Baby with formula and heat problem

My little baby had diarrhea for a week. First it started with just a few times a day and then each day it increases till 8 times a day. My mother told me it might be because she is teething and she urged us to take the baby to the pediatrician as soon as possible. I called up a sister-in-law and she said that if it’s a stomach virus, it should go away in a few days. After almost a week, my baby wasn’t getting any better and we took her to the pediatrician and she said the baby is allergic to the formula (soy) which we have been feeding the past few months. So we had to switch to the most expensive formula (Similac alimentum) for 2 – 4 months until the baby gotten better or even get over the soy formula. We can then slowly introduce her back to soy or regular formula. Even though the formula is more expensive but as parents, we are willing to cut back on ourselves and everything else to give what’s best for our baby. I am sure this is the same for most of the parents in the world.

The past two days had been around 90 degrees or more. We live on the top floor with only one working air conditioner. It’s very hot on the top floor. The one working air conditioner is in our master bedroom. We also have a portable air conditioner which the exhaust hose is broken while I cleaned it. We are looking to buy the replacement part as soon as possible. Our baby wasn’t able to sleep well even though the fan was on. She woke up almost every hour because she was hot and her back was damp. We are also looking to buy a wall unit air conditioner for our living room which we could live without while we were single. Now that our baby spends most of her day time in the living room, we have to keep the living room in the right temperature. You probably ask why didn’t I have the baby sleep in the master bedroom with the air conditioner on? There is no room and we do not want the baby to stay in our bed. We afraid we roll over at night and crush the baby while we sleep.

With all that said, we will be spending a lot of money on the air conditioner and formula for the baby the coming months.

The recession & changes I've made at home

I haven’t always been a very wasteful person or a very frugal person. I was willing to pay more for certain things and being very cheap on things of little value to me. Because I left my job last year in August to prepare for first time parenthood and become a full-time homemaker temporarily, I have been watching what our money spend on. Besides clipping coupons, here is a list of what I have done so far.

1) We have redeemed our American Express credit card points for American Express gift cards and we use them when we buy diapers, formulas etc…

2) I normally buy fresh herbs just to make one dish and then I leave the rest in the refrigerator and forget about them or till they rot. It was a waste of money. All I need to cook is just a pinch of herb not a whole bunch. We (well I) decided to buy a T5 fluorescent plant light (I believe it costs roughly $80+shipping & handling=$93.07) to plant herbs at home. I spent about $30 on seeds from Home Depot and $8 on gardening pots from a local vendor. It’s been a few weeks, and I see sprouts. I can’t wait till I can cut them. It’s a total investment of a little over $100. I believe in the long run, it’s worth the investment and the convenience, especially during the snow storms when you need just that one herb for your recipe.

3) We used to go out to eat once a week. Now, we do take out once a week, cook at home and my husband pack food from home for his lunch which he normally spends $6-$10.

4) I had a 5/1 ARMS 30 years mortgage for my investment property from 2005 and it will reset in 2010. I thought I would’ve sold the house within the next 5 years but because the economy, selling isn’t a good choice. We decided to refinance through LendingTree to a fixed rate 30 years mortgage. When the market picks up later, we will have a choice of selling for a profit (or at least break even) or keep it as our retirement investment. Right now, it’s still in process, it should close within the next few weeks. We will finally have a very small (9.38%) positive cash flow after paying principal, interest, insurance, taxes and property management fee. Total savings from refinancing is 9.78%.

5) I finally decided it was time to change the investment house insurance after calling for quotes from 4-6 different companies from a few months ago. The renewal date was on tax date and I was able to save $168.78 per year (631-462.22). That is 26.74% saving over the old insurance company. Why didn’t I do this earlier? It had a lot to do with being laziness the past few years. With the recession, it didn’t take long to start thinking of saving money.

6) In March, I’ve opened a STAR mutual fund in Vanguard. This account requires only $1000 rather than $3000 to start investing. I wanted to eventually invest in other mutual fund when it accumulates up to $3000. The money from this fund will help me get my short to mid-term goals accomplished.

What have you done differently since the recession begins. Perhaps you have something that you like to share which I can learn from?

Life and death

This post was supposed to be posted on 3/7/2009 but I never got around to do it. It is a short post but it isn’t a simple one.

I have experienced life (in December when I gave birth) and death (in February when my 98 years old grandmother past away) in the past few months makes me appreciate life and the little things in life a lot more. I learn to forgive and forget. I learn to let go of the bad experience in the past. I learn to care a lot more of what I eat on a daily basis after watching what my grandmother go through in the hospital. I learn my other grandmother is also taking a lot of medicine to keep her blood pressure down.

In addition to the bad economy, I learn to want to work as soon as I can have my mother watch over my little baby.