Thrift-O Mom Introduction

So today I begin my wonderful thrift-o blog. First, let me tell you a little about me. I'm a 29 year old stay at home mother. I have 2 wonderful children and 2 great Step-kids. We'll call them Rainbow (14 year old girl), Speedy (12 year old boy), Spidey (6 year old boy) and Princess (3 year old girl) for safety reasons. My husband is a 35 year old lead quality control at a restaurant supply warehouse. I have become thrifty out of need. We pay a large amount of child support for Rainbow and Speedy and in order for me to stay home with Spidey and Princess, we have had to become very creative. I enjoy making my own cleaning supplies, household products and anything that is neccesary. I started out making my own cloth diapers for Spidey before he was even born. I moved on to papoose style baby carriers when he was a little older. When he began eating baby food, I made all of his baby foods as well. I was enjoying making things for him so I then decided to expand into the rest of the home needs. I started making my own cloth feminine products, cloth "paper" towels, and cleaning supplies. Then Princess came along and I began making the usual cloth diapers, baby carriers and baby food along with clothes, hair accessories and learned to knit in order to make blankets and booties which came with the added benefit of home decorations and winter accessories.

Although there are a few things I still insist on store-bought that I COULD make, there aren't many. When those things must be bought, they are shopped for with the utmost concentration on thrift. I use coupons and weekly ads for comparison shopping and sales. I always keep a running total of how much I expect to spend per trip and anything I have left over my budgeted amount always goes into our savings. $5-$10 here and there certainly add up quickly depending how often you go shopping. I try to do my large trips every other weekend and small trips in between weekends always keeping mind on when the sales for certain things are.

Some great deals can be found at dollar stores if you know what you are looking for. I have found some great deodarants, snacks, kids toys, seasonal items, birthday supplies and even kitchenware at these stores. The trick to finding great deals here are knowing how much you would spend at the larger chain stores and asking yourself if $1 would be cheaper then they have them there. For example if Walmart has something for 95 cents as opposed to The Dollar Tree's $1, get at Walmart. Those 5 cents here and there really can add up.

Buying generic really is cost efficient. The best generics I have found are from Kroger. If you have a kroger near you, I highly suggest looking into their generics. They have their regular Kroger brand and they have a lower end called "Great Value"... Pass up the Great Value, very rarely do I find they are as good name brand. Kroger brand is very close, if not, sometimes, better. I will, however, buy noodles, crackers and sometimes fruit in the Great Value because the quality doesn't seem to suffer in those products. The only things that I buy brand name are Toilet paper, Dishwasher Detergent, Laundry Detergent, Fabric Softner, Body wash, Shampoo, Toothpaste and Animal food. And while I buy these name brands, I always have coupons and hit when there are sales as to save the most amount of money possible. I find that these things are either hard to find in generic or the quality is not what I need it to be.

More on Generics and Homemade cleaning supplies tomorrow.