Money Saving Tip #3

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Money Saving Monday! Glasses? Drinking glasses? Ok....🤨 . . . #savemoney #moneysaving #moneysavingtips #momsofinstagram #momlife #momsofmany #momofboys #savingmoney

A post shared by Vegan Runner Mommy (@veganrunnermommy) on Jul 1, 2019 at 7:01am PDT

60sec Money saving tip #2

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Money Saving Monday!! It involves saving at Target 🤑 . . . . #moneysaving #target #savemoney #targetapp #momlife #wheelinanddealin #lifehack #lovetosave

A post shared by Vegan Runner Mommy (@veganrunnermommy) on Jun 10, 2019 at 5:35pm PDT

60 second money saving tip #1

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Money Saving Monday! Tip #1 Negotiate!!!! Want to save some money at any store? Watch and learn! Let me know what you think . . . . #momsofinstagram #blogger #savemoney #moneysaving #moneymaker #bigfamily #momlife #momofboys #moneysavingtips

A post shared by Vegan Runner Mommy (@veganrunnermommy) on Jun 3, 2019 at 6:57am PDT

Nissan NV 3500 Van aka: The Big Blue Beast .... how we picked it

We finally did it... we got a bigger vehicle. Its the one that people look at and then look for the line up of stick figures on the back of your car wondering how many kids you have. Its the one that you can't lose in the parking lot. Its the vehicle that you could live in if all else failed. We got a: Nissan NV 3500 Passenger van or Nissan NVP.

Why? We don't have 10 children its true, we don't own a transport business either. So why would a family with 3 kids want a 12 passenger van?

Well, we have plans to travel with our family in the next year and having the space for bags or other friends or family to come with us was something we wanted. We are also out a few times a week in our ministry and always have other people with us. We are always taking family or friends with us as well. The mini van (Honda Odyssey) was getting cramped quickly!! So the next size up was a full size van. Those options are small we had the choices  of a Ford Transit, Nissan NV 3500, Mercedes Sprinter or Chevy Express (GMC Savana).

Mercedes Sprinter

Ford Transit

Chevy Express

Our requirements were few: Leather interior, V8 engine and not overly expensive. 

The leather was a MUST! I know from experience that cloth seats would be trashed in a short time and we didn't want that. The V8 was a bit of a back and forth, V6 for the MPG or V8 for the better towing capacity? The V8 won! The research we did was helpful in pointing us to the V8 for our future needs. (more on that later).

The price was HUGE deal, I am a bargain hunter. There was no way I was going to let us pay more per month then we were with the Honda Odyssey.  

That negotiation process is worthy of another post.

So the comparisons I am doing below were for our needs more then anything else, maybe you can relate to it when shopping for a passenger van.

Price:  When you look at the rundown on 'starts at price' the Mercedes was the winner/looser for that category. No surprise right? They were the most expensive for sure! So that brought us to 3. Chevy, Ford, Nissan. All in the $30k region for starting price. Most people think "bigger car, bigger price" but not this time. Considering the Honda Odyssey we drove was starting price of $37,000 before options. 

V8 Engine: So now you are looking at us thinking, "V8 really? Horrible MPG! Why would you do that to yourself?"

Valid point, we heard you... Our Odyssey did get 20+ MPG on a daily basis so even the thought of 12-18 MPG sounds like suffering and woe for anyone. But here is the thing, we had a GMC Yukon XL before the Odyssey and personally we liked the pep and go those engines had. If you needed to pull onto the highway into traffic there was no doubt it would get you there and not let you down. A V8 will allow you to pull pop up trailer, a luggage trailer or just about anything! The idea of a V6 in a large vehicle full of people and luggage or trailers just sounds like you are straining the little 6 cylinder engine unnecessarily. The power out weighted the MPG in our mind. 

I'm not going to throw a bunch or stats and engine sizes at you here, if you want to know specifics you can google it :) But it happened that we had driven a Ford Explorer with the same size engine as the Ford Transit could come with (they offer Diesel but we didn't want that) on our trip to PA. As it was a rental car my husband wanted to see what kind of guts it had an tried to punch it as one point. FAIL! A gutless little engine that took forever to get up to speed and no real pep at all! This was in a smaller SUV not in a full size van. Once we realized that, the Ford was off the table. No guts, no Ford.

Then there were 2...  Chevy Vs. Nissan

Leather interior: This was a no brainier for us! Chevy (GMC) did not offer leather in any trim level! Really Chevy? Really? Not even the GMC version! Ok no way am I getting the dealer to leather cover 12 seats nope, not happening. So the clear winner was....

Nissan NV 3500 passenger van (Nissan NVP)

This baby had it all! Decent price, V8 engine and leather interior with the SL trim.

So there you are, the new vehicle in the family and for many many years to come.

I will be doing a You Tube video review of it soon and also a post on how I got the best deal on a brand new one. 

If you have any questions on the Nissan NV 3500 just message me below!

Cleaning a Pack and Play to save a few $$

I am always looking for ways to save a few dollars (or more), this was one of those times...

Pinterest oh how I have a love/hate relationship with you!  All these brilliant ideas and recipes, yet most sit in my pin board as gentle reminders of how busy I am and how I will never get around to doing most of them. Thanks... thanks....

Since baby #3 is coming along in August we took all the baby stuff we had left out of the attic the other day. One major thing was the Pack and Play, don't worry I checked to see if it had been recalled. Since it had not and this thing had been with us for over 5yrs now and NEVER had a good cleaning. It. Was. Time. You know how much poop, pee, spit up and dirt this thing has seen??? YUCK!

So the pins I saw said to soak it in the tub with HOT water, laundry soap, baking soda a vinegar. The amounts varied for each pin,  but I will tell you what I did.

• 1 Cap full of laundry soap (I make it my self, if you want the recipe just let me know)
• 2/3 cup of baking soda
• 1-2 cups of vinegar

Then you let it soak for 30 minutes..... set the kitchen timer... flip it to the other side for 30 more minutes.
You will note from the pictures I didn't fill the tub up all the way, this was because our pack and play had a lot of extras on it that needed cleaning so I knew it would take 2 tub fulls. Why waste water right?

This was the first batch, main pad, the 2nd level basket thing and the accessory tray.

 

After you soak it for the 60 minutes total, quickly take it outside. I say quickly because it will drip everywhere!!! Then rinse it off with your hose and let the beautiful sunshine dry and 'bleach' it for you.

I'm so glad it was a sunny day because everything dried within a few hours and looked way better!

Sadly I didn't take any major before pictures of the whole thing, but once I was about to wash the main frame I took close up shots of the arms. So same procedure here too, hot water in the tub, laundry soap, vinegar and baking soda. 30min, flip 30min more. Rinse outside, dry.

BEFORE

AFTER!!!

BEFORE

AFTER!

After my experience I would recommend others try it as well!! It came out great! Considering the age and wear on our pack and play I thought that if I ruined it then no major loss. But this thing is a good a new and ready for the new baby.


*if you try it an ruin yours please don't come after me with an angry mob!*