Hubby starts the conversation

 as we were sittting on the kitchen porch enjoying our coffee with Charlotte who we have found is a creature of habit and wants to sit on the porch every morning and is not thrilled we sit on the porch after the news in the evening instead on in the front room where she curls up in Hubby's recliner. 

Hubby starts with... I remember we are suppose to be working at rebuilding the saving and paying the house off. Maybe some back for a replacement of the old truck... BUT 

I sighed, thinking his cognitive dysfunction was rolling but he laughed about it. At least at that point he was pretty much on spot with what we talked about.

He wanted to know how we were sitting for the grid going down. Got a couple odds and ends needing dealt with but pretty much could handle it if I had to can everything in the freezers. I already have started canning some of our meat when I buy it. Would need to make sure fuel on site is kept up so I can run generator for 2 wks to deal with it. We keep the solar pump for the well charged and he checks batteries every month. We keep the solar cube (looks like a cooler) charged also.

Then he brought up the gardens. We still have some wooden garden beds and they constantly have to be weeded as they are lower than the metal beds. He got one set half weeded in the time I weeded the rest of the gardens. I told him it was better since he added more weed barrier around the entire garden and the new push mower is a mulch mower. He wanted us to replace those beds with metal AND add enough to grow sweet potatoes and potatoes and more herbs and such. He watches the news nightly and said in the past week he saw over a dozen food recalls and know that is why I started changing what we eat and what I grow. 

I priced the two brands of metal beds that we have and then found a 3rd one that was having a sale. First brand was $350 a bed, (I did not pay that when I got mine) the second one was $180. Not bad and just a bit higher than it was when I bought that brand. I found a 3rd one at Amazon for less than $100 each.  He will get the soil in the fall when the stores are trying to clear that kind of stuff out. He will also put out to the Amish that he will be looking for potatoes and sweet potatoes (to grow starts from) this fall. E's Mom does white sweet potatoes so we might have 2 varieties of that.

He called around for prices for tires for the Silverado, got a set of four and got a discount for not using credit card (almost $20). He then took the truck to get oil change and engine flushed using a coupon that one of the Amish got in their mail and passed to him. He pit stopped at the hearing aid office as he's not been hearing me when I am right in front of him, they replaced the end pieces, cleaned them, changed his right hearing aid ear piece to a bigger size and turned it up. He has lost a little bit more hearing on the right side. ALL FREE.

THEN that evening, when we sat on the porch after the news he starts with, I want to at least 18 months total stock up for the home (I pretty much do close to that after kids took me down to 6 months during pandemic, they all stock up for at least a month if not two now). He took a breath and stated firmly" I want a savings of what it costs us for 3 months and I want the house paid off in 10 yrs."

I answered that I usually have about 18 months (some is 2 yrs like pasta) but not on everything and I would have to buy dehydrated potatoes to cover that as he doesn't care for canned. He was okay with it. I also pointed out that it would be by servings not he go eat what ever amount he wanted. He was iffy on that until he tried a couple pairs of jeans on and realized he had not lost what he thought he had but he is between sizes. I offered to take darts in the bigger size. He is thinking about it. But did ask me to start measuring his food or prep stuff that he doesn't have to try to remember what a serving size is.  I made a berry cobbler (used the odds and ends up from the garden) and when it was done I cut it so when he got some, he could see exactly what he amount he should take. He really liked that. 

Since I inventoried all food I know how much I can use a month. 

We get Social Security... did he want that amount also put back also? I also pointed out the we were pulling extra to pay extra on mortgage so we didn't need to put that part back, just regular payment that includes taxes and house ins.

He said since there is constant talk of only getting 70% down the road to put the other 30% in the amount with what we are pulling from retirement.... 

Okay, first we won't need to pull that much from retirement if the mortgage is paid off and second... 30% is MY social security which is where we have been heading for anyways since the widow neighbor ran into problems of paying her bills as her budget was needing both her and her late husband's.  I also pointed out I might be slow at getting the savings to that point since extra money is going on the mortgage. 

We refinanced in 2021 with 30 yr mortgage (pay off date 9/2051)

As of this month, I have the pay off date 2/2046

He wants it paid off 7/2034.... if I can hold to what I have budgeted it will be paid off 8/2029... When I told him that he looked surprised. He didn't realize that even though we were paying off the taxes, I still paid a bit extra (not the amount I had budgeted) on the mortgage. 

I got groceries.... milk and heavy cream, mixed berry pie filling (finishes out that need). I stopped at the Mennonite produce stand and got a small zucchini, 2 green tomatoes, 5 peaches, a loaf of bread (marked down) and a pan of cinnamon rolls (marked down due to being Saturday).Total spent $65.

I still need to stock peanut butter and miracle whip (Hubby hates mayo).

Going to be an interesting year.