Frugal supplies for ‘that time of the month’
This post is for the ladies. I’m sure you’ve gathered that by the title already, but I thought I’d put out a fair warning to any men who might be reading this. I do think men should understand how women’s bodies work, but I realize men (and women) may not want to read about it here. Fair warning!
How many menstrual cycles do women have over a lifetime? A lot. If you figure 12 or so per year, starting at around age 12 and continuing until oh, age 45-50, you’re looking at 400+ periods. Subtract for times of pregnancy or lactational amenorrhea, and you’re still probably dealing with a visit from Aunt Flo a few hundred times. Yay.
If you’re buying a pack of pads or a box of tampons each month or so, the costs over time can be expensive. Watching for sales and stacking with coupons is helpful, and I’ve also sent away for some free samples to have on hand.
Some current free samples and coupons:
There is some controversy regarding the use of tampons, though. Some people are concerned with the chemicals within, and dioxins and other stuff like that which could be harmful. Organic tampons do exist. But then there’s that pesky problem of regularly spending money on the products.
Some women use a reusable menstrual cup, such as a Diva Cup*, Moon Cup* or a Keeper*. Please note that most of these cups have two sizes — one for if you’ve not had a vaginal childbirth and one if you have.
I had a hard time with it at first. There is a learning curve! I gave up and used disposable products for that cycle. The next one though, I thought I’d try it again, and I was able to get it to work a lot easier. I’m still getting used to it and it wasn’t totally leak-free at all times, but I think a few more cycles and I should be more comfortable with it.
In terms of actual comfort, it was more of a challenge to um, place the thing than a tampon. Removing it was also a challenge at times. But, once it was in position, I was fine and didn’t notice it.
Considering the Keeper is reusable and is made of a natural material, I definitely want to keep using it in the future at least part-time. A $30ish reusable menstrual cup could last 10+ years. Say you spend $5/month on disposable products and have 12 cycles in a year — that’s $600, plus inflation.
You can purchase reusable menstrual pads and liners, if you’re so inclined to do that laundry. I have 3 FuzziBunz menstrual pads, but I don’t think they’re made anymore. I’d like to purchase some additional reusable liners to use as backup, so if you have any recommendations I’m all ears. Then again, a disposable pack of liners can be inexpensive and last a lot longer, if used as backup.
If you’re handy with a sewing machine, you can create your own reusable menstrual pads or liners. Also at that link is a no-sew idea.
Do you use reusable menstrual products? Your thoughts?
Creating a FLOP Doc — Financial Life One Page
I finally sat down and created a “FLOP” document. It’s a financial life, one page kinda deal, though if yours needs to be a few pages that’s fine, too.
I wanted to have all of our important financial information in one location so that if I were to become incapacitated in some way, Shane or someone else could quickly step in on the bill payments and whatnot to know where everything is. It is very important for this info to be available to either my husband or estate trustee if the worst-case scenario comes into play. Following me, here?
I recently reorganized the paperwork in my filing cabinet, but I’d like to have a “table of contents” of sorts to point to the really important stuff.
If the info wasn’t particularly sensitive, I typed it. Things like “We have a savings account at ING Direct” and “we each have IRAs with Vanguard” were typed. More sensitive info, such as account numbers, I hand-wrote on the printed page. I guess I’m paranoid about my computer’s security.
The page went into my fire-resistant lock box where I’m also storing our birth certificates, marriage license, social security cards, Shane’s passport, our wills and the sort. I hope my house never catches on fire or is destroyed by a tornado, but if it does hopefully those documents will still be usable. Also, if we needed to evacuate our home at short notice, say, a crazy flood or something, it would be easy to grab the lock box and take it with us rather than going through my file cabinet.
Here’s what’s on my FLOP:
- My legal name
- SSN:
- Driver’s License #
- Birth date
Banks:
- Name of institutions & account numbers, phone number if card is lost
- PayPal info
Credit card:
- Name and phone number for lost cards
Mortgage:
- Mortgage company name, and a notation that our mortgage is paid monthly through online bill pay automatically.
Life and disability insurance:
- Companies and account numbers
Location of our Last Will & Testament and the contact info of the attorney who prepared it
Investments:
- College 529 plans and account numbers
- Location of IRAs
- Location of 401k
Info for our car insurance and homeowner’s insurance
All bills and how they’re paid (cable/internet, cell phone, electric, gas, trash, water, HOA, credit card). Some are automatic online bill pay and some we need to pay manually each month.
Medical:
- Names and phone numbers of our physicians
- Name and contact info for our health insurance company
More on the topic:
- Get your financial life on one page @ Christian PF
How about you? Do you have a document such as this one? And, am I forgetting anything in mine?
Grocery prices are going way up! And what I’m doing about it.
Is anyone else alarmed at the prices at the grocery store lately? Something tells me this is only the beginning. Inflation is coming and is already here at the grocery.
In the past few months, I just absorbed the price increases and said, “Whatever. Don’t have time to shop around or get back into couponing.”
Now, I’m getting really annoyed. I do not want to go to several stores per week to save money. In fact, I’d prefer if I could get it to where I’m making one big trip 1-2x a month and then a smaller weekly trip for things like produce.
I do not want to spend much time on coupons, either. Pre-kids, I was all about the coupons. These days I love it when there are coupons stuck to products at the grocery, or if a coupon fairy leaves one behind on a shelf for a thing I need.
I’ve gotten lazy with the grocery shopping and now my wallet is starting to yell at me.
Time for plan C.
I’m going to make a master grocery list — things I typically buy over the course of the month, and some less frequent purchases (spices, oils, etc). And with that, I’m going to make a price book in a spreadsheet to compare regular prices at area groceries: Kroger, Walmart, Aldi, Trader Joe’s…and whatever else I come up with. For the non-perishable items, I’ll also look at prices online. (And here’s my 2007 price book spreadsheet post. Aww, nostalgia! I’m using that spreadsheet as a template for my new one.)
I don’t have a Sam’s Club or Costco membership right now though maybe it would be worth starting again.
I’m trying to purchase mostly organic stuff. If a produce option is available in organic, more often than not I’ll buy it (unless it’s a banana or avocado or something with a thick skin you don’t eat — I usually get conventional there). For meats, I’ve been getting grassfed or organic depending on where I’m at and what’s available. Maybe I can buy a quarter cut of beef or something and work with that.
We’re coming up on grill-out season so I need plenty of condiments. Trader Joe’s has been my favorite for those items since they don’t contain junk but they’re tasty and reasonably priced.
I guess I’m going to try to switch to the bulk shopping strategy instead of weekly trip at one place. I sort of stink at this method, because if I buy a ton of whatever, usually I just use it up fast instead of ration it out. Things like chocolate chips don’t last long around here. Maybe I ought to put my bulk food in my hall closet instead of in my pantry so I won’t be as tempted to tear open another bag of chocolate chips or whatever.
So. My strategy:
- A master list of everything I usually buy — produce, meats, dairy, non-perishables, household goods and their prices at several area stores, and online where applicable.
- Rotate through the grocery stores during my weekly trips. So, one week I’ll go to Trader Joe’s and bulk up, and buy other things I need for the week even if it’s not the rock-bottom price for somewhere else – I’ll still get bananas even if they’re cheaper at Walmart or something so I don’t have to go to multiple places. They have good prices on chicken so I’ll take my cooler and load up. Ideally, I’ll get to the point where I’m buying at least a month’s worth of the non-perishables at a time.
- The next week, I’ll go to Kroger (or whatever) and buy things for a good price there.
- I’ll buy whatever I can online since that will save me a trip to the stores and money. Laura at Heavenly Homemakers has done lots of my work for me, and has tracked down prices on online foods.
