Monthly Archives: April 2025

April in Review

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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

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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.

Monday Menu Plan

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We have 32 school days left! This week, Zach finishes up baseball and starts football practice. Braxton has games I think for the next two or three weeks. As you can see things are staying rather busy. I am so appreciative of my break last week as I am ready to finish this school year strong. We are working on saving money so you will notice less eating out (hopefully for the next month).

Breakfast- Saturday-French toast.  Sunday-Cereal   Monday- Banana nut bread, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (breakfast burritos,oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk,sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs.

Lunch- Saturday-Flat bread pizzas Sunday-Time Square Pizza   Monday,Tuesday,- I made myself salads  Wednesday, Thursday- left-overs.  Friday- eat out.

Dinner- Saturday- Hibachi on the Blackstone  Sunday- Sushi rice bowls  Monday-  Meatball subs after the game  Tuesday-Spinach Ravioli  Wednesday-  Chicken tacos, Thursday- Lily is in charge   Friday- Cheeseburger and french fries.

Sunday Garden Update

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I am excited to share the results for this week!  We transplanted the remaining plants from the greenhouse a week ago.  This was early based on our last frost date but I had been watching the weather like a hawk and one week later, I feel like I made the right decision. I did end up losing 2 squash plants to wind, so I have direct sowed two additional seeds.

Squash bed

Sweet California peppers

More peppers, with green beans in the very back that were direct sow.

Garlic and Zucchini

Amish Paste tomatoes

Slicing German Johnson tomatoes

Last Saturday, I direct sowed seeds for green beans both bush and pole beans and we have a lot of sprouts.

I also sowed some cantaloupe seeds in front of the Germain Johnson tomatoes and they are sprouted!

Zach decided he would be in charge of the corn, and he has some sprouts as well!

I am most excited to see that we have a couple of watermelon that are starting!

We have ended up adding all the dirt possible to the potatoes and they are still doing awesome things!

The bed in front of my office gave us our first harvest of spinach and snap peas!

Last but not least is the flower bed in front of our Amish paste tomatoes

We are currently waiting for the dill and basil planted last week to make an appearance but otherwise things are in full swing!

Saving on Saturday

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This week I have been focused on doing the small things that add up to make a huge savings overall.

Let’s start with the yard improvements/maintenance. Mulch is something that needs to be replaced and replenished at least very couple of years. That becomes expensive especially if you need to replace most of it at the same time. This year we ended up needing 22 bags.  I know that usually in the spring the big box stores run a special for bags between $2 and $3 at bag. This year it was $2.50 a bag which is a savings of $1.28 per bag or $28.16.  Because of the work that we have been doing and trying to add different growing areas I also ended up purchasing 18 bags. This was another savings of $23. That adds up to at least $50 in savings. That is besides the saving that I talked about yesterday when buying plants only on clearance or from Facebook marketplace.  I would say that in addition to the money we have saved by starting all the vegetables from seeds would put us around $1000 which is over a months’ worth of groceries for us! This is before we get any food to eat!  Another way we save money outside is by capturing and using rainwater for all the watering outside.

Food saving is another big area for us.  I did a lot of cooking this week. I mentioned yesterday about canning. Another area that saves us money is menu planning.  A third way we save money is by buying our meat in bulk. We have purchased several cows in the past. Last year as we ran out of steaks and were low on hamburger, we found and purchased a whole cow.  We have been enjoying the steaks and some hamburger from the new cow but today we ended up using the last packs of meat from the previous cow purchased about 4 or 5 years ago.  I don’t regret at all purchasing the whole cow last year because meat prices have risen significantly in the past year and will continue to rise. I know that we saved money by purchasing and storing meat in bulk.  A much bigger and sometimes hard way that we save money is by not eating out. This has been hard at times but a cheap meal out for us is around $70, fast food using coupons and drinks at home is usually around $40 and a full regular meal is at least $100. We usually eat out on Sundays for a full meal and at least one other time during the week.  We saved at least $50 this week by eating only at home.

Our money saving goal for the next month is to try and save $1000 to use on our Disney trip.  This will be a stretch but we are focused and by not eating out we have making huge strives.

5 Things Friday AKA What I did for Spring Break.

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1.We, Lily and I planned a short but packed Disney trip for the end of May, approximately 2 weeks ago.  It is something I am convinced we all need and will enjoy. So, in anticipation of the trip, I am going to save as much money as possible between then and now.  I would love to have $1000 but that is going to be a stretch.  The catch to the saving is that it has to come from extra money, not money that I am budgeting. I have worked out the budget for May already, so this is truly going to be a challenge. One caveat is that money left over from the grocery budget can be counted as savings. In addition, I am also going to say no Amazon buying unless absolutely needed.  I will try and deduct this amount from any savings we get.

2. This is week has been both the kids and I week of Spring Break. I have really really tried to get alot of things caught up and prepared ahead for the next month as well. Which hopefully will help with the goal above. Braxton has been with us for at least half of four out of 5 days this week. He is actually enjoying screen free time!

3. One of the areas I have focused on this week is outside both for gardening and landscaping. I have spent $300ish on additional plants, soil and mulch. This includes paying Zach for lots of hot work applying mulch and helping getting the yard looking it’s best.  I have been able to purchase 2 hydrangeas for $14.00 each on clearance, along with several other “clearance” plants that have helped to completely fill by Greenstalk vertical planters. I found angel trumpet trees on Facebook marketplace. Zach helped me repurpose by painting several older planters with a fresh coat of paint which I think turned out great!

I will give a better garden update on Sunday, but we have not lost any plants from transplanting, and we have a watermelon growing!  I am so pleased. Several hours and bags of dirt went to finishing up the planting space. My goal is to finish all the Spring planting today!  I really only have one area to plant now that the dirt is filled.

4.. The other area that I have worked on this week is cleaning and organizing parts of the house. One was the living room, where we found a 5-gallon bucket of water sealant. Zach used this outside as well. I also moved all the plants outside for the fresh air and sunshine.  The living room is so open now it is amazing!  I also spent time filling and organizing the canning closet. I added 28 jars of beef stock and 8 cans of white beans.

5. I also planned to work on getting our food together for the next 4 to 8 weeks (until Summer break). I actually made multiple trips to Costco and Food lion. I also attempted to use up items in our freezers.  I am proud to say other than 1 lunch at McDonald’s for $10.69 We have eaten at home all week. This is huge! I have made multiple batches of sour dough and frozen some.

Overall this was a great productive week!

Monday Menu Planning

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We (Kendall, Zach and myself) are on Spring Break this week.  My goal for this week is to catch up on the housework and prepare for the final 8 weeks before Summer Break.  We are usually very busy during this time and I want to enjoy and be well prepared for the summer. We also have a trip coming up!  You will notice some difference this week with the menu planning this is a trial run so we will see how it works.

Breakfast- Saturday-pancakes.  Sunday- Easter Breakfast at church. Monday-omelet Tuesday cottage cheese and blueberries, Wednesday biscuits with sausage and eggs.  Thursday- fruit bread.  Friday– German pancakes.

Lunch- Saturday-Sandwiches including chicken salad, egg salad and pimento cheese (this will be a lunch option all week) Sunday-Hamburgers and hot dogs    Monday- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- left-overs. I made extra things for sandwiches and a double batch of pasta salad so we could use it for lunches this week.

Dinner- Saturday- Left-overs Sunday- Pasta – Eating out for Matt’s Birthday Tuesday- Beef short ribs, corn on cobb, Hawaiian mac salad, corn bread. (Beef stock needs to be made and canned from this) Wednesday-Salsa Chicken and Mexican rice   Thursday- Chicken pot pie Friday- pork chops? and radishes and left-overs.

Sunday Garden Update

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I did an update on our planting yesterday!  All the plants from the greenhouse are now in  the ground!  Today, I am going to share pictures of our other plants.  First up is potatoes

The potatoes are growing in fact we needed to add dirt for the second time. My plan is to keep adding dirt until it reaches the top and hopefully we have lots of potatoes this year!

Zach is currently enrolled in an agriculture class. He helped starts lots of plants, I spent $10 on plants but did not count that but considered it a donation to the school. Zach purchased 12 okra plants.  I am afraid that we will be overran with okra but at least it was cheap and we can always share with the chickens.

We transplanted cucumbers last week, so far so good.

I also purchased 4 additional cucumber plants from the school.

Zucchini plants look the best a week later. Garlic is in the front

Squash plants are alive but small, must have missed that picture.

I had previously transplanted 6 loofa plants but I am afraid that they are not looking the best, but it may not be warm enough for them.

Sugar Snap Peas are growing, and we have a couple of blooms.

We placed marigold all around the garden and in both vertical planters. We planted both bush and climbing veins for green beans. I added cantaloupe in the front and watermelon in the back.

Now things just need to GROW!

 

 

Saving on Saturday- Garden post

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I am actually going to do a series of post about gardening this week.  One of my goals for this year was that I started all the plants from seeds this year!  So far with a little help from volunteers I have been successful.  This has amounted to a HUGE savings.  Plant starts in my area are averaging around $5 each.  I started some seeds back on February 16th, I was amazed at what actually I was able to grow. In the greenhouse, until today we had around 160 plants. The total before taxes is $800!  I paid less than $5 a pack for seeds so even at worst we saved $775! 

These pictures were taken just before pulling them out for planting. Next are the pictures after we planted. I will not be including these in the update tomorrow just for ease and space.

Tomato beds are BEAUTIFUL!

I also have a huge section of California wonder bell peppers.  Planting took a long time probably close to 6 hours but I am so excited to have everything in the ground.

Tomorow will include pictures of the things we got planted out last Sunday as well!