Spending Challenge

Posted on April 29, 2025 by Sheila

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.

Saving on Saturday

Posted on April 26, 2025 by Sheila

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.

Posted on April 25, 2025 by Sheila

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!

5 Things Friday

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Sheila

1. Today is “Good Friday.” Some would consider this a “holy” day but to me, it was the start of my salvation. Jesus’s death on the cross is not holy, it was needed. It was the way to claim me as his own. I am not celebrating that; I am celebrating his resurrection!

2. I have a full week off of work next week! I have a list of things I want to accomplish but I am doubtful they will all happen!

3. I need to stock our fridge and pantries for the last 7 weeks of school. This means a trip to Costco, as well as hopefully Bragin’s by the Bin. I would love to head to the outlets in Mebane for an entire day but this is definitely a want.

4. I need to do a final push to get our freezers clean out and organized so that I can stock them up this summer. Currently, I would like to get a batch of pear sauce made from all the frozen pears. I have found that we prefer canned pears, so this is the preservation method of the future. I would also like to use most of the frozen tomatoes to make a batch of salsa since we have 3 jars to last until at least the end of July.

5. I have a passport appointment on Monday, and I also have scheduled the house to be cleaned that day.

All good plans stick around to see what happens!

5 Things Friday

Posted on April 11, 2025 by Sheila

Sometimes your body needs a day to rest and recharge. Take that day! I ended up at home all day today. I did get alot accomplished but I also needed the downtime. My goal is to have any more down time on Sunday, since I am a whole day ahead.
I am back into making sour dough full-time. I did a little research, ok I read alot of post on Facebook and have been able to get some of the best bread, buns and biscuits EVER! I am going to attempt bagels next with what I have learn. I am very hopeful it works out!
We have planned a Disney trip! Yeap, the 3 parks in 3 days for $267 caught my attention and after some strategic planning. We are going to make a long weekend over Memorial Day and enjoy!
The newest chickens have been the easiest so far! We introduced them to the coop and after just a couple of days, they are getting into the roast at night!! We are hopeful that both are hens. I would like to add another 2 to the flock this year but I really don’t want to deal with the baby chick stage. I am hoping to purchase some around 4 weeks old in June but we shall see.
The weather is seriously bipolar. We had 85 plus degree temperatures last weekend and today’s high was 52* with rain.

Saving on Saturday

Posted on March 22, 2025 by Sheila

We have been spending quite a bit of time working on getting the yard and garden ready for the Spring and Summer.

This old jeep wheel makes a perfect hose holder!

When we finally got the deck replaced last year the construction cause us to lose our compost box as well as one of the side flower beds. Since the weather has turned a bit nice, I have been working to get these spaces back to use this year for either flowers or vegetables.

All the wood has been reclaimed from the “waste of the deck” I have been adding shredded paper in order to make a weed barrier. We also “salvaged” some lumber screws in order to connect the pieces to make it more stable. This actually has taken several weeks to get together. Finally,

this weekend, I was able to purchase dirt on sale. I am really loving it’s new look. We will be adding cattle panel across the bottom to help give it more of a separation and hopefully keep animals from under the deck.

Next I ended up paying Zach to level the area where the old compost bins sat and He used brick edging that had been removed from our front yard. I am thinking that I will plant either watermelon or Sunflowers in this area.

I think that it is small details like these that always improve the look of our house!

5 Things Friday

Posted on March 14, 2025 by Sheila

The weather has absolute beautiful with highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s. I have decided to turn off the heating and air unit in order to save money. In the past I can typically turn this off the first of April but even if I need to turn it back on then we are still saving money!
Zach has been having baseball games or practice 5 days a week which means that our evening are even more pushed and busy. I am learning that for away games we need to have a food option with us and home games we can typically eat at home if something is ready. Unfortunately, this was an expensive lesson as we ended up spending $65 on a game day for food and entry.
I am hoping that we are able to complete some outside upgrades and maintenace this weekend as we have 5 weeks till our typical last frost date. I am planning on continuing with my weekly garden updates on Sunday.
Zach’s truck sold this week. I have decided that we will not be on the lookout for another vehicle until the end of May.
The pantry challenge is starting to work. I heard from kids yesterday that “there is nothing to eat at home” In reality we have plenty of food but things have to be prepared and made ahead. I have plans to also do some of this prep work this weekend.

Sunday Garden Update

Posted on March 2, 2025 by Sheila

I like a schedule and routine. So I am going to start attempting to post a garden update on Sunday for the gardening year. I have really enjoyed looking back and figuring out when we did certain things and being able to document and decide if I am right on track or ahead of schedule. For example, I have been doing some reading and realized that the years I have had the best harvest, I started my tomatoes this early! Last weekend, we ended up doing some major renovations to the gardens. First, we needed to replace the front board on the tomato bed.

After much thought and discussions, we decided to add cattle panel trellises to out beds in the back. This really doubled our growing space!

In total we spent a total of $96 for the upgrades. I also purchased a 1000 worms to place in the front beds to hopefully prompt and encourage soil. The current plan is to add chicken manure at the end of the session in order to allow it time to age.

We currently have over a dozen pepper plants that have sprouted along with radishes outside and 7 broccoli plants inside.

I think we are off to a good gardening season!

Saving on Saturday

Posted on March 1, 2025 by Sheila

The weather today has been absolutely beautiful! So we spent a good amount of time outside prepping for the garden. I had purchased these metal signs you see below at Dollar Tree at 25 to 50 cent each. We have label most of the beds where we plan to plant. This was also a good way for me to plan out my space.

I did plant out some sugar snap peas yesterday and some spinach. Matt and Zach were able to trim all three of rose bush. They also were able to prune out trees. This is the first time we have attempted to prune the trees. We planted these trees in November 2016, with the pecan trees planted in April 2017. So most of the trees are beyond the time we need to prune. I am hopefully that this will also increase our production as well.

We are about 6 weeks away from our last frost. So it was definitely time to get the tomato plants started.

We started peppers and broccoli about 2 weeks ago.

I am trying to get back to making our bread products. Today I started loaf bread, biscuits and English muffins. The biscuits turned out beautifully!

I did spend some time, making sure we used up leftovers and vegetables so I did a fair amount of food prep.

Saving on Saturday

Posted on February 22, 2025 by Sheila

Matt and Zach have been able to finish the deck! Total spent $0. I will post those pictures on Wednesday.

Today I split myself several times and actually got a lot accomplished. First, I worked on our taxes. I have always completed my own taxes in recent years with the help of a tax program. This year was not good we ended up owing 3800 to the Federal government and after some deep digging, I did not find much I could do to change this.

Next up I decided it was a good day to start working toward our garden, so I needed to clean out the greenhouse. I am very happy with the results

Before