Monthly Archives: April 2021

April In Review

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Basically the first two weeks of April were sent getting ready for and enjoying our Disney trip. The rest of the month has been spend recovering from our Disney trip. The best news is that I have 5 weeks until Summer!  Our spending was higher in most places but we currently have no credit card debit and our “baby” emergency” fund of $1000 is in place. So I am going to call it an awesome but exhausting month and move on!

Groceries– budget amount is $650.   We have actually spent $542.12.  This included a last minute pre0trip to grab some extra things for the trip.

Auto/ Gas / Insurance: . My goal is  $400 a month.  I had to pay taxes on the car and with gas for the trip I am way over!  $536.39.

Cash Envelope system- GOAL Met!   This seems to be working well so no plans to change now! We are going back to a more strict use of cash in May

Goal #4- Blogging- 15 post per month.  This is post number 6 but things get better from here.

Goal # 5- Fitness– Goal is to exercise of some type at least 10 days a month.  I should count the 7 days of Disney miles. But hope to make improvements in  the coming months.

Goal #6 – Bible study- Goal-  Read or Listen to the entire Bible in a year. Still on track with this. I should finish my first podcast this month.

Earnings- $50 in gift cards

No Spend Days- NONE! Yikes.

I knew April would be a spend month. Hopefully we are back to a more stable way of spending and saving. 

Monday Meal Planning

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I am finally catching up on life around here. I have been doing some reading over the last several days. What I am seeing is that food prices are going to continue to rise.  Here are some thing I am doing to stretch our food budget.  For lunch made a box of pasta salad added tomatoes, chicken, cucumbers and peppers this was divided up for 4 lunches.  Purchased a rotisserie chicken, used for one meal, then add some to pasta salad and remained for sandwiches.  Cooking with what is on sale. I found cabbage for eighteen cent a pound. I bought one head, made cole slaw and will use the rest in egg roll in a bowl.  And of course the biggest money saver MENU Planning

Breakfast– Saturday-Pancakes (left-overs frozen)   Sunday- Cinnamon Rolls from Costco  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, or omelets.

Lunch-  Saturday–Bad Daddy’s for Matt’s birthday   Sunday- Long Horn Steak house.    I assembled salads, a pasta salad  and hamburgers on Sunday. The kids will eat left-overs  on Wednesday.

Dinner-  Saturday-  Chicken from Costco, slaw and cresant rolls    Sunday-left-over or muffins . Monday-Steak ums and French Fries   Tuesday-Pizza  Wednesday- Egg Roll in  a bowl   Thursday- Chicken pot pie    Friday- BBQ Pork.

Saving on Saturday- Square Foot Garden Update

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Hopefully we have experienced our last freezing temps this Spring!    We have lots of tomato plants and a few other plants that are beginning to sprout.  I am hoping for a large harvest this summer. We may lose the cherry tomatoes (middle picture) but so far they are still hanging on.

None of the cucumber seeds that I started inside survived but I did find a couple of our seed sprouted.

I have four Basil plants to keep alive this year.

Finally a couple of sugar snap peas have sprouted.

Off to a rocky start, let’s hope things get better!

 

Friday- Catch up

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I think that April has been one of the busiest months that I have had in a long long time. Today April 23rd is the first night of the month that I have not had a need for a place to go!

Honesty is always the best policy so I am going to admit right now that this is also the first blog post that I have written the entire month.   I did make a decision that I am going to post 5-7 pictures a day for the time we were in Disney. I also need to make a birthday post for Matt, update on the square foot garden and of course talk about Zach and his baseball as well. I am  very hopeful to get all these pictures post in the next week.

We have decided to turn the playhouse that is no longer in use into a greenhouse for next year. My goal is to re-use and re-purpose as much as possible but also provide a watering system and organized way to use the space.  I have already gotten plants started in the new square foot garden. I am looking forward to lots of fresh vegetables this year!

Financially we are still on the right track. Our gas budget is getting close for the month but his does include taxes and tags on the car in addition to the gas for our Disney trip. Grocery so far are really low but we have a Costco trip planned for tomorrow.

Now to enjoy some quiet time.

March in Review

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March was overall a great month. During the last two weeks, I have been able to reduce my Guam work load by at least half!  We also completed a re-fiancé of our mortgage and were able to update and re-build a new square foot garden.   We spent a lot of time anticipating our upcoming Disney trip as well. I am very excited and please with all the results.

Groceries– budget amount is $650.   We have actually spent $91.84.  This is lowest month in a long long time.

Auto/ Gas / Insurance: . My goal is  $400 a month.  Both of our vehicles needed oil changes this month. So ending at $375.32 is a very good thing.

Cash Envelope system- GOAL Met!   This seems to be working well so no plans to change now!

Goal #4- Blogging- 15 post per month.  11 post for the month is definitely an improvement but not the goal.

Goal # 5- Fitness– Goal is to exercise of some type at least 10 days a month.   Nope not even close

Goal #6 – Bible study- Goal-  Read or Listen to the entire Bible in a year.  I have been listening to a podcast every day that I drive to work. I should be able to listen to the entire session by June.!

Earnings- $55 in gift cards

No Spend Days- 1

April begins with no credit card debit and a goal to pay off the house and car within 5 years. We finally have arrived at a stable financial place and need to just stay the course and enjoy life!