update on 209

Okay , this picture shows where the 2 front doors are. Hubby doesn't have the 2 front porches on this but they are at the front doors. The door in the green room is the back door. We will be installing the French doors in the yellow room(kitchen) and then the deck by the end of summer if not sooner.The area on the front of the house were the double windows are do not have a porch.

The deadline we have given ourselves to be moved completely to 209 is Sept 6th. Our landlord doesn't care if we go pass that date and as long as we give him 30 days notice of us being completely out he is fine.That's the date were we will start stressing of making double payments of rent and mortgage. Can you tell we have done this before?

We have changed the laundry room(green room) to be in the closet (top left sliver mist room) and we will put Baby (7cf chest freezer) in the mudroom which is what we are calling the green room ...the colors of the rooms will be flipped to the closet being lime green and the mudroom silver mist. I plan to put a door in the closet where the window is because the clothes line is right there in a couple years.. You can barely see the top of the window in this layout in that room. I would rather have my laundry in the closet where I can immediately put clothes away than at the door where everyone comes in and out. Also it's easier to clean the dryer vent with it in the closet as it will go directly through the wall of the house and NOT through the crawl space and thourgh the foundation.Less chance of wind freezing pipes also due to air from vent coming in.

Our mortgage guy, Rex called Friday morning and asked us to connect with contractor,Charlie and finalize the items for the house. Rex is at step 4 which needs the final bids. This is about 3 weeks ahead of schedule.

Got a hold of Charlie,our contractor, who was stressing a little until I made it clear that  we understood he probably wouldn't be able to start early but we had things we could to that would help him like remove the line closet where the bathroom door needs to be widened and remove the shelves where the wheelchair shower will be.SO we are meeting this week to finalize the items to keep the FHA loan moving along. The more we pay cash for, the less we will owe on the loan so the less we will pay in interest.

ON the frugal side, we bought part of the general paint supplies, the track lighting for over the kitchen sink, a double shower rod for the orange bathroom, a 3 arm rack for the kitchen sink dish cloths, 2 entry rugs for the porches, 4 new exterior door hands with dead bolts to put on AFTER the work is done and a Keysafe so we don't have to be there to let workers in at Menards with 11% rebate.

I have bookmarked items on sale at Home Depot that  I want as soon as we meet with Charlie to make sure he can't get them cheaper as that sale goes off first part of March so I will order them if I need to.

We started pulling items we have stored from houses we have lived in so we are "saving" the money
So far we have found for the kitchen... 8 light chandelier (actually I have it hanging above me right now as we took down the ceiling fan that was there) saving $217.80 and a 3 light hanging pot rack savings $398.99. We have found a wooden medicine cabinet for orange bathroom saving$44.98 and a white medicine cabinet (needs a bit of work of fixing door to stay shut) saving $39.99 for WC bath (WC stands for wheelchair). Add the 7.5 % tax we pay that's a savings of $1,070.44

The only piece of furniture I know for sure we will be buying is a recliner  for Hubby.

I will continue to shop Habitat for Restore, Goodwill and auctions. I wished it was yardsale season LOL

Blessed Be

Last week of Jan

One of the "plates" I have made from our dinner and shoved in frig for Daughter 2 to eat when she gets in around 11 PM. She had bought a white wine with herbs marinade for chicken which we loved so I picked up some more of the packages that were on sale and made this porkchop with OJ which was an option. I might try chicken with pineapple juice which is another option listed on the package. She is now splitting a lunch with the server that works with her so she's not bringing leftovers home and both are saving money.

Hubby had bfast with some of his old co workers and used a gift card he was given when he retired.

I went to the store for odds and ends after our chiro appt(all errands at same time) and used the gift card that was bought for Dec/Jan groceries....still have $50 on the card and ALL of the money set ($420)aside for Jan/Feb(we run bills from 15th to 15th since that's when we get Hubby's retirement check)

We have washed plastic bags, foil, bread sacks and inserts to boxed food(not many of those).

We ate from the pantry until Friday night when we ordered a extra large pizza that has fed the 3 of us all weekend (added salad, fruit etc) since both Hubby and Daughter 2 was in and out with things that meant they weren't even home during the night. I thought I would get a quiet night.. nope dogs decided they needed out ever 2 hrs and since Charlotte isn't completely potty trained I wasn't going to just tell her to go lay down. One of them always pottied but the other two must have just went along.

Curtains are open to sunshine and closed with it's dreary and with windchills.

We no longer open the staircase to upstairs until Daughter 2 texts us that she is coming home. Told us to not turn on heater unless the windchill is below 10° as she has noted when she really needs to have it warmed up otherwise she will turn it on when she gets home and gets around for bed. As she has sever curvature of the spine we don't want the cold to trigger pain which is why she focused on when she needed the heater turned on sooner. She's paying the difference between what we budget for electric and what it costs so she's really trying to keep it down.

She started using the drying rack for when she doesn't have a full load of laundry. She has also tossed some of our laundry in to make a full load in the washer, side benny I don't have to do our laundry. 😉 when she does that.

We turned the furnace down 2 ° during the day when there is sunshine and 6° at night when we aren't getting the windchills.

We are buying items for 209 and keeping a  running budget. We went to Mendards for their 11 % rebate( after chiro appt also) to pick up some of the items. I stayed focused of general items that I know we will need like paint rollers, shower curtain rod, that kind of stuff. We meet with the contractor this week to finalize the plans so the mortgage guy can move to the next step of the rehab loan of 2 different inspections...things are moving a little quicker than planned according to the contractor as he had planned to have this meeting mid Feb so that's okay with us even if it means he won't actually start until mid March as he had planned as there is plenty of work for us to start on and not be in his way.

Daughter 2 was given a name of a restaurant that has all you can eat crab legs on Fridays until the end of Lent for $30/person...She KNOWS I love crab legs so she passed the info along to us as our anniversary is mid Feb and we were looking for a different place to eat out at.

She is also bringing home boxes and pieces of cardboard to use to separate the canning jars so won't have to buy so many speciality boxes for my 1000 plus canning jars....more on that on the 209 post.

Not frugal but definitely will save my sanity ...might be frugal if I don't have a break down over the work load LOL... I am putting together a project binder for 209... printing off things we need the contractor to do (kitchen sink, cabinets, countertop, what lights etc)so it should help eleminate part of the "got to call and ask" Need this answer etc. Put everything on hold until we get over there (an hour away and yes we have the gas budgeted for that for daily trips for 6 months). Gathering things we have in storage we can reuse in the house.

209 ... the new house

Hubby has been playing on a free program he downloaded  and made a layout of 209 which is what we call the new house.This is the first floor plan and the layout of the kitchen and the color of paints we think we want. Vibrate is the word LOL.

Starting left bottom...is master bedroom is sapphire blue or it maybe be a powder blue but the program didn't have that shade. Room in upper left corner can be used for a closet is silver mist, we might make it into a sewing room/office and just build closet in bedroom like the other 3 bedrooms.
Orange room will be standard bathroom with tub/shower comb. Yellow is the hall and the kitchen "area". The one wall of purple (other side is purple also) is what we call sitting area/ office/ what ever.There is a wall at the base of the stairs to the upstairs...we will be taking the built in hall tree out to open that up so we can get a full size bed box springs up those steps. Both sets of staircases have beautiful wood for walls. Red room is Hubby's favorite red and is the front room. This is also the red we had when we were raising the kids on Church st. Lime green is mudroom/laundry room and the pale lilac is the wheelchair accessible bathroom.  We are now matching those colors to paint chips we have and having 3-4 different shades of the color and will tape them to the walls when we start on the house. All woodwork will be glossy white  There will be a deck off the kitchen through the French doors and we will be redoing the porches on the front also.

Menards was having their 11% rebate this week so we started picking up things we know we need to starting buying for 209. This is the light we are putting over the sink.

We have had this chandelier for over 20 yrs and decided to clean it up and install it over the peninsula in the kitchen since the ceilings are only 8 ft , that way no one bashed their head.

This pot rack we also have had over 20 yrs, will be cleaned up and used over what ever new LP gas range I get.

I've had this ceiling light for over 30 yrs. I am not sure where it's going its going . Hubby said he could rewire it so it's like a hanging swag light.

My Pop gave me this light after he found it at a yardsale because it reminded him of me. I wasn't living where we could use it. I told Hubby even if it doesn't go in the house , it was going in the barn...which would fit Pop to a tee as he has several of old lights hanging in his barn for light.

This is the sink we have chose.

I think I would prefer to handles instead of this one but this is what we saw so priced it. I can deal with not having 2 handles.

 I bought paint rollers, paint plastic tray liners, paint guards to keep paint off floor, double curved shower rod (only bought one as I can't remember if I need one for wheelchair shower) and I bought this.

As Daddy suggested I get this for the kitchen so I can hang not only my dish cloth but a rag for other stuff to get away from paper towels.

More later..right now I have to work on the binders.

Blessed be

Rambling... new clothes .

First this is what I bought...from J Peterman as my birthday gift for myself.

This is definitely my style though way more than I usually spend. I can tell you it will definitely keep me warm in the cold months as it is lined and the lace is attached to the liner.  I can take tucks in the waist if I ever lose any more weight ( I really hope to stay stable there as if I lose more weight and have a Crohn's attack I will end up being underweight with in a week) another bonus, is I could make a simple pattern from the skirt.

This is close to the hoodie I used to borrow from my one grandson. He passed it to me after he out grew it and I wore it out after wearing it 5 more years. I wanted something more dressy than a sweatshirt type hoodie Once again, more than I usually pay.

Awhile back I bought jeans on sale with a couple gift cards that I had been given... Faded Glory boot cut and a couple pairs of this that has became my favorite jeans

Levi Strauss Signature curvy boot cut... (this is the model for Walmart)

I already checked I do have plenty of warm weather clothes so won't need to be buying anything. I do hope HA HA to have time to do some sewing of skorts and aprons but with doing the house and everything I am doubtful of that being done as I will be making curtains for the house warm weather first and cold weather second.

I already bought "summer" shoes when they were on clearance at Walmart. I got winter dress boots at Goodwill.

Now on to 209

Not Frugal but worth the price

Jan 15th... Monday .we had ham (from son 2 in exchange for part of the prime rib we had Christmas Eve) sandwiches and broccoli cheese soup...using up one bag of cheese that we really don't care for but was given. Worked well in the soup. I met my Swagbucks goal PLUS got 100 more for a survey that I did while BORED and didn't want to just surf the web or social media. NOT FRUGAL.. I ordered a skirt and a hoodie from J Peterman catalog...if you are not familar with this company I can tell you the clothes are expensive...some vintage or in the style of vintage. I ran across this company while reading Simple Abundance several years ago and have looked at the catalog for YEARS as I read Simple Abundance each year as a devotional . I saw a skirt and hoodie that I LOVED last year...but thought as a bit too much ...okay A LOT too much for my style of living...but every time I checked the catalog that was what I looked for.. It went on sale for 50% off...My birthday is in a few days...I have my spending money allowence (we give ourselves $50 a month for what ever we want) for Dec-Jan and now Jan - Feb....I have $25 in change saved.... I put in on my credit card ...knowing I HAVE to have it paid off in 3 wks... It was just under $200 with shipping. That's not frugal SIGH. Hubby said if I wear it like I have my winter coat ( 10 years )and my little black dress(now 30 plus years ) My demin skirt (20 plus years) then it's not a bad buy.Since I just got rid of the hoodie I wore when the Daughter 1 was in Jr high (she's 46 this year) I think I can wear both long enough to not regret the money spent.

Jan16th  Tuesday .Having leftover ham slices, mashed potato patties from leftover mashed potatoes , green beans from pantry and biscuits. I woke up cold this morning due to Wilbur

He must have gotten cold through the night and took ALL the blankets on the bed to make himself a bed. I woke up with a flannel sheet and Charlotte curled into me trying to stay warm herself. Thankfully since I am not willing to fight a boxer (LOL) over blankets I had a couple fleece throw blankets at the top and covered Charlotte and myself up.  Back is definitely not happy with having been cold through the night.

Jan 17th..Wednesday.We spent the afternoon measuring the rooms at the new house (209 is what we call it as it is on township road 209) , Ate lunch at Arby's over by the house since I didn't plan to be there nor had anything to pack to eat before or after being there. Thankful for the Amish family that allowed us to come in (didn't have to because closing isn't until March) and our realtor that took her lunch time to let us in.We had scalloped potatoes and ham casserole for dinner using the last of the ham.

Jan 18th... Thursday. My 59th birthday. Hubby asked what I wanted to do and I chose to go see my Daddy. Best birthday present ever was/is having Daddy as my dad and I made sure he knew I felt truely blessed for having him. Hubby bought 3 -4 piece chicken dinners from the local restaurant for dinner so I wasn't cooking as Daughter 2 didn't get in until 11 after her youngest ball game.

Jan 19th ... Friday, I caught a charge on bank account that shouldn't be there .. a bank fee so the bank told us to come in on Monday so we can sit down as they know what triggered it...Hubby only gets "paid" once a month instead of weekly and software didn't regisiter that he had more than enough to go in to NOT have that fee...they also think they have a better account for fit our needs. Daughter 2 vacuumed the house, I swept the bathroom and kitchen and Hubby did the dishes. Daughter 2 also did our laundry when she did her own so I could focus on starting to put the binders together for working on 209. We had summer sausage /pepperoni , cheese and crackers for lunch and leftovers for dinner.

Jan 20th... Saturday. Daugher 2 straightened up the frig (she has OCD so I ignore it when she straightens something as I have seen her pick up dog toys and put them in order of size where I toss the toys) and then since her boys were all at friends or doing something with their stepbrothers she went to have a PJ party at a girlfriends house... She borrowed a few DVDs and took some creamcheese with dried Italian salad dressing and crackers. She will roll the creamcheese in the dry dressing. Plus she took some yogurt and Grapenuts to make parfaits for breakfast. All what we had here. Hubby and I worked on drawling plans, making lists and starting 2 sets of project plan binders..one for the house the other for here. We ate leftovers and basically snacked.

Jan 21st Sunday...Heavens, Charlotte

went out this morning and got mud(and cow poop) from her chin to her tail. Looked like she laid in it, might have crawled under the gate but what a mess. She got a bath...not thrilled but at least it wasn't a fight to keep her in the tub. Tub got sanitized and I then got a bath and everything got washed. Frugal part was I had kept the oatmeal soap I used on Miss Kira so I didn't use blue Dawn which is what I use on Rascal.

We had friends as us to meet them for dinner at Hong Kong today, but Son 2 wanted to go also and wanted it to be for lunch since he is furloughed and that was the cheaper meal. They were willing  so we are going for lunch instead. I have a coupon that we were going to use for us and decided to let Son 2 use instead. We will have bacon Sandwiches for dinner tonight. 

I haven't done any grocery shopping this week.

Blessed Be

Retirement Mid Jan

Okay, I would have to say flipping to retirement ins has been a lesson in having patience for companies that do not have things in place BEFORE it's needed. We are still waiting for the money that Hubby's company gave him for medical, still waiting for our insurance to show I am covered and not just Hubby. I just want to bang my head on the table when I keep getting excuses as why things are still messed up after 6 wks of dealing when it was suppose to be only 4 wks..

Glad we put back 3 months of costs of ins in savings since we are having to use OUR money instead of the money the company gave us for that.

Glad We put back the FULL amount of out of pocket/deductible also because we are using it to pay medical bills because they keep saying Hubby is covered under family plan but I am not the family...I'm the only other one besides him on this insurance.

Glad we had 3 months of household bill amts in savings so we weren't late in paying the bills when it took 4 days to transfer his monthly amt from his 401k to our checking...don't seem to have even a 1 day delay when it comes out of the checking for bills so I don't understand the issue of it going in to the checking. BUT still at least our bank warned us to not count on it for 5 business days.

Glad he isn't driving to work every night during these winter storms that keep hitting every 3-4 days.

Paying bills once a month is kind of yucky... but I found we actually save more money when worried we won't have money towards the "end" off our month, which is actually the middle of the month now.

We are more focused on what we can make do with now to have money when we move which we priced out at $4000 not counting someone to pack it in their boxes, just load it and drive it and unload it.. We plan on FREE boxes except for my canning jars, just because we have dealt with broken canning jars of food. Daughter 2 thinks some of the boxes they get in would work for canning jars boxes also so she is going to bring them home if I ever can get her to REMEMBER as she is leaving work LOL.

Blessed Be

Update on new house

This is one of the 3 upstairs bedrooms. Two of them are this size, the 3rd is a bit smaller.There is one area that isn't finished that we are debating on making attic storage or another bedroom.Probably will be storage as it has NO windows and unless we put in skylights there is not another option for a window. Might be just me but I have problems with rooms without windows.Beautiful wood...BUT I am not a fan of total wood BUT I don't want to remove it or paint it either... A friend suggested I leave the ceiling part wood and make a "quilt" railing to hang fabric from . Then I could change the "colors" as I wanted and not mess up the wood. Might work...I could even change the fabric due to the seasons.

Since the central air will not be in this area we decides on this style of ductless AC

None of the bedrooms have closets. Two of the are open lofts with no privacy at all.

We thought about doing something along this line, this is a partial wall

and it also being the back of the closet. . Daughter 2 lived in a house that had these type of sloping ceilings in the bedrooms said they put in drawers on the lower side and the double bars on the higher side and it worked decent for her sons, one that has more clothes than his mother LOL.. Still in thinking stage as this probably won't be done until next fall/winter.

The well has been chlorinated and flushed and tested so that's off the list. Still waiting on getting the septic tank cleaned that the septic tested but the winter storms rolling through has been an issue.

Contractor is having 2 antique sinks refinished and I get first choice to look is I want one of them for the kitchen... If not I have picked this one out

The top faucet is probably what I will buy as it is the style I have used for years and does well with my large pots.

Hubby liked this type of shower head for  the showers. Son 2 has one and it does well for handicap also.

We both thought this style faucet would be good for the bathroom sinks and tub.

or maybe one with two handles for the water but same style.

We don't know if we will have ceiling lights but we are looking to see what we like. We also know we want an outside light at each door but haven't found "the one" yet. We have a chandelier,pot rack, 2 ceiling fans and 2 old copper lights that we could reuse.

This is the color (cherry cocoa) and style of the kitchen cabinets I chose. I don't want my kitchen to blend in since the dining room.family room and kitchen are one room. I would love to have a granite counter top with shades of green and rust(copper) in it but I can't afford granite so our contractor is looking to see what he can find in our price range to give me the same look.

Appliances will be black

this in black with brass handles would be my dream stove...not sure that dream is going to happen because it is the last thing we will buy.

We have to replace our French door with freezer on the bottom frig as our repairman said it was dying . He's repaired it four times already and it's on it's last legs. Guess 10 yrs is the best you can get now days. I have a smaller second one so if it goes out before we are ready to replace it.

I hope the microwave doesn't crap as it's on the "old" side also.

We have to start thinking about furniture also as somethings we have too much and others what we have needs redone or replaced.

Enjoy the day
Blessed Be

Jan 9th another week of being frugal

But Mommy I am so sweet and innocent

He deserved to have his face ripped off.

Life with a puppy. The only good part is this is a stuffed bear that the youngest grandson was going to throw away as there is no place around here that will take used stuffed toys so he gave it the pup.Pup had it 3 months before she decided he needed to die.

Tuesday we went to town for an appointment so took stuff to Goodwill and check in the store for a pole lamp. There was no lamp but I was able to get Daughter( actually I should list daughters as 1,2,3,and 4...she would be 2) 3 dozen plastic hangers and 2 pairs of gloves for $7.

We went to Menard's to get dog food, distilled water for humidifier,a clip on light for above the stove due that light fixture dying and 3 pots for Daughter's vines she has salvaged from a dying plant.Along with what was on the list we found a pole lamp in our price range,got LED light bulbs for the pole lamp and clap lamp(I did not want to buy a new fixture since we are moving and won't have that stove  after wards and we decided only LED lights at the new home) Out of pocket ZERO as we used the rebates we had saved. We also checked out some sinks, faucets and lights that we might want for the new house.

We went to Kroger's and got milk, heavy cream, half and half, cottage cheese, chip dip, sour cream, Greek yogurt,colby cheese(sliced for daughter), Single serving package of guac(daughter's lunches), moz sticks, red and green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, bibb lettuce , baby spinach, carrots,celery, broccoli,Frito's, chips and a beef roast as Son #1 called and said he was coming home tomorrow to visit for the day (he didn't make it home for Christmas due to work) so I decided a pot roast with root veggies would work as I wouldn't be in the kitchen and we could do more visiting. I had a small roast that would work for 2 people but not enough for 4.... out of pocket for the groceries of $131. ZERO ... I had a gift card that I used.

FINALLY they figured out what was wrong with our health ins BILLING acct and got it fixed so we can at least get it set up on auto pay. AND they got it so we can check our health ins.

I made my Swag buck's goal 4 times this week.

I saved 3 five dollar bills and 5 one dollar bills and some change for our Christmas savings.

WEDNESDAY  We finished taking down the Christmas decorations and picking up some down limbes out in the yard. I decluttered a cabinet in the kitchen. Ate beef roast(what I had bought along with what was in the freezer) with the potatoes from root celler  I tossed in the roaster with it and salad and the last of the cookie brownies and cherry pie while visiting SON 1. Daughter got in late after taking her son home after he got off work as his car is broke down and in the repair shop.

THURSDAY. Strange to not be finance day after decades of it being finance day. So I just checked to make sure everything was as it was suppose to be.

Dropped off Fed ex stuff to local hardware store pick up. Got gas at the cheapest place according to Gasbuddy, went to the bank and then put the mail in the mail box at the end of the lane on the way back in.Basically it was a big block drive so the dogs got a ride this morning.

 I decluttered the mudroom and sorted through the fruit we store there and cleaned out the mudroom frig. Need to inventory it still but at least nothing falls out when you open the door. Hubby straightened up his tools so he isn't buying something because he couldn't find it.

Hubby and SON 1 along with a friend plan to go deep sea fishing this fall , celebrete Hubby's retirement and turning 60. Friend found a better deal for 1/3rd the original price so they are going to lock that deal down NOW.

Realtor called and let us know the outhouse will be torn down tomorrow and the septic guy who lives right aroung the corner will hopefully be able to deal with cleaning it and running the test by tomorrow evening if the weather we are getting doesn't put a stop all the whole project. Freezing rain and sleet tonight, 4-7 inches of snow over night with 30 mph winds tomorrow...

Hubby bought us sandwiches for dinner using a coupon and gift card so ZERO out of pocket.

FRIDAY
Under a winter weather advisory. Rain this morning, freezing rain/sleet to come along with 3-5 inches of snow and 30 mph winds..... Daughter 2 had to drive an hour in this crap to make appts for her sons that the ex made and then he had to go work out of state... since he is working OUTSIDE in this crap she felt he got the worse end of this deal. BUT since it was crap , she stayed in that area with friends.

SO Hubby and I ate odds and ends out of the frig for our dinner. Hubby listened to the scanner and checked on neighbors and friends by phone to make sure everyone was doing ok. We didn't lose electric but a friend did and had some issues getting his generator to run even after just checking to make sure it was good last week.

We turned the furnace up since we have 2 more tanks to use before we move. Landlord said if we didn't use it all he would buy it from us since he will still have to keep heat in the house so it isn't going to be us losing money. He also reminded us he still had our deposit and he could use it for the last month we are here if we wanted to do it that way or we could pay and then he give back the deposit when we leave.

Landlord told us to turn the water off to the barn as there is going to be no animals in it except the pig(he has a water trough that is filled by bucket, we can fill that in the house if landlord's son doesn't want to transport water from his house that's 1 1/2 miles away). That means we don't have to worry about those pipes freezing. YEAH for all of us.

I inventoried the spice and herb cabinet (took measurements of cabinet so I know what I will need to build when we move). There is over 100 of them, that's down over 20 and I am making a list of what I need to focus on using up that I used cheffing but not so much at home, I would like to get these used up first since there is over 20 of them and that's about a shelf.

 My canning ingredients (pectin, citric acid etc) is also in this cabinet so I listed it so when the season starts I will already know what I need to get.I also know what I need to plant at the new house immediately so I might start those in pots to get them going.

SATURDAY...I'm home alone with 3 dogs that think that means it's a free for all... LOL.

Daughter 2 scheduled an appt to see a apartment at noon as the roads should be better in the area she stayed over night in. The person showing it said if she had to cancel due to weather she would call her and let her know and then they set up an appt as a back up on Tuesday at 10 just in case the roads weren't clear today. Figures cross that this apt will work for her and she can get it if it does. Gets her and the boys all back together and in school district they already are in.  She is also looking at some house rentals today since she is in the area.Hauling kids to games, practices and work ...you know parent stuff. Doing what she can for the stepmom that now has 7 kids under her roof. ( Just update, Daughter 2 didn't get to see the apartment so her and the manager are trying to work out a time this week)

Hubby is at a SCARES event today all day that tests how their HAM radios work in bad weather ,I think they ordered the weather and it came in early :), and what distance the radio signal will go.

SO I decided on using the chili I canned for dinner tonight.

Our "paycheck" LOL as in our monthly stipend for retirement came in yesterday so today is finance day. Takes 4 days for it to process so I can do better about knowing when it will actually come in.

I made a menu of the whiteboard of 5 meals I am fixing this week , not in order because that depends on what is going on. I will make plan overs from the leftovers to get the other 2-3 meals.

I will list what work, eg inventory, decluttering, packing I plan to do this week as Daughter 2 says it helps that she can look at my list when she gets in at night and see if she can do anything to help.

SUNDAY

I fixed beef and noodles and mashed potatoes. Beef and broth was from the roast I made on Wed. I have a quart of some of the beef and broth for soup for Hubby and me that I put in frig,if we don't eat it today or tomorrow I will freeze it.

I repotted Daughter2 vines into bigger pots that have drainage holes in the bottom so it's healthier for the vines. I planted tomato seeds I had harvested from some field paste tomatoes (first time doing that so not sure if they will do well). I did some winter sowing using this website http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2018/01/winter-sowing/. I planted kale, mustard, winter lettuce, mache and spinach. Kind of weird to do this for me but I didn't have to buy anything so if it works I know to plan on using it again.

I got my Swagbucks goal X 7. I usually get half the points through crave first thing in the morning while I do my devotionals and book work. I might have to get on a couple times a day to get it down but right now I want to earn as much as I can within reasonable time to get gift cards for the dogs needs.

Have a warm and safe week
Blessed Be

Jan Frugal

Tuesday I cleaned out the kitchen frig and organized it to suit the changes we decided to make in our diet. I gave our small grocery list to our Daughter to pick on her way home from work that night  as she was stopping to get herself some stuff...guess that was a REALLY frugal move because she FORGOT to get what I added to HER list. We still haven't went to the store. BUT we are now down to 1 pint of milk and 2 of us take milk in our coffee so either tomorrow or Monday I will be making the store run.

Wednesday and Thursday I inventoried the 80 % butler's pantry and all of the kitchen frig freezer. We ate from the pantry.

Friday I took down the Christmas stuff and dealt with that. Took ALL the empty canning jars and put them in the packing boxes we bought just for them. Hubby didn't realize I had that many empty. We ate leftovers

Saturday I sorted condensed some of the food stuff and washed about 2 more cases of canning jars and boxed them up. I made pasta with meat sauce and garlic cheddar biscuits. Since it was suppose to get really bad Hubby bought milk at the gas station since he was topping off the truck. Frugal because that is all we have bought , not frugal as it cost $4 for the gal. Daughter felt bad as it was on the list of the stuff she forgot.

Sunday we went to our landlord's 50th birthday party. Daughter decided to stay home, her OCD kicked in after 2 days of being at home and we came home to a clean house and laundry done but she forgot to fix supper(her night to cook so she ordered and paid for calzones from the local pizza joint. Since she had never ordered from there she didn't realize how big they were so we now have leftover calzones for another meal.

Today I had doctor appt about my shoulder/arm (the one they operated on) So Hubby drove and ran a couple errands he had while I was in the doctor...GOOD news is it is NOT the shoulder. Bad news it is my CP causing some issues with my bicep which already have tendonitis. I got a shot that should help in a couple of days when the freaking pain of having it injected into my shoulder joint wears off.
I fixed. SINCE I know how bad the pain is going to get with this shot I fixed one pot green beans potatoes and ham. White corn bread in a cast iron skillet, cherry pie and a box mix that I bought at Aldi's at Thanksgiving that was a brownie toppped by choc chip cookie dough.. between that and the leftover calzone we should be fed for a few days.

WHAT THE ???? Retirement mess up.

Hubby just laughed but I was frustrated. Company messed up and put Hubby's health ins at Cobra instead of Retiree..>GRRR. AND then messed up and booted him out of the website to get to one of his other benefits. Benefits is running around trying to get it fixed . Health ins will send us a paper bill (already let us know how much and gave us a 30 day grace period since it wasn't our screw up).

BUT REALLY???!!!!

ON TOP of at 12/31/17 my specialist and primary doctor became out of network... primary willing to work with us ...specialist wasn't allowed to so referred me to her own specialist...

THEN on the news on 1/2/18 we saw were they had made an AGREEMENT to keep  the specialist IN net work on 12/26/17... REALLY..

BUT their website is still saying their are out of net work.

Can I just go back to paying cash NOW ????

I think I need a 3 dog night to recover from this frustration .

OFFER ACCEPTED

Sellers have accepted our offer, they have already moved out of the house, still working at getting their greenhouse and garden shed removed and clearing out the woodworking area in the barn. We have preapproval of a REHAB loan (plus we have back up $$ incase something falls through)as this house belongs to AMISH...no electric, plumbing or heat since they took the wood burning stoves (our ins wouldn't cover them anyways as primary heat). A total of 5 acres which 3 acres behind the barn is in hay right now so we will be figuring out what to do about that. Amish neighbor might be willing to take care of mowing it if he can have the hay in exchange of it. The acre next to the house is in hay also but I think I am going to move the gardens to that area next year...that is a wait and see how it goes for a year or so.

I have named the sections to not confuse Hubby and me about which half we are talking about. Section closest to driveway is house 1 (used to be garage) and the other is house 2. The smaller middle section is how the garage attached to the house.

This will be our veiw from the front porch or my kitchen window since I took one look at what they called the kitchen and realized not only would my stove not fit but neither would my refrigerator.  They plowed the garden area so I might actually get to plant somethings this year.

This is actually from the driveway. Grape harbor...looks like maybe rhubarb also. Two seater outhouse( small white buildng) that is connected to septic tank . We plan to turn part of the barn into a garage since we have no plans of having livestock.The white building to the far left is the pump house where the well is.They had a Honda gas motor on it One like you would put on a snowblower.

This is the back side of the house. We will be putting  a patio door about the middle of the house which will be off the kitchen and be building a deck.

This is what their kitchen was. That's a hand pump that they pumped water out of that they had in a 5 gal bucket. That's a kersone cook stove beside the door which will be where our contractor is putting a wheelchair bathroom. This room will become the mudroom/laundry room combination. IF there is room I might put an area to prep produce, work flowers etc...

There are 3"bedrooms" upstairs , what code calls open lofts as there are no walls,doors or closets...we will add those and a storage space.

1 bedroom downstairs with a area that was pantry that we will convert to closet.

Another room that was pantry that will be the 2nd bathroom (tub/shower combo)

The old dining room will be either another downstairs bedroom (will need closet) or maybe a man's cave for Hubby.

The middle room...this is a partical picture and there is NOTHING in this area now.

This is about half of the area the window is where the patio door will be . The other side that is not showing will be the kitchen sink and the penisula. This will be a kitchen/dining room/ family room area.

Pretty much the enter downstairs is wood floors.

There is a basement under the house 2..a very good basement.

I don't know who is more excited about getting in the house after closing to get the work down and make this a home , Hubby, me or the contractor who LOVES rehabs AND reusing OLD stuff. He already told me he has 2 antique sinks being refinished and I get to look at them first to see if I want either one of them.

Right now closing is March 6th... I picked the date as it is my late younger brother's birthday and we were the closest of the siblings. BUT I do hope it's more like FEB.

Blessed Be

MY plans for 2018

We chose to save $5 bills when we get them along with the regular budgeted savings. I also save all my change except for the 3 quarters, 2 dimes, 1 nickle and 5 pennies I keep in my purse.

It is going to be a busy and full year as we are in process of buying a house, buying a truck for Hubby buying a suv or car for me. Moving Daughter when she gets her own place again (LORD PLEASE SOON, the 2 hr drive the other night due to bad weather and having to drive 30mph "annoyed" (her word) her and worried the crap out of us and her brother who lives at the other end of her route.. All we thought about was the cost of gas and wear and tear on her car  with driving 2 hrs a day to and from work along with driving her sons to practice and to their dad's where they are staying until she gets a new place AND packing and moving ourselves.AND add the bill we just got to do the updates required for the house (mortgage and ins requirements)..

I will try to meet my SWAGBUCKS goal every day. Since the dogs get me up early I use that time and the time right before bed to do that. Hard sometimes to do as I get knocked out of the surveries most the time.

I am doing Pinecone research still, not as many as I don't have cable or DVR or children under 18

We will use CASH for groceries or gift cards that are gotten on discount and I am looking at eating from the pantry and shopping Aldi's the most. I do have a $250 gift card from Krogers and $75 gift card from Walmart and over $200 rebate "check" for Menards.

We will use GASBUDDY for checking for the cheapest gas. Hubby uses Speedway fuel card for extra cents off and I have a Kroger's pts card but we won't be buying much at Krogers so that might not be an option at times.

I paid for the Grocery Budget Bootcamp (Tiffiny) ...yes believe me I thought about it for a week.Talked it over with Hubby, daughter and then son that visits regularly. Then I decided if it saved me $25 a month I would "break even" So I signed up and read the welcome and first class and realized a a problem in how I am managing the pantry. A tweak in the basic grocery list and what will be a week of reorganizing the kitchen will save us about $30 in a 10 day span because I won't be losing produce or tossing leftovers as much.Daughter brings home half her lunch almost daily and that's not getting ate either so she decided what she gets for lunch (she's a bartender on first shift and can not leave so she gets 50% off her meals) she will focus on something that can help extend the dinner we have the next night. A lesson that is for the 22nd is inventorying what you have...I started NOW as it will take me all this month to get that done with the other work I have.

I joined Home Storage Solutions 101 Declutter 365. I did this last year and it really helped...I didn't get it done due to surgery but with moving I really need to get this done BEFORE we move as we do NOT need to pack clutter and take it with us even though we have a huge barn we could use for storage. Daugher has offered to take donations to Goodwill as she has one right around from her work so we won't be making special trips to town and she can take it as I get it together instead of it sitting until we do go to town.

Menu planning will be USE UP THE LEFTOVERS FIRST plan. I thought about a pantry challenge... with acknowledgement that we still would eat out more than I like even with having the eating out calendar we have done extra due to being on the road at the wrong times. Since I know this "be gone so much" time isn't going to last more than a couple months we are trying to change times that we have to be somewhere. The hardest is when I have to take my meds that require me to eat a MEAL not a snack.

The biggest will be dealing with the house we are buying. I budgeted paying the asking price (actually I budgeted what it would cost to build the house we had decided on if we found land instead of a house) but HOPE they take less when offered due to the amount and COST of getting the house back up to code and qualifying it for a traditional mortgage and covereage under home ins.

That's going to be the priority for this year. It helps that Hubby can go down to the neighbors and pick up work here and there and another friend called tonight and asked if he would be interested in driving some for him towards the end of summer beginning of fall  short term.

Blessed Be

Happy New Year's Day

May all of you and yours find contentment in this coming year no matter what you are going through.

Funny how the outdoors looks the same as last winter. Even change can be the same because it's a LOT colder this winter than last year.

I'll be back tomorrow with my goals of this year.

May Blessing overflow your cup.