Frugal Parenting: The Financial Benefits of Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding has been on my list of frugal living topics about which to write.  Then along came that provocative Time magazine cover photo with the words that ask “Are you Mom Enough?”  For goodness sakes, it made me want to scream, “We Are All Mom Enough!”  Because of the photo that does a disservice to women and mothers, I almost missed reading the well-written article inside the magazine, which is about Dr. William Sears, attachment parenting, and the different ways parents put his theories into practice.  In these challenging economic times, isn’t it more worthwhile to be helpful toward one another?  With that in mind, my intention here is to share my experience of saving money by breastfeeding my babies.

Breastfeeding symbol (Photo credit: Topinambour)

While pregnant I read about all kinds of benefits of breastfeeding.  What struck me the most was the potential annual savings of over $1,000 per year.  I breastfed my three babies as a working mom and as an at-home mom.  And, I must add, I couldn’t have done it with each child without the support of my ever-loving husband!  Making parenting choices is a team effort, and this aspect of parenting – choosing what our baby was going to eat – was no different.

I went back to work when our oldest was 9 weeks old and when our youngest was 8 months old.  Quality infant care is not cheap, nor should it be.  Breastfeeding and pumping milk meant that we could allocate money to the daycare cost that we would otherwise need to spend on formula.  By not having to buy formula for all three kids in the first year of their lives, I estimate that we saved at least $4, 500. Other cost savings were in healthcare – there were fewer trips to the doctor because of the immune-system boost that breastfeeding  provides babies, which also meant fewer missed days from work.  Our children were among the rare few who were not prescribed an antibiotic before the age of 3.

It’s important to recognize that breastfeeding is not for everyone and that not all mothers are physically able to nurse their babies for whatever reason. If you are able to try it out, consider the savings, and that:

• lactation services are free at the hospital or ob/gyn group
• breastpumps are now included in flex benefit plans
• more work places provide pumping areas
• potential healthcare cost savings in the long term for both baby and mother

Bringing it back to the Time Magazine article, the theory of attachment parenting, while a timely topic, is nothing new.  As with anything you do in life and in any relationship, you want to strive for balance.  Some who read Dr. Bill Sears’ books take his advice to extremes.  The cover photo seems to suggest an example of this kind of person, especially one who wants to pick a fight with you about it!  Because I am someone who “extended nursed”, I feel strongly that the photo is a misrepresentation of what it is truly like to nurse a toddler.  First of all, the true posture is one of cradling the child and, second, you nurse a toddler for shorter periods of time and a lot less frequently than an infant.  Breastmilk for an older nursling is more nutrient dense, so s/he gets the energy s/he need as s/he weans.  My oldest weaned at age 3 and 1/2, my second weaned at age 2 and my third weaned when he was a little over 3 years old.

I am grateful to have tandem nursed our first two children.  They are now aged 10, 8, and 6.  They are typical, active, and, like any children their ages, enjoy testing their parents’ limits .  Reading the Time Magazine article made me think of other benefits to nursing them – that if there is one trait in our children that could be attributed to our choice of breastfeeding and attachment parenting, it is their ability to be empathetic.  Is it possible to know for sure?  Of course not, but it’s all well-worth the reflection.

May you take the time to discover the frugality and other long-term benefits of breastfeeding your child.

~Aimee, TFF

Related articles and resources

• First Person: The Financial Benefits of Breastfeeding - Great info for number crunchers
• Financial Costs of Not Breastfeeding - includes a calculator
• Economics of Breastfeeding – a compilation of research
• Does Breastfeeding Really Save Money? (money.usnews.com) – An “article” that is unbalanced and inaccurate.  Clearly biased. I included it here as a non-example.
• La Leche League - Find an organization near you.  This was a tremendous resource for me, especially as a working mom.
• Mothering Magazine - offers parenting wisdom for following your intuition, raising conscious, connected, thoughtful children in a disconnected world, and tips for sustainable living

Frugal Foodie Recipe: Homemade Hummus (Think Memorial Day potluck party platter!)

I’ve been making this recipe since March 2007, when food.com was recipezaar.com.  It’s a family fave for carrots and red pepper dips and great for potluck party platters of veggie and pita chips/pretzels.  Back then, I halved the recipe, and my little 3-cup mini-food processor I received as a wedding present was all I needed to make it.  Well, in a short time, the demand grew for more homemade hummus.

For Christmas 2010, I received a Hamilton Beach 10-cup Food Processor.  Unfortunately, its cheap price tag matches it’s quality and it no longer makes fancy sliced veggies.  However, it still does the job of whirring together all the ingredients for hummus nice and fast.  Its 10-cup capacity enables me to double the recipe easily, which ensures that I have enough for lunchboxes and after school snacks.

For the last 4 years, cooking dried beans has proven to be a real money-saver, especially when buying in bulk.  Like with most cooking, you just need to do a little planning ahead, in this case, soak the beans overnight.  In the last couple of years, I have found that 2 cups of dried garbanzo beans will give you what you need for this recipe, with a little left over to throw into salad.

Since getting a pressure cooker set last fall, cooking dried garbanzo beans, takes no time at all.  You don’t even need to soak them (though I still do, for a couple of hours).  I highly recommend investing in a pressure cooker set!

Enjoy this delicious, healthy protein dip with your favorite crunchy veggie or fruit slices, pretzels, pita chips or tortilla chips!

~Aimee, TFF

Related articles

• Frugal Foodie Kitchen Investments With Your Kohl’s 30%-Off Coupon (twofrugalfairfielders.wordpress.com)

Some people take the time to remove the outer layer off of the chickpeas after cooking. I don’t find that this extra effort changes the taste or texture.

Remember to save half a cup of the cooking water. If using canned garbanzos, include the liquid in the can.

Voila! Hummus for the week! Here are stainless steel containers I use for lunchboxes. Great for dipping sliced carrots, red pepper, and/or whole grain pretzel sticks.

Why We Don’t Have a Lawn Care Service–Hint: It Used to be Cheaper When Teens Did It…

What happened to the simple joy of cutting your own lawn…and what happened to letting a teen make a buck by cutting your lawn? Now, so many people in Fairfield feel the need to hire expensive “professional” mowing services once reserved for commercial properties. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lawn mowing services may be a convenience, but at what cost?

It’s lawn-care season, but this post was on my mind during leaf-raking season, too. I was pushed to write this post when I saw a lawn care service truck parked in front of an otherwise frugal friend’s home.

We mow our own lawn, but one of my frugal friends said it costs her $60 every two weeks to have the grass cut, which means it’s $120 a mont–of course that’s not all year round, but then there’s raking services… I’ve also seen services with deals for $25 a mow (not around here, however), and heard that other companies charge $45 a mow (around here). That cost is just for mowing, not for other services, such as fertilizing, etc. (see post from CostOwl.com below). My kids are more than willing to cut the grass once a week for neighbors at a lot lessthan that! There seem to be no more lawn-cutting or leaf-raking gigs for teens around here, unfortunately.

Needless to say, these lawn service guys (in teams of two to four people) spend all of 10 minutes at each house if they are there to mow a lawn and whack some weeds–they have the heavy-duty (and really loud) equipment to do it in record time. I’ve timed it! We are talking about small quarter-to-half-acre plots of land here. Plus, it’s a high-volume business which means they have to get in, get out, and get to the next customer’s lawn to make the hour worthwhile. And the lawns don’t look all that much better than ours (well, now we have a weed whacker so we look a lot better). But if you do have a service and want to know why it’s expensive, here’s an article that explains the price increases.

There are times when a service would be quite handy–if you are unable to physically take care of your property, if you work an ungodly amount of hours, or if you have acres of land. So, what should you pay for the service if you get one? One blog, Landscaping Ideas Online, gives you some good tips, which will hopefully talk you out of feeling the need to get a service.

Here’s an excerpt of the post from Landscaping Ideas Online:

If you are looking for the very barest of basic services, the average cost of lawn care services in Small Town, USA should run somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 per week, which puts you anywhere from between $120-150 per month. Not really bad when you consider that other services cost considerably more than this each and every week and most of us could easily axe a daily run to Starbuck’s in order to make up for this particular expense.

Of course, me being me, I like to look at everything from the point of view of personal value. Most basic services include moving, edging, equipment provided as well as fuel, trimming the lawn, and general removal of debris (limbs and such) though you should check with the provider you are considering before you hire them to be certain. I certainly would not pay more than $30 per week for less.

Why not use your own lawnmower and save the money (better yet if you have an electric mower), or even better yet, get a push mower (read Aimee’s post on the value of cutting your grass with a push mower here).

More Lawn Care Costs, courtesy of CostOwl.com.

• A reasonable price for lawn care is $25-$35 per week, or $100-$140 per month. By the hour, this works out to $20-$25 per hour, or $40-$50 for half acre lawns.
• Most landscapers will include basic lawn maintenance such as lawn mowing and edging.
• Larger lawns cost more.
• The local cost of gasoline will affect the price.
• Trimming, pruning, clearing planting beds, trimming the hedges and clearing debris generally all cost extra.
• Lawn care services such as applying Scott’s LawnService or Tru-Green run about $50-$60 per application, with about eight applications per year, or a total cost of $400-$500. Such a service handles fertilization and both kills and prevents future weeds and pests.
• Tipping and the use of an additional worker for some jobs costs extra.
• Most lawn care can be easily handled by a homeowner and doing it yourself will save money over hiring a professional lawn care business.
• This Old House offers lawn care tips on everything from cutting the grass to more complicated landscaping.
• Organic lawn care is actually cheaper in the long run than using synthetic fertilizer and pesticides. This Old House offers an excellent guide. Also, check out this list of frequently asked questions about organic lawn care.

Until we are unable to mow our own lawn, we’ll suffer with some less than perfect patches on our lawn.

~Marilyn, TFF

Frugally Sustainable: Make a Home-cooked Meal for Food Revolution Day – Saturday, May 19, 2012

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Celebrate the first-ever Food Revolution Day, May 19, 2012!   Whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced home cook, participate in this Day of Action by making a home-cooked meal.  If you are a parent, involve your children and show them how cool it is to make your own food.  Add it to your frugal family fun activity list.

Consider this:  North American food culture has seen a steady decline in recent generations, characterized by a dangerous slide away from nutritious and locally-grown whole foods, and toward cheap, highly processed “convenience foods.” The reason is simple: we were enticed by low prices and short-term convenience, and misinformed about nutrition and the inevitable long-term health consequences of our choices. This has been called our “Fast Food Nation,” and it’s put us on course for a shorter life expectancy, and a lower quality of life. (-taken from “Real Food for Real Kids)

FACT:  There’s a lost generation of people who cannot cook, don’t know where their food comes from or how to eat a balanced meal. – from Jamie Oliver’s homecooking skills website

Why have a Food Revolution Day?

We’re losing the war against obesity in the US. It’s sad, but true. Our kids are growing up overweight and malnourished from a diet of processed foods, and today’s children will be the first generation ever to live shorter lives than their parents. It’s time for change. It’s time for a Food Revolution.

“Since I’ve been working in America, I’ve been overwhelmed by the number of people who have come out to support the Food Revolution. More than 630,000 people have signed the petition, over 300,000 of you subscribe to our newsletter and thousands of you have written to me. The only message I keep hearing is that you believe your kids need better food, and that you want help to keep cooking skills alive. That’s why this Food Revolution matters.” ~Jamie Oliver

The problem stems from the loss of cooking skills at home and the availability of processed foods at every turn, from the school cafeteria to church function halls, factories and offices. This Food Revolution is about saving lives by inspiring everyone: moms, dads, kids, teens and cafeteria workers to get back to basics and start cooking good food from scratch.  (taken from Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution website)

Celebrate Food Revolution Day:

• Learn to cook
• Know where your food comes from
• Make every meal count by eating a variety of protein, grains, veggies, and fruit

Do what you can do.  Here’s to healthier eating!

To your health and wealth,

~Aimee, TFF

A sampling of helpful websites:

http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2009/11/feel-the-fear-and-cook-it-anyway-how-to-become-fearless-in-the-kitchen/

http://www.raisehealthyeaters.com/2010/05/cookbook-giveaway-sos-the-six-oclock-scramble-to-the-rescue/

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/start-here/

Cook for Good

DIY Furniture: My husband’s homemade patio bench

Marilyn and I are so lucky that we have husbands who are willing to tackle a house job – all in the name of frugality – whether it is something that needs to be fixed or replaced (car or vacuum cleaner part) or redone (basement or bathroom).  And, how funny it is that we both have husbands named Steve!

For a change, here is a fun project that my Steve did in a weekend’s time, courtesy of Furniture Design Bank: Homemade patio bench.  Total cost: $58.00.  The immeasurable value – a wealth of pride in creating a well-built piece of furniture,  fun/teachable moments with our children (they were given doable, safe tasks), and joy of being self-sufficent.

A furniture project he’d like for the future is to build a “Farmhouse Table.”  Anyone have any good building instructions for that?

~Aimee, TFF

Finished product – honey gold stained new patio bench.

Quick and Cheap Way to Clean the Grill

Use a little elbow grease when cleaning with aluminum foil, but it works. Just don’t forget to rinse the grills after this cleaning process so you don’t get bits of foil in your food (which seems less scary than getting a brush bristle in your gut).

I have a fear of grill brushes. It sounds odd–but this phobia came from seeing an older “Medical Mystery: You be the Doctor” television show on ABC where a bristle fell off a grill brush, stuck to the grill, then became cooked into a hamburger patty, and after the burger was eaten, it finally caused chaos in one person’s gut. So, I banned the tool from our house. Instead, I tried a number of items, a grill cleaning cream and a stone-type tool (neither worked), the Magic Eraser (my favorite product, but nope, didn’t work), and finally somewhere I saw a tip to use crumpled up foil to get the gunk off. It works! But, here’s the thing: you have to wipe down (with a damp cloth) or hose off the grills after using the foil technique or else you, too, will be featured on a “Medical Mystery” show.

For more grill cleaning tips, see this article on cleaning a gas grill.

~Marilyn, TFF