So.... we are one third of the way through the year.
You may recall that this year we are focused on getting out of a tremendous amount of debt. We've had our ups and downs but here is the breakdown so far:
Paid off January: 1474
Paid off February: $2773
Paid off March: $2619
For a total of $6866 Paid off in 2018!
We are pretty proud of that figure and hope to keep up the momentum. This we did in March to help with the budget
1. Skipped spring school pictures: I normally buy pictures for each of the kids but to be honest they just go in a box in the closet. I put a few out to display- but figured I could skip these this one time. ( saving $60 along the way)
2. No clothes were purchased for myself, husband or the kids. Again- I do not think this is sustainable as the kids are growing but this past month we did not purchase anything!
3. We ate out just once the whole month!! We went on a small camping trip locally for Spring Break and there is a Steak and Shake close to where we camp and the kids love to eat there. We spent $24.xx for the 5 of us and enjoyed it. Eating out just once this month was a huge accomplishment for us.
4. Free entertainment by playing outside a lot, going to a park about 15 minutes away a few afternoons, playing cards at my parents house, participating in Free 4H activities etc. We had a full March and we all had fun.
5. I earned $183 from a local children's consignment sale called Rhea Lana's that happens in our area twice a year. It took some work to tag and enter all the items in- but I enjoyed the pay day! All that money went strait to our next debt.
6. I just listed a book on ebay. It's a text book I used last semester for school- so hopefully I'll sell that. It's listed at $43.xx.
Our original goal was to pay off $25,000 in debt this year, but it looks like we might even make $30,000!!!!
How are you guys doing? Having a nice frugal Spring?
Friday, March 30, 2018
Sunday, March 25, 2018
I need your help- Rhubarb issues- any thoughts?
Well not issues really- but Rhubarb is out of my wheel house and not super common around here. I'm not sure what to do with this. I planted a small pot of it last spring. I didn't harvest it last fall, but I'm not sure what to do about it.
So should I transplant into a garden bed? Into a bigger container? Will it spread if I leave it here? Any tips or advice on what to do? I would love to harvest some rhubarb this fall for some pies, jam and jellies!
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| As you can see it's very bright and green and growing! |
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| What's going on top here? |
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| On the top right you can see the "original" stalk, the center left are some of the newer smaller stalks. |
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Spring Around the Homestead Part 3: The GARDEN
Don't forget to check out the previous two posts examining what's going on right now.
Part 1: Blooms and Flowers
Part 2: Animals
And now- lets see what is going on around the garden!
In the next week or so I'll be putting in corn, lettuce blends, kale, more onions, radishes and beets.
What do you all have going on right now? Have you started planting yet?
Part 1: Blooms and Flowers
Part 2: Animals
And now- lets see what is going on around the garden!
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| A row of about 35 cabbages, broccoli, cauliflowers. |
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| A bit sad- but a few little asparagus babies coming up. I've not been super lucky with these. |
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| More cabbages. |
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| Some green onions. |
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| Tilled and about ready for some corn to be planted . |
What do you all have going on right now? Have you started planting yet?
Friday, March 23, 2018
Spring around the Homestead: Part 2- Animals ( chicken overload)
Don't miss yesterday's post: Spring Around the Homestead: Blooms and Flowers
Today I wanted to show you a few of our animals. Chickens are just fun and I ended up with a ton of pictures from them. We are up to about 30 or so chickens. While we do sell a few eggs here or there ( maybe $10-$15 worth a month) we mainly keep them for fun, for our own eggs and my kids show some of them at the fair.
We do have 3 rabbits right now as well- they didn't make the photos somehow. How are things around your homestead? Any new babies? Expecting anything soon ?
Today I wanted to show you a few of our animals. Chickens are just fun and I ended up with a ton of pictures from them. We are up to about 30 or so chickens. While we do sell a few eggs here or there ( maybe $10-$15 worth a month) we mainly keep them for fun, for our own eggs and my kids show some of them at the fair.
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| This is our frizzle rooster. He is so fuzzy! He is a bantam breed so super small. |
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| This girl is a bantam breed Golden Seabright. We have a pair of these girls. We used to have a rooster in this breed but he got so mean we had to give him away. |
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| These honestly are just the cutest! |
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| Not a great picture but this is a Golden Campine. We have a pair of these and the girls show them at the fair. |
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| And we can't forget the goats. Clifford we've had for gosh probably 10 years- he's just like a puppy dog. The one in the front is Trail Mix and my oldest showed her last year. Now she is just a pet. If my kids decide to show this year we will need to be getting some new ones soon. |
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Spring around the homestead: Part 1- Flowers and blooms oh my
After a rather dull winter - it was colder than normal but no "big" snows and some rather dreary days- it is beginning to look like SPRING. On my walk this morning I noticed how lovely everything seems to have just exploded with color over night- so I ran back in to grab my camera. I hope you enjoy.
What kinds of colors and blooms are you all seeing? Don't miss tomorrow and the next day when I show you Spring with the animals and spring from my garden! A wonderful time of year indeed!
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| Some lovely pink blooms. |
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| One of our beautiful pear trees! I love the contrast with the beautiful blue sky and clouds. |
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| Close up of the pear tree. |
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| I'm not exactly sure what these are. But the yellow is super bright and there is a burst of purple/pink next to it. It's been here as long as I remember. |
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| The only ones bloomed so far- but just so beautiful . |
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| Some beautiful daffodils and I thought the wagon wheel behind it looked neat. |
What kinds of colors and blooms are you all seeing? Don't miss tomorrow and the next day when I show you Spring with the animals and spring from my garden! A wonderful time of year indeed!
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
My visit to Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds!
It's my favorite time of year ( outside of Christmas) :) - that's right. Garden time! We took a quick trip up to Mansfield, MO to Baker Creek Seed Company to get some of my favorite seeds.
It's such a fun little place to shop- and we try to venture that way in Spring.
This year I'm doing the basics, so far I've got cabbage, green onions, sweet onions and broccoli going! It won't be long until some of the other goodies I picked up will go into the ground. Look at the goodies for this year from Baker Creek!
YAY! Later in the season I'll buy some seedlings from a local greenhouse and I would like to pick up a few more blueberries if I can find some that fit within our budget!
I'm super excited to start getting some fresh fruits and veggies. I'm hoping to can and freeze a lot this year as well. I can almost taste a fresh cucumber, chilled with just a tiny bit of ground pepper on it. A nice crisp salad of mixed greens with a home made dressing.. Oh my- like I said, my favorite time of year.
What all have you gotten into the ground so far? What are you looking forward to most this gardening season?
Excited to say this post was featured on a great blog I love to follow!
It's such a fun little place to shop- and we try to venture that way in Spring.
This year I'm doing the basics, so far I've got cabbage, green onions, sweet onions and broccoli going! It won't be long until some of the other goodies I picked up will go into the ground. Look at the goodies for this year from Baker Creek!
I'm super excited to start getting some fresh fruits and veggies. I'm hoping to can and freeze a lot this year as well. I can almost taste a fresh cucumber, chilled with just a tiny bit of ground pepper on it. A nice crisp salad of mixed greens with a home made dressing.. Oh my- like I said, my favorite time of year.
What all have you gotten into the ground so far? What are you looking forward to most this gardening season?
Excited to say this post was featured on a great blog I love to follow!
Sunday, March 11, 2018
What I've been reading lately
Around here it's been pretty rainy, cold and otherwise yucky outside so I've been inside quite a bit.
I am in my last semester of coursework for my PhD- so I've been studying for my qualifying exams as well as working on my dissertation in my "spare" time, but I still do like to read for pleasure when I can.
I wrote about my 2018 Reading Goal and am on par to read my 50 books this year.
Book #6 was
I enjoyed the style of the book, the writer herself was good. It was an easy read. I'm not sure that I totally understood or perhaps buy into some of the content, but it was worth a read. One of the things I'm working on is just learning how to communicate better, be a better leader at work etc. I felt like this gave me some good perspectives to think about for sure. I would recommend this book.
Book #7 was
This book has been around for a while and is on a lot of lists of "must reads" for managers, leaders, etc. Again- since I'm responsible for about 11 other faculty at my current job- I am trying super hard to learn how to best lead. This was a very fast read. Like probably 2 hours and you are through. It was light and had some good points. Would recommend if you are in a leadership position and want to learn to communicate better.
Book #8 was
I could read Christmas novels at any time of the year and when my library gets a new one in I tend to scoop it up. This had a lot of my favorite components; historical, Christmas and just a nice feel good story. There were of course some sad parts ( Civil War time period) but overall was a very nice book. I found it nice to cozy up with and would recommend.
Have you guys read anything good lately? What have you been eyeing at the library to read next?
I am in my last semester of coursework for my PhD- so I've been studying for my qualifying exams as well as working on my dissertation in my "spare" time, but I still do like to read for pleasure when I can.
I wrote about my 2018 Reading Goal and am on par to read my 50 books this year.
Book #6 was
I enjoyed the style of the book, the writer herself was good. It was an easy read. I'm not sure that I totally understood or perhaps buy into some of the content, but it was worth a read. One of the things I'm working on is just learning how to communicate better, be a better leader at work etc. I felt like this gave me some good perspectives to think about for sure. I would recommend this book.
Book #7 was
This book has been around for a while and is on a lot of lists of "must reads" for managers, leaders, etc. Again- since I'm responsible for about 11 other faculty at my current job- I am trying super hard to learn how to best lead. This was a very fast read. Like probably 2 hours and you are through. It was light and had some good points. Would recommend if you are in a leadership position and want to learn to communicate better.
Book #8 was
I could read Christmas novels at any time of the year and when my library gets a new one in I tend to scoop it up. This had a lot of my favorite components; historical, Christmas and just a nice feel good story. There were of course some sad parts ( Civil War time period) but overall was a very nice book. I found it nice to cozy up with and would recommend.
Have you guys read anything good lately? What have you been eyeing at the library to read next?
Sunday, March 4, 2018
February Update: What we did and didn't do
You can read about our January successes ( and failures) here.
So how did we do in February( we paid off $2,773) in debt!
1. I got a brand new ( looking )pair of running shoes. My friend was at Goodwill and saw a pair of running shoes that looked brand new. She texted me and asked me my size and then got them for me. They were $4, however I give her a lot of outgrown clothes from my daughters to her daughter, so she said no need to pay her back. Karma for the win!
2. Purchased some nice Spring clothes for the kids with a Gift card I received to Old Navy. You can see that post ( here) . For $5.02 out of pocket I got 3 pairs of shorts, 1 nice dress and 1 shirt for my kiddos.
3. I wish I could post we did not eat out at all in February but I have to be honest with you guys. We did- we did three times actually and I'm not proud of it. That money came out of our debt snowball and our grocery budget so it wasn't a good use of our money. I don't think it's terrible to eat out, however when you are in debt as much as we are- it's counterproductive!
We ate out once for my daughters school fundraiser- it was at a local pizza place that donated the proceeds to the school if you ate there on one evening. I convinced myself it was for a good cause and I do love pizza so.....
The second time was for my husband's birthday. He didn't ask , but I offered and the kids wanted to go to his favorite steak house. Grand total for that one for the five of us was $56.xx. OUCH.
The third time was going out after church with my parents. We should have said no, but we didn't. So we have to plan better and be sure to have something going on at home to eat after church so we can say no more easily.
4. We played cards with my family one Saturday night- which was fun and free. One Saturday night there was a free singing at church that we enjoyed and one Saturday night there was a Men's Wildlife dinner thing at our church that my husband and son went to. It just cost me a few potluck dishes of things I had on hand and they had a nice time.
How did your February shake out to be? Any wins to celebrate? Any losses ( like going out to eat three times when you planned for zero times?????)
Happy Homesteading y'all!
So how did we do in February( we paid off $2,773) in debt!
1. I got a brand new ( looking )pair of running shoes. My friend was at Goodwill and saw a pair of running shoes that looked brand new. She texted me and asked me my size and then got them for me. They were $4, however I give her a lot of outgrown clothes from my daughters to her daughter, so she said no need to pay her back. Karma for the win!
2. Purchased some nice Spring clothes for the kids with a Gift card I received to Old Navy. You can see that post ( here) . For $5.02 out of pocket I got 3 pairs of shorts, 1 nice dress and 1 shirt for my kiddos.
3. I wish I could post we did not eat out at all in February but I have to be honest with you guys. We did- we did three times actually and I'm not proud of it. That money came out of our debt snowball and our grocery budget so it wasn't a good use of our money. I don't think it's terrible to eat out, however when you are in debt as much as we are- it's counterproductive!
We ate out once for my daughters school fundraiser- it was at a local pizza place that donated the proceeds to the school if you ate there on one evening. I convinced myself it was for a good cause and I do love pizza so.....
The second time was for my husband's birthday. He didn't ask , but I offered and the kids wanted to go to his favorite steak house. Grand total for that one for the five of us was $56.xx. OUCH.
The third time was going out after church with my parents. We should have said no, but we didn't. So we have to plan better and be sure to have something going on at home to eat after church so we can say no more easily.
4. We played cards with my family one Saturday night- which was fun and free. One Saturday night there was a free singing at church that we enjoyed and one Saturday night there was a Men's Wildlife dinner thing at our church that my husband and son went to. It just cost me a few potluck dishes of things I had on hand and they had a nice time.
How did your February shake out to be? Any wins to celebrate? Any losses ( like going out to eat three times when you planned for zero times?????)
Happy Homesteading y'all!
February Update: drum roll please
You may remember that on December 31 2017 ( might as well say January 1st, 2018 I guess) we tipped the scales at a whopping $152,852 worth of consumer debt. Read about that here. However we started utilizing a budget, really keeping an eye on finances and we paid off a total of :
$1474 in debt in January - you can read about some of the ways we did that here in my (January recap post)
So how much did we pay off in February?????
$2773!!!!
That brings our grand total of debt that we have paid off in 2018 to $4247.
$4247 paid off in 2018
So, I wish I could say that the February pay off was $2773 was something we could do every single month. Alas, it is not and we received some tax return money back that went straight towards debt reduction.That is not something we will get every single month.
We received a total of $1678 back from our federal taxes. $563 of that went towards a plane ticket to fly to Texas where I have to take my qualifying exams for my PhD program. The good news is that 1) we paid cash for the ticket and #2) I am one step closer to finishing my doctorate ( well if I pass that is).
The other $1115 left went strait to debt. The good thing about that is that 1) in the past we probably would have spent that money on this or that and just kind of frittered it away- without a plan, and 2) we are $1115 closer to being debt free!!
So we just keep on trucking. It's nice to get some traction under us. We paid off one 401k loan in February so that freed up $21.08 that is now going towards our next debt. It's nice to get a letter in the mail that says PAID IN FULL.
How are you guys doing on your financial journey? Your homesteading journey?
$1474 in debt in January - you can read about some of the ways we did that here in my (January recap post)
So how much did we pay off in February?????
$2773!!!!
That brings our grand total of debt that we have paid off in 2018 to $4247.
$4247 paid off in 2018
So, I wish I could say that the February pay off was $2773 was something we could do every single month. Alas, it is not and we received some tax return money back that went straight towards debt reduction.That is not something we will get every single month.
We received a total of $1678 back from our federal taxes. $563 of that went towards a plane ticket to fly to Texas where I have to take my qualifying exams for my PhD program. The good news is that 1) we paid cash for the ticket and #2) I am one step closer to finishing my doctorate ( well if I pass that is).
The other $1115 left went strait to debt. The good thing about that is that 1) in the past we probably would have spent that money on this or that and just kind of frittered it away- without a plan, and 2) we are $1115 closer to being debt free!!
So we just keep on trucking. It's nice to get some traction under us. We paid off one 401k loan in February so that freed up $21.08 that is now going towards our next debt. It's nice to get a letter in the mail that says PAID IN FULL.
How are you guys doing on your financial journey? Your homesteading journey?
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