Planning a frugal 2019

Laundry is rolling, home blessing is almost done and I decided it was time for a coffee break and chat for awhile...

I hope you are finding joy in your days, finding the beauty that is before us in the midst of our daily lives.

Today is Monday

Hubby started work today, he has tomorrow off and it will be packed with having lunch with Son 2 and seeing his parents and my dad.  Son 1 is coming for dinner tonight on his way to see his mother.We have already gave Christmas money to the daughters as they have children were struggling meeting ends.


We usually sit down after Christmas and plan our goals we want to meet and our finances for the next year.

With Hubby working this week, we did it over the weekend.

Projects still to do...

Deck built with ramp... everything bought and here except for the gravel needed to go under it.A friend has a gravel dump trailer that our F350 truck can haul. So it's just going to be the cost of the gravel with no delivery charge.

Awning to go over French doors that lead to deck...

Rework driveway and gravel...

28 ft livestock trailer ...

28 ft flat bed trailer...

Building a "box" on top of the trailer we have to have an enclosed trailer.

Clear last of plants around pond and gravel edge...

Front porch redone...

Kitchen porch redone...

Back door stoop redone...

Gate to back door at house on sidewalk...

Widen sidewalks to fit wheelchair...

Trim apple trees...

Trim dogwood...

Trim lilac bush...

Plant 2nd lilac bush...

Plant maple tree...

Design and plant 4 season gardens with 4-5 yr rotation availability...

Rebuild garden shed at gardens...

Build small green house...

Get home energy audit...

Replace all windows (all doors have been replaced) on house ...

Put siding on the entire house...

Paint porch area on barn that is not metal siding...

Install lights in dog kennel area of barn ...

Install lights in "garage" area of barn...

There are things like installing closets (in barn that can be repainted and used) and shelves (in barn that can be repainted and used) and the endless changes we will do as we live through the seasons and years.

Tuesday MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Wednesday < Hubby is at work while I go over 2019 budget again

As our IRAs are making money invested in the stock market and the stock market is losing like is did in 2008 and this  Dec being as bad as the Dec in 1931. We had a meeting with our finance guy over the phone (saving us gas money)... we talked about losing half of what we have as the worse that could happen (it gets that low we will cash out and put it in a savings acct) and making it last until Hubby reaches full retirement of Social Security. What would our income be? About 1/4th of what it is now.

So Hubby and I talked about things and then decided continue with the withdraws as is (which freaks our finance guy out some) BUT cutting the budget as much as possible and putting the "rest" of the money in a savings acct. Won't earn as much but won't be losing either.

Hubby is working part time for state hwy dept. All money he earns after paying for his fuel and any meals he has to eat out though he plans to pack daily , will go towards by the trailers.

We will know where we stand with federal and state taxes in April, we do know we have to pay to the school that we moved from and hoping that we get refunds enough to cover most of that. We requested twice as much to be withheld for Federal and State since we knew he would be earning money on odd jobs and hope there won't be a really with paying the taxes.

My Job, as Hubby puts it is to cut the budget, save money aka follow behind and and remind him to turn off lights, unplug stuff that is electric vampire and grow enough garden to provide for us for the year including during the winter.

I went back over the budget as we had forgot somethings when listing it... like maintenance on the tractor that he can't do himself while under warranty, tow truck when the F350 wouldn't start this very morning  as we having nothing big enough to tow that. He is hoping it's because he forgot to "plug" it in as it's diesel.

Goal is to keep the electric down below what is budgeted.

 I called our "trash" company and they have another service that will lower our bill by 50 % BUT I am limited on how much I can put out. Our Amish neighbor said we should get a burn barrel from a neighbor of his brother's and only burn paper products (not plastic or metal which some people we know have done) and he could use the ashes in our field that he rents along with our own gardens and is going to help us set up a compost... we don't have much to compost to begin with.

Last year I had to restock the freezers as we had ate pretty much what was in them also the pantry was only half full and we didn't put out much garden.I was able to put up enough to get us to mid summer thanks to the kindness of the neighbors and the family we bought the house from. The total budget for food and non food was $600 a month. I cut it to half of that amount.

This week I will be planning out the gardens. I'm glad I picked up 3 more turkeys and 2 hams than what I planned.

We found a place to get bigger bags of dog food for the same price as the smaller bags.

We will take down the Christmas lights and put what little Christmas we put up away by this weekend.Not that the LED lights on timers raised the bill much.

I will continue to use the drying rack and clothesline on the kitchen porch as much as possible.

When I use the oven I try to put more than one dish in it at a time. One pot meals will be common.

We budgeted 2 tanks / month of gas for my car, two for the old truck and 1 for the F350... as Hubby will be paying for fuel out of his paycheck or what he earns hauling for the Amish. I planned the 1 tank in case we have to use that truck for so reason that we can't drive the jeep. What ever isn't used for fuel or maintenance goes back into savings for that month.

We won't be doing a lot of driving to go visit. In fact we just had two different couples of friends that kept asking us to come down and go out to eat and I was honest and told them that at this point and time we couldn't afford to always come to them as they are an hour away and we definitely couldn't afford to eat out where they wanted to go. They were more than welcome to come here  and I would fix dinner for all of us or we could bring something to share for a meal at their home every other time. We haven't heard from the one couple , the other is coming tonight for potluck dinner after Hubby gets off work.

Have a safe and Happy New Year's

Blessed Be