Monthly Archives: December 2021

A Look Back at 2021 and a Peek Ahead at 2022

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I mentioned yesterday that I was struggling with deciding how to do goals for the year, today I am going to go ahead and put some goals out there, but I will leave it open that our financial goals will likely end up changed in June when I have a better idea of what type of job and salary Matt will be receiving.  A second change from yesterday is that I am only going to do one post with both how we did and new goals for 2022.  New goals will be in italics to make things easier for me to figure out in the future.

Groceries– budget amount is $650.   I achieved this 9 of 12 months!  I will add that we have been receiving gifts of food on a monthly basis from my Mother this year as she continues to eat with us 3 or more times a week.   I am excited that we have been able to adjust and actually decrease our overall spending on groceries. we spent an average of $530 a month this year. In reality, this is probably a very realistic goal for us to continue however, I want to make a plan for the first 6 months of the year and then move back to this budget amount in June.
For January, February, March and May- Budget amount is $200 a month or $50 a week.  I will also be using any overage in the budget to cover out eating out until Matt has a permanent job.
Eating Out budget will begin when Matt has a job and will be $100 a week or $400 a month but this will not apply during vacations or travel.

One additional explanation is that in April we have a trip planned to Disney.  We are taking the camper and will be bringing a good bit of extra food to save money on this trip so I will leave the budget at $650 to help cover those expenses for April.

Auto/ Gas / Insurance. My goal is $400 a month.  We met this goal 7/12 months.  This is definitely an area that I will wait until Matt has a permanent job.  I anticipate increasing this to at least $500 a month unless his job is in town or remote most of the time. 

Cash Envelope system-   Goal met 8/12 months.  I will not be keeping this goal but do plan on continuing to use this system. I am dropping the goal based on the fact it is really difficult to monitor.

Goal #4- Blogging- 15 post per month.  I only met this goal 4/12 months.  I will definitely keep this goal for next year!

Goal # 5- Fitness– Goal is to exercise of some type at least 10 days a month.  This is a goal that I struggle with each year. It appears that 4 out of 12 months I did achieve the goal for 6 or 7 days but none for 10.    I am debating just reporting how many days this was achieved each month without a goal. 

Goal #6 – Bible study- Goal-  – Read or Listen to the entire Bible in a year.   GOAL MET!   I am actually going to try and do this again 2022 by using podcast.  I don’t think I will keep reporting on it but I hope to continue the practice!

Earnings– Based on several major changes this year, this is just too difficult and time consuming!   We will of course continue to look for ways to make extra money, but apps are no longer worth the effort!  I will also plan to remove this from my goals.

No Spend Days– I love the concept of this! However, in reality it is very difficult to do!  The purpose is to not spend money outside of the budget and we are doing so much better in this area!   Instead of a goal this will be included along with exercise as a simple number to keep me accountable.

Exercise days-
No Spend Days- 

I will be posting again this weekend on our plans and other adventures for 2022!

December in Review

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I have actually been spending some time already getting this post ready at least in my head. My plan/ goal is to share this post and a Year in Review post today and tomorrow and then a sort of plan blog post for Saturday or Sunday.  December has been a busy but fun filled month!  We all really enjoyed camping and seeing Biltmore! Christmas was drama free and I am ready for 2022 to be less sick and more fun!

Groceries– budget amount is $650.   $849.16 This is over for the month, but I am not too upset. I do have a plan for next year and it includes an overall reduction in grocery spending!

Auto/ Gas / Insurance. My goal is $400 a month. $401.00 MET!  The most exciting part of this is that it includes out trip to Asheville and towing the trailer!

Cash Envelope system-   We are definitely doing much better with this!  I am planning to keep this just for accountability.

Goal #4- Blogging- 15 post per month.  Goal Met! This is post number 14 and with plans for 2 more I should be good for the month.

Goal # 5- Fitness– Goal is to exercise of some type at least 10 days a month.  Nope Naa yea we need to rethink and start this one.

Goal #6 – Bible study- Goal-  Read or Listen to the entire Bible in a year. Need to find something to get started on this.

Earnings– No extra earrings this month!

No Spend Days– Did not keep up with this as it just was too difficulty.  I am not sure what happened other than life!  I am planning to keep this goal but with some additional guidance for next year.

December was a fun month. I am super excited that we are ending the month and the year with ZERO credit card debit!  We also are half way to our first emergency goal of $1000.  I will go ahead and state that I am really unsure about making a budget right now due to Matt still being unemployed. Once he returns to work. I am sure things will change again and we will see more direct progress toward saving goals.

Staycation?

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I am not really sure if this is a staycation or not. The reason, this is my second week of Christmas break.  Most years I get two weeks at Christmas from the school system, so it is really not unusual.  The difference is that currently Matt is unemployed, so he is also at home during the break. So, is it a staycation?  Still not sure but anyway, here is what we are up to during our staycation or second week of Christmas break.

Put away all the Christmas decorations- We are 50% finished with this. Yesterday, Monday, we took down and put away the outside decorations.

Clean out and organize my building- This is actually part of putting away the decorations.  Matt made a trip to Goodwill two weeks ago with the first load of stuff from my building. I found 3 large totes of clothes that he has missed as well as several other items. We ended up taking another car full of items to Goodwill to donate.  Even with getting rid of a ton of stuff, we still did not have room to store several large decorations. We decided to try and find some unused space under the house… JACKPOT. We used a cinder block and huge sheets of cardboard (previously stored in my building). This made an awesome shelf for holding large outside decoration that just needed to be protected from the elements.

New rain barrel for Greenhouse. Under the house we discovered a 55 gallon plastic barrel, neither Matt nor I remembered it. It is actually the perfect size for using as a water supply for the greenhouse. We switched out the trashcan and it worked perfectly.

Install a new monitor for Matt. This is in anticipation of him beginning a new job and also some additional project work. You know that it can’t be as simple as just hanging a monitor on the wall. We had to move the cabinets above his desk by 4 inches. This meant that the notorious junk cabinets that have been a catch all for many (7ish) years needed to clean out and organized. In the process we ended up re-arranging the storage shelves in my office as well. Because we are use to doing the one touch method (if you touch it put it where it goes and not just move it to clean) both of our office areas ended up being straighten and cleaned!

Kendall and Zach are spending Monday and Tuesday in Durham. Lily will meet them for Ice Skating on Tuesday.

As you can see, we are extremely busy with some not so fun stuff!  My goal is to get all this done and organized so we can continue our camping adventure this spring and have some much-needed rest time on the weekends!

Let’s Talk Food!

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Food is always a huge part of any celebration for us!  This year did not disappoint!  We started on Wednesday morning with a trip to Cracker Barrel for breakfast!  Lunch/ Dinner was a really cool burger bar in Asheville called Juicy Lucy!

We enjoyed microwave breakfast meals in our camper both Thursday and Friday mornings!  These are a huge treat for us and at $27 for both mornings way cheaper than eating out! On Thursday, we enjoyed lunch at the Stable Cafe at Biltmore.

Christmas Eve, Friday, was our usual Pork BBQ with the addition of baked beans and mac and cheese!  This is definitely a repeat.

For Christmas morning/ lunch I made cheddar bay sausage balls, cream cheese cresant rolls and a hashbrown casserole.   For dinner we simply ate from the fridge with the healthy addition of deviled eggs, fruit and a veggie tray.

Sunday or the day after Christmas continued our food celebration, my Sunday school class had a pot luck breakfast, lunch was at La Caretta (Mexican) and dinner is appetizers at a gathering of friends.

After all this, I am sure a food coma is going to occur soon!

I have also had a chance to view out grocery spending for the year. I am very excited to announce that we spent $6,312.75 on groceries this year which is an average of $526.06 a month!!! This is actually a decrease in the overall average from last year.  I have been doing some thinking and planning.  I want to challenge myself to keep grocery spending to $50 a week for the months of January, February, March and May. We are travelling to Disney in April so I am not sure if that is realistic to even attempt to keep this same budget in April.  This will allow us to hopefully use up the majority of the food that is in our freezers so I can spend some time next summer, restocking with items that we currently are enjoying and make a bunch of prepared meals.  It will also allow me to get a realistic idea of what we need to spend on a weekly basis for fresh food and diary items.

Braxton

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Braxton played bells as part of our church service today. So I wanted to share these photos and in  the process I found a bunch more to share.

5 Things Friday

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  1. My Christmas break starts today and last for 2 weeks. Zach and Kendall actually have school on Monday and Tuesday next week and they get an additional 2 days off after New Year’s. Lily does not start back to school until January 10th!
  2. We have our first official camping trip planned for next week. We are headed to Biltmore to enjoy the lights and an art exhibit!
  3. The greenhouse is being productive!  We have around 10 containers growing cooler weather foods. I am so excited about this and can’t wait to try some. Based on trial and error we have decreased the temperature for the heater to come on at to 45 and we are waiting to start watering again because some of the plants looked drowned.
  4. Our electric bill rose by $100 with an increase usage of 22% from last year. We are currently in the process of trying to determine how much of this we can control and what is to be expected with the greenhouse and camper. The good news is that it did not exceed the budgeted amount but is close.
  5. We started making Christmas treats last night… Reindeer crack and candied pecans.  I may work on cookies today if I get MOTIVATED!

Menu Planning Monday

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The last full week before Christmas break. I feel like my life is stuck in a holding pattern. I can’t make any plans or decisions regarding our new budget or finances until at least the end of the week. The good news is that Matt has a second interview on Friday, this may lead to his new job or this may be another dead end.  We also should have a better idea of what to expect financially after a meeting on Wednesday.  For now, I am just trying not to worry and spend!  We ended up eating out alot this weekend but hopefully we can get back on track quickly and easily now!

Breakfast– Saturday-Wendy’s breakfast biscuits. Sunday-Breakfast bowls- leftovers were made into burritos and froze for future use.   Monday- In an effort to use up items I made fried bologna for everyone this morning! Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, pop-tarts, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, or omelets.
Lunch- – Saturday-Pork Nachos with Velvetta cheese   Sunday- Gregg’s   Monday thur Friday Leftovers, pizza and soup should work for most of the week.
Dinner- – Saturday- McDonalds prior to Tanglewood lights.    Sunday- Pasta Fagali Soup (with a whole meal frozen for the future.  Monday- Chicken taco casserole    Tuesday-Stuffed shells    Wednesday-Pork Fried rice (any remaining pork will be made into future pork fried rice meals.)  Thursday-Steak and pasta salad     Friday-Pork chops and Mac and cheese.

Saving On Saturday or Sunday

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This week I actually spent money in order to save money. I ended up with a day off work so Matt and I hit up a couple of spots that we usually don’t have time to go to.  First was the Dollar Tree. Currently most items are priced at $1. I have read several articles that indicate the standard price will be changed to $1.25 starting in January. I decided to save myself some money and do a stock up trip. I purchased items like sandwich and snack bags, deodorant and the boy’s body wash. I ended up spending $50 so I saved at least $12 on items that will be purchased and used.

Next, we stopped at the local Belk’s store. I was actually shopping for a couple of boys we chose off the angel tree at church. I did not find anything in the size that I needed that I would consider a deal, but I did manage to grab 3 dress shirts for Zach and 9 short sleeve t-shirts for Braxton for a grand total of $50.

We have several local ‘bargain” stores. We stopped at one for $6 packs of diapers and a couple of other items.

I have always shopped after Christmas for wrapping paper and for items to keep in our gift drawer.  This year I also found a bag of wrapping paper in the attic. I have been using the paper we found so that we will definitely not have to buy any more for next year either.  The kids were able to locate gifts for a white elephant gift exchange, in the gift drawer so that also saves on expenses.

Last but definitely not least is using the food we have and trying to not let any go to waste.  I made a definite effort to go ahead and package up lunch size containers for this week so that I can just grab and go.