Money, money, money

I've discovered there have been three times when I've been delighted to realize that I'm actually saving some money.

The first was breastfeeding. Free. Well, except for all the necessary supplies, like nursing bras, nursing pads, etc. But still, overall, very cheap. For those of you who have never breastfed, let me put this in perspective: a can of formula costs, at minimum, $22, and it might last you, oh, several days. Ouch, right?

The second was when William switched over to whole milk around his first birthday. I'd been giving him some formula in a sippy cup with meals for awhile because I'd had to give up the ghost of pretending the pump did any good for either of us. But even a small amount of formula each day cost $$$. A can of formula might cost $22, but a gallon of milk is only about $3. Plus, you can buy milk nearly everywhere, which is nice and convenient. Well, everywhere except airline flights, apparently. Ahem.

The third is the biggie, though. No more diapers! That's right, about ten days ago, we declared William to be officially potty-trained. You don't realize how much you're spending on diapers and PullUps until you no longer have to buy them. That's the beauty of underpants: they come in cool patterns AND they last much, much longer. Oh yes, and they are cleaner. I do not miss regularly spending $18 or $20 on a big pack of Pampers, nor do I miss buying the even-more-costly PullUps. We're still using PullUps at night, but we probably won't even have to do that much longer; once we finish the pack we have, I think that'll be the end of that.

So you'd think we'd have all this extra cash now, wouldn't you? Sadly, no. We can always find other things to spend it on...