Check out Jungle-Search.com. It allows you to search Amazon.com by category, subcategory, brand name, percent off, price range, and more. This is one of my favorites and definitely worth a look.
I can't buy gasoline. It's such a ripoff and I won't support foreign oil. Instead I drive a CNG (compressed natural gas) powered Honda Civic.
It uses a domestic fuel, it's the cleanest burning internal combustion engine on earth, and I pay about 2 cents per mile for fuel. I literally pay $3 for every 150 miles I drive.
There's n-o-o-o-o way this old cheapskate is gunna pay to get a plastic bottle full of filtered water. We pay our taxes--and utility bills--to have clean, treated water delivered to us through the city plumbing. And even though my office building has no potable water, I'll haul in a bottle of water from my kitchen before I'll pony up a buck or more for a few ounces of water from the vending machine. Outrageous! Who palmed that scam off on the American consumer?
I refuse to spend money on new clothes and toys for my little boys when nearly-new cute outfits can be acquired so cheaply. I'm open to "inheriting" clothes from anyone (for myself as well), and frequent Value Village's 50% off sales. I try to make a list of what each child will need for the next season, and fill in the blanks at these sales. The same for toys and books. Garage sales are also great for this. There are a few neighbourhoods that have a big sale every year, and that's where I've acquired most of our baby equipment, toys, sports gear, and kids books (literally hundreds)for pennies a piece. Sometimes things need a good scrub, a new part, or a bit of mending, but a few minutes of work to save $30 is a pretty good hourly wage! If I need a manual, they are usually available on the internet.
I've been using my neighbor's WIFI since spring and I've saved a bunch. Ok, so I had to sit out on the deck most nights but that's no biggie; it's been a dry summer. The cold nights of the impending New England autumn are something else. I broke down today and installed WIFI. Call me a wuss if you will.
There are also so many baby items available that I believe are totally unnecessary. The first example that comes to mind is the baby wipe warmer, and also the bottle warmer that can plug into your car cigarette lighter. I am disappointed when I search through our local Freecycle posts and see new mothers requesting these items (oh, and sterilizers too!) as if they're the absolute necessities.
As far as strollers go, I think you can make do with one stroller, but for me I needed more than an umbrella stroller for an infant. Early on when the baby cannot sit up, it can feel like they're about to slump right out. Our stroller was just a shade more "heavy duty", with a tray & cup holder for baby in front. Having that there made me feel more secure even when they weren't sitting up yet. I agree with the stroller tips on post #5.
I put a lot of thought into my children's names and they are, in my opinion, unique. Their first names each mean something more personal and family-related, but their middle names are a little more esoteric – meaning, that the name itself stands for a specific idea (if that makes sense, without giving too much info away).
someone here mentioned than when looking to name their kids they looked for names that couldn't be shortened. where is the fun in this?! i went to school with a family that did just this -- their 3 girls were erica, jenny, and lisa. but personally, i love shortened forms and nicknames, and have had tons of them: tanny, tata, t, tbird, naz, nazzle, snazzle, snazz, tannazie, and of course the beloved Big Toe Naz. yes, kids (and adults) will find all sorts of ways to mangle names, but this is part of people establishing relationships, and to me, most of the time, is a good thing.
(of course, don't get me started on the topic of people mispronouncing, misspelling, and just plain forgetting my name. but you can't blame my parents -- how could they know revolution was going to push them out of their country a year after i was born!?)
I can't wonder who these people are that tag pretentious names on their kids. I’m a college prof and have come across more than my share of mundane Xanders and Danikas as well as near-genius Jacks and Jills. I'm giving my kids solid, easy-to-pronounce names that are ready to be filled by their own unique personalities and talents, not the other way around. Fancy names, like fancy clothing, set up huge expectations of an individual that a person, in the end, may just not be able to live up to.
I can't wonder who these people are that tag pretentious names on their kids. I’m a college prof and have come across more than my share of mundane Xanders and Danikas as well as near-genius Jacks and Jills. I'm giving my kids solid, easy-to-pronounce names that are ready to be filled by their own unique personalities and talents, not the other way around. Fancy names, like fancy clothing, set up huge expectations of an individual that a person, in the end, may just not be able to live up to.
I consider myself frugal to the extreme. I drive my husband crazy with it and likewise he drives me crazy with his lack of frugality (what - you bought pop from a VENDING MACHINE?!). Many of the things I do have already been mentioned (only buy clothing second hand or on clearance, on the very rare occasion I eat out in the first place I won't pay for pop, etc.), but one I haven't seen mentioned yet is I will not spend money on professional portraits. It seems my friends and family take their kids to have their pictures taken several times a year. We had our now five year old daughter's picture taken professionally only once when she was six months old because we had a free coupon for it. We have had one professional family portrait taken that was also free. What do my friends and family do with those dozens of portraits and poses once they are outdated? Stick them away in storage. I'm good enough with a digital camera and Photoshop. I like my candids better and they are more reflective of our true personalities than any posed shots from a photography studio.
I simply will not pay full price for Victoria's Secret Bras! Won't wear anything else, but $47? Are you kidding me???
I know the style/size I like and purchase them NWT off of eBay. The most I've ever paid was $33, and that includes shipping. Plus, I didn't have to spend money on gas to drive 20 miles to the nearest store.
I am a nurse and we give out samples, and NEVER seem to have enough bags. I have several patients that bring in grocery bags for us to use. You may want to check with your local clinics, day care, thrift store ect about wanting your loads of plastic grocery bags.
I think npeople think topo much about the issue. People do connect names to identity, and so we should be careful of frivolous or very strange spellings, perhaps, but an unusual name is often something to be proud of later in life. The number of letters and/or difficulty of spel,ling a name should not be a consideration at all, as the child should npot be starting school without already knowing how to write and recognize their own name. As for teasing, determined children will find a way to make ANY name rhyme with a body part, even if it takes force. Better to teach kids to ignore teasing than to have a schoolyard full of John Smiths.
Yeah, I always thought it was EX-avier, too. Reminds me of the Cabbage Patch Kids, and has always been one of my favorite names.
The HR issue is one to think about, though. I can imagine that working against people, although it's really sad that anyone with a different name should struggle to get a job - maybe that will change? I imagine that the first Aarti's and Chen Li's had that problem during the early tech boom days - HR departments learned to get over the fear of the "foreign" names back then; they can do it again.
For me it's clothing. I Never buy new. Re-sale is more economical, earth friendly, and non sweat-shop. I happily walk the earth, guilt-free and in fashion.... mostly.
Now I'm working out ways to recyle old T-shirts into fun duds, cuddly linens, and little critters to give as gifts to kids (big and small).
Gift bags are great items, that look just as good after you open the present, so why waste them? I recycle the same gift bag for my dear husband's birthday present every year. He thinks it's funny. Luckily we are both cheapskates. Now I've converted my co-worker cubicle mate to the idea and we trade one gift bag back and forth every Christmas, filled with inexpensive items. Oh yes, and it was a USED gift bag.
My neice is called Ronnie too! I would rather call her Veronica but she goes by Ronnie -- I assure you, though, it doesn't ring any negative, masculine bells for me. It's just that Veronica is so pretty by itself.
haha! That is actually how we pronounce it...that is how I have always heard St. Francis Xavier pronounced, and also Xavier University. I didn't even realize that many people prefer "Zay-vyer" until after he was born. That said, my brother calls him Zay-vyer, we call him EX-avier, my husband's family calls him Javier *spanish speakers* and some people call him Xavy. I think that when he gets old enough he can decide what he likes best. But I prefer EX-avier.
I don't think the stigma of an unusual name is what it once was, what with all the Nevaehs and McSomethings running around. Lots of kids have names that are just randomly made up, are brand names, etc. There have been hundreds of babies named Lexus and Armani. And if your child is going to be made fun of, it will happen. A pretext will be found.
But people should think about the ramifications of the child living with the name, and should place that consideration over their own need for creative expression. I think a balance can be found most of the time.
I track this phenomenon (badbabynamesverified.com) and my pet peeves are names with pretentiousness, or with creative spellings. Spelling idocy (example: Paysleigh) represents a very amusing dilemma for the new parents. They just HAVE to jump on some bandwagon and join in a trend (like Nevaeh) but they can't stand the thought of being "unoriginal" and so they misspell the name (this is already happening with Nevaeh, and it's ludicrous given that the entire justification for the name is that it's heaven-spelled-backwards.)
On the author's kids' names: I see Matthias and think mah-TEE-us, a common European name. Others might think of mah-THIGH-us. So to me that's a great name with the slight problem of pronunciation ambiguity. Kylin is "eh" to me because I don't like made up names, but I have seen far, far, FAR worse. And I like that it's pretty clear how to pronounce it.
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Check out Jungle-Search.com. It allows you to search Amazon.com by category, subcategory, brand name, percent off, price range, and more. This is one of my favorites and definitely worth a look.
www.jungle-search.com
I can't buy gasoline. It's such a ripoff and I won't support foreign oil. Instead I drive a CNG (compressed natural gas) powered Honda Civic.
It uses a domestic fuel, it's the cleanest burning internal combustion engine on earth, and I pay about 2 cents per mile for fuel. I literally pay $3 for every 150 miles I drive.
So why should I be a sucker and pay for gasoline?
There's n-o-o-o-o way this old cheapskate is gunna pay to get a plastic bottle full of filtered water. We pay our taxes--and utility bills--to have clean, treated water delivered to us through the city plumbing. And even though my office building has no potable water, I'll haul in a bottle of water from my kitchen before I'll pony up a buck or more for a few ounces of water from the vending machine. Outrageous! Who palmed that scam off on the American consumer?
I refuse to spend money on new clothes and toys for my little boys when nearly-new cute outfits can be acquired so cheaply. I'm open to "inheriting" clothes from anyone (for myself as well), and frequent Value Village's 50% off sales. I try to make a list of what each child will need for the next season, and fill in the blanks at these sales. The same for toys and books. Garage sales are also great for this. There are a few neighbourhoods that have a big sale every year, and that's where I've acquired most of our baby equipment, toys, sports gear, and kids books (literally hundreds)for pennies a piece. Sometimes things need a good scrub, a new part, or a bit of mending, but a few minutes of work to save $30 is a pretty good hourly wage! If I need a manual, they are usually available on the internet.
I've been using my neighbor's WIFI since spring and I've saved a bunch. Ok, so I had to sit out on the deck most nights but that's no biggie; it's been a dry summer. The cold nights of the impending New England autumn are something else. I broke down today and installed WIFI. Call me a wuss if you will.
There are also so many baby items available that I believe are totally unnecessary. The first example that comes to mind is the baby wipe warmer, and also the bottle warmer that can plug into your car cigarette lighter. I am disappointed when I search through our local Freecycle posts and see new mothers requesting these items (oh, and sterilizers too!) as if they're the absolute necessities.
As far as strollers go, I think you can make do with one stroller, but for me I needed more than an umbrella stroller for an infant. Early on when the baby cannot sit up, it can feel like they're about to slump right out. Our stroller was just a shade more "heavy duty", with a tray & cup holder for baby in front. Having that there made me feel more secure even when they weren't sitting up yet. I agree with the stroller tips on post #5.
It's the internet, Stupid!
I'm a web developer. Whenever I have a question, or want to learn a new programming language, I can't abide paying for a reference book.
I put a lot of thought into my children's names and they are, in my opinion, unique. Their first names each mean something more personal and family-related, but their middle names are a little more esoteric – meaning, that the name itself stands for a specific idea (if that makes sense, without giving too much info away).
For me, reading this couldn't have had better timing. The events of the past couple of years have forced me to reflect on these very issues.
someone here mentioned than when looking to name their kids they looked for names that couldn't be shortened. where is the fun in this?! i went to school with a family that did just this -- their 3 girls were erica, jenny, and lisa. but personally, i love shortened forms and nicknames, and have had tons of them: tanny, tata, t, tbird, naz, nazzle, snazzle, snazz, tannazie, and of course the beloved Big Toe Naz. yes, kids (and adults) will find all sorts of ways to mangle names, but this is part of people establishing relationships, and to me, most of the time, is a good thing.
(of course, don't get me started on the topic of people mispronouncing, misspelling, and just plain forgetting my name. but you can't blame my parents -- how could they know revolution was going to push them out of their country a year after i was born!?)
I can't wonder who these people are that tag pretentious names on their kids. I’m a college prof and have come across more than my share of mundane Xanders and Danikas as well as near-genius Jacks and Jills. I'm giving my kids solid, easy-to-pronounce names that are ready to be filled by their own unique personalities and talents, not the other way around. Fancy names, like fancy clothing, set up huge expectations of an individual that a person, in the end, may just not be able to live up to.
I can't wonder who these people are that tag pretentious names on their kids. I’m a college prof and have come across more than my share of mundane Xanders and Danikas as well as near-genius Jacks and Jills. I'm giving my kids solid, easy-to-pronounce names that are ready to be filled by their own unique personalities and talents, not the other way around. Fancy names, like fancy clothing, set up huge expectations of an individual that a person, in the end, may just not be able to live up to.
I consider myself frugal to the extreme. I drive my husband crazy with it and likewise he drives me crazy with his lack of frugality (what - you bought pop from a VENDING MACHINE?!). Many of the things I do have already been mentioned (only buy clothing second hand or on clearance, on the very rare occasion I eat out in the first place I won't pay for pop, etc.), but one I haven't seen mentioned yet is I will not spend money on professional portraits. It seems my friends and family take their kids to have their pictures taken several times a year. We had our now five year old daughter's picture taken professionally only once when she was six months old because we had a free coupon for it. We have had one professional family portrait taken that was also free. What do my friends and family do with those dozens of portraits and poses once they are outdated? Stick them away in storage. I'm good enough with a digital camera and Photoshop. I like my candids better and they are more reflective of our true personalities than any posed shots from a photography studio.
I simply will not pay full price for Victoria's Secret Bras! Won't wear anything else, but $47? Are you kidding me???
I know the style/size I like and purchase them NWT off of eBay. The most I've ever paid was $33, and that includes shipping. Plus, I didn't have to spend money on gas to drive 20 miles to the nearest store.
Saves time and money.
I am a nurse and we give out samples, and NEVER seem to have enough bags. I have several patients that bring in grocery bags for us to use. You may want to check with your local clinics, day care, thrift store ect about wanting your loads of plastic grocery bags.
Julie
I think npeople think topo much about the issue. People do connect names to identity, and so we should be careful of frivolous or very strange spellings, perhaps, but an unusual name is often something to be proud of later in life. The number of letters and/or difficulty of spel,ling a name should not be a consideration at all, as the child should npot be starting school without already knowing how to write and recognize their own name. As for teasing, determined children will find a way to make ANY name rhyme with a body part, even if it takes force. Better to teach kids to ignore teasing than to have a schoolyard full of John Smiths.
Yeah, I always thought it was EX-avier, too. Reminds me of the Cabbage Patch Kids, and has always been one of my favorite names.
The HR issue is one to think about, though. I can imagine that working against people, although it's really sad that anyone with a different name should struggle to get a job - maybe that will change? I imagine that the first Aarti's and Chen Li's had that problem during the early tech boom days - HR departments learned to get over the fear of the "foreign" names back then; they can do it again.
For me it's clothing. I Never buy new. Re-sale is more economical, earth friendly, and non sweat-shop. I happily walk the earth, guilt-free and in fashion.... mostly.
Now I'm working out ways to recyle old T-shirts into fun duds, cuddly linens, and little critters to give as gifts to kids (big and small).
Gift bags are great items, that look just as good after you open the present, so why waste them? I recycle the same gift bag for my dear husband's birthday present every year. He thinks it's funny. Luckily we are both cheapskates. Now I've converted my co-worker cubicle mate to the idea and we trade one gift bag back and forth every Christmas, filled with inexpensive items. Oh yes, and it was a USED gift bag.
Love the towel idea.
Veronica,
My neice is called Ronnie too! I would rather call her Veronica but she goes by Ronnie -- I assure you, though, it doesn't ring any negative, masculine bells for me. It's just that Veronica is so pretty by itself.
haha! That is actually how we pronounce it...that is how I have always heard St. Francis Xavier pronounced, and also Xavier University. I didn't even realize that many people prefer "Zay-vyer" until after he was born. That said, my brother calls him Zay-vyer, we call him EX-avier, my husband's family calls him Javier *spanish speakers* and some people call him Xavy. I think that when he gets old enough he can decide what he likes best. But I prefer EX-avier.
I don't think the stigma of an unusual name is what it once was, what with all the Nevaehs and McSomethings running around. Lots of kids have names that are just randomly made up, are brand names, etc. There have been hundreds of babies named Lexus and Armani. And if your child is going to be made fun of, it will happen. A pretext will be found.
But people should think about the ramifications of the child living with the name, and should place that consideration over their own need for creative expression. I think a balance can be found most of the time.
I track this phenomenon (badbabynamesverified.com) and my pet peeves are names with pretentiousness, or with creative spellings. Spelling idocy (example: Paysleigh) represents a very amusing dilemma for the new parents. They just HAVE to jump on some bandwagon and join in a trend (like Nevaeh) but they can't stand the thought of being "unoriginal" and so they misspell the name (this is already happening with Nevaeh, and it's ludicrous given that the entire justification for the name is that it's heaven-spelled-backwards.)
On the author's kids' names: I see Matthias and think mah-TEE-us, a common European name. Others might think of mah-THIGH-us. So to me that's a great name with the slight problem of pronunciation ambiguity. Kylin is "eh" to me because I don't like made up names, but I have seen far, far, FAR worse. And I like that it's pretty clear how to pronounce it.