Making Money Dance

The Monthly Expense of an Early Retiree – DECEMBER 2019

January 16, 2020 No Comments

December is quite the opposite of November in terms of our spending. If November is low, December is high and the highest since we retired. This is expected because of the holidays.

In December 2019, we spent $8,748.80

Gifts

It is the holidays and the highest line items we have is our holiday gifts specifically for my family. It is a tradition in our family for the kids to give parents cash during Christmas, once the kids are independent, have a job and out of the family house. My older sister and I have been doing this since we graduated from college and start earning real money. I’ve increased the amount significantly since we had MBP. My parents have done so much to help us without expecting in return. Since we have some surplus, it just make sense to me to give some to them.

Health Insurance and Medical Expenses

Next line item is health insurance and medical expenses. This is the last month that we are paying COBRA and I expect this line item to go down considerably this year. We paid some drugs and doctor’s fee as part of our deductible. The good news is the I hit my out of pocket expense and was able to get a Willow pump fully covered by my insurance. I don’t think they fully covered this kind of pump since it is considered out of network, bus since I hit my out of pocket, they fully covered. I have to pay for the accessories, but the pump alone cost $464.2

iPhone 11 and a King Mattress

After contemplating for many months (even years) to upgrade my phone, I finally gave in and bought a new iPhone 11. I’ve had my iPhone 6 for 4 years. The memory doesn’t have enough capacity to hold the OS upgrades, my videos and my pictures. I use my phone as a camera to take pictures and video of MBP and I’m happy with this upgrade, considering that I use it everyday.

Another purchase this month is a king size mattress. We actually purchased one in Costco back in August but ended up returning it because it caused some back pain. I need a softer mattress to provide support as I am a side sleeper. I gambled and bought a Serta mattress online. It was on sale as part of the cyber monday. It’s been good so far and I’m planning to keep it.

A new Christmas Tree, Christmas Cards and Other Items

I also bought a new, unlit Christmas Tree. We donated my old 6.5 ft, pre-lit Christmas Tree that I got in 2009 for $25 at Walmart when we moved to this house. I’ve been telling myself that I want a new one since the old one really doesn’t have any leaves and just look sad. Considering that I bought it for so cheap, I can’t really expect anything more. The tree cost $168.94 on Amazon. My mom gave me all her red ornaments. She has a different theme every year and has been collecting ornaments since I can remember. I even got some ornaments that was from Manila. I still need to buy some lights for next year.

I also sent out 19 Christmas Cards on December 26th. I was late, I know, but I can’t get a good photo of the family. We finally got one from the actual Christmas Day. I went to Canva and design a card and printed 20 in FedEx. It actually cost more to print it than to order the cards online, but I want it to go out that day and not wait for shipping, so I suck it up. My husband got the envelopes and the stamps and the card went out that day. I’ll try not to procrastinate next year.

Our other items includes annual car registration for my 2011 Volkswagen Jetta, LED lights and about a dozen plain T-shirts for my husband.

And here’s our expenses for December 2019

Description	Amount	Comments
Christmas Gifts	2,211.26
Health Insurance	1,387.24	Last month under Cobra
Electronics & Software	934.47	iPhone
Furnishings	849.96	Matress
Groceries	668.05
529 College Fund	400.00
Pharmacy	356.66	Co pay for my progesterone shots
Doctor	262.48	Co pay for my husband's Dr's appointment
Utilities	259.46	This includes water, sewer, electric and gas
Shopping	251.37	A new 7.5 ft unlit Christmas tree and miscelaneous items from Amazon.
Restaurants	163.16
Auto & Transport	126.25	Car registration for my 2010 Volkswagen Jetta
Household Supplies	117.33	We bought some 2 prong LED lights, wok and other items
Gym	115.00	Our last month of Y membership. We don't go enough to warrant paying for the monthly fee
Gift	100.00	Family birthday gifts
Gas & Fuel	72.49
Clothing	69.95	About a dozen colored t-shirts for my husband from Hanes
Pet Food & Supplies	68.81
HOA Dues	68.25
Garbage	61.75	This should probably be included in the utilities above
Internet	49.95
Baby Supplies	46.44	Bottles for my new pump
Christmas Cards	30.17	I printed about 20 christmas cards at Fedex
Lotion	21.99
Fast Food	18.97
Mobile Phone	16.71
Christmas Shopping	15.63
Library Fees	5.00	I put some money to print out items in the library.
Grand Total	8,748.80

Monthly Expenses, Retirement

Early Retirement Spending – November 2019

December 12, 2019 No Comments

November is surprisingly an inexpensive month for us. Most of what we buy are starting to become a routine, with the exception of those one time expenses.

Our November Spending is $3,512.61

Health Care

Health insurance is still the biggest expense for this month and will continued on until December. With our projected low income next year, my research suggest that we will received a substantial subsidy for our health insurance. I’m still finalizing the details of our next year’s insurance. To that note, I maxed out my out of pocket expense this month. I have a maximum out of pocket expense of $3k for the plan year. My health insurance is covered through March until it resets for another year. In theory, I can keep this until February to cover for all child birth expenses. This is part of the reason that I’m still finalizing our insurance for next year. We also have to buy some iron and vitamin c supplements. My 28 week blood draw showed that I am slightly anemic.

Food

Groceries are surprisingly cheap considering that we hosted Thanksgiving for 8 people. We kept it simple with Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry and rolls with pumpkin pie for dessert. We also bought some beer for the occasion. My father received either a free turkey or ham from his work. My family is not a fan of turkey, but since this is one of the rare times that we are in town and celebrating Thanksgiving, he asked for a Turkey and gave it to us to cook. My husband cooked all Thanksgiving food and my parents brought some traditional Filipino food. Everyone enjoyed a wonderful meal while watching football and MBP singing “You Are My Sunshine” with his Ukelele.

Our eating out is limited as well. There’s just no good restaurants in the area. MBP is pretty happy with Costco/ Food Court and Happy Meal food. I really miss the restaurants in Seattle, especially the Dimsum places that MBP loves.

Utilities

Our utilities are low because our garbage and water bill are paid every two months. We only have to pay for sewer, electric and gas for this month. The change in weather definitely reflected in our gas bill since we are heating more. It is still cheaper than our old oil furnace in our old house in Seattle. Our Electric and Internet remain constant for the most part. Our cell phone bills from Xfinity for 2 lines is still $18.24. This is very low since we never go over 1 GB of data.

Gym

We are still a member of the Y. MBP is still enrolled on swim lessons twice a week and gymnastics on Saturdays. This is something that we’re evaluating since we’ve missed some classes. For now, it will be in auto pay. MBP still goes at least twice a week, so we will see.

Kids

The only expense that MBP added this month is his class photo for $35. Other than that, we didn’t have to buy him anything aside from food of course!

December will most likely double this with presents and some other “one-time” expenses. So far though, we’re happy with the November expenses and surprised on how low it is, considering.

And here’s our expenses for the month of November

Description	Amount	Comments
Health Insurance	1,387.24	A couple more months in COBRA.
Groceries	589.24
529 College Fund	400.00	I put this as an "expense" since it is alloted to MBP's college fund.
Doctor	255.98	Some more doctor bills
Utilities	155.04	Only Gas, Electric and Sewer are paid this month
Gym	115.00
Shopping	89.86	We bought some external hard drive and some other stuff
Gas & Fuel	83.65
HOA Dues	68.25
Pharmacy	58.61	Iron and Vitamin Supplements + Laxatives
Internet	49.95
Education	49.00	My Ethics class for my continuing education requirement to remain a CPA
Household Supplies	37.15	Anything else aside from Groceries
Kids	35.00	MBP's class photo. Cost 50% less than in Seattle
Restaurants	26.08	Food Court
Alcohol & Bars	24.88	Thanksgiving Beverage
Fast Food	19.18	Happy Meal
Mobile Phone	18.24	2 lines from Xfinity Mobile
Hobbies	17.99	Another domain name that should have been expired
Pet Food & Supplies	16.38
Makeup/Toiletries	6.29
Books & Supplies	5.04	I paid a fine from the library
Gift	3.99	Wedding Card
Electronics and Software	0.57	AWS monhly fee to host this blog, which is sooo cheap!
Grand Total	3,512.61

Tell me, how was your November?

Money Saving Tips

5 Books for your Toddler

November 27, 2019 No Comments

It’s the holidays and you are searching for that elusive books that your toddler/niece/nephew or any other kid will love. Books that you are hoping that they don’t already own because you want to be a pretty cool caregiver.

Here are the top 5 books that MBP loves. We discovered these from the library. He loves it so much that we started giving it out as gifts for our friend’s kids. It was a hit.

5 books for your toddler

Go Go Go Stop! – The picture books thought my toddler the meaning of green, red and yellow.

2. My Friend Robot – Sing along song that also teaches the concept of Simple Machines.

3. Roadwork – This is a fun picture book with all the trucks and a story on how to build a road.

4. If I Built A Car – I myself enjoy this picture book. It is very imaginative for your little inventor.

5. Whose Truck – Your toddler will learn the function of trucks that they see on the road.

Health and Fitness, Healthcare

The Cost of a NICU stay

November 18, 2019 No Comments

November is prematurity awareness month. According to March For Dimes “the preterm birth rate in the United States has worsened for a third year, rising to 9.93 percent in 2017. Premature birth and its complications are the largest contributors to infant death in this country and globally.”

MBP was born prematurely at 28 weeks and 5 days. Every parent will never forget the day that their kid was born. I will never forget that day and the 74 days in NICU after that.

I’m not going to discuss the emotional trauma that every parent that step in the NICU get – that warrants an entire separate post. I’m going to discussed about the financial implication of a NICU stay.

Direct Medical Cost

We were fortunate to have a great insurance that covered the entire cost of MBP’s stay and the post care that he needed a year after. In WA state, a child is eligible of medicaid regardless of parent’s income if his/her hospital stay exceeds 30 consecutive days. MBP received Medicaid as a secondary insurance. That said, the payment billed on Medicaid is very minimal since I reached my deductible when I gave birth.

The total claims for MBP’s first year of medical expenses is $1,050,098.31. Yes, IT IS OVER A MILLION. It is not a typo. His primary insurance paid $352,293.52 and Medicaid paid $693.89. These are for 195 total claims that was processed.

Insurance gets massive discounts on these claims. This is the time that I’m so grateful to my former employer for providing good health coverage. My insurance even called me after MBP was discharged just to check on him and ensure that we are getting the care we needed.

Indirect Expenses

There are other costs associated to NICU stay other than the actual medical expenses. Funny that we actually spent more on them than the direct medical expenses.

Lodging – Some families don’t live close to the hospital. We were lucky to live in a state that has a Level 4 NICU. I was lucky to deliver my kid in the same hospital and don’t need to fly him from other states. I know other families that have to deal with it.
Transportation – We paid $200/month for monthly parking. The hospital is close to downtown Seattle. When you’re dealing with a NICU stay, finding parking is the least you care about. We were also in an out during the day, delivering the milk that I pumped. We paid $600 in total since MBP was in the NICU for 2.5 months. It’s funny that we pay more for parking than the actual medical cost since it was covered by Medicaid.
Food / Eating out – I didn’t even track this, but I know we had a lot of take outs. I went back to work a couple of weeks after giving birth to save my maternity leave once MBP is discharge. There’s just no time to prep food, between pumping, working, driving in and out of the hospital and a lot and lots and lots of crying.

Healthcare is Important for Early Retiree

We can talk about probability. Statistically, 90% of pregnant women will have a full term pregnancy. They will never have to worry about the high cost of a NICU stay. But if you’re one of the minority group in the 10%, you are out of luck. I talked about Medicaid kicking in after 30 days. Some parents in the hospital actually wants this to happen just so they can afford healthcare. The claims of MBP’s first 30 days, just for the hospital stay is abut $200K. My overall out of pocket expense was $4k at the time and I paid less than that because MBP’s secondary insurance kicked in.

Retirement

Early Retirement Spending – October 2019

November 11, 2019 No Comments

It’s been 4 months since early retirement, but it feels like ages ago. Our spending still varies quite a bit month per month. There seems to be a one time expense almost every month. We were busy this October with the Halloween festivities. MBP enjoyed trick or treating and we went to 3 events – 1 for our neighborhood, 1 for his Co-op and 1 for the actual night. He won the best costume contest for our neighborhood based on facebook likes and received a $75 Target gift card. He still have some gift cards from his birthday that we haven’t used.

Our October Spending: 8,005.43

Property Taxes

Our biggest line item for this month is the second half of our property tax. This isn’t bad compared to what we used to pay in Seattle. Our escrow officer warned us that the county might not mail our bill directly, since they do it once a year. He was correct. I called the county to ask for the bill. That conversation went like this:

Me: Hi, we just purchased our home last April and I want to make sure we pay our property tax on time so we don’t incur any fines

County: Don’t worry, your mortgage company knows it and will pay it through escrow

Me: We don’t have a mortgage. We paid our house in full so we don’t have an escrow account

County: Oh, uhmm, let me put you on hold. (hold for a couple of minutes). Ok, I will send you the bill.

It’s so obvious that it’s very rare for them to get this kind of phone call. They sorted it out and I got the bill and sent the check the next day.

Pregnancy Related Expense

I got some scary news once I hit my 22nd week of pregnancy. I started feeling some contractions in the beginning of my second trimester. Given that MBP was born really early, I’m trying to be cautious as much as I can and listen more to my body. That week, my biweekly cervix scan showed some bad reading. It looks like there was a funneling in my cervix that also looks like a dilation. I needed to have a consult with maternal fetal medical (MFM) as they specialize on high risk pregnancy. I was probably a bit paranoid that week that I went back to my OB 2 days later because I was really concern with the contractions and my OB was also cautious. That turned out ok. I am now being a couch potato. I also make sure that every contraction stop when I move / change positions to make sure that it is just Braxton Hicks. Unfortunately, there’s very little research done on premature birth. My MFM basically just told me to take what I feel seriously and go to triage if I feel that I need to be seen. Expense wise, since I already hit my deductible I paid very little for my co-pay visit. I am also taking a weekly shot that caused 2K/month. My copay is a little over $250 and I paid for 2 months for that. My husband got a crash course from the nurse to give shots so I don’t need to drive to the clinic every week. At this rate, I’m pretty sure that I will hit my out of pocket expense by this month.

Other spending increase

Aside from the property taxes and health care, out utilities also increased given that we started heating. Our thermostat is set at 68 during daytime and 56 at night. I also started eating more, and get hungry in the middle of the night and this reflects in our grocery budget. My go to snack at night are cliff bars. We’re discovering more and more of the area and ate out a couple of times. Since we drove to my doctor twice a week the last two weeks, our gas is also fairly high. I also drove to Seattle and paid for parking to attend Cents Positive which has been a great experience!

On Budgeting

We still don’t budget. I never budgeted per line item on my entire adult life. I just really keep an eye on my total expense. Without the property taxes, we are pretty close to our expenses last month.

We track our spending and net worth using Personal Capital. We use credit cards every time we can in combination of Chase Sapphire for travel and dining, Amazon Prime Card for Amazon purchases and Fidelity Investments Credit Card for everything else. I also recently applied for a Costco Visa Card since Costco is our nearest grocery store and we purchased our gas there.

I highly recommend using some sort of tracking mechanism to track your spending. Credit cards are good to use if you can pay it off every month

And here’s our expenses for the month of October

Description	Amount	Comments
Property Tax	2,811.14
Health Insurance	1,387.24	COBRA for the whole family
Groceries	713.40
Pharmacy	615.28	The progesterone shots that I have to take from week 16 - 36 of my pregnancy
529 College Fund	400.00
Utilities	289.30	Electric, Sewer, Gas and Water
Hotel	179.00	My little sister will graduate this May and we booked our hotel in advance
Restaurants	156.51	3 trips to retaurants for the family
Gas & Fuel	152.21
Preschool Tuition	143.42	A full year tuition for the community college that is required for ourcoop
Doctor	128.97
Baby Supplies	117.35	This probably should say kids supply
Gym	115.00	YMCA membership. MBP takes swim classes here twice a week
Arts	115.00	Membership to the children's museum
Service Fee	95.00	Credit card fee for Chase Sapphire
Home Improvement	90.50	We bought a leaf blower / vaccum
Pet Food & Supplies	69.94	Food for the spoiled furbaby
HOA Dues	68.25
Hockey	60.00
Shopping	50.39
Internet	49.95
Parking	45.37	Parking for the Cents positive in Seattle
Pet Medical	38.00	Some medicine for the furbaby
Household Supplies	32.77
Tolls	30.00	This is an automatic refill of our toll pass
Gift	20.65	Another 2 year old bday party
Mobile Phone	18.24
Service & Parts	12.00
Electronics & Software	0.55	Blog hosting fee (yes, it's this cheap via AWS)
Total	8,005.43

Money Saving Tips

Fall Kids Consignment Haul

October 19, 2019 No Comments

Most of MBP’s clothes and toys are either used or free. There are very active Buy Nothing Groups in Seattle where we got MBP’s crib, chairs, clothes, bottles and tons of toys. I supplement his stuff by buying other items on consignment, which typically happens twice a year.

When we moved this May, I joined the local Buy Nothing Group, but it doesn’t have much activity. There are also more people asking for things and I feel bad taking it from them, knowing very well that I can buy it. My favorite consignment store was also in Seattle that was put together by Seattle Parents of Multiples. I don’t have multiples, but I find that most of their items are barely used, and prices are low. Parents probably stop having kids after having two, or three and want to get rid of the items quickly. Unfortunately I’m now an hour away but was able to find one close enough and I was able to last Friday while MBP was in school.

Buying in Consignment is NOT the cheapest route, but the most convenient for me, while still buying used items that my kid will only use for the next 6 months.

I don’t expect to get super great deal at consignment. Sometimes the prices can be consistent with new items that are on sale. I pay for the convenience of having one room filled with most of the items that my kid will need for the next 6 months. It’s typically seasonal as well. Most consignment happens twice a year, one in fall for the fall and winter season and one in spring for the spring and summer season.

How I buy at consignment store

I make a list of items that I know my son will need, from clothings to feeding to bathing. During the fall season, I keep an eye out for winter wear which cost quite a bit when bought new. I’m still fairly new to this, so there are some items that I bought that I probably don’t need or could get cheaper if needed.

I saved about 82% of all items I bought or about $432.17.

And here’s everything I bought

Type	Cost Used	Cost New	Discount
January 2, 1900	5	39.99	87%
Folding Play Mat	15	59.99	75%
Pregnancy Wedge	3.5	15.99	78%
Skip Hop Backpack Owl	3	19.99	85%
Number wooden puzzle	3.5	15.99	78%
Starbucks Christmas Kids cup	1.5	7.49	80%
Nike size 10 toddler	5	26.99	81%
North Side Winter Boots size 11	5	40	88%
Kamik size 10 winter boots	6.5	42.99	85%
Crocs size 8/9	2	18.99	89%
Crocs size 10/11	5	18.99	74%
Size 9 winter boots	3	29.99	90%
Snozu 2t down jacket	6	49.99	88%
Baby shark 2t Costumer	10	24.95	60%
8 pair of underwear	3	10.8	72%
Training pants	2	5.99	67%
2 dozen socks	5	22	77%
Cookie monster foam puzzle	1	13.99	93%
Toddler Camping chair	3.5	16.99	79%
Tax	8.673	47.2458
Total	97.173	529.3458	82%

Retirement

Early Retirement Spending – September 2019

October 7, 2019 No Comments

I’m going to start logging our monthly household spending, now that we completed 3 months of early retirement. We track our spending pre-retirement and have some idea of our monthly spending, but it would be good to see the actual numbers, now that we have a somewhat different lifestyle.

Some Background

Our journey to FIRE is short, 1 year and 8 months in total. My husband went back to work after his parental leave. He came home and started talking about early retirement blog that he discovered. That was October 2017. I was excited because I’ve been reading those blogs that he mentioned since I graduated from college. GE Miller from 20Somethingfinance.com helped me pay off my student loan debt quickly. I’m always a firm believer of FI, but never thought that I would trigger early retirement, until I did at age 33. My husband is 37. Our last day of W2 employment was July 1, 2019.

Retiring to something

We don’t hate our jobs. There are a lot of good things about it. My husband met most of his friends in Seattle as an Intern at Microsoft. He stayed at this company until he retired. I was happy at work and was in management position when I left. The year before my retirement was one of the best years. I produced more than I thought, being a working mom. But we know that we are missing the best (or the worst?) years of our first kid. Life move to a completely different direction when he was born. Add another factor that he was born prematurely. We know that we want to spend more time with our son while he actually ask for us. We are now both full time parents, which takes a TON of time and honestly, harder than our previous jobs.

A Very Short Planning

There are pros and cons of short time frame to FIRE. I’ve never read a blog with a shorter timeline as ours. The number 1 pro is that it is short, we’re really just trying to be conservative with our FI number, but we could have retired that same day. The cons, which I discovered a month before retirement, there’s more to early retirement than just a number. Retirement is a significant milestone, mostly done at 60s. There are some data suggesting that folks that retired early actually have a shorter life span. I know some individuals that retired only to go back to work after a year. My hope is that it is not me, but if it is, I’m ok with that. Aside from being a full time parent, and growing our family, I don’t really have a plan. I’m taking this time to slow down, getting to know myself and practicing self care.

Our September Spending: $5,600.33

Healthcare

Our biggest expense, as we expected is healthcare. We are in COBRA until the end of the year and it cost $1,387.24 / month. Talk about a very expensive healthcare. I am also pregnant with kiddo #2, and pay for OB visits, labs, ultrasounds and weekly shots. I’m on a high risk pregnancy, so I’m taking weekly shots and have biweekly ultra sound. I also see my OB every two weeks. My insurance is separate from MBP and my husband, since I already covered my deductible and it would be cheaper to have mine solo.

Annual / Semi Annual expenses

September also hit some annual and semi-annual expenses. I prepaid MBP’s preschool tuition, paid our car insurance for the next 6 months and my husband pay his hockey league fee. We cash flow this expenses and also expect that there will always be one time expense almost every month. It would be interesting to see our average expense after a year.

Food

Food is surprisingly cheap! It’s probably because we are planning our meals, started doing groceries at WINCO and Costco. We haven’t found a decent restaurant near the area. We used to go out or have take outs often. It will be nice if this is consistent, but will probably go up.

On Budgeting

We don’t set a monthly budget. We have some target on our annual spending so we don’t spend more than the 4% rule. However, if we find that we need more, then we will most likely go back to work.

I highly recommend using some sort of tracking mechanism to track your spending. Credit cards are good to use if you can pay it off every month.

And here’s our expenses for the month of September

Description	Amount	Comments
Health Insurance	801	Cobra for MBP and my husband. Mine was logged in August, but should be an additional 586.24
Hockey	759.35	My husband plays ice hockey and this is the fee for the season
Groceries	548.17	Surprisingly not bad
Preschool Tuition	526.5	Annual tuiition for MBP's preschool
529 College Fund	400	Monthly transfer to MBP's 529 College Fund
Service & Parts	323.43	Our prius had a flat tire and we changed two tires. Also includes the change oil
Auto Insurance	317.26	6 month insurance for our Prius and VW Jetta
Veterinary	194	Annual exam for our furbaby dog
Doctor	187.81	Monthly fee for my OB in addition to insurance cost
Shopping	140.77	??? This consist of 8 transactions. 4 from Amazon, 2 from Costco, 1 from Walmart and 1 from TJ Maxx. I'm sure Amazon and Costco aren't categorized properly.
Utilities	123.39	Electric, Gas and Sewer Bill
Gym	103.5	YMCA membership
HOA Dues	68.25	Monthly HOA Fee
Water/Sewer/Garbage	63.39	Garbage fee
Gas & Fuel	61.19	Gas
Subscription	60	Our Costco membership renewal
Internet	49.95
Restaurants	92.61	Fair Food + a take out
Baby Supplies	39.33	Diaper
Gift	31.99	Gift to our neighbor kid and nephew
Coffee Shops	22.68	Starbucks Gift Card refill + brewed coffee
Household Supplies	20.75	These are the household supplies from Costco
Pet Food & Supplies	20.38	Treats for our spoiled dog
Charity	20	Boy scout knocked on our door, selling popcorn. We didn't buy the popcorn but gave them $20 for donation
Home Improvement	19.65	Items in Lowes
Cell Phone	18.24	Really cheap cell plan for 2 lines through Xfinity Mobile
Parking	0.5	Street Parking in Seattle
Total	5014.09
Add Insurance that was logged in August	5600.33

Money Saving Tips

Xfinity Mobile Review 2019

October 5, 2019 No Comments

My husband and I switched to Xfinity mobile a month before our early retirement. We were fairly happy with our old plan in T-mobile, but we don’t get coverage in the new house. Verizon have a new cell tower in the area and have great coverage.

Pre Early Retirement Cell Plan

I’ve been a T-mobile customer since 2012. My plan was the cheapest plan. T-mobile actually stopped advertising it. I was on a prepaid plan. I received, unlimited data, unlimited text and 100 minutes per month. I was paying 33.98 per month, tax inclusive. My husband moved in with me in 2014, he switched from Verizon to this same plan. HIs bill went down from $60+ to $33.98. At that time, T-mobile only sell this plan through Walmart. They don’t advertise it. I can’t even find this plan on their website. So since 2014, we were paying $67.96/month for our cell plan.

Discovering Xfinity Mobile

We found out about Xfinity Mobile as recommended by our neighborhood page group. Everyone says good things about it, which surprised me — because you know it is Comcast. I’ve been a Comcast customer because I don’t have a choice – it’s the only provider that gives decent speed in our area. I’m only paying for internet. We don’t have a cable and our phone is through Google which is a one time cost. I don’t want to bundle another product with Xfinity, so I had my doubts.

What is Xfinity Mobile?

Xfinity Mobile is a Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) operated through Verizon Networks. Verizon have a better coverage than T-mobile, according to review.org. This is already an upgrade for us. Customers are also automatically connected through Xfinity Hotspots. Their plan is only available if you are an existing Xfinity Customers.

Our plan

Xfinity mobile plans allows us to share data and pay only for the data we used. 1GB starts at $12 per month. We are retired, so we are not planning to use much data. We use wifi most of the time or use Xfinity Mobile Hotspots. We were using 2GB pre-retirement. This slowly went down to 1.5 GB to less than 1 after retirement. Our bill ranged from $40 – $19. Our last bill came in at $18.24 including fees for 2 lines, using .77 GB of data. We can save 49.72/month if we really want to cap our usage to 1GB. Even if we go on the high end of 2GB, we are still saving money compared to our previous bill.

Other Deals

Xfinity Mobile were offering customers $100 prepaid debit card if you bring in your iPhone. My iPhone is unlocked and it was a breeze to bring in the phone. My husband’s phone is an Android phone, owned by his former employer. We either have to get a phone through Xfinity if he wants to keep his Android or get an iPhone. My sister has an old iPhone with crack screen. She gave it to us for free and it cost $97.99 to get it repaired. We unlocked the phone and port my husbands number to Xfinity. We also received another $100 prepaid debit card as part of the offer.

Savings

We have saved 345.53 for 4 months of usage, including the offer that we were able to avail. I’ve been pretty happy with the service and pleasantly surprised with the coverage, especially the hotspots.

Month	T-Mobile Plan	Xfinity Mobile	# GB used
Month 1	67.96	39.16	2.34
Month 2	67.96	39.16	2.64
Month 3	67.96	29.75	1.34
Month 4	67.96	18.24	0.77
Total	271.84	126.31

One Time Deal: $200

Total Savings: $345.53

Surprisingly, I recommend Xfinity Mobile, if you are looking to lower your cost and do not need much data.

Money Saving Tips

How to save hundreds by using cloth diapers – Cloth diaper review 2020

October 2, 2019 No Comments

We have been using cloth diapers just a little over 2 years. I wrote an article about how we spent $230 to purchase 63 used BumGenius cloth diapers, saving us about $1300 if we bought it new. With my analysis below, we saved over $500 in 2 years by using these cloth diapers for MBP.

Hybrid Cloth Diapering

We don’t use cloth diaper exclusively. When MBP turned 18 months, we started using disposables at night. My goal is to go back to using cloth diapers at night, but it is just easier to use disposables. We also uses disposable diaper when we’re on vacation and whenever we have to go out for more than 2.5 hours. It is more convenient to pack disposable diapers. I spent $130 on disposable diapers so far. During the first month, I received a $100 credit from Amazon by using their baby registry. You can only used this for diaper related item. I got the newborn and size 1 diaper and 9 packs of baby wipes for free

Washing Method

We washes cloth diapers every 3 days. We uses 47 BumGenius pockets diapers. Our laundry typically have 24 cloth diapers coming out of the wash. We wash twice, one on lite with no detergent and one on extra heavy with detergent, both on cold. We uses Tide Original HE Powder to wash the cloth diapers. The inserts are dried using the dryer and the shells are line dry. All our appliances are also electric. Our bill went up by about $5 – $7 per month. I used $7 increase in utilities for this assumption. In theory, this increase is not just for the cloth diapers. We also wash more just by the fact that we added an additional person in the family who uses clothes.

Diaper Wipes

We also used cloth diaper wipes. I made these wipes out of a 10 year old queen fitted sheets and 3 pillow cases. The sheets are 100% cotton but has been beaten up over the number of years used. It cost me about $5 for the thread.

Diaper Pail

We have one Dekor diaper pail and 2 Dekor diaper pail liner. I bought it new and cost us $29.95 for the pail and $19.69 for the liner.

Cream / Oil

We uses coconut oil instead of cream. Sometimes, when MBP has a rash we also uses Desitin. The Desitin is free from the NICU, when MBP was discharged. We still have these up to now. I didn’t include this in the calculation.

Disposables Comparison Factor

I used the Costco diaper and wipes for this analysis. I used these because this is where we get our diapers. Using this calculation, there will be excess diaper. In my opinion this is realistic in our situation, because we err on the side of changing more often. We will keep this excess for kiddo #2 or give it away

On Year 1, we changed MBP’s diaper 7 times on average. A LOT more on the first 6 months until he was sleeping through the night. He was only on size 1 for the first 3 months and we upped a size to size 2 up until 10 months and we upped to size 3.

Disposable Diaper	Price	Qty	Total	# of changes	(# of changes / ct)
Size 1 (192 ct), up to 14 lbs	29.99	4	119.96	630	3.28
Size 2 (174 ct) (12-18 lbs)	29.99	9	269.91	1505	8.65
Size 3 (198 ct) (16 - 28 lbs)	35.99	2	2	420	2.12
Diaper wipes (900 wipes)	19.99	3	59.97	2135	2.37
Diaper Liner	26.99	2	53.98
Total			575.8

On Year 2, we changed MBP’s diaper 6 times. We changed his cloth diaper every 2.5 – 3 hours during the day and triple the liner or put him on disposable at night.

Disposable Diaper	Price	Qty	Total	# of changes	(# of changes / ct)
Size 3 (198 ct) (16 - 28 lbs)	35.99	6	215.94	1095	5.53
Size 4 (180 ct) (22-37 lbs)	35.99	7	251.93	1095	6.08
Diaper wipes (900 wipes)	19.99	3	59.97	2190	2.43
Diaper Liner	26.99	2	53.98
Total			581.82

Comparison

Using the factors I mentioned above, we saved $504.74 by using cloth diapers. We could save more if we use cloth diapers exclusively. These cloth diapers are still holding up well and ready for kiddo #2.

Year 1	Cloth Diaper	Disposable Diaper (costco price)
Cloth Diaper	229.78	0
Cloth Wipes	5	0
Cloth diaper sprayer	29.99	0
Disposable Diaper	55.44	461.85
Disposable Wipes	0	59.97
Diaper liner refill	19.69	53.98
Detergent	36.5	0
Utilities	84	0
TOTAL	460.4	575.8

Year 2	Cloth Diaper	Disposable Diaper
Cloth Diaper	0	0
Cloth Wipes	0	0
Disposable Diaper	71.98	467.87
Disposable Wipes	0	59.97
Diaper liner refill	0	53.98
Detergent	36.5	0
Utilities	84	0
TOTAL	192.48	581.82

	Cloth Diaper	Disposable Diaper
Total Cost	652.88	1157.62
Savings		504.74

Other reason to choose cloth diapers

The cost is just one of the reason we choose to use cloth diaper. Disposable diaper sits in the landfill for 500 years. We are lessening our carbon footprint by using cloth diaper.

Do you use cloth diapers? How much did you save?

Money Saving Tips

How to Save Money on Cloth Diaper

September 27, 2019 No Comments

We have used cloth diapers for 2 years now. MBP was discharged from the NICU by end of August, but we didn’t start him on cloth diapers until September. I waited until he is big enough to use a one size cloth diaper so we don’t have to buy a new born cloth diaper.

What is a cloth diaper?

Cloth diaper is just what it say, a “cloth” diaper. I remember when my little sister was born, she used a flat cotton cloth and we will use safety pins to secure it to her. We then used another water repellant shell, which is called a PUL to keep the liquid in. This was the only cloth diaper that I knew existed back then.

I was overwhelmed when I started researching about cloth diapers before MBP was born. There are so many types and brands to choose from. The cost can be significant, depending on the type you choose.

One Size Pocket Diapers

I tried 2 kinds and 3 different brands of cloth diaper. I tried 2 brands of one size pocket diapers – BumGenius and Fuzzibunz. I also bought Clotheez prefold diaper which is the traditonal flat cloth but the middle section is a more absorbent layer. You need to use an outer shell for these type of cloth diaper. Just a couple of days into it, I knew that we will stick with the pockets. My husband prefer the Bumgenius over Fuzzibunz. He also prefer the velcro vs snaps because it is easier to fit to the baby.

I got my cloth diapers in 3 ways:

Free from our local Facebook Cloth Diapering Group
Used also from Facebook Marketplace
Green Mountain Diapers for the fitted cloth diaper

Getting Cloth Diapers for Free

Cloth diaper is very popular in Seattle. There is a dedicated facebook group where you can buy and sell used cloth diapers. You can also ask any questions to members related to cloth diapers. I’ve seen range of questions from cleaning cloth diapers, traveling with cloth diapers, rashes and fit. I was lucky and received 20 Bum Genius 3.0 from this group. The cloth diapers was used for 18 months by one kid. The elastics needed some repair when I received it. Luckily it wasn’t hard to replace. I also received 2 Planet Dry wet / dry bags.

You can also check out your local Buy Nothing Group. I received 12 Fuzzi bunz cloth diaper. It didn’t have an insert but the PUL is still in great shape. Just like the Bum Genius, I have to replace the elastics for these diapers.

You can also go to The Cloth Option, which is a non-profit organization that provides cloth diaper to those that needs assistance.

Getting Cloth Diapers Used

I bought mine from 2 sellers in our local FB marketplace. I bought 27 Bumgenius 4.0 for $150. The lady who sold it to me used it for 6 months. She lives in an apartment with shared laundry and it became difficult for her to wash it. These are in great condition and I didn’t have to change any elastics. I also bought 16 Bumgenius 1.0 for $40. It was used by one kid 6 years ago and was just stored in her closet. I didn’t end up using it because I have more than enough to rotate in the stash.

The total cost of my “new to me” cloth diapers is $190. Which cost about $4.5 per diaper.

Getting Cloth Diapers New

Cloth Diapers can be expensive. An individual BumGenius is priced at $21.95. You can get a discount if you buy in a bundle at $20.55 per diaper. I bought a dozen of Cloth-eez Prefold Diapers for $33.95. I used this as an insert for the Fuzzibunz when we were still trying to determine between Bumgenius and Fuzzibunz based on the free cloth diapers we received. We ended up liking Bum Genius. I sold this same diaper on eBay for $26.

Total Cost of getting the diapers free and used: $229.78

$197.95 for the 63 cloth diapers
$31.83 for the elastics, cleaning supplies and shipping fee

Total Cost of getting the diapers new at current price of $20.55: $1294.65

Savings: $1064.87

« Previous 1 … 6 7 8 9 Next »