I had high hopes for October that things would be less stressful and less expensive. However that did not happen.  What did happen is that I have been trying to remember how far we have come  as well as these  two very powerful truths.  1. You can’t have a testimony without a test. Otherwise it is just you moaning (very wise Christian lady said this often)  2.  Satan would not care what we were doing or try to interfere if it did not have enteral value.  Finally I have been assured and have visible proof that God is and will provide over and above anything I could imagine.  I would love to have a No Spend November but this is not a realistic goal for our family at this time. What I am planning is to keep spending at a minimum for the remainder of the year and to watch as God multiples and supplies our every need.

Groceries- Goal $800 per month.  We spent $1114.93      This did include not one but two trips to Costco this month. I am starting and planning for a 4-6 month pantry challenge in November. I am only going to buy what we are out of as well as try and use up as much as possible that is already on hand. I am allowing a couple of exceptions including our trip to Disney in December, Christmas and the Super Bowl party. My goal for now until March or April is $200 a month but if that does not happen God will provide.

Gas- Goal is $400.  Total spent was$420.30  for gas  this month. This amount does  not include the two tanks of gas we spent going to and from the beach. The reason is I included those in our trip breakdown. This is not a category I have much control over instead this is really a place holder and way for me to stay realistic when making the budget.  We also had to have an oil change in the Tahoe this month which is the first one that we actually paid for. November will be pricey as well due to registration and insurance both being due.

Blogging-The goal will be 15 posts per month.  This is post 5 for October.   I am guessing that is one of the lowest months ever.  I can plan and hope but God is in control.

Debit-   The goal for 2026 will be to pay off the Home Depot Credit card without interest. We failed at this.  New expenses continue to come up. I am frustrated and hope to be able to had a new realistic budget in place by January 1 2027. Otherwise I am just allowing God to control my fears and money.

No Spend Days- Goal for 10 no spend days a month. As I mentioned above I would love to make 15 or more no spend days for the money but only time will tell.

Health/Exercise-I am a stress eater. Life is stressful. Enough said

Foster Care-   Disappointed as our court date was continued due to Mom’s being appointed a new attorney. Our next court date is November 17th.  I am planning a whole blog post about Foster care and how the system is working right now.

July was a very busy month that included lots of first for us.  We spent a week at Ocean Lakes Campground in Myrtle Beach, had the county swim championship, baseball camp, football practice and celebrated E’s birthday!  August is just as busy and adventurous  as I will be out of town for half the month and then start back to work on the 17th! This summer has been an adventure to say the least!  I have enjoyed most of it but as always it was too quick!  One big change this year is I will not be participating in the Every Bit counts challenge in August. I have however been working on getting our food storage up to the level that I needed for the school year. One small hiccup was that one of our deep freezers stopped working. It is now going to be a storage place for chicken food and bedding.

Groceries- Goal $800 per month.  We spent $1275.26 for the month of July. I am not surprised at this as we have been enjoying special treats aka lots of ice cream and working on getting food prepared ahead.

Gas- Goal is $400.  Total spent was $552.61 for gas  this month. This included taking both vehicles to the beach so I am not surprised.

Blogging-The goal will be 15 posts per month.  This is post 11 for me. This is always a struggle when we are out of town.

Debit-   The goal for 2026 will be to pay off the Home Depot Credit card without interest. The first large payment has been made!   The second large payment is due mid September!   I have been able to find some lost money this summer so that has been useful as we continue to focus on enjoying life and working on financial stability at the same time.

No Spend Days- Goal for 10 no spend days a month. Not even going to suggest that I have a clue about this. Nope not even on the clue on this one as we are in the summer and enjoying it! This will become more of a focus once we are back into a regular routine.

Health/Exercise-I am no hanging out between 171 and 175.  I was finally able to get a shot in my knee but am faced with the reality that I need to have a knee replacement in the future probably less than 5 years.  I was able to reduce my blood pressure medicine this summer.  Slow and steady is usually a good thing.

Foster Care- Matt and I completed everything needed for our application on March 31, the actual application was not submitted until May 5 or 6th as of last Wednesday May 27th, we have been approved as licensed foster parents in the state of North Carolina. We began receiving our stipend mid July. Unfortunately this will again be reduced to help cover after school care for the school year.  I am so frustrated but what can I do?  Our next court date is set for October 20th. This will be a very interesting court date as things should actually change officially during this time.

I am going to include my weekly update of Summer Goals here as well. It just makes sense. Opps as I read this I realized that I have not been keeping up with the weekly update. This is where we stand at the end of July.

1. Make and order 8 photo books. We have received 2 books. I have uploaded pictures on multiple occasions and had really intended on doing a third book today but I am exhausted so I doubt that happens.
2.  Read a total of 8 books. I have finished five books this summer!  Not perfect but better than 1.
3. Make and freeze 12 baked ziti’s- Goal Met! July 2026
4. Make and freeze 6 million dollar spaghetti pies  This has been very limited so far. I have added 10 jars of spaghetti sauce to the pantry. I doubt this is going to happen.
5. Make and freeze 6 pans of chicken enchiladas. Goal met 6/19/2026.
6. Either walk or exercise 3 times a week for at least 8 weeks. This has been significantly limited due to knee pain.
7. Make and freeze 6 taco pastas.   goal met 6/19/2026
8. Make and freeze 6 chicken, broccoli rice casseroles. 6/19/2026
9. Make at least 50 meatballs and freeze.  I did not get around to the meatball however I currently have 78 prepared meals in the freezer or canning pantry in addition to the 10 jars of spaghetti sauce that is canned!

April was a whirlwind month. We definitely enjoyed our Spring Break trip, the cruise and the couple of days of Disney.  As we approach the end of the year, things are very busy! May is going to be exciting and busy.  The focus of this month is making it to end of the year and preparing for summer.

Groceries- Goal $800 per month.  We spent $1161.27  for the month of April.  We have been able to put three gallons of strawberries in the freezer. We also made a major chicken purchase which was a first in several years.

Gas- Goal is $400.  Total spent was $456.74 for gas at home this month. Our trip was $221.53.  Gas prices continue to increase in fact, I will be paying over $4 a gallon on my next fill up. We also will have to buy gas for the mower.

Blogging-The goal will be 11 posts per month.  I am actually really proud to say that this is post 10 for the month. With our vacation and busy baseball season this is actually a huge win.

Debit-   The goal for 2026 will be to pay off the Home Depot Credit card without interest.  We have several months with large credit card payments now thur September. I am working on paying this off and not adding to our overall debit.  I will be sharing how things are going at the end of the summer.

No Spend Days- Goal for 10 no spend days a month. Not even going to suggest that I have a clue about this.

Health/Exercise-I am no hanging out between 171 and 175.  Still here, still the same.

Foster Care- We actually completed all of our portion of the licensure process before March 31,  as of today our licensure paperwork is suppose to be submitted.  We also had a court date this month. I did have to speak but am glad to report that visit have been reduced to every other week.  We will not have another court date until July. We are moving forward with plans to continue as long as God has planned. This summer is going to be fun and busy.

March has been a strange month. We are settling into a new routine but everything is still a bit hectic and crazy.  Mondays are the hardest!  I am hopeful that by the end of April things will be more stable and we can enjoy May and the summer.  The weather continues to be bizarre at best and crazy at least.  To end the month, we collectively decided to share a cold. I am on the end with just a cough and runny nose, Lily and Matt are starting.  April will bring lots of new adventures and hopefully just as many if not more memories!

Groceries- Goal $800 per month.  We spent $628.20  for the month of March.  This is a huge win for me. We actually cleaned out and turned off the old chest freezer. I also have this week brought the prepared meals in the house. I am very hopefully to stretch our meat and budget until June when we will start the process of restocking.  I am also looking forward to the end of April for strawberry season!   Part of cleaning out the freezer was taking our remaining 3 gallon bags of strawberries that somehow became a block of red and turning into strawberry jam.

Gas- Goal is $400.  Total spent was $562.03 Gas prices have significantly increased due to military operations in Iran. The current price of gas varies between 3.59 and 4.00.  I have provided a tank of gas for Kendall this month as well as two tanks in the white civic. Zach is currently driving the white civic so Matt is still driving the Tahoe to work as well.  I do not see gas prices decreasing in the near future so this is also a category that may need to be increased in June.

Blogging-The goal will be 11 posts per month.  This is actually post number 13 for the month! I am going to count this as a HUGE win!   Things are starting to settle down and I am finally feeling like I can juggle a couple of things at a time.

Debit-   The goal for 2026 will be to pay off the Home Depot Credit card without interest.  This is due in September and is a total of $3380.30   We have been able to completely pay off the new HVAC system. We are working to find the extra money for the Home Depot card. Same  for this month. Kendall wants to pay off her car loan by September which would be HUGE and there is a strong possibility that Zach is going to purchase the white car from us which will add that money back in the budget.

No Spend Days- Goal for 10 no spend days a month. This has again been the last thing on mind this month. I have written down 1 for the month of March. I seriously doubt that April is much better!

Health/Exercise-I am no hanging out between 171 and 175.  Exercise would be nice but still have not found the time for that one.

Adapting and settling in are the words that I would use to describe February. Things are not as crazy as they have been and I feel like we are finally starting to figure out what works and even what to expect from different things/changes.  This was an expensive month however as I review back it typically is so nothing new there. We were able to end the month with a zero balance so that is a good first step.  The month of March will drag on forever as we are heading on our cruise the first week of April.  Here’s to a long slow month!

Groceries- Goal $800 per month.  We spent $1429.29 for the month of February. I want to keep this budget until June, however there is a strong possibility that I will need to add to this budget at least until E is settled and eats more like we normally do.

Gas- Goal is $400.  Total spent was $399.16  It is a 74 mile round trip to pick up E from school each day and I am sharing most of the responsibility of this which includes providing a tank of gas for both Kendall and Zach this month. Zach has picked up furniture I purchased and also uses his truck to pick up chicken feed.  We also have not been able to get the little Civic running. Which should help to reduce our overall gas bill as well.

Blogging-The goal will be 5 posts per month.  Things are hard to juggle and I still have not figured out how to get my rhythm and include blogging.

Debit-   The goal for 2026 will be to pay off the Home Depot Credit card without interest.  This is due in September and is a total of $3380.30   We have been able to completely pay off the new HVAC system. We are working to find the extra money for the Home Depot card.

No Spend Days- Goal for 10 no spend days a month. This has again been the last thing on mind this month. This was an awesome goal but I am not sure if it is realistic or not.

Health/Exercise- I am maintaining at 179.  My goal for 2026 will be to add some form of exercise 8 times a month. I don’t have time to keep my life together enough to know the day of the week. Yea this may be one of the goals that gets dropped due to our life upgrade.

How things can change in just a moment. That has been the lesson of January 2026.  When I wrote these goals, I had no clue or even thought that we would be foster parents to a 6 year old in 2026 especially in January 2026. I am not sure how this will affect my goals and will have to explore and adjust as needed.

Groceries- Goal $800 per month.  We spent $501.09 for the month of January. My goal will stay the same however this may be a stretch when adding an additional person to feed in the budget. The biggest problem will be that E is very limited in his diet and we may have to buy some different items just to survive.

Gas- Goal is $400.  Total spent was $381.46.  One way that we are going to work toward maintaining this is we did purchase a car for Matt to drive to and from work.  I would like to reduce this to $300 in order to make up for the cost of purchasing the car.

Blogging-The goal will be 11 posts per month. This is post number 12 for the month! I am excited to be able to reach this month with all the sudden changes and lots of scheduling issues.

Debit-   The goal for 2026 will be to pay off the Home Depot Credit card without interest.  This is due in September and is a total of $3380.30    We had to finish paying off the new HVAC system that was installed in December.

No Spend Days- Goal for 10 no spend days a month. I totally forgot about this goal. Our lives have felt like we are running at full speed ahead and I am just holding on for the ride right now.

Health/Exercise- I am maintaining at 179.  My goal for 2026 will be to add some form of exercise 8 times a month. Yea that is a good goal… don’t think at this point it is realistic but I want to give it another month just to be sure.