Babies on a budget


One of the things I’ve been trying to learn since Kernan and I got married is to budget our finances.

And with Kalia’s arrival, I feel more compelled to learn this skill real fast.

When we examined our monthly expenses, one of the areas we spotted that we could minimize is our bi-monthly grocery.

When we would go to the supermarket, Kernan and I used to just pick up whatever we wanted without looking at the price or checking out other “best buy” items. Most of the time, we would overload on snacks, canned goods and junk food.

The other day, though, we were more conscious of our grocery expenses. This time, we had to allot extra allowance for another set of baby diapers, bottles of distilled water and cans of infant milk for Kalia. (And if you’ve got babies, you would know these items can cost a lot!)

Since our new apartment is close to the wet market, we lessened the canned goods and other instant food. We also avoided the snacks and chips aisle so we won’t be so tempted to pick up a bag or two (and to help us with our diet too ;) ).

After checking out of the cashier, our total bill was a bit lesser than our usual grocery expense, not bad for our initial try.

But I’m aiming to reduce our grocery bill at least by half.

I’m thinking of other ways to effectively manage a budget and I have to admit this is certainly a challenge for me who has never ever followed a budget all this time. I imagine our finances will be greatly improved once I learn this skill.

Any experienced housewives / budgeters out there who can offer any tried and tested budget techniques? I’d love to hear from you.

Photo credit: kitpfish

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Posted in: Miscellany

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This entry was posted on Sunday, June 15th, 2008 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Miscellany. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Babies on a budget”

Papa Ces (4 comments.) June 16th, 2008 at 8:58 am

Well, I’m not an experienced neither an experienced housewife or even a budgeter, but I’d suggest you buy by the bulk on some items. You can save a few pesos by that.

Just my two centavos.

:D

Thanks Papa Ces! I actually buy big packs for diapers lang. Will keep that in mind on our next grocery trip. :D

[Reply]

Josiet (12 comments.) June 17th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

Hi Jayme. Are you using a more expensive diaper brand? If you are, why not try using a cheaper one? But of course you have to see which ones will do just fine for your babies. I am lucky that my baby is okay with Drypers. It is cheap so I get to save some money. I buy the biggest pack too.

Goodluck with the budgeting! It is indeed a tedious task :)

Josiets last blog post..A double celebration

Hi Josiet! With Jamaine, I’m using Giggles for home and Huggies for when we go out. She used to use Huggies lang before because she got the rashes with EQ and Pampers. But now that she’s older, her skin seems to be less sensitive with cheaper diapers. With my Kalia, I’m using EQ because Pamper New Baby is so expensive and Huggies rarely has small sizes in the grocery. The thing is she’s having rashes with EQ too so I alternate it with cloth diapers. When Kalia’s bigger I’ll switch to Huggies din. Thanks for suggesting Drypers. Will try that when my EQ supply runs out. :D

[Reply]

Josiet (12 comments.) June 18th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

EJ never had rashes. I am not sure if it’s because of the petroleum jelly. When he was younger (before 1yo) we used to put petroleum jelly around the folds of his thighs and bottom after his bath. It was his pedia’s advice to avoid rashes. And true enough, EJ never had rashes even if we used cheap diapers :)
Josiets last blog post..A double celebration

[Reply]

Jayme Reply:
June 26th, 2008 at 11:54 pm

I think so. My pedia prescribed Vandol which I guess works like petroleum jelly. I’ll wait and see if Kalia’s skin adjusts to the diaper eventually. Thanks Josiet! :)

[Reply]

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