Budgets and Faith

I live on a minimum wage income.

Let that sink in.

I'm raising 6 kids on minimum wage,

but mostly, I'm raising them on faith.

 

Budgeting is essential. Faith is fundamental.

 

My budgeting system may be different than most people, so here is how budgeting is done in our home.

 

I make a list of our monthly expenses and a few "extras", also known as things off the "waiting list."

 

Once I have a list of WHO gets money from me for the month, I have to determine how much.

 

Some things that's easy: rent, bank fees, insurance are fixed amounts. Electric, water and natural gas are variable but I can estimate on past usage. Gas and animal expenses are some what flexible, so I can play with those numbers depending on where I want to go and how much work I want to do.

 

Then I figure out the cost of my extras and sometimes change or eliminate which one or ones will happen for the month.

 

Sometimes I need to play with the numbers a little to make everything happen and stay under my "magic number" (the average of my income over the last 8 months.)

 

The last step is the most important, I pray.

I look over that paper and tell the Lord I need his help.

I don't know where it's all coming from but HE does!

 

I don't stress over the budget, I have faith.

My God who leave me, he'll be there no matter how dark (or red) that budget looks.

 

He frequently rewards that faith.

Most recently it was the expense of sending my two oldest to camp this summer.

$100 is not a lot, but I wasn't sure where I was getting that money.

My "waiting list" is long and some of it has been there for awhile (at this point I should sell my watch instead of buying a battery!)

I signed them up, added it to the budget and PRAYED.

 

A little over a week later, I was told if I wanted to send them to camp that their way was paid.

 

I stepped out in faith, and God stepped up to the plate.

That is how it works.

He doesn't let us step out over a cliff,

he's always watching and guiding us!



The Growing Homestead

Since I have not been keeping this blog updated recently, I think an update on the happenings and plans for the homestead is in order!

 

The front garden is 100% planted and things are growing in nicely. I've been harvesting some spinach and radishes already! Still to come are carrots, kale, potatoes, various kinds of squash, cucumbers and (maybe) watermelon. I need to get another garden bed plowed in the backyard and plant my tomatoes, peas and beans that are all started in the laundry room. We'll also need at least one area dedicated to pumpkins!

 

We're averaging 7 eggs a day from the hens. Only 8 of our girls are laying now, when the younger girls start laying we should be getting a dozen a day easily! Hen count is now 18, one of our older hens was culled due to infection and it's official that Cloud, Alex's leghorn, is a rooster. Since we can't have a rooster due to city ordinance, he's up for sale, if he crows before he's sold then into the freezer he goes!

 

Our two sweet Nigerian dwarf goats are growing well and getting used to us. They've cleared most of the over grown blackberries, I just need to get them working along the back fence. Early next week I'll be picking up our third goat. He won't live here long, just long enough for me to know that both girls are indeed pregnant and then I'll resale him (hopefully at a profit since I'm getting a great deal!) The kids should arrive in late August-early September. Selling those sweet kids is going to be hard but we just can't have a large herd here. I'm looking forward to being able to cut our milk budget and make our butter (yes, this sounds fun to me! And super yummy!)

 

The rabbits are almost overwhelming! I'm slowly building a rabbitry and setting up a more streamlined care system to improve efficiency because clearly we have a good market for rabbits here and need to expand, I've had to take down my "Rabbits for sale" sign after selling out of available kits! We still have all our breeding stock and 3 litters coming up for sale over the next month, 2 litters that may be here by morning and quite a few litters due over the next month. Current count of rabbits is 5 bucks, 16 does and 11 kits.

 

As for other homesteading things: I've got my clothes line up, I found a local place that specializes in dwarf fruit trees (and made my wish list!), we're getting day old ducklings sometime in the next week, found barrels and drew up plans for a rainwater catchment system and picked out a place for my fire pit. Also tried my hand at making paper bricks without a press, giant fail, I don't have the upper body strength for it I guess. I'm trying to decide if I want to buy a press to try of just scrap the whole idea. I'm cutting back my research time for the summer so mostly I'll be focusing on the plans already in place and if I find some of that illusive free time, I'll begin more plans to add to the homestead dream.

May/June grocery updates and goals

My $400 a month food budget goal was not a success for May. End total after today's final milk run was $486.32

 

Clearly, not horrible. But also not under budget!

 

 

One area I'll be working on for June is our bread and biscuits.

I've been buying them *GASP*

Since the bread we buy is $4.99 a loaf that adds up fast!

 

I'll share my bread recipe with you all today at the end.

 

As another step to stay under budget for June I'll be utilizing what is stocked up in the pantry.

This means many meals and snacks using rice, beans and canned pumpkin.

 

I'm also going to try to keep track of a price break down for each meal. Not only so everyone can see it, but for myself. I've never broke my meals down to see which ones cost the most and that would be beneficial knowledge to cut costs. Those more expensive meals can be planned less often and cheaper meals had more often.

 

Our meal plan for the rest of this weeks dinners looks like this:

 

Tuesday: kielbasa, zucchini and pepper stir fry over rice

Wednesday: BBQ chicken, carrots and cauliflower

Thursday: roasted butternut squash and oven fried potatoes

Friday: ranch chicken, yams and green beans

Saturday: Spaghetti and garlic biscuits

Sunday: potato soup

 

and now the recipes!

 

 

Whole wheat bread (2 loaves)

 

2 1/3 cups warm water

4 tablespoons melted butter

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons ground flaxseeds

6ish cups whole wheat flour

 

Combine 2 cups of flour, yeast and salt in mixer.

 

Add water, flaxseeds and butter (you can also add 1/4 cup of honey at this point if you desire.) Combine on low until blended, then on medium for 3 minuets.

 

Slowly add enough of the remaining flour to make a kneadable dough. (AKA not super sticky!)

 

Turn out on to a floured surface and knead for 5 minuets.

 

Place in a bowl and let rise for one hour covered with a wet towel or cloth napkin. (TIP! Spray the bowl with cooking spray before you place the dough in it so it doesn't stick to the bowl!)

 

Punch down and divide into loaves.

 

Let rise covered, in prepared pans for 1-2 hours until doubled in size. (The colder your house is the longer it takes for it to rise, so place it in a warm area to speed things along!)

 

Bake at 350* for 30 minuets. Allow to cool for 15 minuets in the pan before turning out onto cooling rack.

 

You should let it cool completely before cutting it, but I can never wait and it tastes sooooo good when it's still warm with a little butter.

 

 



Lifting Each Other Up

Lifting each other up is important.

Without each other it is easy to crumble and give in to our sin nature.

 

The idea of lifting up another in righteousness can be an overwhelming thought.

 

But it doesn't have to be something huge!

 

As a single mother who doesn't always have a lot of time to talk and get to know other members of the church since I have 3-4 stops before/after service to drop off/collect children. I spend more time trying to get them all collected than I spend talking to anyone most of the time.

 

It's easy when we get sick to feel as though the only people who will notice we're gone are the ladies in the nursery. The longer we're sick, the worse that feeling gets. The more discouraging it is.

 

We were just sick for almost 3 weeks.

Every visit and phone call and facebook comment I received was important.

They mattered.

They reminded me that I matter.

 

The smiles and "welcome back" comments mattered!

 

Lifting each other up can be the simple act of telling someone you missed them at service on Sunday.

A text asking if they're feeling better.

 A call to say you were thinking of them.

A casserole just because you can.

 

Any act of kindness will lift someone up!

 

Do one nice thing everyday and it will not only change your outlook but the world around you.