the ability to spend

in recent days, i've been introduced to Diaperswappers.com, which might end up killing any hopes of making that down payment on our house. just kidding! but really. i am like a criminal who escaped from the prison, running wild down the streets of an internet thrift store, to sum it up. luckily, chris hasn't yelled at me, because he realizes - 1) i am getting good things for more than half the price and 2) really, it's saving money in the end.

see, i can buy baby boy outfits for $3, trade something i never used for some clothes for grace, buy diaper covers for half off and in great condition, buy some prefolds for more than half off... and sell some things along the way. it's actually really nice. i can buy things in excellent condition, or even still with tags on them - for essentially nothing. i am one of those people who scours the clearance racks searching for cute things; lately, i haven't been able to find anything for our little boy --- because he's going to be a fall/winter baby, the only warm things that are on clearance are sleepers... which we're inheriting an abundance of... but no long-sleeved outfits! do you know how frustrating that is? and can you imagine what a relief it is, to be able to buy a little boy sweater that was only worn once (and it's Children's Place, no less!) for $2? okay? do you understand why the heavens are rejoicing here?

so that's my suggestion for the day: Diaperswappers.com. mom's are selling all sorts of things for dirt cheap. and, as you can all imagine, children are not cheap. baby clothes are really not cheap. (that's something i don't understand: how can a little piece of clothing cost as much as a shirt for me?)

what else... well, my diaper covers from Amazon should be getting here today (or tomorrow, if USPS really sucks that bad: the items are IN tucson, after all.) i can't wait to give them a try. i also ordered some snappi's, and those get here tomorrow...

and we also bought grace a big girl carseat *GASP!* which gets here on Friday. listen, folks. this is a big deal. we bought an Evenflo Triumph Advance LX from Amazon - for $105. I guess the color we chose is on closeout. Hey, I don't really care what color it is (but it's just a basic grey and black, not like, lime green and fuschia.) it's one of Consumer's Reports' recommended convertible carseats and it normally costs $135/$140; it's dramatically cheaper than the Britax carseats, has a higher weight range, and actually scored higher than the Britax overall. i say "yes!"

so, now you know about all the money i've been spending. but hey. if i can spend just about $200 on a carseat, two outfits and a sweater for boy, two outfits for girl, four diaper covers, more prefolds, some snappis, and wool wash; I'd say I did pretty damn good.