How Heather Is Not Going To Spend Too Much Money in 2011
Alrighty. So mom informes me that she "Is going to bed at 9:00" and I tell her that that is fine, and I will rock Jeremy. Lowe and behold... she is rocking Jeremy and it is 9:30 or so. Grrr. I don't mind rocking him. I don't mind if she rocks him, but when I sit here typing on my computer, listening to her trying to get him to sleep, afraid that if I go in there and try to take him to let her go to bed that she will get defensive and say I don't want her help, or that if I don't go in there, she will be inwardly fuming that I am not rocking my own son, it drives me bat shit. So, as I said, arg. Well, no I said grrr, but arg is pretty much a similar sentament, and both are quite apt in this situation.
On to the subject of the post. We always seem to spend more money then we intend to, either because we give into sales, shiney new things, buy things we've carelessly broken, lost, prematurely donated or other wise needlessly duplicating things we already have, or should still have. We also are not always very efficent with gas, electricity and time which leeds to more impulse buying and convenience purchasing, which is never a good thing. Therefore, I am imposing a few new measures that should help us spend less. First of all, there are things we ligitimately need, not want, or not just want, but actually need. We can't aford to get them all at once, but we can't really go without them for too long, so I prepose this... Each month, I will make one well-thought-out, largish purchase for myself, one for Jim, one for Jeremy and one for Tova, and one for my guide dog when he or she gets here. I am not counting things like food, which is a must-have every month, or cleaning products. However, large bulk orders of food, such as raw diet for Tova, of cleaning products, like Bioklean products or body care products, such as having to meet a $75.00 or $100.00 shipping minimum will be considered large purchases. For this month, I'm getting flannel pajamas, like the ones mom and Jim got me. They should be on sale all over the place and I want to have 7 pairs, so that I will have one week's worth, if I do laundry once a week. I know, I know, normal people wear a night gown or a set of PJs for 2 or 3 nights, but those people put them on right before bed, take them off right after they get up, fold them, tuck them under their pillows, and I, well, I'm abnormal. I sleep naked, well, bra and panties, TMI, I apoligize, but it's rellivent. Then I get up, put on my PJs while I hang out at home, and then take them off right before I get dressed to go out to school or to run an errond, which means I cook, clean, eat, change diapers, do house work, do laundry, etc while wearing them, so they aren't really fit to wear longer than one day. It comes down to this, I don't like being dressed. If I could, I'd run around naked 24-7, but it's Rochester and it's winter, and we can not aford to have our heating at 75 or 80 all day. Now that I have my awsum space heater for night time, I don't need to wear PJs to bed, which is fortunate, as I never would wear them even when I had no heater and really did need them, and I'd wake up cold, but what can I say, I'm strange and stubborn also. So, that'll be my purchase for December. I have 2 pairs, so need 5 more, and if they are $20.00, aproximately a set, that'll be $100.00 which isn't ideal, but I think we can swing it.
I think in January I'll get some new nursing bras, as I own a grand total of 5, 3 of which are missing both underwires, one of which has only 1 left, all of which are dingy looking, despite being perfectly clean and sanatary, the flesh tone is just faded as hell and the white will never be as white as it should, especially without chlorene bleach, which would probably reduce them to dust or swiss cheese if I was ok with using it, which I am not. Two of which have small holes, none of which fit right as their support factor is totally worn out and my breasts have changed shape and size since I first got them, right before Jeremy was born, and he is, oh lord, 2 and a half. So, yeah, new bras it will be, at least 7, again, because I wear 1 24-7. I know they, the mysterious and omnipresent "they" say you should go bra-less some of the time, but, I am just not comfortable running around sans brazeer. I need and love the support. Perhaps when I lose some weight I will feel differently, but I doubt it as I'm a d to a double d depending on the day. I'm not falling over from the weight of my chest, but nor is my equipment minimal. Even if I get down to my ideal weight, I anticipate being between a C and a D, maybe even still the double D if I am pregnant again and or nursing an infant under age 1 year. Aside from not liking the feeling of not being supported when I move around, my nipples have been super sensative lately, either because I am losing my milk, or because someone up there hates me. Not sure, but depending on the situation and my mood, having them stimulated either makes me horny when I can't do anything about it, or more often, is just annoying like someone poking you repetedly or tickling you when you aren't in the mood to kid around. It's not painful, but it is really off-putting. Again TMI, but don't really care. To any woman or to any man whose partner is a woman, especially to nursing moms and dads of kids with moms who nurse them, these things do need to be discussed from time to time. I don't know many moms who extended breastfeed their toddlers, so it's something in the realm, of new experiences there's not much literature on. This sensativity is worse then when I was pregnant, worse then when I was first nursing. It really makes me want to get this weening thing underway. I am a strong advocate of child-lead weening. I pretty much weened myself by 1 year of age, and generally speaking toddlers ween themselves or at least seriously decrease their nursing between 1.5 and 2.5 years of age. Jeremy still asks pretty frequently to nurse though, so I'm going to help him along. I'm not weening him cold turkey, and I'm keeping in mind his emotional needs, but me and my boobs are pretty much done with all of this, at least until and unless I have another baby.
Oh hell, we've tangented so completely, I might as well finish the thoughts. Jeremy is entirely night-weened, thank god. I nurse him, then mom or I rock him, then I take him up to bed and lay him down. He might wake briefly 1 to 3 times a night and ask to nurse or just ask for "Mommy?" but if I start to sing to him or just ignore him and pretend to still be asleep or shush him and calmly tell him it's time to sleep, he will drift back off. I very my response depending on his level of wakefulness and his emotional state, content but slightly wakeful to actively distressed and wondering where I am, but I have been having pretty good success with this ever since we put in the space heater. Jeremy refuses, end of story, no discussion necessary or allowed, to sleep under a blanket. So I dress him warmly and hope it's warm enough and he stays asleep. The problem with this, is that if you bundle a toddler up too much and they can't move around very easily, then when they wake up, they won't be able to easily reposition themselves and then go back to sleep. They will feel restricted and will get too pissed off or scared, depending on the child and the situation, to get back too sleep without some serious nursing, bedtime stories, rocking and generalized rigaamarole insuing . Once we got a heater, I could put him to bed just in a single layer of footed long sleeved sleeper or still in his clothes from the day, with socks but no shoes, and he would be fine. Whereas before I had to put on extra layers that agrivated him or put him to sleep slightly cold and under dressed and then sneak a blanket onto him and hope he didn't wake up, which he almost always did, and boy would he be royally ticked off at that point. Now, when he wakes up as long as it is past 6:00 A.M. and if he won't go back to sleep with talking, singing or ignoring, then I take him downstairs to nurse him. I don't nurse him in bed anymore, end of story, and he seems to be coming to terms with that. I think he will probably ween while I am at TSE, but I am not sure how he and I will handle the weekend visits where he will inevedebly ask to nurse and I will have to decide how I want to deal with that. Hopefully my milk will just dry up and not getting anything he will conclude that hugs and games and lullabies are much nicer now that the mommy milk wagon has dried up. I never get engorged anymore, and was pretty sure that my milk was gone, but *WTMI, Waaaaaay Too Much Information alert coming up* Jim informs me that it has not dried up. News to me. I really must not have that much left though, so it shouldn't be much of a stretch to dry it up. I might also buy some No More Milk tea by Earth Mama Angel Baby and take that with me to TSE.
Ok, enough about my boobs and extended breastfeeding and infant/child-lead weening. Jeremy's purchase for December is going to be 1 or 2 pairs of slippers, because he takes off socks, he can't wear footed Pajamas 24/7, and it's not good for him to wear sneakers all day, and our house gets quite cold in the winter, even with the heat at 70. I'm hoping for something with rubber or plastic soles that have some tred to them, that are fairly waterproof, such that he can step in a puddle of dog slobber drippy water, or a pile of melting tracked in snow and not get the fabric of the slippers or his foot wet. Also, really hoping for a drawstring tie or tighter knit cuffs to help keep them on him. If I can't find slippers like this, then I will get a crap load of slipper socks, as I'll have to change them any time they get wet or dirty, which means 2 to 4 pairs a day. *makes a face* We're going to Walmart, Target, Babies R Us and possibly also to Buy Buy Baby, so we should be able to find something for him. We'll also look for flannel PJs as well.
For January I want to get Jeremy some more cloth training pants, so that I have enough to start more serious potty learning, so that in late January or early February we can take another more concerted stab at this.
For Jim, I want him to get some cell phone chargers for his December purchase. He got a computer charging chord when he got the phone, which we can not find. He and I use the same exact charger and I have 1 wall charger, which, right now is the only one we can find. I am going to have him buy a wall charger for his apartment, so that I don't have to lend him my wall charger that came with my LG NV2, and so that he doesn't have to rely on quick charges up of his phone when he is at our house. I also am going to have him get a car charger that he can leave in the van all of the time, so that which ever one of us is in the van can use it to charge their phone while we drive around. Depending on the cost, I might also have him get 1 more computer charging cable, so that I can charge my cell from my laptop at school, to avoid carrying it around and risk losing my wall charger or having to drag it everywhere and remember where it is. I already have way too much student/mommy/Heather crap to haull about in my day-to-day life. I hesitate to buy 2 computer charging cables, one for Jim and one for me, because I know we have at least one already, just hanging around here somewhere waiting for us to rediscover it. We'll check Walmart and Target for what we need, and if they don't have the chargers we want, then we'll hit Best Buy which is in the same area.
For Jim's January purchase I might have him get more sleep pants, or more underwear. I've got to check with him and see what he has and needs more of most desperately. So, that's the plan, and hopefully if we stick to it it will save us money in the long run.
On to the subject of the post. We always seem to spend more money then we intend to, either because we give into sales, shiney new things, buy things we've carelessly broken, lost, prematurely donated or other wise needlessly duplicating things we already have, or should still have. We also are not always very efficent with gas, electricity and time which leeds to more impulse buying and convenience purchasing, which is never a good thing. Therefore, I am imposing a few new measures that should help us spend less. First of all, there are things we ligitimately need, not want, or not just want, but actually need. We can't aford to get them all at once, but we can't really go without them for too long, so I prepose this... Each month, I will make one well-thought-out, largish purchase for myself, one for Jim, one for Jeremy and one for Tova, and one for my guide dog when he or she gets here. I am not counting things like food, which is a must-have every month, or cleaning products. However, large bulk orders of food, such as raw diet for Tova, of cleaning products, like Bioklean products or body care products, such as having to meet a $75.00 or $100.00 shipping minimum will be considered large purchases. For this month, I'm getting flannel pajamas, like the ones mom and Jim got me. They should be on sale all over the place and I want to have 7 pairs, so that I will have one week's worth, if I do laundry once a week. I know, I know, normal people wear a night gown or a set of PJs for 2 or 3 nights, but those people put them on right before bed, take them off right after they get up, fold them, tuck them under their pillows, and I, well, I'm abnormal. I sleep naked, well, bra and panties, TMI, I apoligize, but it's rellivent. Then I get up, put on my PJs while I hang out at home, and then take them off right before I get dressed to go out to school or to run an errond, which means I cook, clean, eat, change diapers, do house work, do laundry, etc while wearing them, so they aren't really fit to wear longer than one day. It comes down to this, I don't like being dressed. If I could, I'd run around naked 24-7, but it's Rochester and it's winter, and we can not aford to have our heating at 75 or 80 all day. Now that I have my awsum space heater for night time, I don't need to wear PJs to bed, which is fortunate, as I never would wear them even when I had no heater and really did need them, and I'd wake up cold, but what can I say, I'm strange and stubborn also. So, that'll be my purchase for December. I have 2 pairs, so need 5 more, and if they are $20.00, aproximately a set, that'll be $100.00 which isn't ideal, but I think we can swing it.
I think in January I'll get some new nursing bras, as I own a grand total of 5, 3 of which are missing both underwires, one of which has only 1 left, all of which are dingy looking, despite being perfectly clean and sanatary, the flesh tone is just faded as hell and the white will never be as white as it should, especially without chlorene bleach, which would probably reduce them to dust or swiss cheese if I was ok with using it, which I am not. Two of which have small holes, none of which fit right as their support factor is totally worn out and my breasts have changed shape and size since I first got them, right before Jeremy was born, and he is, oh lord, 2 and a half. So, yeah, new bras it will be, at least 7, again, because I wear 1 24-7. I know they, the mysterious and omnipresent "they" say you should go bra-less some of the time, but, I am just not comfortable running around sans brazeer. I need and love the support. Perhaps when I lose some weight I will feel differently, but I doubt it as I'm a d to a double d depending on the day. I'm not falling over from the weight of my chest, but nor is my equipment minimal. Even if I get down to my ideal weight, I anticipate being between a C and a D, maybe even still the double D if I am pregnant again and or nursing an infant under age 1 year. Aside from not liking the feeling of not being supported when I move around, my nipples have been super sensative lately, either because I am losing my milk, or because someone up there hates me. Not sure, but depending on the situation and my mood, having them stimulated either makes me horny when I can't do anything about it, or more often, is just annoying like someone poking you repetedly or tickling you when you aren't in the mood to kid around. It's not painful, but it is really off-putting. Again TMI, but don't really care. To any woman or to any man whose partner is a woman, especially to nursing moms and dads of kids with moms who nurse them, these things do need to be discussed from time to time. I don't know many moms who extended breastfeed their toddlers, so it's something in the realm, of new experiences there's not much literature on. This sensativity is worse then when I was pregnant, worse then when I was first nursing. It really makes me want to get this weening thing underway. I am a strong advocate of child-lead weening. I pretty much weened myself by 1 year of age, and generally speaking toddlers ween themselves or at least seriously decrease their nursing between 1.5 and 2.5 years of age. Jeremy still asks pretty frequently to nurse though, so I'm going to help him along. I'm not weening him cold turkey, and I'm keeping in mind his emotional needs, but me and my boobs are pretty much done with all of this, at least until and unless I have another baby.
Oh hell, we've tangented so completely, I might as well finish the thoughts. Jeremy is entirely night-weened, thank god. I nurse him, then mom or I rock him, then I take him up to bed and lay him down. He might wake briefly 1 to 3 times a night and ask to nurse or just ask for "Mommy?" but if I start to sing to him or just ignore him and pretend to still be asleep or shush him and calmly tell him it's time to sleep, he will drift back off. I very my response depending on his level of wakefulness and his emotional state, content but slightly wakeful to actively distressed and wondering where I am, but I have been having pretty good success with this ever since we put in the space heater. Jeremy refuses, end of story, no discussion necessary or allowed, to sleep under a blanket. So I dress him warmly and hope it's warm enough and he stays asleep. The problem with this, is that if you bundle a toddler up too much and they can't move around very easily, then when they wake up, they won't be able to easily reposition themselves and then go back to sleep. They will feel restricted and will get too pissed off or scared, depending on the child and the situation, to get back too sleep without some serious nursing, bedtime stories, rocking and generalized rigaamarole insuing . Once we got a heater, I could put him to bed just in a single layer of footed long sleeved sleeper or still in his clothes from the day, with socks but no shoes, and he would be fine. Whereas before I had to put on extra layers that agrivated him or put him to sleep slightly cold and under dressed and then sneak a blanket onto him and hope he didn't wake up, which he almost always did, and boy would he be royally ticked off at that point. Now, when he wakes up as long as it is past 6:00 A.M. and if he won't go back to sleep with talking, singing or ignoring, then I take him downstairs to nurse him. I don't nurse him in bed anymore, end of story, and he seems to be coming to terms with that. I think he will probably ween while I am at TSE, but I am not sure how he and I will handle the weekend visits where he will inevedebly ask to nurse and I will have to decide how I want to deal with that. Hopefully my milk will just dry up and not getting anything he will conclude that hugs and games and lullabies are much nicer now that the mommy milk wagon has dried up. I never get engorged anymore, and was pretty sure that my milk was gone, but *WTMI, Waaaaaay Too Much Information alert coming up* Jim informs me that it has not dried up. News to me. I really must not have that much left though, so it shouldn't be much of a stretch to dry it up. I might also buy some No More Milk tea by Earth Mama Angel Baby and take that with me to TSE.
Ok, enough about my boobs and extended breastfeeding and infant/child-lead weening. Jeremy's purchase for December is going to be 1 or 2 pairs of slippers, because he takes off socks, he can't wear footed Pajamas 24/7, and it's not good for him to wear sneakers all day, and our house gets quite cold in the winter, even with the heat at 70. I'm hoping for something with rubber or plastic soles that have some tred to them, that are fairly waterproof, such that he can step in a puddle of dog slobber drippy water, or a pile of melting tracked in snow and not get the fabric of the slippers or his foot wet. Also, really hoping for a drawstring tie or tighter knit cuffs to help keep them on him. If I can't find slippers like this, then I will get a crap load of slipper socks, as I'll have to change them any time they get wet or dirty, which means 2 to 4 pairs a day. *makes a face* We're going to Walmart, Target, Babies R Us and possibly also to Buy Buy Baby, so we should be able to find something for him. We'll also look for flannel PJs as well.
For January I want to get Jeremy some more cloth training pants, so that I have enough to start more serious potty learning, so that in late January or early February we can take another more concerted stab at this.
For Jim, I want him to get some cell phone chargers for his December purchase. He got a computer charging chord when he got the phone, which we can not find. He and I use the same exact charger and I have 1 wall charger, which, right now is the only one we can find. I am going to have him buy a wall charger for his apartment, so that I don't have to lend him my wall charger that came with my LG NV2, and so that he doesn't have to rely on quick charges up of his phone when he is at our house. I also am going to have him get a car charger that he can leave in the van all of the time, so that which ever one of us is in the van can use it to charge their phone while we drive around. Depending on the cost, I might also have him get 1 more computer charging cable, so that I can charge my cell from my laptop at school, to avoid carrying it around and risk losing my wall charger or having to drag it everywhere and remember where it is. I already have way too much student/mommy/Heather crap to haull about in my day-to-day life. I hesitate to buy 2 computer charging cables, one for Jim and one for me, because I know we have at least one already, just hanging around here somewhere waiting for us to rediscover it. We'll check Walmart and Target for what we need, and if they don't have the chargers we want, then we'll hit Best Buy which is in the same area.
For Jim's January purchase I might have him get more sleep pants, or more underwear. I've got to check with him and see what he has and needs more of most desperately. So, that's the plan, and hopefully if we stick to it it will save us money in the long run.