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Originally Posted by YesandNo  I agree that NFL *can* be expensive - it's certainly cheaper to eat ramen noodles and Kraft Mac'n'Cheese than to buy organic whole foods.
But I don't agree that breastfeeding cost more - it's not completely free but the alternative, formula feeding, is wicked expensive. And I don't agree that baking powder and vinegar costs more than the chemicals people use, or that keeping the baby in bed with you is necessarily more expensive than a crib.
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not wanting to argue, but actually breastfeeding my dd
did cost as much as formula feeding. my metabolism is very fast as it is. breastfeeding was sending me into overdrive and i ate food like crazy (at least more than double the previous amount - it was an insane amount of food). we spent so much on food, it wasn't funny. unfortunately for me dd2, my second was actually FF from month 5 onwards due to issues and the cost was comparable to the extra food cost when BF'ing dd1!!! you can believe what you want, but i know what went on in our home when i was breastfeeding and then when i was FF'ing - there was no difference in spending - grocery bill came down due to less food being bought, but the formula set it right back up at it's original cost. bottles didn't cost much. we used glass bottles which do not need to be replaced. a pack of nipples every 3 months at $10 did not break the budget. in fact, i would easily eat up $10 worth of food for breakfast while BF'ing. i am 5'6 and 110lbs - you would never guess i could pack that much food away but i did everyday. we have been cooking from scratch for a very long time, so it's not like it was extra $ spent on convenience foods either.
and baking soda over here *does* cost more. i can buy bottles of conventional dish detergent and other nasty chemicals for $2 from big box outlets which would last me longer than the 1lb of baking soda that i get for $2. i am AMAZED when people say they get pounds of BS for $7-8.... i would love that but it's not available to me.
keeping two babies in bed with us was more expensive than using the hand me down cribs with all the stuff ready to use. we bought a really cheap queen and twin and put them on the floor (so about $500 in total). our bedroom looks like a dorm. we didn't buy any special co-sleeping furniture for the kids at all (not even one of those side co-sleepers).
dont get me wrong, i love co-sleeping more than anything
but it was NOT cheaper i can ASSURE you. what would have been cheaper was using the FREE hand me downs. i know it sounds hard to believe but i know through our own experience that choosing the NFL lifestyle actually drained much more from our budget than if we had stuck to mainstream.
we do hand me down clothes too... they rock!!!!! i've hardly bought stuff for the girls.
when all is said and done, i'm glad we didn't save that money by sticking to mainstream. i'd rather spend what we are spending and have happy, secure and healthy kids than have the money in the bank. but i just want to dispell the myth that NFL is cheaper for everyone. it's not. the same way cooking from scratch is not cheaper for everyone.
the only thing was cheaper was cloth dipes versus sposies. i'll vouch for that one anyday!
but nothing else
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| I think people will justify what they have to buy depending on how much money they have for spending. |
thats not true. we (dh and i) have enough money to buy all the extra add-ons (like a side co-sleeper) and we CHOSE not to simply because it was just a waste for us when we could get by with what we had (the already purchased queen and twin). i know people who do the trendy sort of NFL where they will purchase every NFL or AP product out there and have a whinge about how its expensive. well duh, when you've bought 6 different slings and all these fancy dipes what do you expect? as a mama who has gotten by with basic dipes and 1 sling for two kiddos, i can safely say that not everyone "who has money" will spend up according to thier income. if you looked at us IRL, you wouldn't even guess that we are in the upper middle class income bracket. with the way our house looks and our clothes, we look more like college students. heck i think college students probably have nicer furniture than us.
anyway this has gotten way off topic, but just wanted to reply. if you'd like to continue the convo, please feel free to PM me as i don't want to crowd this thread with any more off-topicness (is that even a word?)
