Sunday, July 31, 2011

It's a Lifestyle.

Sometimes, "hidden savings" mean more than the ones printed on your receipt. For instance, you may pay $20 ("full price") when buying a haircutting system, but you'll save $15 every other month when hubby doesn't have to visit the barber.


Or you may pay a premium when buying "organic" produce, but when you use it to make your own baby food, you've saved tons of money!


Of course, the best deals are the ones that "stack" hidden savings with the more visible type, e.g., you may get a great deal on all-natural applesauce and feed it to your baby (if it only consists of apples and maybe Vitamin C) instead of buying "baby" applesauce in jars. 


I made my own baby food last week and I'm pretty proud of myself. Yes, I paid full price for organic apples (one of the "dirty dozen"), but I saved a bunch by avoiding those cute little jars (and it tasted purdy awesome!).


I took a short cut with the carrots and used the "baby-style" ones (not "organic"), so all I had to do was dump them into a pan with some water and let 'em go!


Honestly, peeling 3 pounds of apples wasn't really worth my time. Next time, I'm just going to go "label shopping" and get the adult applesauce with just apples in it.


A friend mentioned that frozen vegetables whirred in the blender makes great baby food. I definitely plan on trying that!


By the way, yesterday, I cut hubby's hair for the first time.  I think I did a pretty good job! What's your best "hidden savings" tip? I'd love to hear it!

2 comments:

charlie - a student of society said...

my best hidden savings tip is to NOT buy organic!!!! It's like drinking the water in Mexico - sure, if we go drink it we get to spend the next few weeks on the throne, but they can drink it just fine... why you ask? Immunities! It's a great thing. If you feed your kid the same processed stuff we all grew up on - you're kid is going to be fine... just like we are. Just my two cents to save you hundreds :-)

Cathy said...

Thanks for the ideas, guys! In general, I don't really care about organic, but the momma tiger in me would pay anything if people said it was "safer." ("Don't we need the 'safest' carseat for double the price?") I would like to get on the free-range/antibiotic free meat bandwagon if for no other reason than the sake of being more humane. That's a great thing about coupons: they can free up $$ to splurge on foods you couldn't afford otherwise.