My New Ring Sling!

Awhile back, Hubby banned me from buying more carriers to wear my babies. He didn't however ban me from buying fabric (although he probably will once he reads this post)! Which is how my adventure of sewing baby carriers began.

Several months ago, I was at our local surplus and salvage store and found a beautiful 100% organic cotton for only $2.99 a yard!! I grabbed it with the intention of eventually making a ring sling out of it. Months later, I finally sat down and worked on it.

I have a Maya Wrap that I absolutely love for wearing itty-bitty babies, they're great for nursing, sleeping, and they support them really well! The one that I have is a darker color that doesn't work well in the heat of the summer, so I've been determined to make a new one. On their site, I conveniently found a pattern to make their slings!!

After ordering some rings, I quickly got to work and succeeded in making myself a new ring sling!

I ended up paying about $12 for fabric and rings for my sling. If I had purchased an organic sling from the company, it would have cost $95! For only a few hours of work (mostly spent fending off a very curious two year old) it saved me an awful lot of money. Perhaps that's why Hubby hasn't banned me from buying fabric...

Disclaimer: I tried to get Peter to model the sling with me, but since he hasn't been in one for awhile he was constantly yelling "uck! uck!" (translation: stuck). I instead resorted to using one of his stuffed animals.

Italian Peasant Bread

The most economical way to feed our family has been to make everything ourselves. Of course, this isn't always a possible option, but it definitely does add up over time. As an added bonus, homemade tastes so much better!

We don't always make our own bread, but we try to as often as possible. We have made this recipe so often that I now have it memorized and even Hubby has mastered it!

Italian Peasant Bread

• 3-4 cups good, unbleached flour (I only use King Arthur Flour)
• 1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) of yeast
• 1  – 1½ cups warm water (about body temperature)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ cups Olive Oil plus more for oiling the bowl
• Rosemary (to taste) - optional

1.       Gently mix the 2 cups of flour, salt, yeast, and optional rosemary in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with dough hook.  Add 1 cup warm water and mix into a dough. (3-5 minutes)
2.       Slowly add more flour until at least 3½ cups are in the dough.  If dough gets too dry, more water can be added.  Dough should be heavy (not wet) and cohesive (not crumbly).  Use extra water and flour to control this.  It will be a little different every time depending on the weather.
3.       Add the oil, and let it incorporate into the dough.  Continue to knead for about 10 minutes. If too wet or extremely sticky, add more flour, adding 1-2 Tablespoons at a time.
4.       Check the dough by kneading by hand for a minute or two.  It should be smooth and elastic and well-hydrated.
5.       Move the dough to a large, well-oiled bowl, turn to coat in the oil and cover with plastic wrap.  Put the bowl in a warm place and let it rise until doubled in bulk 1½ – 2 hours.
6.       Punch the dough down, reform into a ball, turn to coat in oil, cover with plastic wrap and leave it for a second rise. (about 45 minutes  – 1 hour)
7.       Shape the dough into two free-form loaves and put them on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper and sprinkled with cornmeal. (Instead of a baking sheet and foil/parchment, I prefer to use my stoneware with cornmeal.) Cover with plastic or a damp towel and let it rise another 30 – 45 minutes.
8.       Place the bread in a preheated 400 degree oven and bake until crusty brown and cooked through, 30 -35 minutes.

My Little Helper

Saving Money on Groceries

It seems as though the recent craze has been all about couponing. I'll admit, I have never watched "Extreme Couponing" (we save money by not having cable) but I have tried this extreme method before. I collected my mother's coupon fliers (we do not get the newspaper, once again to save money), would sort them, and carefully study all of the sales. I managed to find many items for cheap, if not free.

I did this for a few months, but decided that it just wasn't going to work for us. It had nothing to do with the time that it consumed, the organization, and the very precise planning that had to go into it. Anyone who knows me, knows that I will spend countless hours doing something if it'll save money! Instead, I realized that the majority of the products are prepackaged foods that I refuse to serve my family, cleaning solutions with harsh chemicals, and beauty supplies that we rarely use. Our cupboards could easily be filled and cluttered with "we just might use this one day" products. It's very easy to get trapped into the "but it's free" mentality and I knew I had to keep myself away from that very thing.

Instead, I opted to learn and eventually memorize the unit prices of all of our staple foods: cheese, meats, produce, frozen fruits and veggies, beans, etc. I created a spreadsheet of all of these foods and immediately went to every store in the area to record the unit prices of these products. The size box of the item didn't matter since it's a staple food, we'd be going through enough to buy a large package if necessary. I kept this list and a calculator in my purse at all times and could immediately reference it to see if I might have found a better deal.

Almost two years later, I no longer carry my spreadsheet with me. I have a very good idea of what everything costs and where it is cheapest. Disclaimer: I do check the sale fliers every week (some are delivered right to my email) and I look at the coupons but I only clip those that we would be buying anyway.

Here's a breakdown of a few gems that I found along the way:

The regular grocery stores are rarely cheaper! Even comparing generic brands, 9 times out of 10 they are still more expensive. As much as we would like to support these local businesses, we can't do the bulk of our shopping there. We do however buy meat and produce there when it is on sale.

We often shop at BJ's (a bulk store, I've been told is similar to Costco). However, we only buy generic products, cheeses, and meats from there.

If we cannot find a product in a generic form, the big box stores are almost always the cheapest option.

One of my favorite finds however has been Downeast Food, a local supply company for bakeries and restaurants. They allow the everyday person to purchase food from them and you'll even get a 10% discount! Not everything is cheaper and you have to call for the prices of their products, but when something is less, it's significantly less! We buy oatmeal, popcorn kernels, all of our spices (the biggest steal by far!), frozen berries, etc. As our family expands, there are several more things that I will be purchasing there.


There are so many places around that are just hidden treasures to be found. We have a bread company right here in town and their organic bread is 3 loaves for $5 on Saturdays! I'm sure there are many places across the country that offer their own treasures. Look out for where the local bakeries buy their products, what food is produced locally, and where the local farm stands are. It's amazing the deals that are out there on quality products!