I was talking to a neighbor about our grocery expenditures, and she was shocked when I told her we spent just $175 a month for my family of three. She has one more child than I do, but she spends almost $1000! Her astonishment made me wonder if this $175 figure was still accurate. After all, it had been a couple years since I tracked all my purchases. Back in May of 2009, I wrote about saving money on organic groceries. Then, in My Shopping Lists: Saving Money at the Grocery Store, I revealed exactly what that $175 got me.

So, last April (in 2011) I tracked my purchases again—and I shelled out $280! That’s a 60% increase in just two years! Now, according to the USDA food plans (updated in 2011), we’re still doing well. A family like ours (a man and woman in their thirties, plus a five-year-old child) would pay $450.80 a month on food on their “thrifty plan.”

I had to wonder why my spending had skyrocketed in just two years. Here’s what I came up with:

1.       I stopped caring so much about saving money. My shopping list for 2011 contained crazy things like wine and fancy cheese.

2.       We entertained more. We had one party and five overnight house guests, necessitating more food.

3.       My husband developed a sweet tooth—for apples. This new problem cost us over $30.

4.       The cost of food went up. Everything seems more expensive now. I used to buy butter when it went on sale for $2 a pound. Now it’s difficult to find for less than $4 a pound. That’s a 100% increase! The bread I used to buy has increased 50% in the last two years, too. Obviously, those are just two examples.

Overall, I’m not too worried about this new increase in my food spending. We’re still well under the USDA’s “thrifty plan,” so my status as a penny-pincher will remain intact.

Eco-friendly diaper creams abound these days, but which ones really work?

We were big fans of Boudreaux’s All Natural Butt Paste. It was widely available and seemed to clear up any issues we had quickly and without a sticky mess.

Method’s Squeaky Green Diaper Cream comes in wonderful scents, but I never had a chance to use it with my babies.

Friends of mine have raved about Weleda Calendula Diaper Care and their whole line of products.

Nature’s baby Organics Organic Diaper Ointment Cream is part of a series of organic personal care products for mothers and babies.

Angel Baby Bottom Balm has a luscious lavender scent that we loved. It’s made here in Oregon and their whole line of products are fabulous!

Bio-Bio Baby’s Zinc Oxide Paste also looks pretty promising. Has anyone tried it?

Perhaps you’ve tried swabbing a bit of olive oil on baby’s bottom or even using some Lanosinoh Lanolin. (Most breastfeeding moms discover that the stuff is wonderful for those early days of cracked and sensitive skin, and unless your child has a wool allergy, it’s great for use as a diaper cream as well!)

Let us know what your favorite solutions are for diaper rash and don’t forget to enter our Eco-nomical Baby Guide and What to Expect When You’re Expecting giveaway!

“Can I tell you a secret?” my five-year-old daughter asks me every day. The “secret,” invariably, is that she wants—needs—some sort of present. We walked by a cupcake kit in Whole Foods a couple months ago, and not a day has passed without her mentioning it, losing sleep, and even shedding tears over it. When a friend came over with a peeing doll, she whined and whispered about it for days. (“Can I tell you a secret? I really, really want a peeing doll!”)

Of course I can see her side of it. Who wouldn’t want an endless stream of new toys and presents? My stock response to her pleading is that I might think about getting some of the requested items for her birthday or Christmas. Other times I’ve tried to initiate philosophical talks about greed and contentment. I’m not sure these little chats about consumerism have sunk in too well.

How do you talk to your children (or plan to talk to your children) about coveting thy neighbor’s peeing doll? I know I won’t deprive her by denying her every whim, but in an ideal world, she’d understand why. And she’d stop whining.

What to Expect When You’re Expecting is a thorough guide to pregnancy that has been tremendously popular for over twenty years–and this week their website, What to Expect, is sponsoring a giveaway! We’re throwing in a few copies of our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, to sweeten the winnings for two lucky readers. There are multiple ways to enter so get in on the action!

Prize #1
What to Expect Before You’re Expecting (+ a copy of our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down to Earth Ways for Parents to Save Money and the Planet)

For women who are planning conception and pregnancy, What to Expect Before You’re Expecting is a great resource. It provides tips on everything from nutrition to medical care for women (and men) in the months before you get pregnant. And it will help you make the good choices that will lead to a healthier newborn. For couples hoping to conceive quickly, Murkoff educates readers about how to pinpoint ovulation cycles to raise your odds of getting pregnant.

As for our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, we’ve spoken to many women who received it late in their pregnancies only to wish that they would have read it months earlier. Why not learn about cloth diapers and used baby gear before you’re dealing with morning sickness and exhaustion? We hope that having the book far in advance will allow you to gather up the new and used green gear you need while saving thousands of dollars.

Prize #2
What to Expect When You’re Expecting(+ a copy of our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down to Earth Ways for Parents to Save Money and the Planet)

What to Expect When You’re Expecting is read by over 90% of pregnant women who read pregnancy books and has been on the New York Times bestseller list for decades. So what can you expect from the book? The book is organized into monthly chapters which provide information about how you may feel, common questions, a week-by-week guide to baby’s fetal development, and information about what your midwife or doctor is likely to say during that phase of pregnancy. The book also addresses childbirth plus the emotional and physical issues that couples face in the postpartum period. The question and answer format helped me pick out sections that were relevant to my pregnancy. I was too overwhelmed and exhausted by growing a fetus to actually read any book cover to cover so I appreciated being able to easily reference what I was looking for.

We wish every newly pregnant woman could get a free copy of The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, just to have access to humble, humorous, hands-on advice for gearing up green on a budget. Since we can’t just stand on the corner and hand these out to pregnant passers-by, we’ve decided to send one to accompany What to Expect When You’re Expecting in this giveaway. We hope you can win!

Whether you’re lucky enough to win one of the prizes or not, you should know that What to Expect online now offers heaps of free information for expectant women and new parents. You can pick up a copy of many What to Expect books on Amazon for less than nine bucks and The Eco-nomical Baby Guide is currently on sale for less than eight dollars. (And it will save you much, much more than what you pay for it!)

Enter the What to Expect When You’re Expecting (and the Eco-nomical Baby Guide) Giveaway!

Each comment counts as an entry. You can enter up to four times. Here’s how:

1. Simply post a comment

2. Like the Green Baby Guide on Facebook (then tell us you did it in a separate comment)

3. Visit the What to Expect website and comment on what you learned.

4. Spread the news about the giveaway! Email someone, post it on Facebook, tweet it, blog it, or send someone a message about it via carrier pigeon. (And again, don’t forget to tell us all about it in the comments!)

This contest ends on Thursday, August 11th, and is only open to U.S. Residents.

Great luck!

Great luck!

One of my first baby purchases was a set of  little containers for all of the pureed delights I planned to create for my child. In retrospect I can see this was an odd obsession, considering most babies don’t get a taste of solid food for a good six months after birth—but finding a good system for storing breast milk and homemade baby food can make the whole process much more manageable.

Two things I didn’t know back when I bought those containers in 2005: 1. I should have looked for BPA-free plastic—or found an alternative to plastic. 2. I should have considered buying containers that worked for storing expressed breast milk as well as pureed food to get the most bang for my buck.

The products listed below are all BPA-free, and most of them can be used for freezing ice cubes or storing regular food for years.

Fresh Baby So Easy Baby Food and Breast Milk Trays. On sale—a set of two for $8! These BPA-free trays have snap-on lids and each cube can hold one ounce of food or breast milk.

Juvenile Solutions Baby Cubes (2 oz/Pack of Another great deal for just $6.69.

Set of 10 Baby Cubes 1 Oz. Baby Food Storage Containers. Also by Juvenile Solutions, a set of ten for $6.65. I like that these sets come with individual containers; you don’t have to transfer the food to another plate or bowl.

Mumi&Bubi Solids Starter Kit Premium Baby Food Freezer Trays & Recipes. A bit more for $25, but a good system if you want to freeze a lot of food at once. Each tray holds 21 cubes of food.

Fresh N Freeze 2 oz. Reusable Baby Food Containers 12-Pack. $9.95 for a set of 12 two-ounce containers. Cute and practical. I’d get a lot of use out of these with a five-year-old!

What did you use (or what do you plan to use) for storing expressed breast milk or homemade baby food? Let us know what worked—and what flopped!

With my first child, I was a bulging, sweaty eight-and-a-half months pregnant in August. That alone was a challenge, but since I had to wear medical support hose for varicose veins and drive our un air-conditioned car across town to work, my core temperature felt like it was often in the mid-hundreds. We had no air conditioning in our house either, so I diligently opened and shut windows and used fans to keep our home as comfortable as possible. Still, it wasn’t exactly easy.

So what did work? These are highly basic strategies, but I relished every single one.

Freezing wash clothes. This was my primal air conditioning system for car trips and life in general. I stashed wet wash clothes in the freezer and pulled them out at regular intervals to wrap around my neck, lay across my forehead, and even tuck under my arms. (These are great for use in labor too if you’re due in the middle of August!)

Making popsicles. Clean out your produce drawer, get some healthy fruit in your body, and spend just pennies per frozen treat! Pick up a BPA-free popsicle mold and then go crazy with pureed creations. Rebecca’s recipe for Strawberry Spinach Popsicles is terrific and mine for Peach Pumpkin Popsicles is also quite amazing.

Napping. If you’re pregnant, you’re growing another human being in your spare time. You deserve an afternoon of unconsciousness even when the sun isn’t blazing in the sky. Still, the heat makes it even more enticing to crawl onto a mattress and snore away the warmest hours of the day. (The only time in my life I have ever snored was during both pregnancies!) Naps were impossible during my work day as a school teacher, but I indulged every weekend.

Swimming. Unlike the woman in the above picture, I felt rather like a beluga whale when I awkwardly swam laps at our local pool, but I didn’t care one bit. It felt so amazing to have the weight of my body suspended in the water rather than having to haul it about on swollen feet. I noticed that both babies were especially active while I was in the water too.

Eating ice cream. Whenever I hit an ice cream shop during the last few months of pregnancy I saw a disproportionally high amount of other women sporting a baby bump. Coincidence? I think not! The need for calories and a cool treat coincide beautifully in a scoop of sloppy strawberry ice cream on a sugar cone.

Are you pregnant this summer? If you’re living in the Pacific Northwest like us, you’ve probably enjoyed the weather. How have the rest of you coped with the extremely hot temperatures in the rest of the country?

On Wednesday we’ll be hosting a giveaway that will be especially appealing to pregnant readers so check back to enter!