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I would rather plan ahead for the worse and make the sacrifices now and prepare then get hit with bad and it cripple us.
As we planted the garden, I am setting aside seeds for the next year to two years even though that reduces what I will plant this late summer for fall harvest and fall planting for winter harvest in the hoop house (plastic green house with no heat). I am also planting things I want to harvest the seed from to have more seed away from the garden so I don't accidentally cross pollinate anything.I have set aside 6 cu ft of dirt to start seeds in this winter.
I got enough fertilizer to go this year and start next year, more if we get manure off E.
I have kept the empty soil bags to use as trash bags.
I've washed foil, switched to a reusable cover on my bowls instead of plastic wrap.
Leftovers are every other night instead on only on Monday night. So it's cook once and reheat or remake the next night.
We have already heard this summer will be hotter than the last 5 yrs and that the heat will run through Oct.We had over 100 degrees last Oct here in Ohio, not anywhere close to the norm. Hot summer means gardens can burn up. Wells that supply our water can drop low also and there is no place to buy water from. That means we need to hook up rain barrels NOW while we are getting rain and conserve our water as much as possible.We have a 400 gal tank (cistern) that is connected to the rain down spouts now.We average 65 gals. in the winter and 95 gal during the summer per day. Difference it the gardens and canning and the amount of water the dogs drink.
It also means our Amish neighbors are going to have struggles as no one around here was able to harvest ice last winter since the river and ponds didn't freeze. Our small freezer in the barn is almost empty so we offered to freeze buckets (we sanitized kitty litter square buckets then put in plastic liners ) for E and M. Right now she is using 2 a week... we asked her what she used last Oct.during 100 degree days.. 1 a day. Okay.We can get 4 in this small freezer (they pay us for the ice even though it saves us money have that freezer full). I told Hubby I if got the one corner of the larger freezer cleared out we could start putting some in that one to build up a bit for them. They tried saving it in their ice house but it melted on them.Their spring house keeps it about a week... but if water levels go down like they did last year that won't be a good deal either.M has offered to teach me to can meat.
I have the furnace off (finally) completely. I am using the airfryer (outside on the table) over then oven to save propane. I dug out the crock pot so it can be in use this summer. I have a grill and 3 turkey fryers . I can use the turkey fryers for water bath canning (keeps the heat out of the kitchen and off the main propane tank) and the grill off the stove and the main propane tank. After June 1st I will call to have the tank filled (it's at 35%, need to fill at 30%) as summer fill is cheaper. The I will know how much we will need to get us through next summer and how much credit we have left from this past year so I can figure out what we need to pull from savings to pay for next year's. We get a discount for paying in full for a reserved amount and then the price doesn't go up on us but can come down.
Hubby retired from Honda Engine plant a couple years ago. Our health ins is through them with them paying part of it. They have put out that the health ins is going to change and some will have to go to public health providers. We figure the retires that are not old enough for Medicare is going to be the ones looking for health ins. Hubby has some money in his RRA (to help pay medical that the company gave him for years of service). We were just going to leave it sit there, but decided to use it to pay off the medical bills I just ran up and close that acct out which earns NO interest for us and keep our own money where it is earning interest for us. I have already started asking others that pay for their own ins of who they have and how well they like their ins.
We are eating from the pantry,keeping meals simple so I can cook with only one hand and not dirty a lot of pots and pans that Hubby will have to wash himself. LOL.
I cancelled a couple memberships even though I was using them regularly. Choices have to be made are not always comfortable. I kept Milk Street because Hubby asked me to as he watches it often and finds cheap meals that we usually like from other countries.
I reread https://theprudenthomemaker.com/ website to "refresh" my thoughts on cutting budget and saving in areas
How is your week going?
Blessed be
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