How to Save Money in Parenting

Remember our growing up years, while we may not have the luxuries that kids enjoy this day, I think we have grown up just fine.  But how on earth is parenting getting so expensive.  From the moment that couples get to know the wife is pregnant, everything is money, money and money. 

The baby show at EXPO are reaping in massive sales and as we know it, baby’s products are EXPENSIVE.  Yes, the price of a piece of cloth to act as the baby bib can cost anything from $10.  From what I recall, I grew up just as well when my mum use a piece of handkerchief that she bought at the nearest wet market for $0.30 a piece.

My mum certainly did not rush me to the nearest hospital, clinic, or skin specialist when I get some allergy on my skin, my mum certainly did not bask me in fancies and luxuries.  I grew up just fine.. at least decent looking in my personal opinion.  These are just some of the old school products that are affordable without the extravagances I used when I was young.  So parents out there, RELAX LA! I am sure you used some of these before and you grew up just fine.  I grew up just fine as well, without looking anything like SHREK.  Parenting does not have to be extravagant, as we rather spend the money on some other important stuff like tuition, tuition , tuition?

When it was bathing time for me as a baby, it was just a random tub that was big enough to put me in.  No fancy ergonomic bathtub.  I did not fracture or sprain any bone in the process of using a basic tub.

And the perfect place for me to sleep in was the old school conventional “yao lan”.  Cheap, easy to clean, and easy to keep it away without taking much space when I outgrew the bed.  My spine had no issue in sleeping in this old school “bed”, plus old people say that this will prevent baby from having odd-shape head.

And each time after our shower, it was a ritual to apply this all over our body, and back then the only popular choice was this.  No fancy ingredient that soothes and leave me smelling good and smooth.

Only on special occasions, as if it was too precious to use it on a daily basis, we get to apply this on our body after shower and we felt so pampered, as if it was a special body treatment.

As I got a little older, when skin was dry or when we were getting burnt from being under the sun for too long, this was the ultimate cream that smell nice, feel light on the skin with a part powdery/part creamy texture, and it definitely felt cooling on the skin.  Another point that I recall when i had this rub on my skin, it makes me look fairer, and I feel like snow white.

When we were getting chapped lips,or cuts on our finger from using the scissors instead of nail clipper to trim our nails, this was the “gel” that cures them all.  It was also applied sparingly on my brother’s hair as a hair gel.  The bottle seems to be ever lasting, and I do not recall my mum buying a new one.  I had thought that this must be a precious wonder gel as my mum only use a teeny weeny bit each time.

And shower time was a joy simply from choosing the color for the familiar bar of soap.  This bar of soap was used not only for our body, but also our hair and face.  It was a wonder-all and our hair hardly had an issue of tangling, being dry or having split ends.  Most importantly, we smelled so nice from head to feet and was squeaky clean.

And in the rarest occasion, there would be a bottle of shampoo in our bathroom and the most familiar of all would be this where the whole family can share, regardless of  hair type.

Well, this simply sums up what an example of a typical household, at least for mine, it is 🙂