2014 goals... take 3!

I'm really not proud of how last month ended... so I'm going to buckle down and hopefully no one gets the stomach flu (or anything else!) this month so I can accomplish what I'm setting out to do.

That would this stuff down here...

1. Read the bible and 4 other books
I want to stay on track with my bible reading plan, finish the book and devotional I'm reading and start a new devotional.

2. Take a meal to one family/person a week
I've got 3 out of 4 people picked already, so I just need to pick another family and get them done! No excuses!

3. Get off TANF
This month I'll be continuing the job search, set a higher income goal and I'll be scrutinizing my budget to find a few more areas to cut. If I can't make more, I'll have to spend less.

4. Grow or produce most of our food: grocery goal budget is $200 or less
This month's grocery budget is: $300
Also need to build a stanchion to milk the goats, build 2 of my raised beds out back, start at least 2 more indoor edible/medicinal plants and try my hand at putting together a cold frame and getting some garlic and onions in the ground.

5. Get involved in another ministry at church
I just need to step up and volunteer for some stuff. I'll admit, I get afraid to try because I have to bring the kids along, and I don't think I am really any help to anyone when my attention is divided.

6. Work on house: paint interior, replace carpet, upgrade some insulation
This month's to do list:
~paint living room
~touch up laundry room
~paint boys room
~install outlet/switch insulators
~pull up boys bedroom carpet and made the vinyl presentable

7. Build up stock for craft fairs: completely 10 projects a month, not including orders
Projects to complete: 1 blanket, 3 plarn bags, 6 dishcloths, 2 hats

8. Eat better: more organic, no soy, mostly GF, less sugar
I want to try one new recipe a week and I'm meal planning around what's in the pantry and fridge to use up some things.

9. Stop smoking
I'm going to push myself hard and I'm done smoking. No more. Not one.

10. Expand animals and their housing: 3 ducklings, 1 goat pen
Rabbit cages will get done and 8 ducklings will be added this month, hopefully those 8 ducklings result in at least 3 hens and not all drakes!

Pinching pennies

I like to save my pennies.

I'll put extra work into it because working to earn money and working to save money are pretty equal to me.

I spent several nights reading through list of money saving tips and ideas while knitting.

Sadly, I discovered that everything on these lists short of living in an RV or my van, I've done or do.

I have no cable, no internet, no gym membership.

I don't eat out, buy $5 coffees, or use paper products.

I'm frugal. I put effort into it. But I still want (and at this point, need) to cut my budget lower.

So I began brainstorming once more for my own ideas.

I came up with a few ideas to implement over time and a few more ideas to cut my grocery budget (that $200 a month goal takes effort!)

The first idea I decided to run with was air drying the laundry.

Sure, I line dry during nice weather, but this Oregon. We're known for rain and rain and more rain. So I've still been using the dryer a lot.

Not using the dryer saves me about $30 a month, or $360 a year! And that's just on electricity, if we added in the savings because clothes last longer and require less mending we'd probably be closer to $500 a year!

I'm on day 2 of not using the dryer at all, and the day before those 2 days I only ran the diapers through the dryer because it was urgent.

I even unplugged the dryer.

I'm determined to make it to the end of the month without putting another load in the dryer.

What are some extreme ways to be frugal that you have tried?

Never Forget

Forgetting happens.

I've forgotten where I placed something.

Forgotten the date.

Forgotten groceries in the van.

Even forgotten which name I bestowed on which child.

Forgetting happens.

But we should never forget the testimony of what the Lord has done in our lives. We should never forget to give Him the glory every time, all the time and as often as possible.

I was reminded today that I often lose sight if what He's done and only see how far I have to go. My faults and short comings are readily apparent to me, but remembering where I was hurts. It requires remembering things I'd rather forget.

But God didn't bring me through so much so that I can hide away what used to be and pretend my life has always been puppies and rainbows. He brought me through some of the worst times in my life so I could share the wonder and awe and magnitude of His power and glory and mercy with others.

Four and a half years ago God took a selfish, lazy, suicidal, alcoholic, drug addicted sinner who had very little in the way of morals and showed her how broken she was. He showed me just how much I needed help, the kind of life changing help only He can provide!

Two years later when my husband walked out, my life was in shambles. I was pregnant with number 6, homeless, jobless, scared and broken. In these last 2 years God has provided so many things to me that felt so far out of reach. A home that I'm buying, a van that's paid off, means to reach toward self sufficiency, comfort and completeness in the trust of His word and plans for my life. Things I couldn't have gotten on my own.

If God can take my life, in its supreme brokenness and lift me up to where I've come, how can anyone doubt His power and goodness?

Goals: February Summary

I didn't reach all my mini-goals for this month, not by a long shot. But I'm okay with that because I made progress anyway and I learned what I'm able (and not able) to do in one months time as I'm adding more work to my schedule.

1. Read the bible and 4 other books
I am on track with my bible reading plan, finished the devotional I was reading, read an entire book and started a new book and a new devotional.

2. Take a meal to one family/person a week
I failed big time on this one this month. Between kids getting stomach flu and other life events, I let this one slip through my fingers and only managed 1 week out of 4.

3. Get off TANF
I got another babysitting job and several leads. I surpassed my income goal for this month.

4. Grow or produce most of our food: grocery goal budget is $200 or less
I have $1.45 left in this months grocery budget. We planted wheat grass in a window box for out smoothies. The terrarium is planted with spinach and kale for salads and smoothies and should produce year round if I plan it right! We put together 2 potato towers, one outside and one in the greenhouse to see how both options work for us.

5. Get involved in another ministry at church
I failed at this one as well.

6. Work on house: paint interior, replace carpet, upgrade some insulation
I got the accent wall in the living room painted and the entire laundry room, I decided not to paint the cabinets. Got an estimate and consultation on insulation options that I'll need to consider. Looked under the carpet in the kids rooms: girls have sub floor but the boys have vinyl flooring that may be salvageable, not beautiful but better than the carpet. I did not get the main part of the living room painted.

7. Build up stock for craft fairs: completely 10 projects a month, not including orders
Projects completed: 0 stock but all except 2 orders are done.
Projects to completed: 1 blanket, 3 plarn bags, 6 dishcloths

8. Eat better: more organic, no soy, mostly GF, less sugar
All new incoming food continues to be organic and I brought in nothing with soy, which was easy since we consume so little anyway. The pantry got cleaned out and most the wheat flour is gone.

9. Stop smoking
11 smoke free days and smoked less on the days I did. My longest smoke free streak was 5 days.

10. Expand animals and their housing: 3 ducklings, 1 goat pen
I added an adorable new goat, a doe named Butterscotch. We also added 8 chicks (a few more than planned), we got 5 cuckoo marans, 2 molted java and a speckled Sussex. I've also decided not to expand the number of rabbits I have due to other income streams that have come my way and the time commitment. I got 3 out of 5 rabbit cages finished.

Here we go again!

It's a new month!
Another chance to reach my goals!

Here are my mini goals for this month to help reach all these goals before the year ends.

1. Read the bible and 4 other books
I will keep up with my bible reading plan, finish the devotional I'm reading and start a new book.

2. Take a meal to one family/person a week
Pick families and get it done... I need to plan ahead a bit better this month.

3. Get off TANF
I'm waiting to hear back from a job interview from Friday. I have set my income goal for this month at double last money's goal, let's see how this goes!

4. Grow or produce most of our food: grocery goal budget is $200 or less
This month's grocery goal is $350. I also want to get a potato tower started and get the terrarium planted with salad greens.

5. Get involved in another ministry at church
I'm going to see if I can get a regular nursery position instead of just subbing.

6. Work on house: paint interior, replace carpet, upgrade some insulation
This month I want to paint the laundry room and cabinets, paint the living room, price consultation and peek under the carpet in the kids rooms to see what I find.

7. Build up stock for craft fairs: completely 10 projects a month, not including orders
Projects to completely: 1 blanket, 3 plarn bags, 6 dishcloths

8. Eat better: more organic, no soy, mostly GF, less sugar
All new incoming food will be continue to be organic. I'm going to cut the soy completely this month. I also need to clean the pantry, which may rid me of all the wheat flour out there.

9. Stop smoking
Hopefully I'll kick the habit this month. But minimum I want 10 smoke-free days.

10. Expand animals and their housing: add 1 goat, 3 ducklings, 3 chickens, 8 rabbits, 1 goat pens, custom rabbit cages
I'll add one more goat and finish the rabbit cages this month.

I keep aiming high, over all and monthly. Yet I keep meeting and exceedingly my goals, so here we go!

Too Real

I love blogs.

I follow many for many reasons.

A recent post from one has hit my heart... in a convicting way.

I have come to a place of being overly "real" and "comfortable" with the level of mess in my house.

Is my house going to be perfection? Not a chance!

I'm human.

I have 6 kids and over 60 animals.

I work.

I homeschool.

And, honestly, housekeeping doesn't come naturally to me.

Most of that is obvious (maybe not the last one, I'm not sure.) I don't think anyone walks into my home expecting it to look like a page from Pottery Barn. If they do, they don't know me well!

But! I have entered a place in my heart where the grace people afford me for all the hindrances to housekeeping perfection have been taken advantage of.

Could I have a cleaner home? A more organized home? A home that didn't make me panic when company says they're coming in an hour?

Yes. I know this because I log an ungodly number of hours on Facebook and Pinterest and playing games on my phone (the games are a habit I've ended by deleting them.)

Those things do not bring glory to the Lord. The way I've kept stewardship of my home lately certainly isn't glorifying the Lord. And this is not okay!

Facebook, Pinterest and games aren't wrong or evil on their own. It's where our hearts place them that can create the problem.

As a result I'm going to be cleaning, purging and organizing a great deal in the coming weeks and its going to feel far more amazing than any game of candy crush ever would.

Goals: January Summary

I didn't do too bad for January, but there is definitely room for improvement!

1. Read the bible and 4 other books
I'm on track with my bible reading plan and began a devotional book given to me by a friend before she moved.

2. Take a meal to one family/person a week
Successfully delivered meals 3 out of 4 weeks.

3. Get off TANF
I secured another part time babysitting job. Combined with everything else, I actually exceeded my income goal for this month!

4. Grow or produce most of our food: grocery goal budget is $200 or less
I planned the garden and checked out what seeds I have and what I need.
The grand totally for groceries this month was $480, a lot more than the $200 goal!

5. Get involved in another ministry at church
No progress at this point. I have told people I want to be more involved but I haven't actively pursued anything yet.

6. Work on house: paint interior, replace carpet, upgrade some insulation
Painted the bathroom, found paint for all the bedrooms and the accent wall in the living room.

7. Build up stock for craft fairs: completely 10 projects a month, not including orders
Only managed 7.5 projects.

8. Eat better: more organic, no soy, mostly GF, less sugar
All new food brought in was organic, but beyond that not much improvement.

9. Stop smoking
I cut back and actually had 4 non-smoking days this month! Lots of room for improvement, but it's a start.

10. Expand animals and their housing: add 1 goat, 3 ducklings, 3 chickens, 13 rabbits, 2 goat pens, custom rabbit cages
Completed 1 goat pen and worked on cages. I have 5 rabbits I'll be keeping from litters that just weaned.

I still have a long way to go but that's not a bad start!