Monday Q&A | Car Seats, Kneading, & Overnight Rolls
Every Monday, I answer a few of the questions that my readers send me. If you have a question you'd like me to answer in a future Q&A post, just leave me a comment here or email me (thefrugalgirl [at] gmail [dot] com) and put Q&A in the subject line. I look forward to hearing from you!
I just wanted to see what you do about car seats for your kids. You mentioned that Zoe can't unbuckle her car seat, so I'm assuming that means she's still in a harnessed seat, which is great!
I know that a lot of people use the same car seat for all their kids or buy one second hand to be more frugal, but that's not safe. Most car seats expire after 6 years or so and will no longer be effective in a crash. And if you buy second hand you never know if the seat has been in an accident or misused.
So, I was wondering what you did/do about obtaining car seats without blowing your budget (they can be very expensive!).
-Rebecca
Yep, Zoe AND Sonia are both still in 5-point harness seats. Joshua and Lisey were both in booster seats by this age, but neither of my two younger girls have gotten heavy enough or tall enough to be promoted.
It's kind of a bummer because I thought I'd be done with car seats by this point, but given my girls' small sizes, I really do feel like they're safer in their car seats than in booster seats.
Safety should be your first concern when you're shopping for a car seat, and saving money should be a somewhat distant second.
In case not everyone is aware, car seats do expire at a certain point because the straps can no longer be trusted.
In case you're skeptical, here's a video showing how poorly an expired car seat works in a crash. (email subscribers, you'll have to click on over to my actual blog to see this...my apologies!)
Because of this, buying a used car seat is a somewhat risky proposition unless you can know for sure that the seat is not expired and has not previously been in a crash.
If you decide to buy used, check for an expiration date. Car seats should have a sticker with an expiration date on them somewhere, and if there's no sticker, I wouldn't recommend using the seat. Also, I would only recommend buying a used car seat from someone who can honestly assure you that the seat has not been in an accident (like someone you know personally, not a random stranger on Craig's List).
If you decide to buy new, don't feel like you need to buy a designer car seat with cup holders and extraneous fancy features...something more basic will work just fine because all car seats have to meet safety regulations.
Also, if you're planning to have multiple children use the seat before it expires, I definitely recommend purchasing a seat with neutral colors (Incidentally, what is up with all the gender-specific baby gear out there? Will you really want to use your pastel pink stroller if your next baby is a boy??).
Once you've chosen the seat you want, check around on the internet to see which retailer has the best price. Target was the most inexpensive (around $100) when we checked, so that's where we bought Sonia's and Zoe's seats.
I have a question for you about bread baking...well the kneading in particular. When you show pictures of turning out the dough before you start kneading, it always looks so thin. Whenever mine is at that stage and I turn it out (on a WELL floured board) it is still so sticky that I can't do anything with it besides scrape it off the board into the trash (which breaks my heart & wallet). Any tips on what I'm missing here?
-Kate
I use a dough scraper just like this one
(that's an affiliate link to my online Amazon store) to help me with the early stages of kneading. You can see a photo of that in my post about how to knead bread dough , but if you're a super beginner at bread baking, you might want to make your dough a little bit thicker before turning it out to knead.
Also, if you've got a stand mixer, I highly recommend using it to give the dough a good initial mixing...this helps the dough to be a little more organized by the time you turn it out onto the counter.
If your dough is too sticky, working some more flour into it should fix the problem and that way you won't have to waste the batch of dough.
The new camera body I bought does actually take video, so one of these days I want to do a vlog about how to knead bread...I just need to do it when Mr. FG is around to be the camera man (my camera is too heavy for our cheapie tripod and I do NOT want to risk it falling onto the wood floor!).
I have a couple of yeast sweet roll recipes that I'd love to try for a holiday morning but I know I will not have the time that morning to prepare them from the beginning of the recipe. Do you know/think that I can make them ahead of time and let them rise overnight like the overnight cinnamon twists/rolls or do I need to make some sort of slight change in the recipe to be able to do that.
-Jen S.
As far as I know, almost any recipe will work that way...I've tried it with a number of recipes that weren't specifically designed for an overnight rise, and the results have been good.
Of course, if you want to make sure that this will work, you could always suffer through an experimental batch one Saturday morning before Christmas. You know, for the happy-holiday-eating cause. 😉
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I wondered why car seats expired - thanks for the information.
they also expire because the plastic parts can become brittle over time (sort of like dry rotting). this creates a dangerous situation because if it is in an accident, an expired car seat can break and snap in ways that a newer, less brittle car seat wouldn't.
And I imagine this deterioration is especially bad if your car gets lots of sun exposure.
Hi, I was driving around town, and I saw a billboard about state assistance for car seats. I live in New Mexico, so I'm sure this varies state by state, but if there are any readers who could use the help, you may want to see what's available.
I'm excited that my question made it on there!
And it's great that they're both still in harnessed seats! A lot of people have no idea that car seats expire or why it's safer to wait until their child is old and mature enough to sit properly in a booster before switching them.
I've seen a lot of 3 year olds in backless booster seats (which are really meant for 7-10ish year olds) and they put the seatbelt behind their back, take it off, slide out of it. Not safe!
Sonia and Zoe are both mature enough to sit properly in a booster seat, so if they ever manage to get taller and heavier, we'll be all set! lol
That's great! Hopefully they get there soon!
You just gotta remember that high back boosters are the way to go at first, and most of them change to low back boosters when they're ready, so you don't have to buy new seats again!
This is for Kate...
I had this problem at the beginning of my bread baking too. Are you using just the minimum amount of flour? You may have more luck with adding just a little bit more (a few tablespoons) before you turn it out to knead. I also suggest greasing (I use baking spray) and flouring your hands before you start kneading. That helps cut down on the stickiness as well.
Keep trying different amounts of flour until you get it right. It just takes practice!
I think I just get easily frustrated when things don't turn out just right the first time (or first 10 times). 🙂
Thanks for all the tips...I'm going to try all these things and give it another go! Thanks everyone!
Overnight bread! I have got to try it out, many of the soups I make (and blog) are cooked overnight in a slow cooker which makes a fantastically convenient, frugal and nutritious lunch the next day - but I have up to yet always kneaded the bread the day of eating - and as we know it's the waiting around with bread making that takes the time. I will be checking out the 'overnight rise' on FG shortly... very exciting news!
Here is an interesting talk about the safety of car seats vs. seat belts:
http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_levitt_on_child_carseats.html
The take away is that car seats are basically no safer then seat belts at preventing major injury for children 2 years and older. The caveat is that car seats do help prevent some minor injuries, but only if used properly, and they are much harder to use properly then seat belts.
Yes, it is VERY important to make sure the car seat is used properly, but under no circumstances would I risk the safety of a child because they are "harder to use". The cost of a car seat is nothing compared to the cost of the ticket for violating the law, and the risk of injury or death to your most precious child by illegaly using only an adult sized seat belt as a restraint in a crash. You can read the owner's manual, watch video online, take a free class offered by retail stores like Babies R Us or hospitals, or go to the nearest police station where an officer can make sure your seat is properly installed (I'm in TX).
If I understand properly, Levitt's point isn't valid any more. Modern car seats have 5 point harnesses, which put a buckle across the kid's chest. The point of the whole car seat is put this buckle snugly across the chest; the rest is lagniappe.
Also, rear facing is safer than forward facing in any moving vehicle, so consider not moving your child to a front-facing till ze is too big for rear-facing.
Man, when I think about how people drove with kids when I was little I'm amazed any of us survived. My father (with my mother's full consent) took 6 mo old me to vist grandparents ... by putting my playpen in the back of the station wagon!
Oooh William! My parents did the same thing. When they drove cross country in their Volkswagon Beetle with my two-year-old self and baby brother, they cut off two legs of a portacrib and balanced it on the back seat! Worse still, they took pictures! My brother and I will never let them live it down. I also remember all six of us piling into the "way back" of the station wagon with nary a seatbelt in sight. How we survived, I'll never know.
Check out this board: http://www.car-seat.org/
They know a TON about car seats and can give you sources for recent, reliable resources.
Many European countries require rear-facing until 3 or 4 years of age, there was a study that proved that children are 5x safer than forward facing for children under 2 (I think that's the age, even though the US only requires RF to a year).
My Kitchen Aid has a dough hook that I used instead of the mixing paddle to mix and knead the bread dough (now I just use a breadmaker to do all the mixing and kneading)- if you have a KA, check the owner's manual about using the hook, it saved me a lot of time and mess not having to knead by hand.
Good timing, Kristen! I was just wondering how I should share the marvelousness that is Angel Biscuits. They're biscuits made with yeast, baking powder and baking soda; the dough sits at least 4 hours in the fridge before using; and - this is the good part - can sit in the fridge up to a week. This means you can use a little at a time, making yeast biscuits every day of the week without having to get up at 3 am.
My two cents about overnighting a standard recipe: it can be done but it messes with the rising time. If one is experienced in the ways of yeast one can figure it out but it's harder for a beginner. I recommend starting with recipes designed to rise in the fridge, or by experiment when failure won't be a problem (ie, not when you're prepping for guests). PS - the failures are tasty too.
Car Seats: try asking your local police department or fire house if they know of subsidy programs. And remember that a car seat is less expensive than an accident.
Thanks for the heads up on the rising times - I will start experimenting to find the perfect overnight bread roll!
I should have said that the reason it messes with rising times is that cold yeast works far more slowly than room-temp yeast.
I, too, wondered why carseats expired. I always thought it was because the technology changed, so a newer seat was safer simply because the design had been changed. Degraded straps make a lot more sense!
For the person having trouble with kneading - sprinkle flour on top of the dough right after you turn it out, and don't try to knead it so much as just fold it over and over a few times before you start pushing down on the dough. That will give it a chance to get well coated in flour.
For the sweet bun lady - my parents have made the caramel cinnamon roll recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook every year at Christmas. Some years we make it from scratch the morning of, but most years we make the rolls up the night before, all the way up until right before the last rising, cover them tightly with plastic wrap, and put them in the fridge. The morning of, pull the rolls out, preheat the oven while letting the roll pan warm up on the counter (at least 15-20 minutes), then bake. You may have to add 5-10 minutes to the baking time, as the rolls will be colder than if you had put them in right after rising.
The reason most people survive their car trips, no matter how safely they are mounted in their seats, is that potentially fatal collisions happen at very small rate relative to the number miles you drive. That's why all the "crazy stuff" people did in the past worked, it was because the perceived danger of an activity is usually much less then the true statistical risk. Today we like to shine a large spotlight on infrequent events leading most people to come to the wrong conclusion about how likely something really is (child abductions, child abuse, shark attacks, death from terrorism, etc.).
I agree with this, but in my opinion, it's better safe than sorry.
I'll buy an appropriate car seat for each stage of my of my kids' development, use it correctly to best practice (nearly 90% of car seats are misused) and continue to drive safely. I'd rather spend the money and take the time than have my child injured or killed in the unlikely event of an accident. It's worth it.
Totally agree about the magnification of infrequent events...but I'm not willing to risk using an expired car seat. I don't freak out about a lot of stuff, child abduction included, but I'm staunchly in favor of using safe car seats, especially for very small babies/children.
I'm not sure about other areas, but in St. Louis, Children's Hospital sells car seats at a discounted price. I got my convertible seat for $25! It's not fancy, but it's safe and the certified safety seat inspectors install it in your car, too. Something to ask your local hospital about...
Oh also, there are certified car seat technicians to check the installation of your seats and teach you to do it properly yourself. The vast majority of carseats are misused, which makes them less effective in a crash.
It's probably also helpful to know that police officers and firefighters are NOT certified technicians. They have not been trained and do not know the specifics of each seat, so they aren't really qualified to install seats. Some stations DO have a tech though, but most do not.
One important thing to note about car seats is that what seat to use and how to use it is really more about height and weight, than age. Though maturity does play a part.
My 5 year old is in a backless booster, he has been for over 6 months now, but he knows to sit up straight and not play with the belt. He is over 4 ft 7 in and over 65 lbs.
Here in Washington State, the law says kids have to be in a booster till they're 8 years old or 4 foot 9. My son is 9.5 years old but still 4 foot 7, so we make him stay in the booster seat. Age should have nothing to do with it, so I don't know why that part is in the law! Luckily, part of the good of being a homeschooler is that he doesn't have to do a lot of carpooling or riding with other kids to field trips or whatever---so there is no one to tease him about still using a booster seat. Yes, he'd love to be out of the booster, but he understands the law is geared toward keeping kids high enough to use the regular seat belt and he's just not there yet.
Great information. Thanks. I found the best deal on car seats at K-mart. They were $10 cheaper than Walmart on sale. If you butter your spatula you can get anything off I found. I made crispy treats that way before too. Do you find it is cheaper to make everything from scratch or buy it on sale?
That all depends...there's no hard and fast rule on that, but from-scratch stuff usually tastes better and is better healthwise, so I err on the side of cooking from scratch or almost-scratch.
What should you do with your old, expired, used car seats? Just throw them in the trash? Seems so wasteful to me - not to mention that they're made of non-biodegradable materials.
Also, if you ever get in a wreck when a child is in the seat , you should buy a new car seat, regardless if it "looks okay" or not. Your auto insurance company may also have a provision to reimburse you for the cost of a new seat. Ours did (Allstate) and it paid for a new one a couple of years ago when we had an accident. $100+ for a new seat is no fun when you've already got to shell out for your deductible.
My area can now recycle them, but back when I got rid of my expired ones, there was no such program in place.
Someone ran into my car when Joshua was a baby (my car was totalled but he and I were both safe), and in that case, the insurance company took the old seat and paid for a new one. They cut the straps of the old one so no one could use it, and I have no idea how they disposed of it.
Many local car seat technicians love to get crashed seats to use as demos when they teach classes, and like Kristen said, many cities have recycling programs now.
I was told that if an insurance company doesn't want to pay for a replacement seat, even after you've sent them a copy of the manufacturers requirement, then it is usually effective to ask for a signed and notarized statement on company letterhead that they accept all responsibility for injury, rehabilitation, damages or death caused by an unsafe car seat. I've never heard of them denying anyone after that.
I have always totally agreed on the whole gender-neutral baby gear and therefore have ugly brown & black carseats, etc. And now here I am 3 girls later wishing I would have bought something cuter! Oh well...I was trying to be smart! 🙂