Tag for diaper bag, luggage, backpack, lunchbag, etc

This is awesome.
http://www.andersruff.com/custom-printable-parties/diy/free-diy-bag-tag-template-great-for-back-to-school/
Tape around it and you are good to go.  We used the first one for 6 months and today I made an updated one.  This is really handy for someone who is packing the bag or for someone looking to find something in the bag.

Cosleeping DIY Economy/Travel Option & Easy Swaddling

Cosleeping is usually great for everybody.  Because I was dirt poor with my first baby, it was our only option and, because of this positive experience,  I had no doubts with this new baby 21 years later.
I looked at all the options for cosleeping contraptions that were either purchased or DIY and none of them seemed to fit.
I was trying to figure out how to make a DIY changing pad when this idea hit me. It is so basic and simple and worked very well until our boy was rolling over things. Because the border is raised and fairly hard, it kept me from rolling in my sleep and in the last few months, gave my little one a "pillow" to use while nursing while we were sleeping together.
My desk is against my bed and we usually kept this on the desk when I first went to sleep.  When the baby would wake up in the night, I could pull the entire thing into the bed with me and curl up around it.  
When traveling and visiting family in un-baby-friendly homes, this was perfect!
My boy began rolling at 2 months and this kept him contained.  We used this until he was almost 5 months old.
Of course, this did work great as a changing pad, too.

Step 1:
Gather one pillow case, one pool noodle, and one normal towel.
Bend the noodle and slide it into the pillowcase.  It will naturally expand out the sides of the pillow case.  Insert the folded towel to fill the center.

Step 2:
Admire your economical genius for a moment while you grab your baby.

Step 3:
Lay your baby down and smile. Take a cute photo and post it online somewhere then post the picture location here for me to see (if you right click on the photo, you can "copy image location" and then paste it here in the comments).

BONUS
An easy way to swaddle your baby is to simply roll him/her up in a towel.  Forget all the blanket origami, this is much easier

Walking Helper "Toy"

Our boy likes to be upright when he is not asleep.  This contraption gives us an option besides simply holding him in our arms.  He loves this.  The small loops (over his shoulders) are good to use while the adult is sitting (to balance him on a lap or the floor) and the long straps are good for when the adult is standing.  For now, it is very simple.  It is just a basic fabric bucket with intense stitching and a crotch strap instead of a round bottom.I put longish straps looped in the normal bucket handles.  (Extra points for upcycling the leg of some blue jeans that are already super stitched on the sides.)

At 8 months, out boy still eats this up.  It is, of course, getting shorter and shorter on him.  For anyone who might be concerned about hip issues in the baby--A.) Baby doesn't do much dangling in this--he is normally on his feet bouncing, "walking", or just standing.  B.)  There isn't much time spent in this.  No more than an hour at most and usually just 10 or 15 minutes--however long it takes for the adult to get tired.


I had planned to make a second one, but this one is enough .  He is so cute in it that he gets loads of the attention that he loves.

 

 

6 weeks old

4 months old

 

 

 

 

 He was too impatient in his desire to take off to let me get a non-action photo.

Here's a tutorial on another site for a different variation of this

What do you do with a broken sewing needle?

This is what I do.  I keep this roll of Scotch tape right in my sewing area.  When I need it, I pull off enough tape to cover the needle and (this is the good part) tape it to the inside bottom of the tape dispenser.  Voila! Those dangerous parts are safely contained.  I have used the same tape for over 2 years. 

DYI Quick and Easy Coconut oil stick for diapering, hands, lips, whatever

Coconut oil is magic.  It is antifungal, natural, clean, and all-around good stuff.

We use it on our hands, lips, elbows, and on the baby's backside.  Rashes occur sometimes and this is one option for making it easy to use. 

Coconut oil is solid at normal room temperature but liquid at body temperature.  This means that it goes on like silk.  Having it in stick form makes it easier to apply.  This is what works for us:

1.)  Put some coconut oil (or whatever substance pleases you) into a container to melt.  You can nuke it or put the container in a cup of hot water or whatever.  It doesn't take much.

2.)  Take some paper out of your pantry--it can be freezer paper (my fave) or waxed paper or foil or whatever is non-absorbant.  Cut it into a rectangle or square.  I like to be generous and have it wrapped around 3 or 4 times.

3.)  Roll it up.  I like the handles on my can opener.  Tape it closed.  Scotch tape, masking tape, duct tape, it's all good.  A small rubber band might work, too.  I'll have to remember to try that next time.

4.)  Slide it off and crimp, roll, crush, twist the end so that nothing will drip out.

5.)  Drop it into a small container to keep it upright.  I like these milk-saver bottles. 

6.)  Pour in the good stuff.

7.)  Wait patiently or stick it in the freezer to wait impatiently.  In a few minutes, you have a ready product.  Peel off some of the paper to use it.  I keep it sitting upright in a cup next to the container of wipes for applying with each diaper change. 

This might be a handy way to grease certain cooking items, too.

Total time:  15 minutes (Includes wait time)

Baby food and Adult food - Turkey dinner cost versus savings

Wow! 2014 already? Yeah.  Incredible.

To celebrate the new year, and, of course, to save some dinero, we bought a couple of sale turkeys and a ham along with the other traditional goodies after Christmas.  After cooking, I divied everything up into other usable parts.  Here is the savings breakdown:

$9.00  1  turkey 
$2.00  2 packages of sweet potatoes (camotes)
$ .30   2 taters (papas)
$ .30   2/3 package of cranberries
$ .88   box of stuffing mix
$1.00  bread made from butter, egg, yeast, sale flour, sugar, milk
$ .20   small part of fresh cabbage
$ .20  added sugar, salt, pepper, flour, etc (guesstimate)
$2.00 electricity to cook this stuff (guesstimate)
$15.88

Dinner was: Turkey, dressing, gravy, dinner rolls, sweet potatoes, pureed taters, cranberry sauce, and cabbage.  Approximately 16$ for 2 hungry adults and a baby to eat is a pretty decent price.

I then took the items and made:
$10.00  10 turkey dinner baby food packs.  Tupperware with an ounce +/- each of: meat, veggie, camote, and dressing. Prepared Gerber on sale at my local supermarket runs about 1$ for 5 ounces of plain veggies.  I am conservatively guesstimating each of these to have a prepared value of 1$
$ 8.00  Chopped dark meat for Baby in recycled baby food containers equaling around 10 ounces.  These run about $.88 each for a single jar of meat with other stuff mixed in.  Mine is made at 3-4 ounces at a whack with some cranberry sauce stirred in and some water to make it a little juicier.
$10.00   Chopped dark meat separated into snack-sized Baggies for tossing into stir-fry, soup, chicken salad, whatever.  I am lazily conservatively guessing that each is worth a dollar. 
$ 8.00  Sliced and sectioned white turkey meat for sandwiches and munching.Again, this is very conservative.  When we have bought ready-to-eat chicken fajita in half that amount, it is usually 6-8$.
$ 1.00  Fresh cranberry sauce. This is so simple to make that I am horrified that I bought it all these years.  When I can get the cranberries on sale, I don't plan to ever buy it at all. 
$ 2.00  Leftover fresh baked dinner rolls. 
$ 1.00  Leftover turkey drippings.  I'll use this when I make some bread later.  It is rather exquisite.

Extras:  more sweet potatoes, taters, cabbage, and gravy than I cared to bother sectioning but the value would probably be 2$ or 3$ more.  I didn't like the gravy this time so I tossed it.  Total time after dinner was maybe 2 hours.  I make baby food every few days so that part was negligible.  Removing the meat from the turkey was the time-consuming part.  There is a bonus to this, though:  My normally-dry hands feel moisturized from the turkey oils that were rubbed in while removing the meat.

I debated about saving the turkey carcass to make stock with and the chewable parts to make doggie snacks with but laziness took over at this point.  We do have another turkey in the freezer.
Now for the nitty gritty: 
From 16$ worth of original dinner, we ended up with 40$ worth of extras.  That is FORTY DOLLARS of convenience foods that I know exactly what went into them. Yeah.  I do feel victorious!