It’s time to look at the credit card bill again. In April, we did a great job and used the card very little. We are on a bit of a roll here and hope we can keep it up for a few more months. The March credit card bill was also very small.
Credit Card Spending
Pet - $66. The usual pet food and kitty litter.
Gas – $46. We only filled up once in April since we didn’t really go anywhere. I’m taking 3 months off to bond with baby RB40. We live in the city so we walk and take public transport mostly.
Baby – $230. Becco baby carrier, Tiny Love activity mat, diapers, and bottles. Baby cost us quite a bit in April. I think we are pretty much done with the expensive items for 3-4 months.
Donation to a good cause – $25
Total – $367!
If baby RB40 didn’t spend all that money, this would have been the best month ever! It still looks great to me though.
Yes, this is a short boring post because we didn’t spend any money. 
I might as well write a bit about the baby products.
Beco Butterfly 2 baby carrier ($140) – This was an awesome purchase. I was reluctant to buy this because it is quite expensive, but now that we’ve used it for a while, we love it! It’s great to take baby for short trips around town. Carrying baby around town is also pretty much the only exercise I’m getting these days. Being a full time stay at home dad is tougher that I thought. The little dude needs constant supervision….
Tiny Love activity mat ($49) – This mat was also quite expensive. Baby RB40 can hang out for 10 – 15 minutes though and that means it’s worth the price. I still have to keep an eye on him, but at least I don’t have to carry him around. You can see the picture of the mat on my April cash flow post.
Cash
We give ourselves $100 $50 cash allowance each every week to spend on discretionary items: groceries, shoes, shows, dinners out, and whatever else we want. We decreased our cash allowance by 50% while I’m taking time off.
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Great job in getting the CC bill to be small. I charge everything I can, but pay it off every month like a utility bill. This way there’s no penalty and I get the rewards.
As for the baby expenses, you lower it by not buying new items. You can find a lot of good used items on craigslist and at community sales. Some groups will charge a small fee to join, you get go to their sale/swap events and get good condition baby/kids stuff for 1/2 the price. With babies, it’s always good to allow $100/mo for “other” expenses, which excludes daiper, wipes, and basic needs.
Also another way to save on the baby expense is “elimination communitcation”. Train your baby to elimanate waste on que. Yes it’s possible at even 2 weeks old to train them. This saved us a lot on daipers and dirty clothes.
Also, wash their hinies instead of using wipes while you are at home. Water is better for the skin than whatever is in the wipes even if they are unscented and non-alcohal. Save the wipes for going out.
I checked on Craigslist for a few weeks before we get the carrier, but no luck. We got a few second hands items like crib and stroller. It’s tough to say no to cool stuff for the baby, but we’ll try harder….
Elimination communication??? Mrs. RB40 needs to read up on that.
I am very impressed yet again!!!
That baby carrier looks awesome. Those weren’t nearly as popular when my kids were babies. It is so great that you can take 3 months off to be at home, I am sure your wife and the baby both love it. You might have a hard time going back to work.
I am envious you are able to walk so many places where you live. I fill up about 1.75 times a week!
Mrs. RB40 already went back to work and I’ll have to head back pretty soon.
Some people said going back to work is like going on vacation, but I like staying home with the little dude.
I’m also impressed, especially on your gas expenses! It’s great to live in a walkable city. I really want that in a city, which is why we’ve started looking at a few cities north of us.
Baby RB40 is adorable and that carrier looks like a very good investment!
Thanks!! We love Portland even if it’s pretty rainy.
$49 for a mat seemed expensive until I saw the picture and then thought “you know laying on that might be relaxing after a stressful day at work”
Yeah, I looked at a bunch of reviews and figured I’ll just get the one that got the most positive review. Haha, an adult activity mat might have a market.
Way to go with the low cc bill – mine’s not looking quite as friendly with all the trips i’ve taken for work and the plane tickets that I’ve bought for weddings and vacation. I’m just trying to keep it low, and i’ve had 5 no spend days in a row to help me out.
Yeah, I saw you have a lot of travel this year. Hope you can keep the lid on the expenditure. I think it’s OK for now though because you’ll be done with those events soon enough.
Another thumbs up for baby carriers! But I do cringe looking at the prices! As usual, you have things under control RB40!
The baby carrier is expensive but it looks very comfortable and should be easy on your back especially if you are walking around the city and spending a lot of time on your feet. Looks like a decent purchase to me. Plus you can re-use and amortize the cost over several babies! LOL! Or just resell it to recoup some of the cost.
It has a good belt to help distribute the weight to the hip. I like it a lot. We’ll send it to my brother when they have a kid. I think we’re done with one.
No fair blaming it on the kid! That stuff is for the adults to make life easier or more comfortable. BTW, this goes on for a lot of years and gets more expensive. Recognize that the important stuff you give your child is free, such as knowledge, values, guidance, direction and your time.
Who else can I blame it on?
Yeah, I see from Everyday Tips and Thought that kids get more and more expensive.
Those baby carriers are perfect if you live in the city and walk everywhere. We had one with our first son and used it all the time. My husband used to wear it around town for errands and his single guy friends would often tag along, because a guy wearing a baby carrier is pretty much a chick magnet.
Way to go keeping your costs so low! I wish we were able to walk everywhere, but alas, my hubby works an hour away so it isn’t possible. Also, amazing work on bringing down your weekly allowance to only $50.00! That puts our $125 to shame! But hey, I guess we spend more on gas so maybe it brings us a bit closer…
By the way, baby RB40 is adorable! Best of luck to you and your family!
Humbly Yours,
The Mayor
Wow, your credit card bills always amaze me
Baby stuff is soo expensive! That baby carrier looks really useful though, it’s obviously doing the trick since little RB40 is fast asleep. Definitely a niche to create a business in- baby stuff!
wow! I’m impressed… $50 allowance each week?? I’m so envious that you have frugal living all figured out. Your Credit Card bill is way impressive.. i spend that alone on gas each month – really need to look into this area and see how to manage the number down..
We get $50 each, but that is too little. I think we’ll have to go back to $100/week soon….
That baby carrier looks awesome. Totally worth it.
Hey, congrats man. My wife’s grocery bill alone blows that away. I have to get her to start subscribing here :>
Im envious that you life in a walkable city! It would be great for exercise, lifestyle, and saving on gas!
Good thing you were not able to spend a lot of money… well at least you can earn and save more. I have known a lot of people who use credit cards that are over-debt because of too much spending. Maybe they just don’t know how to handle money that’s why they are experiencing financial disaster. Thanks for sharing your post! It’s a nice baby carrier you got there!
Thanks! It’s good to spend less right now with the uncertain economy.
I have about the same allowance and I’m a single gal. How do you make it on so little?
We are so busy with the baby that we don’t have time to spend any money right now.
It’s $50 each so we can cover each other a bit, but $50 isn’t really enough. We’ll have to go back up to $100 soon.
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