Tomorrow is the last day of the month and its time to see how thing are going with the budget. I did not save as much on groceries this month but thats a bit misleading since I actually stocked up on meat and other things that should make me come in under budget for March. I was still under budget but only by around $50. Last month was $100. I did do as promised and doubled lots of recipes and have not had to really cook this week at all. I just pull things out of the freezer and pop them in the oven. It was been awesome and this will definitely be something I continue. Who knows maybe I will get back into once a month cooking. Cook for three days and then have 27 amazing fast dinner nights.
The Redbox budget of $20 for the year. Its going along nicely. I took advantage of a great deal of rent one movie get 1000 points. It takes renting 10 movies to get that many points so I had to do that one. We rented 5 movies from Redbox and spent $2.98. I also have enough points to get two movies free in March, if there is something we want to see and cant get it at the library.
Fuel budget was set way to high which is nice since remember my animal feed budget was set to low. Two cars that 4 people drive was only $60.29 for the month. I took advantage of 4X fuel points at Kroger and saved $1 off per gallon of gas both times we had to refuel and we always take both cars at the same time to fill up. That saved us about $40 right there. I have since changed my fuel budget to $100 a month and even though will come in under we will use more in the summer as we go on adventures so it will balance out. The extra $50 goes into the animal feed budget to even it out.
Entertainment of $50 a week has been more than enough. We actually came in about $80 under budget for the month and I still have gift cards that I purchased in January we can use and it not eat into future monthly budgets. There are more things popping up in the events calendar on Facebook. I high recommend you check out your local area for free or discounted things to do.
I am over in the clothing budget. Mr Ladybug needed works pants and the boy needed better shoes for wet weather. We will see if I can get through March without buying any clothing. I will just have to stay our of stores that carry clothes and go nowhere near discount racks! I sure hope the $1032 a year I guess we spent on clothes isnt too under budget. I actually consider myself the clothes on the cheap queen! That would just be embarrassing.
Thats about all for the budget news. I will spend this evening planning our menu for March so today will be taking inventory for whats on hand and use that up in meals and seeing what can be doubled to make a week of easy meals at the end of March.
Now that the budget business is out of the way, on to more fun things. This weather is amazing and the sunshine is just want this Ladybug needs. Look at how happy I look in the above photo with Balder the Beagle photo bombing me. I was outside several times yesterday and even took a book out to read. Mr Ladybug and I checked on the bees and did a little maintenance and everything looks great. Prayers and well wishes will be great appreciated next week as temps drop again. A few years ago when we lost our bees we had near 60 degreee weather and then below freezing temps. I am pretty sure Mr Ladybug is not going to let me move the hive into the house.
These are the grains. Some say they look like cauliflower. I am not sure how I would describe them.
The jar is the whey and they bows is the strained kefir
This is my kefir yougurt.
I put the grains into a new jar of milk and in two days start the whole process again.
My kefir grains that my neighbor gave me are one of my favorite things to mess. They have tripled in size so I have some to give to my momma and my sister. I have a few friends who are interested too. So every other day I get the kefir grains out of the jar, then strain out the whey and then do something with the creamy kefir cream that is left. I usually do smoothies but I have added herbs and made a great spread for crackers. With the discared whey I use it in pancakes or anything that requires a liquid like milk or water in baking. I really want water kefir and I have been reading that you can attempt and sometimes succeed converting milk grains into water grains. Fingers crossed.
I need to dig through some old albums and find some of our first year dating photos.
This weekend we went to the play on Friday night, watched the new Robin Hood movie on Saturday, made sourdough starter, kefir, boiled down maple sap, and made chevre with our goats milk share. We had plans to go see an art show but it was on another county and we were expecting some storms and decided to stay home so Mr Ladybug took me out for ice cream. He was making fun of me and said that we could only spend $20 this year on ice cream dates like our rexbox budget. With the $20 Dairy Queen gift card I bought for us I only see three of those dates on our future this year unless we try to share an ice cream. I will have to ask him if that would work. He also said that I had been the most quietest that I had been all day while eating my ice cream. What can I say?I am a chatterbox.
So this morning I was making the boy pancakes and I was really paying attention to my ingredients. The discarded sourdough starter I used in a new pancake recipe, the whey was from the goats milk cheese we made and the syrup is from the 5.5 pints we have harvested in the last 2.5 weeks from our trees. I have come to realize the more invested you are in your ingredients the more invested you are in not wanting to waste a single thing. We are already planning on tapping more trees at my moms next year which will involve us tapping the trees, using more buckets to collect and spending a few weekends in February, hoping its not too cold outside to boil it all down just so we can have a years worth of syrup that we have learned to love so much over only the 2.5 weeks we have been making it at home. I have been very frugal with my honey from my bees because I have not wanted to run out before the next harvest.
I hope everyone has something that brings them as much joy as our urban farm does us. I keep waiting for us to run out of new things to do but we manage to add more things to our "learn to do list" every month. Urban farming might not be your thing but there are so many things out there waiting for you to enjoy you just have to keep finding things to try and actually try them and not put them on Pinterest thinking you will someday. Someday is now!
Does anyone know what this is? My friend gave it to me. It opens up and you can put soap in it and swirl it around your sink filled with water to wash your dishes. That dish soap we love to squeeze out of the bottle hasnt been around forever and this is what people use to use. I actually make a dish soap bar and this is the perfect thing to use and hang up and keep my bar from getting soggy and wasting away fast.
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