Expectant parent club! Where the pregnant people hang out.

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Since I was dealing with insurance issues I didn't get my first ultrasound till just a couple weeks ago at 16 weeks along and we think it is a boy. My cousin who is 1 week behind me has had a couple already that she has showed me. Made me jealous but now she has to wait till the 28th for her next one to find out the gender. Makes me feel a little bit better since my next one is on the 10th. 

It is hard waiting around to find out what you have. It was a big relief for us since I didn't know if I was even carrying a live baby or one that looked healthy. 

I'm thinking about going with cloth diapers and nursing to save on money. If I have to use formula for some reason I'm getting the powdered kind. I got lucky that a relative is going to give me a crib that is still in good shape. I did stop into the Joann Fabric store today to buy some prints that I seen online just 2 days ago that I wanted to make a blanket out of. I don't like the size of the receiving blankets or the $15 cost for one. Seems cheaper to make it and have a cute fabric that is also larger. I went into the store today and couldn't find the fabric I wanted and they removed it off the website. Don't know if they just sold out of it or not since it was 60% off but it was a new arrival too. Sucks cause it was a cute white fabric with black tree branches, yellowish green buds on them, and blue outlines of robins. I did buy the one that was a turq. background with white branches and black robins on it. Couldn't pass up only paying $5 for two yards of flannel fabric. Now all I have to do is find a sewing machine to use.

Cloth diapers will defiantly save you money in the long run! You might want to try buying some gently used ones on eBay to figure out what you like and what works best for your little one before fully commiting. We started out with gDiapers but I got tired of dealing with the liners and the Velcro sticking to each other in the wash. We use Bum Genius 4.0s and Flips now. Also be sure to check if the diapers are sized or are adjustable to fit for potentially the whole diapering timeframe. I liked happy heiny's too but again with the Velcro issue. They did stick less than the G's though.

 

[yoie]

We are being really frugal too. Just my DH has an income, and with a third on the way, trying to save anyway we can. I am almost hoping for a girl, since I have saved everything from my first two daughters. So we have girlie stuff from preemie to size 6. We want to find out what it is since, if it does turn out to be a boy, I can take all the girl stuff down to our local consignment store to get some cash for boy stuff! I am already going through all our stuff, stopping by there this week to unload so I can buy a new crib mattress. I have never done the cloth diapers, so I can't help there. But I do do WIC, and that little bit helps, especially if you have to end up formula feeding. I had to with my two, my first daughter was a preemie, so couldn't latch. I pumped for the first three months, but that gets rough. With my second, she was a ravenous girl, had to supplement with formula, just couldn't keep up! Still going to try to breastfeed with this one, every baby is different so

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

We are pretty much the same situation. DH is employed right now and I am a stay at home mom. Problem is DH is loosing his job 3 days after my due date. We're saving as much as possible. He just bought a book "101 weird ways to make money". There is some interesting stuff in there. So far he likes the idea of e recycling. People would pay us to dispose of their old computers and we would go through and figure out what could be saved and used to refurbish, what can be directly recycled and what needs to be specially disposed of due to chemicals/heavy metals. But there was other stuff too, like cricket farming.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Yoie- Do you coupon? I usually buy two sets of precut coupons in eBay. 200 coupons for less than the cost of a newspaper! I love it, and I give away the extras.

 

[yoie]

Chick in the burbs- I do some couponing, didn't realize you could buy them on eBay though! My parents actually do well selling on eBay, averaging $500 or more a week. They hit up auctions and yard sales and resell on eBay. They have learned what sells and what's a flop by trial and error. Our one neighbor does salvaging of cars, lawnmowers, boats (pretty much anything with a motor). Sells the parts and scraps the rest for money. He must be doing well, he just bought a tow truck! Lately I've been making a little money off my chickens. I have been buying big lots of chicks in the spring (special discounts, try to get only pullets) I've been growing them up till laying age and have been selling them locally for $20+ a piece. I have been told that I'm the only local person with laying hens for sale. I've been sticking mostly with good laying breeds and silkies (I even sell the silkie roosters for a few dollars just cause people think they are cute!) But now I'm down to my last few chickens, waiting on tax time to buy my next lot, LOL.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Chick in the burbs- I do some couponing, didn't realize you could buy them on eBay though! My parents actually do well selling on eBay, averaging $500 or more a week. They hit up auctions and yard sales and resell on eBay. They have learned what sells and what's a flop by trial and error. Our one neighbor does salvaging of cars, lawnmowers, boats (pretty much anything with a motor). Sells the parts and scraps the rest for money. He must be doing well, he just bought a tow truck! Lately I've been making a little money off my chickens. I have been buying big lots of chicks in the spring (special discounts, try to get only pullets) I've been growing them up till laying age and have been selling them locally for $20+ a piece. I have been told that I'm the only local person with laying hens for sale. I've been sticking mostly with good laying breeds and silkies (I even sell the silkie roosters for a few dollars just cause people think they are cute!) But now I'm down to my last few chickens, waiting on tax time to buy my next lot, LOL. 

I wanted to do the 'raise chicks to sell' thing but DH doesn't want ANY in the house anymore and the garage counts as in the house. We have been picking up scrap metal as available and selling it to a local yard. I am hoping my banties go broody as heck next year so I can hatch with them.

Oh, and some areas of the country get higher coupon amounts than we do. California and the New England areas are best.

 

[reveriereptile]

My sister buys and resells stuff on Ebay also. She usually checks out the craft/scrap booking items to see what people are into and if she sees the items on sale she stocks up and resells them. By the time the bidding is over she made more than the original price of what the item was before it was on sale. Doing that has helped her out while she was looking for work and doing college.

If you're good at sewing, knitting, or crocheting you could probably make some items to sell or to use for your baby. I'm even starting to wonder if I should make myself a diaper bag. I can't seem to find one that I like that isn't overly priced, not to small, and that my husband will carry.

We don't have to many stores around where I live so I don't see to many coupons for the stores around. I've been trying to find a baby site that might have some free sample items or coupons but I can't tell what they have without signing up. I don't want to get a bunch of spam. If anyone knows of any sites please let me know.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

My sewing and knitting skills would make a cat laugh. My sister tried to teach me crocheting and I gave up after a week. My best bet is reselling. We tried storage locker auctions for a while but it was hard to break even after you crate all the broken furniture off to the dump. Seriously, it is INSANE how many people store broken pressboard furniture. Or kids cloths so threadbare that a baby sneeze would rip it.

 

[reveriereptile]

I taught myself how to crochet some beanie hats. All I did was look at youtube videos and bought a instruction booklet with some hooks at Walmart. It wasn't the best ever but I did make a bear beanie hat for a baby shower. Just need to take your time. The videos helped me out a lot since they have it up close and I could pause it and try to do what the person was doing.

My sewing is horrible. I figured if I get a machine then I should be able to do a receiving blanket. Shouldn't be to hard to do that.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

So, it's a BOY!!! Now just 20 more weeks to go.

Anyone else putting cloth diapers on their wishlist? We have an awesome cloth diaper store here that has a website with a wish list feature. And it's a privately owned small business so you're actually helping another mom support her kids. And the prices are just as good as other places.

How are the rest of you ladies doing?