Money grows on trees

In the last two weeks, we have lost a couple pairs of socks, a couple hats and almost lost a shoe while strolling down the streets of Wuxi. Sal strips his clothes off with ninja like precision and stealth. Off and away they go, un-noticed by his mama as she pushes right along.

We've been stopped a couple of times by someone yelling "ting ting ting!" and I'm getting used to turning around to find them holding his bear beanie and running it towards me for the return. Other times it's a friend who notices that "Sal only has one sock on...." I have attempted to trace my steps back a block or two to look for the missing sock-sometimes successful, sometimes not.

Maybe he just finds it funny when the Chinese grandmas shout at me because he doesn't have clothes on, or maybe he thinks money grows on trees.

I'm beginning to think the latter, as we have also had some kitchen pantry items go missing.

Namely, a tub of coconut oil and jar of peanut butter.

A brand new tub of hard to find, somewhat expensive coconut oil (I'm not bitter or anything).....

I searched high and low for my coconut oil, and am convinced there is only one place it could have gone. Right into the makeshift trash can that lies next to the pantry shelf where Sal Likes to play. Same place the peanut butter went missing from.

This morning, my suspicion was confirmed as I caught him tossing a brand new bottle of mustard into the box. I caught him in time, and saved the mustard from an early death, but I am pretty sure he tossed my oil and our peanut butter in there.

He may just need to get a job so he learns that money does not, in fact, grow on trees. Or, since he is still just a little guy, maybe I just need to make the pantry off limits all the time. Out of sight, out of mind, right?


We thought we lost the hat pictured below, only to find it on our walk home!

Cloth diapering: Money in the bank

This week, NZ and I had to purchase our second pack of disposable diapers since we've arrived here in China. And, let the truth be told, Pampers and Huggies are just as expensive here as they are back home. Some things ARE cheaper here, but diapers are not one of them.We paid $20 for a 70 pack of Huggies.

If you remember back to this post, I was considering cloth diapering. In fact, I had started a trial run with the gPant system. My trial run has turned into a way of life. I find the gPant system so easy to use, and am happy with my choice to cloth diaper.

NZ initially seemed a little hesitant about it all, reminding me that "we can afford disposables"..and he was "more than happy to pay for them". But for me, being a cheapskate, and thinking cloth diapers are like totally adorable, and do-able, had to try them for myself.

Sal in his Gpants

But, here were are five months later ( I started cloth diapering at 7 weeks), and gPants are our primary diaper source. We do buy disposables, but use them only when out and about for more than a few hours, and at bedtime.

I'd say on a typical day, we use 1 to 2 disposables, and the remaining 7 or 8 changes are with cloth. Our kid pees A LOT. I was hoping for fewer changes as he ages, but he doesn't seem to be slowing down. Right now a 70 pack of diapers lasts us a little over a month, rather than only one week.

While at the store picking up the disposables this week, NZ stole my heart by exclaiming, "We really save a lot of money using cloth, don't we?". This got us to discussing just HOW much we're saving...and we came up with the following breakdown.

 (Breakdown is based on 10 diaper changes per day)

At $20 per 70 pack, and 4 weeks in a month, we're saving $60 per month using cloth for the bulk of our changes. Multiply that by 12 months, and we've got $720 more in the bank than we would have if we used only disposables.

We did luck out on the initial investment of the gPant system. I have a trade going on with my sister-in-law who also uses the same brand, as she has loaned me her mediums and I have loaned her my smalls. Sal's grandparents also gifted us 4 large Gpants, 12 soaker pads , 6 extra rubber snap in liners, and a few boxes of disposable liners, so NZ and I are really saving almost all of that $720 per year.  I have spent about $60 on the 3 small pants, 12 soaker pads and a box of liners. So to get really technical, we're saving about $660 per year after subtracting my investment.

I'd say if someone were to go out and buy the diapering system on their own, they'd be looking in the ballpark of $200-$250 to fit a child from birth to potty training age. I get by with 4-6 gPants, and 12 soaker pads for each size.

If Sal is to potty train between two and a half & three years old, we're looking at a savings of over $1,500- $2000.

That's money in the bank.

Makes washing poop out of diapers sound a lot more appealing now, doesn't it?