frugal days

 Monday

 I canned 17 qrts of tomatoes. I put the tomatoes (core cut out) on a cookie sheet and put it in the grill. Five to seven minutes later the tomatoes skins were loose so they were put aside to cool. I did 4 cookie sheets per batch of 7 qrts. Doing it on the grill saved the propane that runs the house. I started harvesting the last of the sweet corn and we some for dinner. Brother texted me to let me know he was really sick. I reminded him that we nearly lost our Aunt due to infection in her teeth and he had just had an abscess under his bridge. YEP he has an infection along with low sugar (he is diabetic) and low red blood cells which runs in family. He is better, seeing his doctor on Friday for more testing and to schedule his "70's testing... that's what he calls colonscope and prostrate testing. We finished the leftovers from the frig for our meals. Furnace to run at 70 at night only.

Tuesday 

No canning or freezing though I did pick enough tomatoes to get a good start for Wednesday morning. Weather has cooled enough to cause to cause both of us to ache and be stiff. Still the furnace was turned off when the sun came up . I started washing flannel sheets. Put the clean summer sheets in the Rubber Maid to go out to the barn loft for storage. I am trying to do 1-2 loads each day of winter stuff and then put the summer in the empty Rubber Maids. They will go to the barn loft 

It's 101 days to Christmas or 95 days to Yule or 96 days to Kwanzaa... we are a family of several faiths.

I ordered 10 shirts/sweaters from Thredup using discount and sales. I need something to cover the back of my arms and not long sleeve as it is annoying to have to keep pushing them up. I noticed the Amish women wear 3/4 length in sleeves so I ordered that. 

Brother texted, on bed rest... didn't remember he had already talked to me.... sugar was 59 .

Hubby had a flat tire, one of the new ones and of course it was the inside tire of his truck (dually) . He lucked out that it could be fixed and only cost $20 and they put his spare back into it's place for him. Hamburger helper with carrots for dinner.

Wednesday

Beef roast was cooked for today and tomorrows meals. I will have enough broth(now in freezer) left to add some chunks of beef that are in the freezer to it and make noodles for this coming weekend.  

I got 9 qrts of tomatoes canned and 2 garden beds cleared of tomatoes. I washed 2 loads of laundry and 5 loads of winter stuff... which Hubby for some reason decided to mow right at the clothes lines and threw grass all over every thing. Since I am allergic to grass... fresh mowed grass triggers my asthma horribly. I will be rewashing everything tomorrow on top of appts and errands. He took a picture of the busted drainage tile and took it with him to go buy field tile. The guy at the local lumber yard took one look and told him he didn't need to replace the whole tile as they had what he could use to splice it and make sure it didn't leak (2 different tiles coming together was the issue) . SO once more the cost of fixing this had dropped... Cost him $10. and 30 mins to fix it and fill in the hole. Still need to reroute the far drain... BLESSINGS ALL AROUND... except for rewashing laundry .... 

Thursday 

Leftover beef for supper... what a day. Hubby got a email from the state requesting a drug test in 24 hrs.... they do random testing. So he had to stop what he was doing and we pushed back going to do errands until he got back home, about 2 hrs. after we had planned to start out. I did get all the laundry rewashed and on line before we left.  We paid the truck payment here in town and then went to Sidney to make a deposit at our bank( they closed our local bank), went to chiropractor. Hubby dropped me off at CVS and I did the shopping (saved 50%)there while he went to Walmart to pick up sugar for M. He picked me back up and dropped me off at Kroger's( ours is closing next month so I am trying to get in the habit of going after chiro) while he went for fuel. Saved 45%. We shouldn't need anything until late Oct or even Nov besides dairy. 

Friday

I got the flannel sheets and a blanket on the bed. Changed all the furniture covers to winter (we use old sheets due to dogs but Hubby likes a sheet in his recliner since that's his bed. Thankful a recliner worked for him since a cpap made his breathing worse. I roasted chicken and baked potatoes in the oven to help warm the house. At 1 pm I turned the furnace on and increased the temp from 70 to 72. It was 62 in the house. No sun what so ever to help warm the house. We did find we were going to have to find a new place to fax. Our library is only curb side right now and the local Kroger's is closing. Our phone company charges an arm and leg for that to be in the home. 

We ordered our brains AKA calendars, 5 subject note books as neither of us remembered to go get them when school supplies came out. Daughter 2 said I spent half what she did getting them for her youngest. I also ordered my journals for the next 2 years since they were on clearance and the style I prefer. 

Saturday

N showed up and said he was cleaning the hoop house so I could get my green tomatoes. Hubby went over to pick them and N had already picked half of them. Hubby picked the other half. N didn't want any money, but since Hubby was insisting he asked for $5 since it took him 30 minutes to gather them. Hubby gave him $10 . The common amount of an hour's work around here for pretty much everything. I got 2 bushels of green tomatoes for $10. N's wife E canned over 200 quarts of tomato juice during the week not touching what she had already put up. Hubby said there was close to 4 bushels of red tomatoes waiting for her on the table at her canning stove that she would be starting to work on Monday morning. 

I went through the green tomatoes, some I will allow to ripen, most will be sliced and froze. I did find  at

https://pickyourown.org/GreenTomatoes_WhatToDoWithThem.php#:~:text=Freeze%20Green%20Tomatoes%3A&text=Select%20firm%2C%20sound%20green%20tomatoes,freezer%20wrap%20between%20the%20slices.

She doesn't flour or anything her green tomatoes before freezing. I will be trying this out this year. 

I still have tomatoes in the garden.

Green tomato ends from slicing the green tomatoes for the freezer and the small greet tomatoes from the garden will make relish. Not thrilled with green tomato relish but won't waste it. Red will be canned as whole tomatoes. Looks like a good solid week of putting food in the pantry. 

The summer bedding and the furniture throws are in the rubber maid to be taken to the barn loft. I already brought the next one in to start on Monday.

I made noodles to use the leftover beef and broth. Made enough of it and mashed potatoes to have for Sunday dinner. We hade watermelon as I sliced the one up and froze it to be bagged on Monday. I cleared the kitchen side of the bfast bar so I could roll out the noodles. 

I did a brain drain  HA HA. Wrote down in no certain order, everything that was needing done. INCLUDING using a cleaning routine for this house. I pointed out hot spots (places that gather clutter including the cardboard box sitting next to Hubby's wardrobe) that bug me but keep filling back up. The cardboard box has the American flag that needs fixed... wind ripped the hook ( not the flag) that holds it to the top of the pole. AND the old "barn" coat that Hubby was going to through away as it is ripped up and worn out beyond even rags. He said he kept it so he wouldn't ruin another coat. I asked him how many coats he has because I can tell you now he has another one he could use as a barn coat as the cuffs of it are almost gone. We looked at our punch list per room and realized we had stopped looking for some things that we wanted to use for organizing the house. We decided to order a lamp to go between the recliner and couch, a roll cart to go between the washer and dryer and a roll cart to slide in the cubby hole in the bathroom.   I looked around for the correct size, the best blah blah blah and decided to wait one more day to order.

Sunday

I checked what I had put on hold to order. Two things had went down by 25 % so I ordered everything. 

I played a bit with the finances as we know starting next year we will both have social security (2nd and 3rd Wed of the month) My IRA from Daddy will come in the 15th (date he had used so I kept it). We have bounced around when to get Hubby's IRA set for.... Hubby said the 1st but by time it comes all the way through it's the 3rd or 4th which puts the mortgage late. I can pay the mortgage with the social security but what we had planned out isn't set for that. So I will rework it to see if that is the way we should go and still get his IRA on the 1st. Otherwise we need to cover an extra month before we start his IRA next year. I'll work both it both ways and let Hubby decided since it's his IRA.

We got a FEDX delivery... on Sunday... not the norm for around here. Down in Son 2's area he even gets regular mail on Sunday.  It was the doughnut pan and doughnut mix for baked doughnuts for Hubby's birthday. He was excited even though his bday isn't for a couple more weeks. I usually bake a carrot cake for Autumn celebration, he asked for his apple cinnamon and his pumpkin spice doughnuts to be made instead. I got part of my shirts from Thredup. 

We had the last of the beef and noodles and mashed potatoes for dinner.

He decided to finish the field tile so it was done and off the list completely. He will be working on it this week when he has time. I will start prepping the house for winter. Getting around for storm windows to be put on next weekend and hanging winter curtains. He will put the insulation boards back up around the foundation in a couple areas. 

Blessed be

 

 

When needing a lift.

 I found this picture on the internet several years ago. I wish I could find who posted it and thank them. The lady looks close to how my Nonna looked and that is my favorite apron style, more of a canning apron style. The kitchen looks like the one I grew up in. Not a kitchen she ever cooked in but she did sit in the rocker and watched. 

When I am being over ran in the gardens, canning and freezing until I stumble in tiredness like today, along with a bruised knee due to Charlotte running head first into me. She was chasing a bunny. At least she didn't knock me down though she staggered herself .  I go down to my pantry and look at the full freezers and then the pantry shelves.If I have empty spots going into fall I do NOT have enough. 

We decided to have at least 18 months solid of food in the pantry/freezers and with acknowledgement it could stretch to 2 yrs.

YES really... Hubby said something about the  freezers, I told him we have to eat 2 whole chickens, a pork butt, 6 lbs of  shredded turkey and two beef roasts before Thanksgiving. I need room for the hams that goes on sale at Christmas.

 I know I need more tomatoes (which are right out there in the garden that needs cleared for winter and I need to do my own so if I need more I can let N know) I need green tomatoes which are coming in the end of the month or the beginning of next month when N clears his hoop house for the winter. I need 180 qrts of tomatoes for the year. If I can in pints, double that to 360. Pizza sauce is done and that's not in that count.. I have 30 of the 6 oz jars.I have a dozen of store bought tomato paste.  I have 63 qrts. I am short 117.

If I can the same amount as I did yesterday I will be done in a week... Need to really focus on that... 9 days as I don't can on Sunday. Means I will know if I am short before N closes down his hoop house. If I can I will go help him close it down so I get a discount on the tomatoes or even free.

E ran into the guy that built our home. He said the spouting on the south side of the house and off the east and south side of the barn should be running to the field tile that goes to the pond.The only thing that should be running to the county tile is the west side of the barn and it goes to the corner of the property towards the county line.  So E and Hubby went out and checked. They found blockage on two of the lines that was mud.... M remembered her brother who lived here before N did  used to wash the garden stuff in the pump house (main drain to the pond) BUT they wouldn't have used much water to do that so the dirt from the veggies blocked the line. N and E, when they lived here used the water they used to wash veggies to water in the hoop house so it didn't get"wasted". E helped Hubby unplug the two lines so we only have 1 line to repair and then Hubby can put in a field tile out at the corner of the property to run the barn tile to the pond. SAVING hundreds of dollars. 

Other savings... 

We decided to not turn the furnace on even though it was 42 this morning , high is to be mid to high 70's, until the house drops to 68. That makes the front room 64. Hubby can't handle anything colder when he is sleeping. I am hoping this year that room won't be 4 degrees lower than the rest of the house. As we keep insulating /caulking where we find air leaks. 

I've had to use the drying rack a couple times at night to finish drying the clothes that didn't dry on the clothes line after hanging for hours.

I open curtains and blinds to the sun to warm the house, shut the windows and doors in afternoon before it starts cooling down to keep the warmth in the house.

Hubby got milk when he was picking up meds so no special trips to the store.

We got a free meal from an Amish couple. Hubby and they had went to an Auction... we didn't get anything but on the way back the wife asked if I had supper waiting. He said no, I would fix it when he got in. They asked if they could use his phone to order pizza. Sure , he even had the number in his contacts. They placed their order while Hubby secured the load. When he stopped for them to get their pizza , they had ordered 3 for their family and 1 for us. We ate it for 3 meals. 

Instead of using the whole package of smoked sausage I split it between baked beans and jambalaya. Other wise Hubby would have ate 3/4 of the package by himself. I made corn bread to go with the baked beans and sausage (cooked it together) and Hubby ate the last of the corn bread for his bfast. 

We bought 1/2 gal of orange juice. Daughter 4 bought a kit to make hot sauce for Hubby for Father's day. I have tomatoes and onions and lime juice but the one called for OJ. Hubby got the cheapest he could get. SO we will have to focus on drinking what we don't use. He was taking back a med I had gotten that I can't take due to blue dye. They found out the warning system they have wasn't working so they gave me free meds along with several coupons... they also switched it to cash payment instead of insurance as it saved me $200 as they used GOOD RX for the cash. I said something to Daughter 4 and she said she very seldom uses her ins for meds as she usually can get it cheaper with GOOD RX. 

Even if it means there are dishes sitting in the sink, I do not run the dish washer. unless it's completely full. So instead of every day it might be every one and half days.   

If I am washing pots and pans by hand, all gets washed by hand. Same amount of water is being used.

We are saving shower water, canner water etc to pour down the drain that goes to the pond. Even with the 5 inches of rain we have had last week , the pond is down 3 feet from where it should be but the fish are no longer in danger of dying from lack. I thought it was 2 ft but Hubby and E measured it when tracing for the tile. Scary thought as the pond is only 8 ft deep at it's deepest. We know because we had pump put in to circulate the water,aerate, in it for the fish that is tied to the windmill we had put in.

I harvest seeds for lettuce, red noodle beans (heirloom) and Bergen dried beans.

I traded a large "family" size of toilet paper I can't use due to allergies for a loaf of bread and 2 pies.

We are reworking our plans for the garden. Hubby now knows who will grow what on a regular bases and they water (hose and Honda motor ran by gas on their wells) so we can figure out what we REALLY need to grow on our own.We would like to add more fruit trees and get rid of 3 trees that are not making anything.

We bought some trees to plant last year. When I sent a picture to the company they refunded my money as there are 6 that didn't get get leaves or show any signs of growth. I really felt when they sent them, they were sending by zone not by what the weather was doing. I also let them know they were delivered when we had freezing temps and that's when they told me to send pictures to them this fall if they didn't do anything. Was nice they kept their word but I won't refer them or order from them again.

I started washing the winter bedding, did some of the sheets today and hung them on the line. 

Are you prepping for the fall and winter to come? 

Blessed Be

 

 

Hubby cracked a joke

 about me writing out everything that should be done in next 4 weeks which is when we usually get our first frost which last year was a freeze.... then I handed him the list and got a lot of "I forgot that wasn't done, I need to find where I put the stuff to do that (aka lost in the barn)... and finally, guess that wasn't a bad idea to do.

I came back with "does that mean it was a good idea?" 

Sometime we annoy the crap out of each other. 

I definitely annoyed him when I called him as he was in Kroger's picking up my meds and told him to bring supper home when he knew I had supper already planned ... I had burnt my hand 3 times and decided I wasn't touching the stove the rest of the night. ALONG with I stepped offthe kitchen porch NOT at the steps while turning to see what the dogs were doing.... not bad but it's a 2 foot drop to the ground and I ended up grabbing the tree branches to slow that jolt down. I was done for the day. A little sore this morning but have had worse working in the gardens. He was MORE annoyed I stepped off the porch. When we redo the kitchen porch (stuff is here) we will widen it so there is actual flooring on both sides of that kitchen clothes line. PLUS I can put pots there to get rain instead of moving my pots out into the yard when it's going to rain. Which annoys him when I forget to put them back up on the porch and he has to stop mowing and move them.

I broke down the lists... produce. gardens.outside work. fall prep. insulation. and projects not done but the stuff is here. 

Produce:fire roasted tomatoes (starting that today), green tomatoes, relish, 7 types of hot sauce (thanks to Daughter 4 that got that gift for Hubby for father's day knowing I would be the one making it) pickled onions , more tomatoes as I clear the gardens. I have potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions to still dig, dried beans for soups to pick and shell and beans to pick and shell for seed for next year. I need to clean the north garden of the volunteers of turnips, red chard, and 3 kales. I need to pull and process  seed from the field paste tomatoes in my garden. I need to pull the corn for the seed corn for next year. I need to cook and dehydrate the 5 pie pumpkins and dehydrate celery.I need to freeze Brussels sprouts. I need to clean out the produce gardens boxes  in the south garden and prep for transplanting strawberries in the spring.

I need to make noodles and dry them as this can also be a gift at Christmas.

I need to dig out the north flower garden that over flows with weeds every year. I am going to clear it (again) Move the hosta that is huge and over the sidewalk in the spring to the south garden area. I have artisan lilies that will do very well in that area and over whelm the weeds (that I will pull out by roots) like they did when we lived on Staley. I have cedar chips (termites and other bugs don't like them) to use as mulch. 

I need to transplant the walking onions as they have out grown were they are and are trying to plant themselves on the sidewalk. I will be having seed garlic coming in that will need planted also. Didn't get the varieties I ordered as they didn't grow well this year but am getting what I have ordered in the past.It helps when you order from the same company year after year.

I need to prep the large pots to transplant the fruit trees in spring. 

I need to clear all the flower pots and clean them for next year.

Garden stuff needs cleaned and put away, not tossed in garden shed like Hubby did last year. Winter snow shovels and deicer pellets (pet safe) needs put on porches and deck.Window scrappers put in vehicles . He can't remember where he put the shovels and scrappers and thinks we need one for the deck as Wilbur and Rascal are starting to come in that way more using the ramp instead of stairs.

Garden hoses out to the horses need drained and put away, probably end of Nov as Eli usually keeps his horses closer to the barn in the winter time. 

I need to get the winter bedding, furniture throws, curtains and clothes out of barn loft and wash and dry (on clothes line). Need to pull all of the summer bedding, furniture throws, curtains and clothes and put in the barn loft for storage. I know I didn't get 2 sets of curtains made last year and have 3 curtains to change how they hang on the rod. 

Hubby needs to finish air barrier installation in north attic and dining room attic. Material is here. He forgot.

Caulking, insulation board (on back of doors to attics and crawl spaces ) and outlet/switch insulation is still needing finished.He forgot this also.

Not touching the deep seasonal cleaning ... I am still doing week 2 of drawers, cabinets and shelves but have done week 3 and 4. Week 5 is windows and curtains.

I do https://nanowrimo.org/ the WHOLE month of Nov. Writing 50,000 words in 30 days.

Kids want cookies and candy for Christmas. 

Projects not done but stuff is here.

Fencing to replace the fence the old wire fence between yard and pond.

Brace for deck top railing.

Side boards for deck ramp 

Basement ramp walls and kitchen porch...this will be better done AFTER we fix the drainage problem. Was advised by ditch witch person to mark where we want the drainage and THEN measure for the tile so we don't buy what we don't need. 

Tower and antenna put up.

Gravel spread on driveways. Probably a 4 day job with the tractor.

SIGH but first is dealing with marking the place for the tile to be put. We might do that tomorrow as Hubby has 3-4 jobs already lined up and we have chiro and banking on Thursday.

I have today's meal(what was suppose to be last night's) and tomorrow's meal.  So I need to plan menu tomorrow including what to bake. 

On to roasting tomatoes on the grill to can. 

 

Why field tile called tile.

 The phrase "tile drainage" derives from its original composition from tiles of fired clay, i. e., ceramic, which were similar to terracotta pipes yet not always shaped as are pipes. In the 19th century a "C" shaped channel tile commonly was placed like an arch atop a flat tile, denominated the "mug" and "sole", respectively. Today, tile drainage is any variation of this original system that functions in the same mode. Commonly HDPE and PVC tubing denominated "tile line" is used, although precast concrete and ceramic tiles are still used.

Going line by line of the budget

 this is field tile. Worse would be we need 1500 ft of it to fix the drainage here.That would be total replacement of what is here and add to what should have been here. That alone is $750. 

We know we can rent a ditch witch (machine that cuts the ground into a 5 inch ditch to put tile in at the correct slope for drainage) for $2000 for 2 days since it's takes a half of day to get it and take it back we lose that time plus Hubby would have to not work himself to do it losing more money that way. He is calling the guy a lot of the Amish use even though they say he is expensive...we know what it cost for us to do it.We can lay the tile our selves and cover it ourselves saving there. 

MEANTIME I need to figure out where the money is coming from.

We could pull it from the IRAs or main savings but I would like to not have to pull it from there or all of it from there if we can get by I don't mind if we pull from month savings accts as I put each month in a separate savings to keep things straight for our son if something happens.Sept and Oct are in joint checking, Nov and Dec are in personal savings.Emergency fund is in main savings.

I know Hubby will most likely not break even in his business Oct thru March as the produce auction won't be open and pallets have not picked back up. Amish won't be needing grain hauled or seed hauled or even animals hauled much.So we don't count on the business at all at this time.This year according to our tax person is BREAK EVEN which is is most likely going to do or be close to doing even with the pandemic which is AMAZING.

Hubby gets his SS in Nov. That can cover Nov budget as we use that money in the savings to pay for the ditch witch. Daddy left an insurance policy that we didn't know about that will also help cover that month (it was through the plant he retired from so it's not much of one) and brother and I was wondering if someone was trying to scam us since we didn't know he had one still there after he retired 33 yrs ago. That should come in late this month.

OKAY ... I need $750 .

We cut 27% off the electric bill from last month (GO ME for following Hubby around and turning off fans and not turning on the AC until supper time if then) so that will cover 100 ft.... leaving 1400 ft to go.

The jar money we made off the garden and making ice will cover 200 ft leaving 1200 ft to go.

I can cut the dog budget for Sept and Oct (money in the checking) as no one needs shots until Dec and I have their vitamins and meds. That is another 200 ft leaving 1000.

The kids and grandkids have asked for cookies and candy for Christmas... two also asked for measuring cups and spoons (yard sale if I don't have extra myself as I think I have Daddy's in the barn) as they would like to start baking (out on their own) I have everything to do that except peanut butter (they like buckeyes).  SO I can take the grocery budget over to the tile for Sept and Oct (in checking ) . Use  the money we get from making the ice for E and M for milk and peanut butter for Sept and Oct that adds another 200 ft leaving 800.

I can take part of the money that is put back for Christmas and put on the tile, the other part will go to replace baking supplies. That's another 600 ft  leaving 200 ft. We give per family not person we have 6 kids, 8 grandkids out on their own. Great grandkids(5 with the 6th on the way) get cash, their parents put it in a savings as they all have like 6 -8 sets of grandparents/great grandparents etc so they don't want a lot of presents or it over whelms everyone.

I paid the school taxes in advanced so I can move that over to cover the last 200 ft. 

Hubby is hoping that it's only half that . As we already pulled some from the Dec budget to pay for the rain gutters being fixed and added to. 

Not a frugal week

 unless you count we dropped off stuff to the 4 kids needing it and picked up the motorcycle at the same time. The rest was a down hill slide. Then we still forgot to get the lawn chairs from Daughter 2 SIGH. IT's okay Son 2 forgot to get the title to the motorcycle notarized so he will be heading this way or us that way again. Maybe Daughter 2 will bring it to us if she decides to come fishing LOL.

We started checking out the field tiles that run to the pond... only one worked, it blew while we were running the water to fill pond so it was hunt to find where it blew since it didn't blow UP any where we knew it had to blow downwards and could cause a sinkhole. 

Two hours of digging, Hubby came in and said he couldn't even find the line... I went out and pointed out the TRACTOR was sitting on top of where the line should be. He moved the tractor and dug 1 ft from where he was digging and found it.One tile had a crack in it... the other one blew.He called a friend that had a ditch witch (digs  a ditch for field tile) and it was broke down. SO he is going to have to call a business to see when they can come do it. Triple the cost but got to be done. We will have to add more tile to connect everything like it should be but better in the long run.PLUS we are having the 2 yr old rain gutters fixed and they said it would be easier to run it so everything goes towards the tile or the pond it's self. They don't know why the contractors changed it since they didn't put it in any or the tiles that was already here and at down spouts. The head contractor already stopped using them right after we had them come back and fix areas that weren't right at all.

We got beets in that we had bartered for and Hubby's mother then requested twice as much as she had ordered. I just gave her ours as I know that was pretty much the end of the beets. I repeatedly asked her if she was sure that's all she wanted and she said yes. We are fine with what we have but I definitely will be starting her order in the spring so when she says she needs more it will be easier to get her some. She also started looking for veggies to can relish (I call it picadilly) since she found canning lids in her basement. Hubby made arrangements to pick it up for her Friday when hauling produce. She will be paying for those as Hubby pointed out he had bartered for us to have half those beets and paid for hers. She could pay for the veggies she was asking for now. I thought it was strange as we don't usually have any of the family pay. His siblings that actually live closer and his brother that oversees his parents told him to quit giving everything to the parents. I guess  they are tossing food out left and right and then going out to eat or get take out. Except the beets... his dad eats the beets. 

Hubby went to get prescriptions, milk , dog food (on sale) and flex seal. He also picked up a fogger for the pump house as he has been battling flies there.

We finally got rain.... way too much at one time as it was 4.5 inches (1/2 mile away got 6.5) in hours. Basement has some water in it. We got it blocked when I realized last night it was coming through the door and casement sills. That will be taken care of as soon as it dries out. A few things will be moved in case it happens again but most of it was up off the floor so it would get wet . We still need to add water to the pond. The guy that built the house told E he filled the pond himself running the pump 5 hrs a day for 7 days... it was completely empty when he started it. So that's nice to know.

After we talked it over I ordered another dehydrator , plastic lids for canning jars for storage and more Tattler lids. These were not in the budget.Hubby felt we should get them now while we could and not chance waiting for next year. To keep the budget in line I moved several areas over to cover this. We can go without for a bit in those areas. 

How it things going for you?

Blessed Be 

Deck railing

 I can't mark it off the punch list as it still needs a support along the top railing and the ramp still needs the side boards (to keep wheelchairs from going off the ramp) . It is nice to at least have it looking good. Patio table is still needing put together if Hubby every gets the time.

South railing. We have an umbrella that will go between the two chairs on the left and I need to spray paint the small table.

North railing. Metal chair needs welded, Hubby thinks he can get one of the repair shops that work on Amish stuff to fix it  and then I can repaint it... we had 6, I am not sure where they are in the barn but I want to make sure they are fixed and repainted by next year. We were going to put the grill here... no way now. That railing is vinyl just like siding and Hubby has already melted vinyl siding on 2 houses with the grill. Grill will stay on the front porch. Not a bad place as I very seldom get rain there but I do get wind so we put up a wind block.

Rascal's crook of his tail at bottom of photo... that is what we see when he is walking on the ground besides this railing. Wilbur and Charlotte are watching Hubby pull the flat bed trailer in and parking. This is the west railing. The bottom . of all the rails are low enough to stop one of Rascal's balls from going off the deck.

We might put lattice later in the open spots but right now I love the way it is. 

I did not buy sweets

 or the frozen lasagna while at the store today... oh yeah it was tempting. I did get the cool whip that was on sale and shoved 12 of them in the freezers and 1 in the frig as I am planning to make a icebox cake tomorrow. 

Poultry creamy enchiladas using https://theprudenthomemaker.com/creamy-chicken-enchiladas/  recipe. is for tonight. 

We changed dentist and my appt was today. I save $250 by switching as I was due for xrays. I got 5% also off as I wrote a check instead of using a debit or credit card. Hubby goes the 10th.

I got the knack of canning with Tattler lids.I bought a case and figured if I use them 3 times, I can then count the rest of the times I use them as free compared to metal canning lids. They were also in supply where metal canning lids aren't.

I made an extra payment of the principal of the mortgage. That saved us $958.40 in interest.. Our mortgage guy actually looked to see if it was better to refinance the loan or just pay it off early... when I told him how we were going to pay it. He figured we would saved 39% and next year it will be more as I plan to pay off this loan off in the next 10 yrs not 28 yrs as we have left on the loan. I really would like to do it in 6 yrs but with how things are going in the world I am not sure I can do that.

We had ordered bushels of tomatoes (2 red and 1 green). Red will be juice and diced tomatoes. The Amish guy said if we were willing to wait until he cleans his hoop house where he grows them he would discount them by 50%. I've done this the last couple years. I even have gotten some for free as no one wanted them and he knows I am sharing with my kids and grandkids (GEEZE , grandkids living on their own SIGH) 

I mended my slippers.

I harvest lettuce seeds and dried bean seed for next year.

I harvested volunteer turnips, red and green kale and lettuce. 

I harvested the red Pontiac potatoes and set them to cure on the porch. I grew potatoes is grow bags. I put the "used" dirt in other garden box beds so I won't have to buy more dirt. Everything gets a good dose of fertilizer this fall and again in the spring.  

I canned 5 pints of crushed tomatoes and 2 pints of tomato juice. I am surprised I got that with how bad the blossom rot is but there was one or two paste tomatoes per bush that was good even though they are about 1/3rd of their normal size.. Hubby's uncle lost ALL of his tomatoes to blossom rot. 

We worked on the deck and almost have the railing finished. We ran out of the one board so will be picking it up this week when we are already over to Sidney for appts and can go to Menards. I have rebate credit we can use for that. 

I mixed water with dish soap, shampoo, conditioner and switched to bar soap for hand soap in the bathrooms and liquid soap( scraps of bar soap mixed with water) at the sinks in the kitchen and mudroom.  

I made laundry soap. 

I gave daughter 4 and granddaughter (her daughter) dishes and silverware we were not using. Our local thrift shop is not accepting anything at this time still.Keeps me from paying extra on the trash service.

Blessed be everyone

When Amish ask you if you have extra canning lids.

 You know things are bad. When the statement is I don't know what we are going to do, do you have any extra?

Canning lids for the Amish is the difference between having food during the year and going hungry.They even can their meat. 

M said she still had green beans and tomatoes to can. She still has meat to can...she can kill the chickens as needed and the pig could be smoked but the cow has to be canned.  Veggies and fruit are regular lids. Meat is wide mouth. I have 12 cases of wide mouth jars and 3 cases of regular jars with their lids and bands. I moved to the side for her. I gave her 10 boxes of regular lids I had. FYI she cans over 3000 jars of meat.It takes 3 qrts of meat a MEAL to feed her family. She does over 11,000 of veggies and over 6,000 of fruit. 

Today I am going down to sort through what I can and see what else I can come up with for her.  Hubby said worse would be we buy a freezer for their usage, that's a 16 ft freezer just for the cow.

Going to be a rough winter for a lot of people

Thankful for bloggers: dealing with fraud and totaled car (not mine)

 That speak up and tell you a company is fraud. 

I had ordered canning lids. Even after googling the site it kept coming up a "real"... it wasn't. I am thankful my bank had not paid it yet so I could cancel it (easier than fighting a fraud claim).  

Amazon also caught a fraud company stopped a withdraw and let me know about it.

I questioned my car and home ins agent about a bill I got in my email (we get all those bills in paper mail) and it was fraud.

Hubby got a bill for the business... when he checked it out, found it was fraud.

Daughter 4's daughter totaled her car about 2 wks ago... her boyfriend when to pick her up at doctor appt beginning of this week and his wheel bearing went out and the axle broke. Yesterday Daughter 4 who was the one driving everyone to work (they work same place and same hours) had a hit and run driver hit her car while parked in front of her home while she slept. NO one in the neighborhood heard anything and it looks like it was intentional as it's square hit from behind to shove her trunk up into her back seat and moved her car 8 ft. Paint chip from the car that hit her was left behind so the cops are now checking repair shops but doubt if that does any good. She didn't have full coverage and doesn't have enough for another car or even a down payment as she just got back to work from the pandemic. SIGH. We took our jeep down to her and specified only she could drive the car.

Charlotte broke out in hives. We took all 3 to vet ,boys got nails clipped and she got nails clipped and shot and meds that she has already figured out how to eat the treat and spit the pills back out. SO it's pin her and shove them down her throat. Wilbur is the best for taking meds. We also corrected Wilbur's birth date. Daughter 2 told us he was born in 2010 then grandson said, no because they lived in the old homestead when he was born...that's 2008 so Wilbur is 12 . SO I had the vet pull Rascal's original records when I noticed they had him as 9 ...he is 8 not 9 which is what I thought , they don't know who changed it on the record.  SO they are 12, 8 and 3 ... While at the vet, I ended up with Rascal and Charlotte and got pulled down by Charlotte who tried to run to the truck and Rascal stepped sideways in front of me... Lucky he wasn't hurt. I have a banged up knee and sore wrist. Hubby gets her for now on if on regular leash. I wrap a leash around Wilbur like a harness and can control him . I told Hubby we need to do the same for Charlotte as she has a lot of pulling strength and with a harness I could pull her up to her back feet to stop that. I do think I only fell because of Rascal stepping in front of me. 

Back to work ... 

funeral and changes.

 Aunt Dolly, she was Mother's half sister on her Father's side.She looked just like her mother. She had a sense of humor to the day she died. Even in her obit that she wrote in her final days asked for hats and silly masks to be worn so she could look down and laugh at us. She was 88. 

 I thought about how hard is has been to get seeds and canning supplies. I got some Tattler canning lids and STILL don't have it down how to get it right... I decided I was going to practice canning water LOL this week until I do have it right since I am already canning. I went through my canning supplies. I would get about half way through canning and be out of lids. So I am looking NOW until I find enough as I can over 1200 jars a year. I did find some at a decent price at https://www.ballofficial.com/.  I went through my seeds, checked what I needed. Bookmarked the orders (as there is 7 different places to get them ) and now am looking to see if I can find them cheaper somewhere. This spring I didn't get some varieties the do better in this area for summer planting. 

We need to order water for the pond. It is down dangerously low and we don't want the fish (over 200) to die. If we can't find a supplier we will be running the garden hose out to it to add to it daily to try to keep it where it is.Hopefully the rain that is in the forecast will actually come HERE.

I am now dehydrating corn as I have enough room left for watermelon, cantaloupe and green tomatoes in the freezers. We have decided to start Sept 1st on eating from the pantry(that includes the freezers) instead of waiting until Nov/Dec. Mainly because with making ice for E we don't have that freezer for the turkeys and hams I buy in the fall. I do already have enough butter by buying here and there when it was under $2 a lb. 

 I am back to waiting on the dried beans to stop blooming and dry LOL. 

I have peach chutney to make and can, orange marmalade to make and can, cantaloupe and watermelon to cut and freeze. Then green tomato relish, picadilly, green tomatoes for freezer and canned for chili, tomatoes diced, chunked, sauce (pints and qrts) and maybe some juice to do ,tomatoes and green tomatoes are to be in this week or next. 

Hubby wants to change some things in the finances but we need to wait until we have the costs for the pond, canning supplies and seeds.

How are you doing?

Fried green tomatoes

 I do my green tomatoes a couple ways when I can going to freeze them... 

I cut wash, dry and cut them like I was going to fry them right then.

choices are

flour then egg(or buttermilk) then bread crumbs 

or

flour then egg (or buttermilk) then cracker crumbs

or 

flour then egg(or buttermilk) then cornmeal 

or

flour then egg(or buttermilk) then bread crumbs

or 

corn starch then egg (or buttermilk) then corn starch 

If I am eating them fresh I would do any of the above or use Whistle Stop Green tomatoes batter....

Freezing them ... I stop before I do the egg or buttermilk.Freeze them on a rack (like for cooling cookies or a cake)and cookie sheet. and then  bag them after they are frozen solid so I can pull out how ever many I want at a time.  Sometimes I just do the first step of cornstarch freeze and then do a mixture of cornstarch and flour with no egg or buttermilk. Depends on who is in the house and how heavy coating we want to eat. 

HEAVEN HELP ME LOL

Tuesday night... Hubby went over to E and M's to pick sweet corn. He was suppose to get 3 dozen but thinks between L and little E there is closer to 5 dozen. 

He also brought home from them, radishes, onions, celery, oranges, 3lbs apples,4 lbs plums, cantaloupe and 6 tomatoes that are the size of a soft ball. 

SO today I started ...  I harvest garlic chives ,chives and kale from my gardens and put that in the dehydrator. In the other dehydrator is celery from M and what I had picked up. That will give me enough for the winter as I will buy some fresh for celery salad and stir fries.

I froze cauliflower and broccoli I had gotten. Not a lot but enough for a meal or two.

I started canning the last of the beets M sent over last week when her daughter L knocked on the door and had 1 plastic grocery bag of green beans with the news of  her brother was bringing the second bag. OH well add that to the growing list. 

Hubby called to tell me he had local honey to bring home and we were being gifted with a fresh chicken as one of the guys had butchered 40 plus chickens.. 

Tonight is beef roast with M's onions and my potatoes... tomorrow is now chicken.

 

I have cantaloupe ,watermelon and corn to process for the freezer.

I have more kale, garlic chives and chives to dehydrate.

I have plums, green beans, pears, (another gift)peaches (yes again) pickled watermelon rind, and pickled red onions to can.

Within a week or 2  I will have beets for pickled beets from A, green tomatoes(sliced and breaded for freezer and made in to relish) red tomatoes ( picadilly , salsa  and sauce ) from N .I will dehydrate the tomato skins for powder to make paste out of when needed or add to taco meat etc 

Making noodles is still on the list also. 

How many legs are your milk stool?

We had a real nice ride to grandson's parents in laws for his son's 4th birthday. She is half way between them and us. We had a nice masks/social distancing birthday party. We stopped to get baby formula for M at their local Walmart (was out like ours) but I got tomato paste, 25 lbs of flour ,25 lbs of sugar, 6 pack of root beer, 12 pack of Vernor's ginger soda (the only either of us can drink when sick), red ink pens and lighter fluid. 

I went through The Prudent Homemaker's site https://theprudenthomemaker.com/blog/  and ordered onion powder as I am not going to have enough onions to dehydrate and grind and yet do some as pickled, garlic powder as I didn't plant garlic last fall (I do hard neck over winter and will be planting them this year), cumin and thyme. I have a couple thyme plants planted this year and they are doing okay but not enough to get me next month let alone a year from now. I made 3 spice blends that I was out of. Emeril's essence, Tightwad Gazette taco seasoning and Paula Deen's house blend. 

There is an ad on tv that the spokesman (I think Tom Selleck) talks about retirement and reverse mortgages.... comment is you want at least 3 legs on the retirement milk stool to stay stable. We started talking about our milk stool and how one of us dying would affect the other's milk stool..

Hubby will have Social Security, he has his IRAs , he has his business that he knows he could run into his late 70s as there are more than one hauling in their 70s around here.He would have my IRA's from Daddy if I died first.He has a life ins policy that if the loan is paid off it would have an annuity for him.

I will have Social Security (based on his as there was no way my income would come close to what he was earning), I have Daddy's IRA's  I have my life ins that has an annuity that I would still get even though I have a small loan on it .I would have Hubby IRAs .

That's not a bad milk stool for either of us... together the milk stool has 7 legs. 

IF the house is paid off we could do a reverse mortgage that gives us the 8th leg  None of the kids or grandkids want to live in this area so the house would be sold anyways.

And since in 2008 at age 81 Daddy went to living on his SS only and what ever he made on side jobs and stopped using his IRAs to allow them time to recover from the nasty hit they took we looked hard to see if something happened could we do the same. We are short $100 a month IF we have the mortgage and the work truck paid off. I think we could handle it even if we didn't make that amount to cover it.

Daddy's only issue (he had full coverage NO out of pocket FREE health ins from the company he retired from. Even when they sold the local plant they kept him covered under the home plant, he was very grateful) was putting food on the table.Brother, myself and Daddy's granddaughter from stepmother's side, put the food on the table for a year so Daddy was only paying for his milk and bread. When his IRA stabilized and he started drawing them again, he spent $40 a week at Aldi's and $60 a month at Walmart for non food items... He had enough TP, and paper towels stocked that when we cleaned out his house the 3 of us split it between us and none of us bought for 4 months. 

Hubby went down to the pantry with me (believe me he doesn't do that much) and we counted up meals with 5 veggies and 3 fruit a day along with 2 proteins.. can we go a solid year with only buying a bit of fresh and dairy? YES. THEN he stopped on the steps coming back up and asked if we could go 2 yrs. I was like... I could safely say yes to 18 months... Are we helping the kids or grandkids any or the neighbors? 

He immediately said yes to 3 of the neighbors, M &E as we could barter meat from them(they usually are yeast, flour, sugar and white vinegar (I know when she is canning pickles) and oil. I already have an extra month of that for that reason ... The other two are elderly (same age but in bad health and one is a vegetarian ). He thought about the kids  and knew who came to get food this last time.

We have 6 kids and 8 grandkids out on their own.. of that group I would say only 4 of the kids and maybe only 2 and 2 of the grandkids would ask for help. But they would be looking for green beans, pasta sauce. pasta dried beans and rice, the one would be looking for Navy beans.I think he is more Daddy's than mine when it comes to his eating habits.They would take tomato juice and make sauce themselves. They would be happier with homemade noodles in water if need be. yeast and flour to make bread maybe.. I told him I would add 3 months extra to help neighbors and kids/grandkids. BUT I would need to change what we planted in the gardens or get off the Amish to build that supply. He thought about it for awhile and came back and said... 2 yrs pantry with the acknowledgement we might give 3 months away. 

So I went back down and spent Sunday, the day of rest, really checking the pantry...since I was down there I finished cleaning the shelves in there and did the herbs and spices. 

I decided to add more veggies. I am dehydrating celery (out completely). I can do pickled watermelon rind (will be the first time, the watermelon was given to us and I will freeze some of it) I can do tomato chutney and green tomato relish.  More salsa (easy with getting tomatoes from N in a couple weeks) Beets for plain and pickling are coming in then also from A. I can dehydrate the tomato skins to make paste or sauce as needed... that's just time pulling the skins when making sauce. I can dehydrate any greens we have come in including lettuce to make "green" powder to add to dishes. I will need to get carrots to can.  I have some odds and ends coming in from the garden to help fill the pantry out. 

Hubby told me to figure a way out to at least use the hoop house cover to extend the growing season some... I need to do that today. 

To me , having the full pantry is another leg on that milk stool. I can focus on the money going to the bills and not worry about feeding us as long as I have seeds... I will be focusing more on heirloom and open pollinated.

 

new to me and deep cleaning..for the coming week

 canning stove... propane Maytag 1949/1950 was used by Hubby's ex co worker 's mother as her canning stove in the basement. He is 65 and doesn't ever remember it being used for anything else than her canning.

If it had been electric it would have been like the one I grew up with. Mother LOVED her stove and I definitely through the years had one close to this also. I would have had it here but wouldn't have had room for the Hoosier and sheet pan roll cart (used to be Son 2's computer tower roll cart) and the trash can. 

This is going in the barn. Goal is to have the front bay cleared, cleaned and set up as a summer canning kitchen by May. The front bay is where the young Englisher man lived while building this home. Then he sold it to Amish and doubled his money. 

I have 18 cups (1 cup is a meal for us) of corn in the freezer, more coming in from the garden. And 6 quarts of plain red beets with more coming in from the M and A that are being over ran. I am sharing beets with Mother in law. I already know she will be asking in the middle of Jan if I have any canned that she can have as she never cans enough for Father in law. We get tomatoes for canning in 2-3 weeks including green tomatoes for the freezer for us and fresh eating for Daughter 3.

Drawers, shelves and cabinets has been this week's deep cleaning. It's hard to not stop and wipe down the outside of what ever but that goes with washing the walls week.

I have finished drawers, shelves and cabinets in  the bathroom, bedroom except 2 of Hubby's drawers by bed(I ain't touching that), laundry room, bathroom, kitchen * not bfast bar *, dining room *not enamel table or one cabinet* front room , *not file cabinets* wheel chair bathroom, mudroom, north loft, and south loft.

I will take another week to finish the cabinets, drawers and shelves in the following

Front room .. 2 file cabinets and a small table that is holding garden seeds and over flow from Hubby's desk.

Kitchen ...bfast bar is it

Dining room ...old spice cabinet that I was going to put baking pans in but that's not working so I will have to figure something else out and the enamel table. 

West loft, my office/sewing room. The small desk there is not working at all for me and I end up at the dining table or the bfast bar as I use my laptop for recipes also.

East loft ...was suppose to be my sewing room... it's a I don't know where to put it but it has to be in the house room. It's going to take a lot of work to figure that one out.

Basement:

freezer room, I have 3 shelving units that I need to change, some is stuff we were using that we aren't now and have not for awhile so probably box up and take down to the kids when we are taking tomatoes and other stuff to them in 2-3 wks. I have one that has claimed extra dishes and another wanting pots and pans while the 3rd wants baking dishes. Two of the grandkids have just went out on their own.

bucket room (AKA washer room as Hubby always calls it due to the wringer washer sitting there)  The cabinet is done but there is a dresser and a pile of bags and boxes sitting at the buckets from where we moved in and it was brought in.Deadline for this area is also 2-3 wks as I know there will be stuff the kids can have.

Pantry... this is okay... but I have 3 shelves a mess with spices and herbs along with I need more room for things that I have still coming in other areas.  My dried fruit has over ran the dried fruit area. 

I already know if I don't keep things together, things get missed and then goes bad. Hubby also doesn't like to do the hunt and find.

How is your week coming along?

My kitchen is a wreck

 that is now starting to travel into the dining area and mud room.

It happens when I am canning, freezing, dehydrating and stocking up from stores. I know I know but really.

Shelves, drawers, and cabinets are on this week's deep cleaning list. Today it's the kitchen. AND instead of putting extra what ever's in the basement. It's in a box to give to Daughter 4 that will pass to those in need. I keep telling myself that.

I found the pizza box in the oven on Sunday, it was supposed have been burnt over a week ago in the burn barrel. Washed the skillet and cleaned things off. moved the spices and put the bread box on that end as it keeps getting buried on the bfast counter... Lasted 2 days and it's a mess again BUT at least the bread box is not buried. I think the problem here is Hubby unloads the dishwasher when he is making coffee in the morning. He puts down the dishes that come to dining room on the north side of bfast bar either on the roll cart or the bfast bar.He also puts stuff the goes to the basement on roll cart instead of basement door in crate.

It did look like this...it does not stay looking like this. At this moment there is hummingbird food, a bottle of original Listerine (for feet soaking) a tea kettle that belongs on the stove, sanitizer spray I made for wiping door knobs, switches and faucets on a daily bases, the clean bacon grease tin and a can of furniture polish added to the clutter... why furniture polish? As M, my Amish neighbor told me she uses furniture polish on her cook stove (wood burning) to keep things like boiled over milk from sticking. She suggested I use it on mine but make sure I didn't get it on the actual gas burners. Which of course I got the spray on them, Hubby took a wire brush and cleaned them and we found if I take a wire brush once a week to clean the burners they work BETTER and yes the polish keeps things from sticking to the stove top. AKA the boiled over potato soup... the milk crud wiped right off instead of baking and needing scrapped off.

It looked so good but now I can't even see the radio or any of the table top. I don't know why Hubby put a Styrofoam cooler on the table but the rest of the crap is on me... extra plates I pulled from the china cupboard and paper crap .

 GRRR the eggs are put away and the tea chest is there now. There is sacks of food that needs repacked for storage and a cookie jar we don't use as it doesn't keep cookies fresh. A bouquet of flowers on the corner instead of the sprayer. There is two piles of papers and both my laptops (one on top of the other) sitting on the other side. This is always a battle ground. 

SO today is what L (M's oldest girl) calls kitchen work. 

Snickering

 My son sent this to me last night. He was telling "my grandchildren" (he has no kids) that what we were doing financially. He is our next in line to deal with either or both of us so we keep him updated... 

His tag line was WHAT?  Shady pines here they come...

I had to laugh... BECAUSE a friend had just had the same reaction and he was already in his financial advisor's office so asked him... He thought it was a wise choice but to make sure we had 6 months savings in an acct  that was NOT tied to the stock market.

Must not be the normal thing to do to cut the budget to get out of debt BEFORE a crisis occurs. 

Redoing this year's budget. Setting next year's budget

 

Hubby came in from mowing and decided to take a break in the chair.He wasn't thrilled with Charlotte crawling up but he went to sleep before he got her back off him. 

Hubby decided he was filing this week for his Social Security. He has all his papers together and asked I verify that so he didn't get started on it and then have to stop and go find something. He is filing on line, no person to person contact allowed. Will have to send his birth certificate.

He went through his business books as he knows he has a limit on net earnings from his business. Said he needed to make sure the bills were paid before he bought things like new tires. If he had waited 1 wk he wouldn't have had to borrow money from the house acct to pay his truck payment. He has paid the house acct back. He got 20% off the tires by writing a check and not using his business credit card.He could have waited the week or month for fact until he got the money up for it. Lesson learned... on the good new side.... he is not only breaking even for the year, he has earned a profit of $500 a month on average... that's not a lot of profit (HA HA) but for the first year to even break even is a celebration and definitely not near the $18000 a yr limit of earned income for SS.

I came back with I was taking the truck payment off the house budget completely so if he doesn't make what he needs it has to come from his personal acct. He's done well about not using that acct much since he retired so he could keep it open. His SS will go in that acct.

Since J had asked I bring a budget in to decide on withdraws off Daddy's IRA , we pulled up this year's budget and did 2021's budget...I asked what our goal was ...Hubby said OUT OF DEBT... no loans, no mortgage... OKAY 2021 budget was not going to help that at all as it looked like it was the life of Riley. I went line by line. A few we disagreed on but as I said , if it is too tight we can always change it and pull more monthly from either IRA... He was thinking of paying off the mortgage in 10 yrs ... I set the budget ...the rest of this year, 2021 (and hopefully until end of 2026) to PAY OFF THE MORTGAGE and the loans.

He asked how... simple, we pulled $110,000 minus 26% taxes for this passed year. Paid off little things and bought most the supplies for the projects (rest of gravel,front porch, windows and siding is the only thing NOT bought). We aren't going to get some of the projects done this year so they can go to next year while we save for the next projects. IN 2021 we will only pull $76,500 minus 26% taxes (we pay school taxes). That saved $33,500 up front 

What did I cut? 

I can't change the mortgage payment or the health ins payment (which might change depending on Hubby's old employer)and out of pocket BUT I can lower how much is going towards the out of pocket. Hubby never maxs that part so I cut what he don't use off our budget. I usually max out.BUT I just had my colonscope($17000) , Gyn and mammogram those bills won't be coming through for awhile. 

I can change over the counter costs so that was cut in half by using generic only.

Electric bill: budget is $125/month... it hit $166 highest it's been since we moved here. July was hotter than normal with over 12- 90 degree days. Even was listed on the bill. ALSO we have fans running and 2 dehydrators. Hubby is bad about not turning off fans when he leaves the room or turning the AC to lower. HE won't be doing that now. I do not run the dehydrators during the day to try to keep the heat out of the house. I baked a meatloaf and some bread in the oven the other night instead of the airfryer and ran us out of the kitchen and dining room. Lesson learned. Bread has to be done early morning and the rest in the airfryer OUTSIDE on porch as it raises the temp in the room by 10 degrees it's self. Laptops have been left plugged in also.My duh moment.

Water softener. We only use half of the average 2 person household. I collect water from showers and rinse water from hand wash dishes for watering potted plants or the herb beds. The water for the gardens do not go through the water softener.

Our trash collector is the lowest in the area. 

Our internet gives us a land line for free and is the ONLY service in this are but is only $80 compared to my kids that are spending over $100 for just internet. Son quit Spectrum due to being over $100 after two years.

I already got our house and car ins lowered

We use MS 365 programs (Hubby uses it for business and I for budget etc) We tried Open office but had problems with it working with other business programs he is required to use.

Our cell phones are straight talk. Hubby changed from Net 10 to get a better and more up to date phone. and lowered his bill by $5 /month.

We have Amazon prime... this might go away. At this point it saves more than it costs. I also have Kindle and it definitely saves as I don't buy books and our library doesn't always get the books AKA cook books  I want to read.

Bday  Christmas/Graduation fund.... 55 people... we cut it in half. Depending of costs I might be making Christmas gifts for some.

Dogs.... sigh..Wilbur had racked up the money in this area so far, I've postponed Rascal being checked for his ACL (he is not limping right now or holding his foot up) until we get the money from Dad's Ira. I don't see us paying for surgery(over $8000) and he is NOT in any pain even when he is holding it up. I do see a joint med being needed and Wilbur was on it and then came back off and needs to go back on it but our vet said to wait until Rascal was checked and see what the ortho vet suggested and just put both on it. Still I cut that budget. Instead of snapping the treats(actually dental stuff they need but if I call them treats they take them without issues) in 3rds I am snapping them in 4ths with an okay from the vet. That cut that budget by 1/4th and I always search for the cheapest before buying. 

Fuel... this is for tractor, lawn mowers, both generators, Red (dog truck) and Jeep Cut 3rd. Will use the gas generator with diesel as back up as gas is cheaper than diesel. That will leave the diesel for the tractor to mow and shovel snow. Hubby has a 500 gallon tank and is looking to see if it would be cheaper to fill it instead of running to town for diesel.

Savings remains the same.

Non food at zero for the rest of the year, $25 for next year. I will buy to replace what is used that way I will stay stocked up. The limit is set... 

groceries $65 for the rest of this year ($50 for stocking flour and sugar needed $15 for milk and maybe something we both decide on) Budget for next year $125 a month. I cut junk food... chips, (we will get tortilla chips from Menards using the rebate we got back) Peanut, cashews, M&Ms(Hubby mixes for trail mix) and candy bars(both of us). Soda pop (me me me... withdraw already as I stopped end of July to see if it was soda pop causing the high cholesterol as it's not what I eat, if this don't change it then it's family trait)Ice cream... I came make semifreddo instead as I do not have an ice cream maker. I cut dairy... cottage cheese, yogurt and assorted cheeses. This will be limited to occasionally instead of all the time.

 Fresh veggies and fruit will be in season meaning from late Nov to late April there is none since the hoop house went to the pond. I talked to M and asked how she got through the winter without the fresh... She said once a month to 6 wks she gets ice burg lettuce, carrots ,celery ,bananas, cream cheese and cool whip....if she is hosting church during that time she will also get cream of mushroom soup,mackerel and jello. She said she usually has winter squash until end of Dec. So she is just buying Jan thru April. We might add fresh mushrooms or bell peppers in that. She stores apples from fall until they start getting soft then she makes them into applesauce. Pears are the same. It puts a little bit of fresh on the table during the long winter... her words.

Garden is zero 2020 and 2021 is $20 for preen and feed as I am stocked with miracle grow.

House maintenance zero 2020 (have all needed) $25/month . If I buy 1 filter a month I can keep to that amount instead of buying a year's supply at a time. OR I can put it in an envelope and hold it. I've done that before.

Vehicle maintenance ... cut in half ...work truck and the 3 trailers are taken care of through the business(HURRAH) Tractor, riding lawn mower, push mower, weed whacker, Red (dog truck) and Jeep come from the house budget.  Hubby can do some of it himself. We have mechanic that allows payments and doesn't hold your car until it's paid off. A Mennonite gave him a name of someone that works on mowers, that person gave him the name that works on weed whackers. They were 1/4th the cost of the place we had been taking them .Still have to take the tractor into a dealer but when it's in there they go over everything and they call to give an estimate before they start work in case you can't afford to get it all done. 

AARP... $2... not many places get us a discount around here but the couple times we had to rent a car it has saved enough to pay for 3-4 yrs membership.

School taxes...we pay quarterly.These are paid in full for this year. I paid them early. Next year they will go up but I was already given the estimate of that now.

SO the goal is to be out of debt in 10 yrs... I will add goal 2 to be as close to possible of living on SS ONLY and only pulling medical from Hubby's IRA in the same time frame.

I pulled up a calculator for paying off the mortgage. I found if we put our part of our SS and part of Daddy's IRA on the mortgage we could have it paid off in 7 yrs not 28.... Saving over $150,000 in interest.... I also can take any tax returns to pay off the loans on the life ins. I already arranged payments on both that at least covers the interest on the loans.

Propane will be pulled as a lump sum instead of a monthly leaving the money in to draw better interest. Also air barrier and insulation boards will be installed this fall to help keep the heat in and that should lower the propane needed next year. This year instead of needing a tank full that we had to buy off the contract we had 1 1/2 tanks left on the contract. I would like to see this get down to using 3 tanks a year instead of 4 1/2 to 5.

We have an umbrella ins on the farm. Our agent rolled it over to the same as the other insurance when I had ins redone. I added it to the mortgage amt as that is were the rest of it is. 

I really struggle with change... but here  it goes anyways.

OH GEEZE

 Week was going according to schedule THEN 

I was having problems going up and down the basement stairs . I had to turn sideways to my left to not cause my right knee to give way. Banister is on the right... Hubby put this up

Nice and sturdy black pipe (my choice) and figures I stopped having problems with my knee LOL

He got this done off the to list

FINALLY the gate. We will need to change how it is hooked to make it easier for someone in a wheelchair but right now it's hooked with chain and clasp like all of our other gates.

I got the posts for the deck painted. Will have to touch up 3 of them when he cuts them. Though he was talking of flex sealing those areas as they will be against the deck it's self when ever he gets time to do that.

Hubby had NO work scheduled for Aug. We were figuring maybe a couple pop up of jobs... He is now ran over. One job is twice a week for the whole month. He now has 12 jobs in the next 4 days (not counting Sunday).

John, my financial guy handling my inheritance from Daddy, called and asked for a budget of what I needed for $$ for the rest of this year and next. He wants to make sure we are on same page. He also sold some stock that almost doubled my worth. Two days after he sold them, they dropped in worth about 50% so glad he is on top this crap instead of me. I hated reading the Morning star and following all that.He moved the "profit" over to the three stocks I told him I liked to be invested in more. Said it was a really good move and my brother also told him to do it since I said that. 

Tomatoes ripened over night, they are paste tomatoes and very small due to weather. I lost 3/4ths of them to blossom rot that took over half of each tomato. I did get enough to collect seeds for next year and make a small batch of sauce.I can always go over to N and get tomatoes off him as his is a hoop house and he grows to sell at produce auction and it looks like the blossom rot problem is improving. Got a couple cucumbers also that I will make refrigerator pickles with to go along with the couple that was given to us by V.

I had to dig up the entire 2 x 16 box to find the last of the red onions . Meant digging up the petunias also that was with them.Not sure it the petunias will survive the transplant. That was an 8 hr job. AND I have another box of candy sweet onions to dig up still. The red ones covered a 2 ft by 8 ft section on the front porch.

It cooled down and rained ... the dried beans have bloomed again or bloomed for the first time so I am back to picking them. 

I have 18 trays in the dehydrator of herbs and still have more herbs that need dealt with. 

I dug the Yukon Gold potatoes out of the 7 grow bags. Not as good as crop as usually. The other potatoes are still growing and blooming so I think these took a hit with the heat . 

Eight pounds when I usually get 15 to 20.

I picked another round of blackberries. These will make syrup.

4 made 1/2 cup worth

Hubby picked corn late last night also and put it in frig until I get to it today. 

 M sent over lettuce and 5 cantaloupe. E then brought home ground beef from a job where the women folk was the canning ground beef . No one wanted the last of the ground beef. M canned over 40 quarts and sent us the last 8 lbs as she wasn't even wanting to see it on the table for a meal LOL It filled a 1 gal ice cream container. We had hamburger patties, and today I am making a  meat loaf and a hamburger zucchini casserole(using the last of the zucchini that V gave us) for the freezer and some cooked to put in the freezer for tacos or what ever.

So the weekly cleaning, and the deep cleaning is on hold. Food comes first. 

How is your week coming along?

 

Good night Tuesday...Good morning Wednesday

UP at 5:45 as Hubby has 3 jobs today and had to leave at 6:45. He was suppose to only have 1 to haul to the produce auction but E was told at Church on Sunday to have Hubby call a person that needed pallets hauled to Tuesday...E forgot to come say something and forgot what he was suppose to say when Hubby went and asked after he got a phone call because the guy figured it would be confirmed by Monday afternoon. He also picked up another load of a person needing a haul this morning early. He ate bfast and grabbed a snack to eat while waiting to be loaded or unloaded at lunch time. Wasn't sure what time he would get back in so I am making tuna noodle casserole with shredded zucchini so he can reheat it if needed. I have been fixing supper at 5 (dinner to me supper to Hubby) and then watching the weather at 6. 

I ground up the dehydrated basil and jarred it.

I jarred the dehydrated zucchini.

I ground up the dehydrated carrot tops and jarred it with the other ground up greens.

It keeps raining so I don't think I will be able to get out in the gardens. ...yes I was. It stopped raining after dinner so I went out and picked blackberries.

I have dried beans I can shell while watching the weather tonight.Have harvested and shelled enough small red beans to replace the seed I had bought and put a couple meals in the pantry. Heirloom is good.

Laundry is on the drying rack due to rain and wind. 

I spent the morning helping Daughter 4 figure out health,dental,eye and life ins from her new job. I spent last night after going to bed helping her figure out if she should take the legal offer and what her over time would be during the Christmas season.

Then spent the rest of the morning helping Daughter 3 deal with a dog that needs a different home. She took in a friend's then found out the reason the dog needed to go was it is not good with young kids even though her kids are teens she doesn't feel comfortable with the dog. Daughter 4 helped find a home for the dog with a trainer.

I finished checking rooms for repairs,replacements. I need a few things that might be in the barn in storage of Mother's or Daddy's stuff . So when we get to the cleaning of the barn (HA HA) I can pull that out.Nothing as in NEED right now.

The ironing is done.

Mending is done.

I still have both bathrooms to clean but the towels and bath mats are washed and on the drying rack....did the Wheel chair bathroom that Hubby uses and moved my bathroom to a different day. Cleaning products odor got to me. I will pass the one cleaner to my daughter as she uses it but I can't stand the smell.

I need to update finances before I do the bathrooms as a couple bills came in yesterday. Didn't get done and got 2 more bills.

Bfast was oatmeal, lunch grilled cheese with cucumbers /onions in mayo dressing. 

We are out of milk so Hubby is getting that on the way home when he stops to get gas , the store is right around the corner from there. 

Hubby forgot the milk and didn't text me when he was getting gas... so when he went back out to deliver a message and drop his trailer off to be loaded , he went into town and got milk, and 2 bottles of Lysol cleaner and some flowers. 

GOOD MORNING Wednesday.

Up at 5:30 as Hubby is hauling spelt (hulled wheat) to Holmes county. 2 hrs drive there, 2 hrs to wait for bags to be emptied (he will eat lunch then) and 2 hrs back. 

I have laundry out on the line, cool day (51 this morning) but no rain. Front room, front porch, which means dealing with the onions that are cured. Mudroom and back stoop is on the cleaning for the day.

The cured onions will be dealt with. I am putting them in knee high hose and putting garden ties between them. The ones that won't hold well will be sliced and put in dehydrator that can sit on the smoker on the barn porch. 

Later this afternoon when the garden has dried up some I will harvest. 

I need to pay the bills and rework the budget. Dad's finance guy , John  wants me to bring our budget in so he can figure out the best way to get me the money to do what I want but not cost me my arm and leg for taxes. 

Hope you are having a good week.

GOOD MORNING Monday

We were up earlier than usual this Monday so Hubby could take Wilbur 

to the vet to have surgery to remove a tumor on his right eye . One of us will go back to get him at 3.

I had laundry on the clothesline at 7 a good hour or so before normal. I unloaded the dishes and put them away. I tidied all the rooms did a 15 min decluttering in the laundry room and walked through all the rooms to check for repairs or things that needed replaced or adjusted. Made that list so I can figure out what is needed to deal with that. GOOD start to this week.

I harvested 3 out of the 7 grow bags of Yukon gold potatoes and 2 of the boxes of dried beans before the storms drove me back inside. I cut basil for the dehydrator.

I put items that came in on Saturday away. 

Hubby went and got Wilbur... the tumor was on the eye lid not his actual eye (thank heavens) it had infected 2 teeth severely so the vet also pulled those and a 3rd tooth that he had broke in half from grinding his teeth. Hubby picked up 6 months of the Heartgard and Frontline for the 3 dogs. The vet is cheaper than every where I priced (I price it every time we go to buy it) saving us $35.97... then the vet office had a rebate that we could sign over to the vet and it gave us another $100 off the bill... so Wilbur's surgery, teeth pulling and meds sent home came out as FREE.They cut his toenails for free also. 

We had bagels for bfast , I had oatmeal for lunch and we had a skillet dinner of fried potatoes, ham chunks and onion for supper with bread and mandarin oranges. 

How my parents made their living.

Mother worked as a bartender, housekeeper, grill cook, waitress, baby sitter, first aid worker for our small community, worked for the junk man who picked up junk on the streets and at the dump and would resell after Mother cleaned it and did repairs if needed. She took in laundry and did ironing. After the divorce she finally got a job at a western shop (we are in OH) and worked her way up to manager. In her 60s she went to being housekeeping at the local hospital.Then got married and went to working in a nursing home, then a tobacco farm, then running a apartment complex then working as receptionist at a community action center and her last job in her late 70s when she got multiple melanoma was cooking and delivering meals to seniors and shut ins.She helped my step dad work flea markets. She was very knowledgeable about dishes,furniture and jewelry. 

Daddy worked as his Dad's plow horse for the one horse plow Grandpa used when working the gardens. He was working with his dad cutting rail road ties with a two man hand saw when he was 9. He sold pelts to help his dad when he was in his early teens. They buried his mom on his 16th birthday. The next day Dad worked a half of day in the coal mines beside his dad. When he came out at lunch he told his dad he was not working the mines, he went to live with his oldest sister (14 yrs older than him (he was in southern Ohio hills and she was in Marion OH) and started working the lumberyards until he was drafted at 18 for WW2. He was medically released due to a busted appendix a year later. He went back to the lumber yard, then went to construction (his favorite) worked at the ice house, steel company, odd jobs when the plant shut down and then to tool and dye that he worked closed to 35 yrs at retiring as plant manager and did scrapping for metal through all those years... but he made his money being a gambler... he played cards (didn't matter what game) pool, dice, shooting contests and lottery. The only thing he didn't bet on was the pony's...that was my great aunt and she usually won...she also won regularly like Daddy at the lottery. It's how he paid off the house and saved for 4 yrs of private college for Brother.