced fruit with dip - Apples, oranges, nectarines, peaches, strawberries, mangoes, etc. Try almond butter for apples and yogurt with a bit of honey for the softer fruit.
3. Dry cereal - Cheerios, Honeycomb, Vector, Captain Crunch, etc. Not the healthiest option but pretty tasty.
4. Granola - An even healthier alternative to the cereal, but costs a bit more. Eat it dry or microwave some with water or soymilk for a yummy hot cereal.
5. Yogurt and berry parfait - Vanilla yogurt + fresh berries + sprinkle of granola
6. Popcorn - Air popped or DIY in the microwave preferably. Go easy on the butter! Give it a shake of cinnamon sugar, parmesan cheese or chili powder for a bit of a kick
7. Toast - 12 grain bread with peanut butter or almond butter, add sliced banana or strawberries with a drizzle of honey
8. Pita chips - These easy to make chips are great on their own or with hummus
9. Crackers & cheese - Not the cheapest option on the list since cheese is a bit pricy but better for you than french fries
10. Mixed Nuts - Kids love to break things. Food + safe fun is a great combo. Don't feel like cracking them open and dealing with the mess? Buy a big bag of mixed dry roasted nuts or trail mix.
11. Dry soy beans - Super healthy and fairly inexpensive. We got a big jar from Costco that lasted over a month.
12. Ants on a log- Celery sticks filled with peanut butter or Cheez Whiz, use raisins or dried cranberries as the "ants"
13. Edamame and rice-We always have a bag of frozen, peeled edamame in our freezer. Fry some up in olive oil, garlic and onion, scoop them on top of your rice and give them a salt and pepper or sprinkle of parmesan
14. Smoothies-Make these any way you like! Milk or fruit juice blended with fruit and ice, both kinds are tasty, filling and good for you.
15. Nachos- Throw the chips topped with cheese into the oven for a couple minutes while you chop up some tomatoes and avocado to go on top. Garnish with sour cream or squeeze half a lime over the entire thing!
16. Quesadillas- I like to make a quick version using just 1 tortilla and whatever leftover meat, cheese and veggies are in the fridge. Bake or fry.
17. Grilled cheese with ham. We usually do this when there isn't enough deli meat left to make a sandwich, just 1 slice is enough. Grilled cheese is great with tomato soup.
18. Mini pizzas on a bagel, tortilla or whatever bread you have handy. Toast the bread, spread with a tablespoon of pasta sauce, add some pepperoni or ham, some cheese and then pop it into the oven just until the cheese melts. "Pizza toast" is still one of my favorite snacks.
19. Quick mac and cheese. Cook and drain a half package of pasta. Don't rinse it, just dump it back into the pot, add a teaspoon of margarine, a splash of milk and a handful of grated cheese. Put it back on the warm burner and stir until everything is combined, salt and pepper to taste.
20. PB and jam. A classic for a reason, it's quick, filling and tasty.
21. Sandwich rollup- Basically a sandwich made from a tortilla. PB+jam, veggie cream cheese+deli turkey, fruit cream cheese+sliced strawberries. Make it any way you like!

If you're at home, most of these should be on hand already. Planning a day out? Bring some snacks, save a LOT of cash. Don't forget to bring your own water or Iced tea.

More of a full lunch person? Combine a few of the items to make a full meal: have a fruit, veggie and cheese plate or a smoothie with your sandwich.

What kind of snacks do you rely on?