Wordless Wednesday- Lily’s Graduation
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Spending/Saving Report
I am hoping that we have less of a total this week as compared to last. I have been very good about recording everything in my phone but I have seriously not added the totals up yet. Yay for 2 full days of NO SPENDING this is a huge accomplishment for us!
Wednesday 5/7
$4.89 breakfast
$25 medical copay
$13.33 Lunch
$15 ballgame
Thursday 5/8
no spending!
Friday 5/9
$13.71 lunch
Saturday
$17.28 (family as this was Matt and I)
$48.25 gas in Tahoe
$217.72 groceries from Costco
$18.99 Groceries from Food Lion
Sunday
No spending!
Monday
$39 gas in Rogue
$50 from hair fund to Lily for hair color
Tuesday
$2.64 Breakfast
Total
My spending $34.57
Family Spending $57.26
Gas $87.25
Groceries $236.71
total overall spending $465.79!
Yes! Spending is down $210 from last week!
Monday Menu Post
I can see the end of the school year but it feels especially today like I have to just hang on and survive one day at a time. We have a fairly busy schedule this week with multiple people going to different events although looking ahead it is much busier next week. Anyway I am going basic and easy for the next couple of weeks!
Breakfast- Saturday-Gregg’s (a local place for Matt and I) Sunday-Omelet Monday- Pear Sauce bread, Tuesday,, Thursday Friday– find it (breakfast burritos,oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk,sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs. Wednesday-Apple cinnamon baked oatmeal.
Lunch- Saturday- Rotisserie chicken, stuffing and cranberry sauce. Sunday-Steaks for Mothers Day Monday- left over spaghetti salad Tuesday,-salads Wednesday- eat out Thursday- left-overs. Friday- eat out.
Dinner- Saturday- Rotisserie chicken, stuffing and cranberry sauce.(yeap we made this two full meals) Sunday- Steak sandwich or other left-overs. Monday- Spaghetti and meatballs Tuesday-Taco Pasta Wednesday- Chicken pot pie (using home canned base), Thursday- Matt is in charge Friday- Chicken enchiladas
Sunday Garden Update
The weather has been so crazy, today we had a high temperature of 68* with highs of 90 expected by the end of the week. Lots of things are growing with blooms and there are even some small zucchini and squash!
Zucchini bed
Squash bed
This bed is mostly pepper with green beans and cucumbers on the back side. I did end up using Epsom salt to try and get some healthier looking plants
This side has a true mix with green beans loofa and cucumbers
Waxman peppers for Salsa
The bed in front of my office has broccoli, spinach(we are getting a weekly harvest) along with sugar snap peas
Front view of Roma tomato bed, this is cosmos flowers with sunflowers in the back.Roma tomatos are growing well all are finally visible at the top of the bed. I did tie up most of these this weekend so that should be the key to seeing them grow.
Germain Johnson Tomatoes are what we are going to slice for sandwiches.
Cantaloupe seeds were directed sowed in the bed in front of the German Johnson.
We have another type of Cantaloupe in the first bucket bed and I purchased and planted banana peppers in the beck bed in this picture.
Zach’s okra did manage to thin itself and I am guessing we have 4 of the original 12 left.
I am so excited to have the watermelon growing along with several volunteer tomatoes
Finally our potatoes appear to be doing well
5 Things Friday
- The weather is always or maybe just the Spring weather is crazy. For the first time that I can remember, I caved and turn the air on for a couple of weeks in April. The temps were in the 80s and the house was miserable. Much to my surprise last Sunday, it was cooler outside than inside so I turned the air back off. I am watching the temperature like a hawk. It appears we have switched two weeks in April for two weeks in May. I will likely be turning the air back on again this Thursday. Middle of May is usual for the air. Uggh but at least I saved some money.
- The weather also effects how the garden is growing. I did not think there was a chance of getting a Spring harvest due to how quickly it turned and stayed warm. But with the cooler temperatures for the past couple of weeks, We managed a decent harvest of radishes and the broccoli plants out front are huge. I am doubtful we will get a broccoli head but I am willing to give it another couple of weeks before pulling and feeding them to the chickens.
- When the kids were younger, before a Disney trip we would start walking a mile a day as a family. This was usually at least 2 or 3 months before going so that no one would complain about walking. Last year, we did this with Braxton as he was too big for a stroller. Matt and I have started walking because we don’t want to be so sore and tired from our short trip. We don’t even have a month but my goal is to get 10 miles in as prep. So far we have managed 2 but at least it is consistent and something to prepare for.
- Summer count down is on, Lily is finished with college and the graduation ceremony is this weekend. Kendall is finished with her Spring semester which means she has finished an entire year of community college. Kendall and Zach have 4 weeks of school left and I have 5 weeks left!
- Zach has switched from baseball to football and this past week was our slowest week until Summer. He and Kendall both have meetings and Life Guard training for the next couple of weekends as well.
Savings Challenge
This has been a much harder task than I anticipated to begin with. I am also struggling with being completely honest with my spending. I know in the end it will be a good thing to have and to be able to track for at least a month will give me the raw data that I need. I am including the category that spending is from and a category total at the end for my references as well. This makes more sense than total spending as even this week was actually in two separate months.
Wednesday 4/30
Ballgame $12 – Family
Strawberries $40 – Grocery
Lunch $15.63- my spending
Thursday 5/1
Dinner $32.90- Family (Lily and I)
Friday 5/2
Breakfast $5.98-my spending
Strawberries $67.29 (Groceries)
$43- Lily Graduation announcements (family)
$42- Kendall Gas (gas)
Saturday 5/3
$133 Tahoe oil change (gas)
$60 Tahoe gas
Sunday 5/4
$107 Lunch (family)
$55 nails (hair)
$30 gas
Monday 5/5
$27 Dinner (Zach and I) family
$10.70 plants (Groceries)
$36.40 Walmart (groceries)
Tuesday 5/6
$12 ballgame (family)
Totals: Family $233.90 for this week and $318 for 2 weeks (budget is 250). So that is my savings from last week as well.
Gas $265 (this is a month budget $500 , but April total was $369)
Groceries $154.39 (also monthly I was WAY over in April)
My spending $21.61 (this pay period was $40)
Total for week $675
So in reality I am down to $10 in savings….. I am hopeful that we can spend less next week for sure!
Monday Menu Planning
In theory this is the slowest week between now and the end of the school year. I am hoping to finish up some planting, keep things on an even ground and plan for summer!
Breakfast- Saturday-Left over French toast or pancakes.. Sunday-Pioneer Woman breakfast casserole. Monday- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (breakfast burritos, oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs.
Lunch- Saturday-sandwiches Sunday-Applebee’s Monday, Tuesday,- I made myself salads Wednesday, Thursday- left-overs. Friday- eat out.
Dinner- Saturday- Pork fried rice Sunday- left-overs or sandwiches Monday- Zach and I had a dinner date at Mexican. Tuesday-Frozen pizza Wednesday- Cheeseburger and French fries. Thursday- Fish sticks Friday- Chicken enchilada.
Sunday Garden Update
The most exciting news is that we are harvesting spinach and snap peas! I also finished harvesting the radishes so that we can purchase some banana peppers to plant in the next week or so. Things are growing!
We are filled the potato’s containers to the brink so we will just let them grow from this point on!
These are the German Johnson tomato’s that are for slicing. You can see some very small cantaloupe staring in front of this bed.
This bed is Amish paste tomatoes; they are also doing well but this bed is a bit deeper so they should be visible in the next week. The front of this bed is cosmos with sunflowers in the back.
This bed is in front of the house. You can see all the snap peas along the back. The broccoli in the second picture does not have head developing however we have cooler (70) temps in the next week so I am hopefully to get some broccoli if not the chickens can enjoy. The every end is a gum drop tomato. It is small but has a long time to develop.
The zucchini smells like squash which is exciting and the garlic appears to be thriving.
3 HUGE squash plants that are taking up a whole bed! We decided to plant mint under this bed in two containers in an attempt to keep the squash bugs away! I have planted 2 additional seeds in this bed but no germination yet.
The marigold is huge! I transplanted the dill on the left yesterday as well. I think that we have 4 orka plants in still alive out of the 11 that we planted. I am truely not upset but thankful for the poor survival rate of these.
Asparagus plants that are only a year old, one onion plant and 4 wax man pepper plants have survived.
Green beans and pepper plants in this bed are doing well.
4 of the loofa plants have taken off!
Another view of the green beans!
Despite the yellowing these cucumber plants do have blooms.
These plants look the worst, I am hoping to add some Epsom salt to help them later in the week.
Watermelon plants and 3 volunteer tomato plants that we have provided cages to.
Blueberries
Apples! If we pick more than 5 this will be our largest harvest!
Pears that we did not expect due to the loss of one of our trees this winter and the significant pruning that we did on it this year!
April in Review
April is done that means I am so close to Summer I can smell it! I really enjoyed our late Spring Break! I am going to do a better job tracking spending this month and we have a Disney trip so things will be fast!
Emergency Fund- Goal is $1000- $250 this has not been a focus and honestly it likely will not be again until September.
Groceries- Goal $820 per month. Yikes we spent $1298.53. This included not one but two Costco trips and we are starting our stock up on Strawberries for the year as well. I purchased 2 gallons today for $40 and one is in the freezer while we are enjoying the second.
Gas- Goal is $500. April total is $359. Still holding on to our budget.
Blogging- For 2025- the goal will be 10 posts per month. Woo HOO This is post number 17 for the month! I am super impressed with myself and we will see what happens in May.
Debit- Goal is 200000 total debit for the end of the year! Not much to report but slow and steady make progress.
Health/Exercise-I am actually weigh 195. I am walking more but nothing to a level it needs to be.
Reading through the Bible this year- Our church and myself are following “The Bible Recap” program and I have currently managed to stay on track for 120 days!
Spending Challenge
We as a family have been using a cash-based system for our spending and budget for many years. This budget is usually a zero dollar budget which means that I typically plan how each of our dollars are spent. We do have cash to spend on certain items such as groceries, eating out and beauty products. But I have not ever that I can remember reporting here where all these funds go. I actually have not kept track of my spending in these specific areas in several years.
I mentioned last week that I wanted to complete a saving challenge over the next 4-6 weeks. The goal for this saved money is to use it for our short but fun Disney trip. The rule for the challenge is the savings must come from the cash envelopes or from money that I already have accounted for in our budget such as kids cell phone payments.
I am also planning to be accountable by posting weekly on Tuesday here where/what I have been spending. So, this will be the first of at least 4 and maybe 6 posts about this. I will be tagging all as saving so I can find them in the future.
Now to the Spending report
Sunday 4/27- Lunch out $52, Aldi for avocado and sausage $10.25. Total ($63). Monday 4/28- Zach’s baseball game $21 for 3 of us. Total $84
Tuesday 4/29- Braxton’s baseball game $12 for 4 of us. Amazon purchase for summer (15.43) Total $112
Saving Report
$20 from Matt’s check that was left over after filling the cash envelopes.
$50 for not having my nails done this week. My goal is to wait another two weeks before doing this. I will transfer the money at that point.
Saving total $70! Goal is $1000.