What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Friday, January 31, 2014

~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!

10 comments:

Rhonda said...

I have not done a money post this week but I will. Aren't those homemade refried beans delicious?

and I did not leave a comment yesterday but I think I have looked at your post 3 times. Your photos are wonderful and your children look like they have really fun personalities.
when your children are grown, I think you will be so happy you can look back at your blog and remember all these days.

sorry if this sounds like a sermon from an old mom to a young mom. I just think you are doing it right.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this encouraging financial post. I also really enjoyed your day in photos yesterday. While I don't think I can rely on my freezer/stores for all of February, I am inspired to take at least one meal each week--maybe two--from the freezer. One frugal victory for the week: Using a bag of sand we had on hand to provide traction to get our vehicles out of our icy driveway. Blessings, Michelle in TN

Rebecca said...

Dried beans are so much better and easy to cook. I know how to make them "FF" and that is not Fat Free, if you know what I mean :) !
Reply if you want to know how to do that. Great week for you, such and inspiration!

Leah T. said...

I laughed out loud at your "Cash and cocktails night? Booze and Budget night?". Love it (or them?)! LOL

My first full month with Lilla Rose came to an end. I did so much better than I anticipated! I covered the cost of the start-up kit plus a good bit more! I'm thanking God for His blessings in this. :)

With our living situation such as it is I don't feel like I have much to share on these posts but I love them! And I know I'll be able to implement some of these ideas at some point in the future.



Courtney said...

We have had mice in this house, but no indoor cat since we're allergic. If I ever see another mouse again, it will be much, much too soon. lol
Oh, homemade guacamole and beans-YUM!

Angela said...

We are also on a tight budget and I'm always thankful for how much we can do with so little. I have today and tomorrow to get through before we are buying groceries again. So far I have made a "Garbage Pail" chili which uses the last of some venison and homemade salsa in it, a "Noodles Paprikash" with cheese, carrots, peas, and noodles, and some Cinnamon rolls. I even have some Super Bowl goodies planned for tomorrow. There will be nary a can or a scoop of flour left in this house tomorrow night but we will have eaten richly!

beth said...

"a whole lotta nada" cracked me up.

a no-buying MONTH? am wowed.

congratulations to matt on his illumination of the barn! (I for one would be deeply appreciative of spider-revealing light - or is a barn only super-spidery and webby in my imagination?)

loved turning the page, yesterday, to the reveal the next photograph in my new calendar - gorgeous! your pictures continue to be quite the beautification and brightening up of my desk area.

happy february to your lovely family ~

Bobbi said...

I have been getting better at only buying what I needed, so u got a huge blessing, God gave my the clothes I had been wanting to fill out my wardrobe free from my SIL

And I have been getting back in the swing of things with my money saving cloth diapers with 3, 3 and under it's needed to save money!! Well and the earth ;) hmmm I'm sure there are many other things! Thanks for keeping me inspired to spend less!

Rebecca said...

Rhonda~ thanks for your encouraging words! I appreciated your comment so much!

Michelle- way to go! And let me know how your freezer meals fare...I am gonna need some serious support! ;-)

Rebecca- I DO. (And call me blonde, but I don't know what else FF could mean.... fat FULL? Which I would gladly take, mind you. *wink*)

Leah T.- I am so glad Lilla Rose is working out for you! And good for you for taking the initiative. Working from home takes WORK and it must take real discipline to do that. May the Lord prosper you in your efforts!

Courtney- they WERE yum. The guacamole, not the mice. ;-)

Angela- can we come over?!

Beth- not a NO buying month. A no-buying-but DAIRY month. My family would die and pained and tragic death without milk or cheese. I kid you not. (And THANK YOU for that bit about the calendar. I am SO pleased you enjoy it!)

Bobbi- I am deeply considering scouring every last clothing bin in our barn to see if I might have saved one or two cloth diapers because my Judah, while potty-trained entirely- still has SERIOUS bed-wetting issues every night. Right now I am putting pull ups on him, but that is getting REALLY old, really fast! Plus, his tush gets a rash from them. If I didn't save any, I think I might make the jump and buy two. I bet cloth diapering three children saves you OODLES---but keeps you BUSY! ;-)

Bobbi said...

Rebecca my 3 year old also only uses diapers at night! My 2 year old (just yesterday 2) is starting potty training so that leaves the 6 month old as the only full time diaper wearer! But yes it saves tons of money and keeps me very busy!!!