~Finances on Friday~

I have gotten into the bad habit of not writing these little financial things down as I think of them...I go about my business and think "Hey!  This would totally count for Fridays' Finance post!"  and then, poof!  It's gone just as quickly!

Nevertheless, here are a few things I can recall for this week:

* Went to the grocery store to get a few things, but didn't want to do a huge monthly grocery trip, so I just got a few things plus our dairy products for the week.  When I came home, I looked in the freezers and decided that- with the exception of onions and dairy products, I am going to try to make February a no-buying groceries month.  Our freezers are full- it ought to be do-able.  (Famous last words.)   I do love a good challenge- spices things up a bit.  I'll let you  know how it goes.

* Matt and I had our money meeting.  (Surely, I can come up with a more clever name for that.  Suggestions?)  We looked at how much we were able to save last year, the big 'unbudgeted' expenses for the year and generally how 2013 went for us...where we need help, where we did well, etc.  We also discussed how we could achieve our financial goals for 2014. I really like these meetings with him.  (I also like the whipped cream vodka I added to the girlie cocktail that is becoming a money meeting tradition.)  Cash and cocktails night?  Booze and Budget night?  hmmmm...

* I made homemade refried beans from DRIED beans (thank you very much.)  Actually, I cooked the dried beans so long (intended at first to be eaten as chili) that they became too squishy to be used as I had first intended.  I obviously need more practice with dried beans. 

* Over the weekend, Matt finally figured out how to get electricity to different parts of the cow barn.  Poor guy has been trying for a couple of weeks to get it done- having had only one measley little bulb for over a year!-,and scouring youtube for any answers to the difficulties. It didn't come easy for him, but He DID it without needing to call in (or pay for) an electrician!  I'm so proud of him!  And how handy those lights are to have!

* Put some food in food grade buckets to protect them from vermin.  Yes, we had some seriously frustrating vermin issues for WEEKS until finally, the cat which we PRETEND is not allowed inside (but sneaks in all the time anyway), caught the most mammoth rat I've ever seen.  SO.GROSS.  We were dealing for over a MONTH with a nondescript creature...at one point I had no less than eight different traps (mouse, rat, sticky pads AND live animal traps) all set up and my bananas were STILL being eaten in the middle of the night.  Oh man, was I mad.  Needless to say, I am VERY glad that THAT is over and Percy has earned the right to come inside every now and again.

* Made homemade yogurt.

* Changed our Medi-share amount to a higher deductible so that we can have still have a cushion each month.  (The initial amount would have taken all of our excess, leaving a whole lotta nada for saving.)

* Was given a bag of boy clothes.  Sorted the stuff I would keep- one 'skater' type shirt (with white long sleeves under a short sleeve polo shirt) had really stained long sleeves but a pristine polo- so I cut off the long sleeves and now Judah will have a nice polo shirt for summer.

* worked on a crochet gift.

* made orange furniture oil/cleaner

* made homemade guacamole (a real treat!) using a few on-sale avocadoes from the trip uptown earlier this week.

* Hung all jeans, sweaters, towels to dry by woodstove.

* washed a bunch of ziploc bags I've been shoving in a drawer.


Alright- your turn!!!

What about you? 

Do you have anything financial to share this week? 

 Link up!  

But PLEASE- link to your SPECIFIC blog post, not your entire blog. It could be ways you saved or stretched or strategically spent those pennies...or even inspiration you found or quotes... but please link to a post about SOMETHING financial! Lastly, please link back to my blog and maybe others would like to share!