Budget Review

We did not do so great with our budget...nothing we could have figured though. DH went thru a neighbors fence because of the ice on our driveway so we ended up having to purchase fencing supplies to fix that, then his truck needed some work...then DH decided we needed to put up $100 of snow fence (we still need about 3x that) and felt January was the time to do it. As is stands right now, when we put up our house and garage we did not anticiate drifting, so for most of the winter, we cant get a car to the garage much less in it. Now my van needs a new battery...and life goes on...

God's provision again is awesome...our taxes were in prior to this so not so bad. With the return I have purchased most of the curriculum we need for next year. The rest is relatively inexpensive and I will purchase as we go. There should be a used curriculum sale in town in April, then in May or June the PS system gives away unused items so I will hit that. (I do love free!)

I have looked into Once a Month cooking and altho' I am not going to do it once a month, but I will look for things to prepare ahead for busy days. I found a book(Free) on once a month cooking and have selected a few recipes to try from there. Some of the things...like Calzones...I will save for lunches as DH can take them to work and the child in charge of lunches on any given day can just pop them in the microwave. There is a site I found (wish I could remember where) that talks of cooking huge batches of waffles, pancakes, and breakfast burritoes as well. I want to do some of those after I go grocery shopping to try to steer the kids away from all the presweetened cereals they so love. This will also let me send some down to my mother, who hates to cook now that she is widowed. Perhaps once I get a few recipes down my mom and I can do this together at her house. She has a massive kitchen with double ovens and a huge oversized fridge, so that may not seem so daunting a task for me.

I have started using our own homemade laundry soap, between this and using vinegar instead of fabric softner, I have noticed less problems with the little ones asthma! Today he was able to play outside in the cold for the first time in a long time! AWESOME...It use to be he came in hacking and coughing after about 15 minutes. I also make my own cleansers mostly from baking soda and vinegar in varying amounts. I dont know how much it saves, but now the kids can help clean more as I am not concerned with them using to many chemicals.


My goal is to get our grocery bill down to about $300 per month. We have meat as DH is a hunter so we have venison, he did some work for a local rancher so we have more lamb coming, and we are due to buy a 1/2 a beef to really stock up the freezer. I still have 3 turkeys in the frige...I got them for .25 a pound over the holidays...I wonder how far I can stretch that! I got a call from a neighbor who adores the kids, she said that if the kids ever want to raise a sheep for 4h, she will give them a lamb.

I took the kids to their swimming classes this afternoon, we were 1/2 way into town when the princess informed me she forgot her suit...I did not have time to go back as we had to drop of library books. So as we were headed to the library I remembered a thrift shop just a block or so away...she needed a bigger swimsuit anyway and I prayed the entire time there...Please Lord, let there be one. WE FOUND ONE...the only one...and it was her size and the store was having a 1/2 price sale so I got it for .50. On top of that, they had brand new boys t-shirts for .50 and the princess got a new shirt and skirt set (this is hard to find as I am trying to teach her modesty in a show all world)and a pair of brand new pajamas for each of the youngest two!....this definately fell in our clothing allowance for the month.

I still love my paper towels to much, but have reduced their use in exchange for cloth. I now go through about a roll a month when that use to easily be one a week. I tend to use them for spills of solids (ie the youngest spilling his cereal all over the table and floor)It is just to easy not to have to try to get the cereal out of cloth.

Thus the latest update in trying to live a frugal life.