The Case Against Dairy-Plant Based Diet Part IV

Valentine Cards made by Tabitha Davis:-)

Cute sprout.

Momma knows how to score the deals!

Painting time

Gracen loves painting.

Apologies for the length in time for getting my next blog published. Several of you have told me how much you enjoy reading my views & look forward to new entries. THANK YOU for the encouragement. The past two weeks have been a bit of a challenge for me & I felt it best to channel myself into my family since I haven't felt capable of much else. Also, it's nearly tax time & I have a rather large QuickBooks project sprawled out on my table. I thank the Lord for these sides jobs, even though I feel overwhelmed at times!

My mommy replaced my dairy milk with coconut milk. It tastes yummy in my cereal!

Dairy, whether raw or pasteurized is not healthy for human consumption.  Betting that got your attention! Your body can't make good use of the calcium contained within, the protein is hard on the body's kidneys & whether it's USDA organic or not, it contains lots of natural hormones that are healthy for an infant cow, not a human. It's a myth that infants should be weaned from breastmilk/formula onto cow milk. I have three healthy children that are proof of that. From my research, the biggest dairy offenders in order are cheese, cream (including sour) milk & then cultured products such as yogurt & Keefer. Although, I don't think any cow milk is good for the body, pasteurized is the worst. If an infant cow is fed the milk that comes from the jug it will die. There is a humane side to consider with dairy production, also. The mama cow gives birth & then immediately has her baby whisked away. If it's a girl, she is bottle fed & then raised to be a production machine like her mama, never being able to keep her baby. When she has been milked to exhaustion, she gets treated to a dart in the head, often slaughtered while still conscience. If the mama's calf has the misfortune of having been born a male, he is put into a calf hutch & fed a low nutrient "milk" for a few weeks, being chained so he can't develop muscles. His meat needs to be weak & pale to fetch a nice price at the meat market. DO NOT BUY VEAL, PLEASE! I will refrain from putting the numerous sources for this horrid information on my blog but those, who are truly interested can pull plenty of credible websites up by typing "dairy production ethics" in Google. The dairy business is not a kind industry. There is an ecological side to it as well. The water, resources & the run off from the business is a huge issue as well. My husband researched the healthfulness of dairy last spring & wrote a paper on it. What he uncovered was truly disturbing. Most of the Vitamin D put into milk to fortify it, comes from pig skin. Also, there is a large amount of puss allowed into your milk. Where does the puss come from? Bleeding, infected udders & mammary tissue from the mistreated cows. Check out NotMilk.com & VegFamily.com. Also for some great non-dairy recipes, check out VegWeb.com. My studies on dairy & the alternatives have persuaded me not to use soy milk or soy based foods as a substitute for my family unless it's USDA organic & fermented such as tofu & tempeh (has to meet both of those)& then in limited quantity, however. Soy seems to be the most common option toted most for a dairy substitute. There will be a post on the soy debate later with some great non dairy & non soy suggestions:-)

Plant Based Diet- "The Dirty Dozen" part III

Two silly sweethearts sitting on Daddy's car.

A messy faced little tot.

Mommy loves her baby boy!

Isn't my hubs handsome? Wish my eye was open all the way:-(

She was reading this book at prechool & didn't know I was there.

Sweet girl with her Valentine goodies.

Nurse Matt preparing my B12

He is really skilled at giving injections. They don't hurt.

     Probably most of us have heard the saying, "you can't avoid everything" in reference to the pesticides & chemicals in food. Yes, that's most certainly a logical statement (unless you live on a remote island somewhere, that has never been touched by human hands but even then, who knows). Our bodies were equipped with tremendous filtering devices but in today's toxic environment, those filters can get overloaded & plugged. I like to liken our body's filtering system to a pool filter. The filter is designed to clean the gunk out of the water before returning it back to the pool. Every once in awhile, the pool maintenance guy comes by & "helps" the filter do it's job so it doesn't have so much work to do. He uses his net to scoop out the big objects, that could damage & clog the filter. The pool filter has the luxury of being replaced periodically. Our filters are permanent so all the more reason to "help them do their job!". One large source of filter clogging toxins in our environment is in or on the foods we eat. Learning which foods are the highest in pesticides & which are naturally low is a great idea for anyone concerned with keeping their filtering system healthy. I have scoured the Internet for the most up-to-date information available regarding produce that make up "the dirty dozen". These are foods you should prioritize buying USDA organic due to their excessive pesticide & chemical content. Buying organic has an altruistic side that you may appreciate. Farm workers that work on organic farms aren't subjected to the concentrated chemicals, that the workers on the conventional farms are. Many of these workers are migrant workers & have few options of where to work in order to support their families. The Department of Agriculture says that individuals can reduce their internal chemical exposure 80% by switching to organic in these foods: APPLES, CELERY, STRAWBERRIES, PEACHES, SPINACH, NECTARINES, GRAPES, SWEET BELL PEPPERS, POTATOES, BLUEBERRIES, LETTUCE/KALE. Some non-produce items that also made the extreme caution extension list are meats, milk & dairy, coffee, wine, chocolate. Please check out TheDailyGreen.com for more helpful information. In closing, my educated opinion is that it's prudent to buy USDA organic foods regardless if they make the list or not as most all conventional food items will have filter clogging toxins contained within.

Plant Based Diet- Eating Out Part II

Vegan hobo stew. Yum!

The Kramers- Kaheeta

Little Bright Eyes

Sabbath School

Daddy & Jr. Matt

Visiting our animal buddies. Hood River

Healthy veggie babies:-)

Mara & Pearl.

The boy likes to eat.

Playing in their sand box.

Taking my younger two to the zoo.

The pictures were taken between late August & early September. Enjoy!When my husband was in the Mediterranean last summer, eating out was ideal for him as a vegetarian. The Mediterranean diet is much lower in animal products than the North American diet. At the motel breakfast buffets, instead of piles of sausage, bacon, eggs & pastries, there was hummus, fresh vegetables & other plant based foods. Of course there was some of the "American type" foods, but not in the quantity as is seen here. The buffet was based on a plant based diet. Finding restaurants with vegetarian foods can sometimes be tricky but for the most part, my family hasn't had to go hungry :-). Here is a quick guide on different restaurant styles & what you can consider ordering (this isn't comprehensive, just provides some things that have worked for me): Mexican- If you don't see a sign that says the refried beans are lard free, ask. If they aren't, ask for whole beans instead. Whole beans are healthier anyway so you might do as I do & ask for them every time. Ordering enchiladas without cheese, sour cream & meat may sound really bland to you, but most restaurants will compensate by adding extra beans, rice, veggies & sauce. My kids enjoy eating rice, beans & chips. My eldest loves plain bean & rice burritos. American: This type of restaurant can be quite tricky as the menu is almost always chock full of meat. Fortunately, many places will substitute a garden patty for hamburger & most salads can be ordered without the meat & dressing. If you must have dressing, ask for it on the side so you can add just a little bit. At Red Robin, I like to order the 5 Alarm garden burger. I have them hold the dressing & cheese. The salsa & jalapenos add more than adequate flavor. My kids usually get the mac n cheese with oranges. It's really difficult in places like red Robin to feed your kids healthy & their kind of mac n cheese is not healthy but at least they aren't eating a burger or corn dog. Pizza Parlors: Hot Lips & Pizzicato are the ones we most get slices of pizza from. They both offer delicious vegan & vegetarian slices as well as garlic bread (with lots of garlic on them!) & salads. Italian (Olive Garden): Our family generally only goes to Olive Garden & Red Robin when someone is taking us out. The food is pricey & not that healthy. At Olive Garden, ask for less dressing & have the waiter hold the cheese on the salad. They have several vegan dish options & you can elect to have whole grain noodles for no additional charge. My kids all enjoy spaghetti. Chinese: Generally I avoid Chinese restaurants unless I know that no MSG is used in the food. Otherwise, I get a horrible headache & feel lethargic for a few days. Avoid anything fried. Ask for brown rice instead of white if they have it. Sauteed tofu & vegetables are usually a decent option. Spicy garlic sauce gives the meal a nice kick of favor. Thai: This is one of my favorite kind of restaurants. Most any vegan dish is suitable. Ask if fish sauce is used in the sauces. Pad Thai without egg is one of my favorites. My kids enjoy the sweet brown rice & little veggie strips that come with many of the dishes. Mediterranean: Hummus, falafel, pita bread, tzatziki & vegetable kabobs are five vegan things we order & enjoy. The kids enjoy dipping the pita into the hummus. You can also find salads & pita pocket sandwiches to enjoy. Fast Food: You can find vegetarian & vegan options at Taco Time,Taco Del Mar Burgerville & BurgerKing. Eating at places like these shouldn't be an everyday occurrence, however. Quick Tips: Ask to have the cheese, dressing, mayonnaise & sour cream held. If you are in doubt about what is in a product, ask. Many restaurants make soups with beef or chicken stock. Avoid anything with the word fried in the description. Baked, broiled or steamed are better choices. Leave the salt shaker where it sits. Thankfully, I have never been a salter so this tip has been easy to follow. Beware of the endless drinks. Water with a lemon is better. Stop eating when you are comfortable. Following this tip has served me well. Restaurants serve huge portions. Split a plate & save some $. Better yet, eat at home & know exactly what's going into your food!

Plant-Based Diet:Growing Kids As Vegetarians Part I

Mmmm, vegetarian food is so yummy! Finn :-)

 My blogged Plant Based Diet series is meant to share with others my family's journey on a vegetarian diet & why we have chosen this. We do not think we are better than our meat eating family & friends. This is what we feel is best for our family. Reading my thoughts is strictly voluntarily. :-)
 When Mara was three days old, a friend emphatically told her, that she wasn't going to know what she was missing by being raised a vegetarian (steak was the subject). Actually, at seven years old, Mara does know what she is missing & she couldn't be more pleased. It's kind of funny some of the looks or comments you get when people learn you don't eat meat & very little dairy or egg products. One of the most common remarks is, "How do you get your protein?" followed by, "What do you eat?". Interesting how the "developed" countries like the USA have a super high meat consumption per person & heart disease is one of the number one killers. Countries, that don't eat near the amount of meat, have far less heart disease. But more on the logistics later. Before getting into the "kids" portion, I will briefly share my journey into a plant based diet. Growing up, I was raised eating a typical high meat diet. Very early on, I remember eating hamburgers from Burgerville on Sunday nights after church, sitting in my highchair in our small house on Railroad Avenue. (This post isn't intended to make jabs at my parents for their dietary upbringing so please keep that in mind. My parents did they best they knew & did a pretty fine job!) An entire hamburger patty is way too much meat for a small child. The protein overload on the system is not healthy but more on serving sizes later. As I continued to grow, meat was a staple of  dinner every day & often also at lunch & occasionally breakfast, also. Thankfully, I never cared for bacon & did not eat it growing up. My family didn't serve pork very much because my dad knew it is full of toxins. I am thankful for that. The dogs were frequent beneficiaries of unwanted meat at the dinner table. Fat, gristle, hamburger & anything undercooked always bothered me so I would slip it to the dogs. After I turned 14, I started having abdominal pain after eating too much fat & protein. When I cut back on the meat in my diet, my pains got better. Around age 16, I started experimenting with a meatless diet, much to the frustration of my folk. It wasn't until a few years later, that I had the encouragement around me to go 100% meatless. Dropping most other animal products came later.During my pregnancy with both Mara & Gracen, I maintained excellent hemoglobin levels (the iron in meat comes from the blood but it's readily available in non-blood sources, also!). Finn's pregnancy was harder on my body for various reasons & my iron dropped but it went back up soon after his birth. Mara, Gracen & Finn are different than a lot of their peers, who were started on a meat based diet early on, often as infants (meat is exceptionally unsuitable for an infant's system). People ask me what they eat. They eat lots of good foods & being a vegetarian hasn't been a problem to them. The girls are old enough to know why our family doesn't eat meat. We passed a restaurant last night & I asked Mara if she would like to stop in sometime to eat. She said, "No, I wouldn't. It looks like mostly meat is served in there." Gracen was recently offered ham at her preschool. She turned it down. Etiquette regarding how my children respond to others eating meat is something my husband & I work diligently with our kids on. They are being trained (I think Mara is fully trained!), that it isn't okay to say anything derogatory about what someone is eating or has in their kitchen. There is to be nothing said about the smell, color or how bad it can be for you. We have experienced derogatory remarks to us about our diet & although not appreciated, the girls are being taught to ignore them. Thankfully, more & more people are realizing the joy of a plant-based diet so my children have some veggie buddies. Here are three questions I have been asked frequently about raising my children on a plant-based diet: 1. How do you make sure they get adequate protein? Statistics show, that most Americans get too much protein every day. Excessive protein, especially animal protein is hard on your kidneys as well as leeches calcium from the bones. The serving size for meat is a deck of cards. This is for an adult. How many people eat a deck sized serving? How many kids do that when their serving size should be much smaller? My children eat a broad variety of foods & get their protein needs met easily & adequately. Many people may not know, that protein is found in plants, not just animal flesh & products. Since their brains are still developing, my children eat limited organic eggs & am working on eliminating  cheese from their diets. 2. How do you make sure your kids get adequate iron? Supplement with an iron supplement? My children are all tested on a semi-annual basis for hemoglobin & have never been even close to low. They do not take an iron supplement in any form. In fact, I didn't take iron with my pregnancies although I probably needed to towards the end with Finn. A plant based diet adequately provides enough iron. 3. What will you do if your kids want to become meat eaters when they turn 18. My goal is to raise my children the best I can, present them with the facts, educate them & then let them make their own choices when they are of age. Even if they choose to become meat eaters, it will be a good feeling to know that they were shielded from animal flesh toxins, antibiotics, & excessive fat & cholesterol for their formative years. On closing, two observations that I have made from having babies & toddlers drinking my vegetarian milk is that dirty diapers do not have as strong as an odor as meat eating babies' diapers, also when they are off milk but not eating meat (I have changed & smelled plenty!) & that spit up breast milk has a milder smell than milk from meat eating mothers' milk I have smelled. Vegetarian milk has a slightly different composition from conventional milk. At the end of my Plant Based Diet series, I plan on posting some sites where you can reference some of my vegetarian information. This series, like all of my blogs are MY VIEWS. Some people have different views. I respect yours. Please respect mine. Please check out Forks Over Knives. My family has a copy of it & would love to loan it out to any interested parties.

Eating Well- Living On Less Part VI

Indulge in some treats! I made these cupcakes from scratch. Yum:-)

Who hasn't heard this saying at least once, "I would eat healthier but it's so expensive!"? Actually, my family of five eats quite healthy on a budget smaller than several two family households that I know of. Hopefully my grocery shopping strategy will give you some new thrift tips when you plan your next grocery shopping trip but before I get started, I would like to put out a disclaimer: eating healthy isn't going to be as cheap as going to Walmart & loading your cart up with Great Value microwave meals, chips & soda. It just isn't. However, it is my firm belief that eating healthy is making a thrifty choice in the long run because you will most likely save money on medical expenses plus you will feel better. Okay, so now to the fun part! Where I shop: Trader Joe's, Fred Meyer's natural & produce section, Whole Foods, New Seasons, Bob's Red Mill, Dave's Killer Bread, Costco & Grocery Outlet. An interesting observation I have made is that whenever I do go to a grocery store such as Winco, the sugar-O cereals, Kool-Aid & other junk foods are on display at a level easy for my girls to notice & ask for. Also, many of the junk foods are packaged in kid friendly cartons with popular cartoon characters on the front. 1. Go Veg! Probably no one reading this is going to do that, but even if you substitute one meal a week for a veg meal, you can save some funds besides the obvious health benefits but that subject will be reserved for another day. Because my kitchen cooks no meat, I can't offer you any meat buying tips that I have personally tried but I do know that some people buy a side or two of meat from a local butcher. It is amazing to me, that any family should need that much meat but it's the American way, I suppose. Growing up, my folks did the same, buying beef & pork (one of the most toxic meats you can eat BTW). Pound for pound, you can buy a lot more whole grain rice, beans, lentils & bulgar than you can meat. Plus, you don't have to pay for the electricity to keep it frozen :-) 2. Buy In Bulk. It needs to be noted, that buying in bulk isn't going to have the cost saving measures you are looking for if you buy so much that you can't use it up in a timely manner or end up not liking the product for whatever reason so be sure you are going to make use of the item. My favorite place to buy in bulk from is Bob's Redmill in Milwaukie. We buy 25 pounds of old fashioned organic oats at a time. Some other of my Bob's bulk favorites are brown rice, beans, lentils, whole grain flour, spices (they provide tiny bags for those), raisins, chocolate chips (for making protein balls), dried pineapple rings, nutritional yeast, raw cashews & raw sunflower seeds. The store in itself is worth a trip to go see. My kids enjoy eating breakfast or lunch there. While you are at it, go across the street to Dave's Killer Bread store. Chinook Book offers money saving coupons for both stores. 3. Stock Up. As mentioned above, I always visit Dave's Killer Bread store after shopping at Bob's. The store offers fresh, day old or frozen. Frozen is the best deal but all their products are cheaper than in the stores for the most part. Try the samples they offer if you aren't sure which breads you want. We buy the sprouted, spelt & occasionally a Sin Dawg and bagels. Double bag your extra bread & use within a reasonable time period. When doing your normal shopping,  if a product you know you will use is on sale, stock up on it, just be sure you are going to use it up. Several years ago, I would do some of my dad's grocery shopping when employed for him. He would have me buy 20 boxes of his favorite cereal if it was on sale. Jokes were always made when I went though the check-out with than many boxes but he probably saved a lot of money by having me do that. Wholefoods is really good about offering coupons & they will take as many as you want to remove from their in-store coupon books. Sometimes I have an additional coupon for the item. I have scored the organic coconut milk my family uses instead of dairy milk for half off the normal price in addition to other items. In times like that, I buy enough milk to last us a month. 4. Know what to buy & where to buy it. There is a pretty comprehensive mental list housed in my head, that tells me what items to buy where. For example, Trader Joe's has the best price on organic frozen blueberries, organic peanut butter (except when Costco is carrying it, which is hasn't been due to crop problems), organic corn chips, salsa, bananas, pineapple, watermelon, carrots, kiwi, organic jam,& Gracen's favorite garlic stuffed olives (to name a few). 5. Streamline your shopping. It isn't in my cards to make special shopping trips if they involve me going more than a few miles from home. I try to work stopping at the more "out-of-the-way" stores into an already planned or necessary trip. The Hollywood Whole Foods is super close to the Hollywood Trader Joe's. 6. Make food from scratch. Check out the ingredients on some of your favorite convenience food packaging. If it isn't from a natural food store (and therefore oftentimes on the expensive side), it probably has some unhealthy things in it. Making your food from scratch solves that problem as you know what when into your food. If your kids like chocolate milk for example, do as I do & add some Trader Joe's chocolate syrup into their coconut milk. Limited ingredients & relatively inexpensive. 7. Just say no to treats. Okay, before you start shaking your head at this, I don't mean treats altogether. Making cookies for a party recently, I was surprised how much it cost to buy all the ingredients for them & your body doesn't need them anyway. We don't keep cookies & treats in stock in our house, meaning they aren't an automatic thing every day. I buy Annie's organic fruit snacks a few times a month, they get a doughnut here & there. No one is deprived but treats in their lunches & after dinner isn't a regular thing. 8. Watch the snack packages. Those can be really expensive, even the healthy ones. Generally, I buy a bigger container of the item & put it into a container for their lunch box. Some snack items we don't buy regardless of the price: handi-snacks, carrot & ranch dip (that stuff is horrible for you), and conventional fruit snacks. 9. Shop the farmer's market. You can score some great deals when shopping a farmer's market. 10. Know what items are crucial to buy organic & which conventional items have low pesticide residue. We try to stick to organic strawberries, apples, peaches, most vegetables, grapes (I won't buy these if they aren't), peanut butter & berries to name a few. I rarely buy organic bananas & pineapples. 11. Use your juicer, food processor & blender. This deserves a complete post so maybe I will try to do that on down the road. 12. My sister-in-law Lindsey mentioned this tip & it's great: plan your menu a month in advance & do your bulk shopping at one time. I will add, that you should plan on shopping weekly for fresh produce. 13. Pick & grow your own food! My children love growing a garden & picking blueberries is so much fun for all of us. All three of my children eat frozen or fresh berries like M&M's.
     In conclusion, eating healthy while being thrifty is completely possible. I know, because my family is doing that. Try rethinking outside the cheaper option. Read labels, be informed, use coupons, eat well!

Thrift Doesn't Need To Mean Cheap-Living On Less Part V

Here is a Columbia jacket, that Grandpa Gary so generously bought for Mara!

Why is it that some of the cheapest people are wealthy? I am not talking about thriftiness. The subject here is cheapness. Even if you don't have many resources, I am pretty sure you can find ways to not be selfish with others. As I tell my children, you are so much happier when you aren't as concerned with yourself as you are with others. Maybe it's because I was born a giver but for whatever reasons, all my life I have enjoyed giving to others even when I don't have many resources. Yes, it's true that I am not able to give quite as nice of things to family and friends that I used to but I still find ways to share. Looking ahead for good buys & storing things away are two ways I can keep up with my joy of giving. Sending packages to friends & relatives is a special thing I do & although the postage can be pretty painful, it's something I have tried to continue with from time to time. It's important that my children learn giving to others early on, so we periodically pick up a bouquet of flowers from Trader Joe's or some chocolate for their teachers and I try to have them help with the package sending. They also help gather up food from our shelves when their schools are having food drives. Another way you be giving to others while living thrifty is donating clothes & household items to charity. One of my favorite places to give some of my children's outgrown things is PACS in Portland. They are a tremendously wonderful mission. There is a friend of mine, who also enjoys giving to others & she has blessed me with much needed items many times including clothes for my son & myself, some of which we wear on a regular basis. She could have tried to resell those things but she chose to share & in doing so, blessed me tremendously. Several months ago, this same friend invited me to use some store credit she had to pick out a bunch of clothes at a local resale store. An anonymous family has a monthly food box from Organics To You delivered to my family. The lift I feel in my heart every time that box arrives is amazing. A nursing friend of Matt's sent home a few pairs of shoes for Mara with him. I know for a fact that she could have resold them but she gave them to us instead & Mara was thrilled (as was I)!. Now, I am not trying to suggest you give everything away because even I don't do that, but think of how much better we would all feel if in our frugality, we remembered that being thrifty doesn't need to mean being cheap!

Quality & Quantity! Buy Smart- Living On Less Part IV

Check out this cute outfit I found for myself. $6. Tried it on before I bought it & the jeans look great!

Like new Gymboree sweater-hoody for Gracen. $3.50!

All the thrifty folks buy their household supplies from Dollar Tree, right? With everything being $1, how can you go wrong? Actually, it has been in my humble shopping experience that there are lots of ways you can waste your dollar in Dollar Tree. Here are a few examples: Two years ago when moving into our house, a dear friend offered to help paint our old place back to its original color & also paint some areas in our new house. This person is a huge Dollar Tree fan & brought over masking tape & paper towels purchased for $1 each. Not only was the tape horrid to get off the roll, it literally peeled every bit of paint from the surface it was adhered to when the time came to remove it. We had to go back over all those areas, thus costing more time & paint (paint equals money). My husband bought some name brand masking tape & the difference between the two was amazing. Now for the paper towels, they were so thin, that it took three or four to do the work of one of a more expensive brand. Then there is the matter of school/office supplies. I bought an off brand pack of pencils & glue for Mara. The glue had very little stick & the graphite in the pencils broke constantly. I bought her more expensive USA made pencils & you know what, no more breakage? Just before Christmas, I needed some scotch tape & Gracen wanted a special role wrapping paper. The tape was a name brand so I bought two of them. There must have been about three feet of tape on each roll & I had to help Gracen wrap gifts twice with the paper because it was as thin as toilet paper. We have rolls of Costco paper, that last for several seasons & is as thick as Hallmark's paper. Some other Dollar Tree bargains that aren't really bargains (at least in my experience) printer paper, pet collars, pens, baskets, plastic utensils, cleaning supplies (if you go for chemical cleaners) & packages of candy for parties (beware . Also, many of their toys & items have been been brought notice to due to lead content. There are, however good deals to be found in Dollar Tree for sure. Here are some items I will buy: paper party supplies & table covers, party favors such as bubbles & coloring books, thank-you cards, name brand tooth brushes, pregnancy tests (well, not anymore hopefully but they work great!), little items for making homeless baskets such as hand warmers & tiny pouches of tissue. This is not meant to be a complete list of "wastes & savers" so please feel free to add to it in the comments. Shopping at Costco can be a great resource for the thrifty minded individual. Most price tags include the price per ounce, pound, unit or item so price comparison shopping is simplified. Costco's store brand, Kirkland has always been very satisfactory to me, usually just as good or better than the equivalent name brand. Here is a partial list of items, that my family saves money with by buying at Costco: Kirkland brand items- paper towels, toilet paper, environmentally dish soap, contact solution, trash bags, pet food. Name brand items: toothbrushes, razors, Carter's pajamas, Wigwam socks, organic, whole grain pasta, swim suits, bath towels, wash cloths, dish towels, Simple Green (great for outside use like degreasing car engines), Mobile One motor oil, windshield wipers, bird seed & electronics like the laptop I am typing on. Costco has great customer service & awesome return policies & warranties plus, there are often great samples especially when someone is demoing a Vita Mix! Do your math & make sure you will use something up before purchasing it. If you buy a 12 pack of something, be prepared to use it up or you may end up not saving money. Other money saving places include Target & Walmart (I personally avoid Walmart like the plague but that's a personal preference). Please leave your own shopping tips in the comment section :-)

Dress Your Kids Nice- Living On Less Part III

This was too cute not to post. Mara was helping Gracen play her violin:-)

Mara's spring outfit.

Look at the cute side puckering & pink bow!

Love the detail of this shirt. She has a jumper dress to wear over this shirt for another outfit & when it's hot the dress can be worn without the shirt.

So this is probably going to be my favorite post in the "Living On Less" series. Many of you know how much fun I have outfitting my three children. BTW, for those who might be wondering if I plan on blogging & posting so frequently, the answer is, no :-). When I discovered I was going to be a mommy for the first time, I wasn't overly particular on the type of clothing my baby would wear.....until she was born & then I started to form opinions. Most moms seem to have their own "style" of how they outfit their kids so I don't think I am an odd one. For my girls, I like them to dress like sweet little ladies, which involves lots of pinks, dresses, cute skirts & coordinating hair bows & clips. There isn't as much in the clothing world for little boys but I have my style for Finn, also. His clothes are a hybrid of a cute little boy & a little man. Collared shirts, jeans & coordinating socks & sweaters make up the at least half of his wardrobe. My children also wear clothes that are ample in size. We aren't expecting high waters around here & they don't need to bare their mid section to keep cool. Toes are continually pressed down on within shoes to assure a proper fit. Some items you don't see in my children's closets are character themed clothes (Disney Princess, Hannah Montana, Cars), sweats (a pair or two for lounging maybe), out of fashion clothes, light up shoes, or clothing from cheap box stores like Walmart. You may be wondering of I allow my kids any choice with their wardrobes. Yes, I certainly do. Both girls help pick things out for themselves when it's possible to do so & I keep in mind their individual tastes when shopping solo. I receive many compliments on how my kids are dressed. I dress them very nicely on surprisingly less money than you may think. In fact, I paid LESS for most of their GAP, Gymboree Columbia & Children's Place clothes than if I had bought their things from Target or Walmart so dressing them nice isn't a matter of having much extra money because it isn't. Here are a few of my secrets: 1. Know where the best kid resale stores are & know when to shop. I have a list of stores & I periodically stop in to each of them. My top favorite always has a tag sale going on where two different colored tags are 30% & 50% off. I shop those colors, first. Last time I was in there, I scored an expensive diaper bag for under $20 & it was brand new to boot! 2. Know what brands to look for & know how to check the manufacture date (this comes in handy when you want to turn outgrown clothes in for store credit). Know what is a good deal & don't buy something "just because it's on sale". Need it, have a plan for it. Sometimes I chuckle when resale shopping & the price is the same or more than what I can buy a similar item new for (with my coupons/sales). This is common at Good Will. Buy European brand shoes when possible. They hold up so well! Don't buy shoe brands from store like Payless Shoe or Target. When I make my sweep through the store, there are very few clothing brands I will consider & they all have three things in common: Good resale value the next time around, excellent quality, CUTE! 3. Shop ahead. This has worked well for me as all three of my kids have been average or slightly below on size charts since they were born. When Gymboree is having a huge online sale, I can shop ahead for my kids for the next year & score complete outfits for under $20. I have marked bins where things are kept & I go through them several times a year to make a mental note of what I have & what I still need to be looking for. 3. Buy clothes from the same "line" so you can mix & match for more variety. Gymboree puts out new lines frequently. Although, I don't care for all of them, I will buy from those that I do like & buy versatile pieces. When I am thrift shopping, I keep in mind what pieces from a collection I already have so I can add to it. 4. Never pay full price! The most I will pay for something is half price but usually I walk away paying 60-80% off. 5. Buy items that will hold up. I know what socks & underwear hold up & don't get holes. There is one brand of underwear & socks that I buy for my kids & they last & last & last! They are NOT from a box store but I buy them on sale, combine a coupon to that & pay less than a box store anyway. 6. Take care of their clothes. My kids are taught to be gentle to their clothes but they still end up in the laundry baskets with plenty of stains. Around this house, I am known as "The Stain Master". I will soak & work on a stain for sometimes more than three days. Most of the time, the effort is paid off because I successfully remove the offending mark! 90% of Mara's clothes are fit to be stored away for Gracen's use. Hang dry when appropriate. Make friends with your iron for those pesky collars & skirt hems that flip up. Use a gentle laundry detergent. DO NOT use bleach or fabric softeners. Bleach breaks down the fibers & fabric softener dulls the surface along with being toxic & just plain smelling horrible. Wash in cold when possible. Turn clothes inside out before washing. Use a front loading machine if possible. Fold heavy items, like sweaters rather than hanging on hangars as they can become stretched out. And please, for my sake don't wash your clothes in scented detergent. Sometimes when I bring an item home from a second-hand store, I have to wash it several times just to remove that horrible detergent smell. It will be a later post that I talk about the evils of scented laundry detergent :-). I will end my post on this subject but please stay tuned....there is always more!