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Archive for September, 2013

Meal Planning for the Week

September 30th, 2013 at 06:14 am

Monday--
Belgian Waffles with strawberries
Bacon and eggs
Salad

Tuesday--
Fried rabbit
Baked potatoes
Broccoli/cauliflower

Wednesday--
Baked potato soup (bacon is the protein)
Fresh baked bread
Red cabbage and spinach salad

Thursday--
Pulled pork in choice of buns or tortillas
Applesauce
Coleslaw

Friday--
Homemade pizza with pepperoni, homemade sausage, onions, and bell pepper strips
Broccoli/cauliflower

Saturday--
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Coleslaw
Canned pears

Sunday--
Beef chuck roast
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Green beans
Drop biscuits with choice of jams

Payday Post

September 28th, 2013 at 04:45 am

Today was payday. I am mostly paying ahead on October bills, since we had so many paydays in September and because of the way the October paydays will fall. I had also set aside most of the money to pay the big doctor bill you'll see listed below. I am not actually making the car payment yet as the statement hasn't arrived, but I did set the money aside for it for our usual payment.

For some reason today while I was paying the bills and recording things into the budget I had the song "Pop Goes the Weasel," going through my head. Particularly the line that goes, "That's the way the money goes, pop goes the weasel." Which admittedly is better than the song that has been in my head all week. Which is this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SJvKDAF8Xk, but I'm warning you that you probably should not watch it because it is weird and kind of addictive and it will run through your head over and over again and that way madness lies. Then again, why should I be the only one with it stuck in my head? Big Grin

Anyway, here is the list of what went out today:

$1000.00 Loan Payback to Mom
__400.00 Utilities to Mom
___90.00 Physical Therapy
__300.00 Beef/Pork/Chicken from the ranch Money
__100.00 Cash for Week
___40.00 Allowances
___45.30 Life Insurance DH
___41.88 Life Insurance Me
___69.86 Car Insurance
___47.17 Old House Insurance
___41.16 Old House Security System
__168.00 Storage
__923.54 Medical
__322.75 AMEX
___72.00 Water/sewer Old House (Holding Tank)
___35.20 Emergency Fund
__800.00 Car Payment Money (Holding Tank)
------------
$4496.86 Total Money Out (or set aside)

I still have $250 out of this paycheck in checking. I am waiting for the power bill for the old house to come, but that will only be around $30 to $35. I will have to get a few prescriptions renewed tomorrow. I also need to do a little bit of grocery shopping, mostly for produce. Other than that and a field trip fee on Monday for DS's homeschool program, I don't see any other money going out.

Emergency Fund Update

September 28th, 2013 at 04:23 am

Yesterday as the weekly deposit of $10 to savings, which always goes to the EF. I forgot about it, though, and so I transferred $35.20 to the EF to meet my Septembers goal of $7300, when all I really needed to do was transfer $25.20. Oh, well, so I passed the goal a bit.

The new balance of the EF is $7310.

The goal for October was going to be $7500, but now is $7510.

Processing Day

September 27th, 2013 at 09:05 am

We dispatched four of our meat rabbits today. From a live weight of 22 pounds, 11.7 ounces, we got 11 pounds, 6.3 ounces of rabbit meat and 12.3 ounces of livers, for a total of 12 pounds, 2.6 oz of food. They ate about $7 worth of feed, $1 worth of hay, and $4 worth of vegetables over their life, so it comes out to about $1 per pound. We could get a smidge more if we saved the hearts and kidneys, too, but we don't. They go to the wildlife center along with the heads and other offal.

I'd say the rabbits are paying for themselves and we are ending up with lots of good, low-fat, lean white meat in the freezer at a price that just can't be beat by anything but the cheapest chicken hindquarters and you can bet those chickens never saw daylight.

Phoebe gave birth this morning, another large litter with 8 healthy kits. We'll have a break from kindling for a while, as the next two rabbits to give birth are only one week pregnant, so have three weeks and four days to go. In another couple of months we should be able to have rabbit twice a week if we so desire.

I am going to can some rabbit meat this week and some rabbit broth for making soup later this winter, or possibly canning carrot, potato, celery, bits of meat, and onion right in the broth and can it as soup. I would also like to make up some rabbit nuggets for the freezer. And maybe some rabbit stir-fry kits, too.

That means I'll need to dig up some potatoes and get some organic carrots from the farmer's market or the no spray garden in town. I doubt anyone has grown celery here, it is kind of hit or miss in our zone, but I can get it from the store if needs must be. Organic though. It sucks up pesticides just like carrots.

It would be great to have enough soups done up to get through winter and spring, but that may not be possible yet.

-------

The repair around the skylights and the final application of stuff to make the floors look like shiny wood instead of dull wood, will get put on this weekend. We just need to find out how long it takes for the shiny stuff to dry. Then we'll go in with the realtor and see where things stand.

Good News!

September 26th, 2013 at 12:46 am

I feel like I've been such a major drama llama lately, but finally something really great happened. The rain stopped early this a.m. so the roofer was able to go out and look at the roof at the old house. And it turns out that it was a very small thing with the flashing that likely got knocked loose when the roof was pressure washed, so instead of just an estimate he said he could do the fix right then. It would take like a half an hour. Total cost to repair roof? $151!

So now the little bit of damage that was done to the inside ceiling can be repaired and we should be able to put the house on the market next weekend! Please cross your fingers for us (or pray) that nothing else goes wrong. This whole house ordeal may finally be over.

Actual Mortgage Balance

September 25th, 2013 at 09:15 am

I had guesstimated on Friday when I paid the mortgage that the balance would be around $8937.89, but it was actually $8931.90. That's $5.99 less, not the $1 or $2 I thought I'd be off by. Nice. Just that much less left to pay the thing off.

The roofer is most likely going out on Thursday at that is the only day it is not supposed to rain this week. If it doesn't rain tomorrow though he will give a call and have Mom meet him out there. I've got too much going on this week between homeschooling, DH coming home, running R around, and having to do a meat rabbit slaughter on the one sunny day we have.

On top of that I start Piper's litter weaning on Thursday as they will be 8 weeks old, so I'll have to figure out who are the two biggest and take them away to start the process. AND Phoebe is due to kindle her second litter on Thursday and with all the going in and out of the rabbit shed I'll be doing, she may not get the privacy she will want. I am anxious if the big first litter will be the norm. Since all the other rabbits seem stuck on six kits, it would be nice if she'd kindle 9 again.

And I found a 13 acre spread that I desperately want to go see because it is absolutely perfect for our farming wants. We would easily be able to expand the rabbitry. We could have our flock of chickens, our ducks, our geese, our quail, pigs, goats, and a guard alpaca or two to free range with the chickens. Not all of once of course, but over time.

I should not even be looking at farms until our house sells and we can't put it on the market until the roof is repaired. That ranch will probably be long gone by the time we are ready to buy. But I fell in love with it just from the photos. And it is in our price range.

3 Million

September 24th, 2013 at 04:21 pm

I went over 3,000,000 hits this week. Thanks to everyone who has spent so much time reading this blog over the years.

Talked to the Insurance Company

September 24th, 2013 at 02:15 am

I went down and talked to the people who issue my homeowner's policy about the roof and it would be covered if we decide to make a claim. We have a $500 deductible, which I knew. I was a little worried about it, because since the house is vacant, we had to have a different policy than if we were living in it. One that didn't insure contents since there weren't any, etc., but still insured the building/structures. And there are always exclusions. But we did, in fact, take out the right policy when we moved, so it will cover this water/wind damage. So it is a big relief to know that is an option.

After that an appointment was made for later this week to have a roofer/repairer come and give an estimate. He will be able to track down where the actual damage is and follow the line of the leak. He's been in business 20 years and comes highly recommended. He is one of the few that will make repairs. A lot of roofers won't do that anymore, they will just roof.

And once we have the estimate I can decide whether it is enough to bother with a claim or to just eat it. I really don't want to trash the emergency fund. But I don't want sky high insurance rates in the future either. Right now we get a huge discount for never having submitted a claim on house or car insurance in 15 years/20 years.

I think my break point will be $2000. If it is much more than that we will submit a claim and deal with the insurance consequences. I can handle losing that much from the EF and still feel secure. And if we do a claim, it will be much easier to come up with the $500 deductible.

I forgot to ask if we pay first and then get reimbursed by insurance or if we have the roofer send the bill to the insurance and they pay it. I guess I'll have to do that once we get the estimate.

Right now I am just going to hope and pray this is a repair job and not a full roof job. I'd much prefer it to be a fast and easy fix. We really wanted to get the house on the market when DH comes home this time. Who knows now if that will happen? Depends on how fast it can be done, I guess.



So...

September 23rd, 2013 at 07:41 am

The house is done. Yeah, really. Only...you knew there had to be an only, right? Well, as the workers were removing everything from the house and going through and doing the final checklist a storm moved in. And it moved in hard.

And the wind and the rain damaged the roof and water started leaking in around the skylights, but it is not the actual skylights that are leaking. So up went the head dude to see if he could patch the leak. Yes, in the storm. To no avail. The roof was fine last week when he was up there, but now it's not.

They took photos of the damage and covered the entire roof with two huge tarps. They also put stuff down to protect the flooring. And tomorrow I get to go see the insurance agent and see where to go from there. We may not file a claim at all, but we want to see if we need to have one of their people come out or just get a roofer to go out and figure stuff out and give us an estimate to take to them if we decide to file a claim.

We do have enough money in the EF to put on a new roof and certainly to just repair it if that is what needs to be done. I am not sure I want to file a claim and have our insurance be screwed for the next 10 years. I feel like insurance claims should be for catastrophic damage. Yet at the same time if there is coverage for this it might be worth doing. Ugh.

I really did not need this to happen. Though better it happened while the workers were still there, than after they were done and us not going out there until next weekend. We could have had damage to the new floors and not just to a small part of the ceiling in the skylight openings.

I was so looking forward to finally getting this thing on the market and without further expense, but it is not to be just yet.

Meal Planning for the Week

September 23rd, 2013 at 02:19 am

Monday--
Pork Chops
Fried Potatoes
Green Beans

Tuesday--
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Garlic Bread
Salad

Wednesday--
Chicken Stir-fry
Pears

Thursday--
Fried Rabbit
Baked Potatoes
Green Beans

Friday--
Baked Potato Soup
Coleslaw

Saturday--
Leftovers

Sunday--
Beef Chuck Pot Roast
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Green Beans
Drop biscuits with choice of homemade jams

Mortgage Update, Payday Post, and More on How Premera Sucks

September 21st, 2013 at 06:02 am

After making a larger than usual mortgage payment today, we are now under $9K! Estimated balance is $8937.89. It will likely be $1 or $2 less than that when it actually posts. I used last month's interest to calculate it and I paid it 3 days earlier this month so it will definitely be a bit less. Wasn't due until the 1st. I forgot to reorder checks while I was there making the payment, darn it. Got to remember to do that Monday.

I added $4.85 to the coin jar today.

Today is payday. Not a lot of bills went out today, but large amounts of money did.

$1500.00 BoA VISA
_1075.86 Mortgage payment
__100.00 Cash for the Week
___40.00 Allowances
__202.00 Medical
__100.00 Emergency Fund
-------------
$3017.86 Total Money Out

I am also setting aside $600 of this paycheck to go towards a medical bill that I won't be able to pay in full until next Friday. It is $923.54 and is the result of my medical insurance (worst) company (in the US) Premera "we suck eggs" Blue Cross trying to get out of paying for, oh, just about anything EVER. Not that I'm ticked off or anything.

And we haven't even got the hospital bill for DD's emergency middle of the night visit at the start of the month yet. I don't even want to think about what that will be. I never thought I'd see the day where I'd actually miss Aetna. Mind you, I only miss them a little bit, but still.

Emergency Fund Update

September 21st, 2013 at 05:33 am

I went to the local CU we have a portion of our EF in to deposit the Allstate refund check, the school refund check, and the $11 in ones I had in the coin jar today. It was a total of $39.48. I also transferred $100 to my main EF at C1-360. So a total of $139.48 to the EF.

The CU messed up and put the $39.48 into the dormant checking account instead of the savings account. I specifically said savings and even gave the specific numbers for savings. Unfortunately they are in the middle of a remodel and name change and they had taken out the area where they keep the deposit slips so I couldn't fill one out. Since the savings and checking deposit slips are uniquely different colors it seldom happens that they put it in the wrong account, but without those slips they do. A lot. and I didn't think to double check it until I got home.

So I will have to call them on Monday and have them fix it. They are in the process of changing their internet stuff, too, or I'd just go in and transfer it myself.

Anyway:

$7125.32 Beginning EF Amount
__100.00 Deposit to Main EF
+__39.48 Deposit to Local EF
-------------
$7264.80 New EF Amount

I need to scrape up $35.20 more to hit my September EF goal. I think I can manage.

Got a Refund and a Laugh

September 20th, 2013 at 07:59 am

This was totally unexpected, but at the beginning of the school year my daughter rented a special calculator from the school for her math class. It was $10 for the year and since the special calculator would cost close to $100, we felt renting it was the wiser option. Well, we just got a refund check in the mail for that $10. The note enclosed said, "Do to the Districts desire to reduce/eliminate all course fees, we are refunding your students $10 calculator rental fee. If lost, the replacement fee is $100."

After I finished laughing over the school district's inability to spell or punctuate correctly, I was quite pleased. But they really should have people proofread their documents before they mail them out. Spellcheck will not notice if you use "do" or "due" incorrectly, but I certainly will. And I will also notice when you write students, but mean student's and Districts when you mean District's. Also, district's should not be capitalized. It is not listing a specific district. Honestly, four errors in a two sentence note?

Since it is signed by the principal, I am thinking about correcting the note in red felt tip pen and mailing it back to him. Okay, he probably never saw it at all, but seriously, what a bad example that sets. It's almost worth the cost of the stamp to do so. Almost. Maybe I'll email.

It does mildly irritate me that the check is made out to my husband. Since I am the one who wrote out and signed the original check it should have been refunded in my name, not his. Not that it matters in my case, I can deposit it without his signature into our account, but what if they had sent the refund to the wrong parent when the parents don't live together? Not a smart move.

The $10 will be headed to the Emergency Fund tomorrow when I deposit the Allstate refund and the coin jar money.

Financial Housekeeping and EF Update

September 19th, 2013 at 04:32 pm

I balanced the checkbook today. I've been letting it go since I knew there was plenty of money in the account and I felt to cruddy to do math even with the help of a calculator. Still feeling cruddy, but I figured since tomorrow is payday I should get it taken care of. Balanced it to the penny, so go me.

I also sent $1000 off to the BoA Visa. I will be paying an additional $1500 on Friday. We went a little overboard on the spending with the Visa again, mostly on things to get the rabbitry off the ground, and airfare went up in the spring. Nothing that we can't take care of in a short amount of time, but I'm not too thrilled that we backslid. I know it happens. But now that I have gotten the EF to a level I am far more comfortable at, the focus will be again on that card for a few months. Can't let the evil empire get the upper hand again. Not to say I won't still set EF goals, as I will.

There should be about $500 a month more now that DH has hit the limit on the SSI tax being taken out. He won't make enough for them to start taking it out again this year, so we will have that money back until the end of the year.

Today was also the day of the auto deposit of $10 to savings so that went to the Emergency Fund.

$7115.32 Old EF Amount
+__10.00 Amount of Deposit
------------
$7125.32 New EF Amount

$174.68 to go to hit my September goal of $7300.

Safe Driver Check

September 16th, 2013 at 05:04 pm

I received my safe driver check from Allstate. It's a partial refund of payments for not getting into any accidents. It's not much, just $16.48, but it's something. It will be headed for the Emergency Fund.

I also cleaned out my purse and added $3.87 to the coin jar.

Meal Planning for the Week

September 16th, 2013 at 02:31 am

Are they ever going to fix the posting problem here? You should be able to spend more than 3 minutes typing a post without it disappearing into the ether the moment you post it. It feels like it's been going on for over a year now. Frustrating. /rant

I know I am usually good at making everything from scratch, but today I was just exhausted. I think I'm on the cusp of a cold. I really, really wanted to get Round Table Pizza, but I managed to resist. I did have to go to the store to get milk and produce and while there I noticed they had some cheap cheese pizzas on sale with a sell by date of today. This is the type the store makes in-house, not the kind in the freezer section.

So I bought a couple of cheap cheese pizzas and then once home I doctored them up with pepperoni, onions, and bell pepper strips. It's not RT and it's not homemade, but spending six bucks on the pizzas and adding toppings I already had at home gave me an easy pizza that I didn't have to put much time or effort into. With the toppings I used I probably spent a grand total of $8. And one of those pizzas I put in the freezer for another day. So $4 spent for dinner for 3 of us. Not too shabby.

Because I am feeling under the weather or like I am about to be, I am planning a mostly crockpot and soup pot week. I figure if I have easy crockpot dinners planned, I won't be tempted to do takeout.

Monday:
Crockpot Chicken stew (boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into one inch pieces, carrots cut into one inch pieces, potatoes, cut into one inch pieces, green beans snapped into one inch pieces, a can of corn, one pint of rabbit stock, and I will mix in some leftover rabbit gravy at the end to thicken it)
Salad

Tuesday:
Crockpot Beef pot roast
Microwave Baked potatoes
Nectarines
Coleslaw

Wednesday:
Baked potato soup
Coleslaw
Italian prunes

Thursday:
Leftovers

Friday:
Crockpot chicken (whole)
Microwave baked potatoes
Green beans

Saturday:
Chicken and noodles
Salad
Nectarines

Sunday:
Tacos
Pears

Meal Planning for the Week

September 16th, 2013 at 02:28 am

I know I am usually good at making everything from scratch, but today I was just exhausted. I think I'm on the cusp of a cold. I really, really wanted to get Round Table Pizza, but I managed to resist. I did have to go to the store to get milk and produce and while there I noticed they had some cheap cheese pizzas on sale with a sell by date of today. This is the type the store makes in-house, not the kind in the freezer section.

So I bought a couple of cheap cheese pizzas and then once home I doctored them up with pepperoni, onions, and bell pepper strips. It's not RT and it's not homemade, but spending six bucks on the pizzas and adding toppings I already had at home gave me an easy pizza that I didn't have to put much time or effort into. With the toppings I used I probably spent a grand total of $8. And one of those pizzas I put in the freezer for another day. So $4 spent for dinner for 3 of us. Not too shabby.

Because I am feeling under the weather or like I am about to be, I am planning a mostly crockpot and soup pot week. I figure if I have easy crockpot dinners planned, I won't be tempted to do takeout.

Monday:
Crockpot Chicken stew (boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into one inch pieces, carrots cut into one inch pieces, potatoes, cut into one inch pieces, green beans snapped into one inch pieces, a can of corn, one pint of rabbit stock, and I will mix in some leftover rabbit gravy at the end to thicken it)
Salad

Tuesday:
Crockpot Beef pot roast
Microwave Baked potatoes
Nectarines
Coleslaw

Wednesday:
Baked potato soup
Coleslaw
Italian prunes

Thursday:
Leftovers

Friday:
Crockpot chicken (whole)
Microwave baked potatoes
Green beans

Saturday:
Chicken and noodles
Salad
Nectarines

Sunday:
Tacos
Pears

Coin Jar Update

September 14th, 2013 at 10:49 am

I cleaned out my purse tonight and had a lot of ones. I added $11.25 to the coin jar.

Two Bits of Big News

September 13th, 2013 at 04:23 pm

DH's overtime pay hit the account this morning. I transferred $1000 to the Emergency Fund. Usually I nickel and dime my way along, so it was nice to be able to put a large chunk in for a change.

$6115.32 Beginning EF Balance
+1000.00 Amount Added
-------------
$7115.32 Ending EF Balance

$186.68 to go to meet my September goal. My October goal is $7500, which is a month's net earnings. I can't believe I am so close now.

The other bit of big news is that DH has hit the income point for the year when they stop taking out social security. It was actually met on August 30th. So for the last four months of the year we will have bigger paychecks. That will really help with my savings goals.

Projected earnings are $173K unless he gets more overtime this year and of course the Christmas Bonus total will be added to that. If Christmas Bonuses are 10% this year, he will get a check for $17,300 minus taxes. If it is 5%, he will get a check for $8,650 minus taxes. Either way, DD's first year of college will be paid for and we'll be able to use next year's tax refund for something other than saving for college. If something goes wrong with the bonus, the tax refund will still be enough to pay for her first year of college at the local community college.

Emergency Fund Update

September 12th, 2013 at 04:20 pm

Big long entry disappeared into outer space despite copy/save. ARGH.

Instead you now get just the EF update.

$6105.32 Beginning Balance
+--10.00 Amount Added
------------
$6115.32 Ending Balance

Meal Planning for the Week

September 9th, 2013 at 12:28 am

I am not including fruit on the dinner menu this week, because we are trying to stick to one high carb at dinner starting Tuesday. But the Italian prunes are almost ripe, so we may switch out a high carb for it later in the week.

I managed to gain back all the weight I lost before plus ten pounds, and DD is carrying too much extra weight as well. DS could stand to lose about ten pounds around the belly. He has been running on the treadmill which has helped him lose 5 pounds and the moobs he was starting to get that were embarrassing him, but he'd like to lose a bit more. I'll watch his diet carefully because at 13 he still needs to eat a lot of calories. We'll just be careful about where those calories are coming from.

We are also going to make more of an effort to get to the gym and not just for swimming.

Sunday:
Beef pot roast
Corn on the cob
Coleslaw

Monday:
Pizza (homemade sauce, bell pepper strips, onions, pepperoni, Canadian bacon)
Cole slaw

Tuesday:
Oven Baked Chicken
Baked potatoes
Green beans

Wednesday:
Baked potato soup
Leftover chicken
Green beans

Thursday:
Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches (on homemade bread)
Salad (lettuce, cheese, sunflower seeds, dressing)

Friday:
Meatloaf
Fried potatoes
Broccoli/cauliflower

Saturday:
Pork chops
Applesauce (homemade)
Leftover broccoli/cauliflower

Payday Post

September 7th, 2013 at 07:02 am

Today was payday. Everything has been paid. Nothing is due until the 21st and after that nothing will be do until the 1st. DH ended up doing all his overtime work in five days time, so it won't be a full week of overtime, but five days is still pretty nice. I'll be able to put $1000 to the EF next week, but will have to rethink the other things I was thinking of distributing the extra money to.

We've gotten a lot of food this week. Not take out, but prepared food from the store deli. I've been out of it with my constant headache and mild nausea. Getting hit in the head with that pitchfork handle on Monday morning did me no favors. I have had no inclination to cook and with DH doing the overtime work at home, neither did he.

I'll try to get my act together this weekend. DH leaves on Monday and I can't keep letting the money fritter away when I could be cooking.

Anyway, the distribution of things today comes from a combination of this payday and last and is as follows:

$757.82 Van loan (plus extra)
__90.00 Physical Therapy
__58.00 School photos
_168.00 Storage
1000.00 Loan to Mom
_400.00 Utilities to Mom
__41.88 Life Insurance Me
__45.30 Life Insurance DH
__47.17 House Insurance (Old House)
__66.65 Car Insurance
__27.28 Electric (Old House)
__72.56 Internet
__50.22 Phone (Old House)
__55.25 Garbage
__19.00 Dues (Old House)
_225.00 Chiropractic Monthly Family Plan
_227.66 Laptop Payoff (from Laptop Fund)
_100.00 Property Tax Fund
_100.00 Vacation Fund
_100.00 Appliance Fund
_100.00 College Fund
__41.16 Security System (Old House)
-------------
$3792.95 Paid Out

We also bought gas and groceries and spent around $500. We are all stocked up on staples and aside from some vegetables and lids for canning and some milk I shouldn't need to go to the store or a farm again for a week.

Emergency Fund Update

September 6th, 2013 at 01:32 am

The Thursday $10 deposit to savings was added to the EF. Slowly but surely.

$6095.32 Old EF Balance
+__10.00 Deposit
-------------
$6105.32 New EF Balance

Another EF Update

September 4th, 2013 at 04:12 pm

I deposited $35.43 to the Emergency Fund from the coin jar yesterday.

$6059.89 Old EF Balance
+__35.43 Deposit Added
-----------
$6095.32 New EF Balance

I got an email notice that Best Buy had shipped my computer to Seattle for repair, but they never called when they finished transferring all my documents to the portable hard drive we had bought like they were supposed to. No one wanted to spend an hour on hold trying to talk to a human, though it was tried, but the automated system kept messing up. So DH is going to run over there today and pick it up as we are assuming they finished doing that like they were supposed to before the sent it off.

We are pretty sure I have a mild concussion so I won't be driving this week at all. The first time I tried showed me I should not make the attempt again any time soon.

Sometimes I forget...

September 3rd, 2013 at 05:54 am

...just how much money I can save when I go shopping at Trader Joe's. I walked out of there with 4 bags of groceries (large canvas totes), 2 bags of chips, and a gallon of milk for less than $95. The same stuff at the regular grocery store would have cost me twice that.

It's been a long time since I have gone there simply because the parking situation is atrocious. But at 7:30 tonight it crossed my mind that the parking lot should have some spaces at that time and I really wanted to get some canned corn. They have the best tasting canned corn, hands down. It tastes fresh and sweet and it is canned in BPA free cans. I got 20 cans. I would have gotten more, but I wanted to leave some on the shelf for others. Corn is one of the things that is very labor intensive to home can so I don't bother.

I was excited to see they now have both a Funyun and a Dorito replacement. We can't eat the originals because of allergies to about 5 ingredients in each. The onion ones were better than the originals and the nacho cheese ones were the closest thing I've found. DS was a happy camper.

Shredded cabbage had gone up in price. It used to be a $1.29 for a 16 oz bag and now it is a 10 oz bag for the same price. I know I should always shred my own cabbage, then it is .39 a pound, but I do get tempted by these bags because it makes it so fast and easy to make coleslaw. I mean, it takes all of 5 minutes to shred up a cabbage. LOL I try not to be that lazy often. But the big box of not Cheerio's is still $1.99 a pound so you win some, you lose some.

I picked up a pound of frozen bell pepper strips (yellow, red, orange, and green) for $1.69. Single bell peppers are running $2 right now. So I will have my strips for pizzas and can dice them smaller for omelets. It should last a few months.

I feel like I have been spending money right and left this week, but our stock of so much had been used up. My cupboards were not bare, but they were getting there. I still have to do a Costco run, ugh. Just a few things from there that I can't get good prices on elsewhere, like butter, the right kind of tomato sauce, and the type of toilet paper that my son is not allergic to.

We also need to buy rabbit feed. I am thinking about getting 250 pounds this time. That is five bags and will cost $93.50 with tax. I wish tax wasn't on animal feed. We don't have tax on people food in this state, and since it is food, you'd think they'd give it a pass, but no. We have 3.5 litters growing out at present and those guys eat. Feed costs are worth it in the amount of meat we get out of it, but I am tired of going to the store so often for it, so hopefully this will be enough for a month.

On the 19th Sweetie Belle and Serenity will be old enough to be bred and then we'll have five does in various stages of pregnancy or raising litters. Wonder how much feed they will go through then? We are at the point where we are eating rabbit almost once a week now, but there is no surplus to build up our freezer stock with (or to be canned). Since I don't want to have litters born during the coldest months of January and February, I will do my last breeding in early November and not breed again until mid-February. So I want to have enough meat put up to get through those months of no production.

Although Andromeda will be old enough to be bred in December I will not breed her until mid-February. A first time mother does not need to have her first litter in the freezing cold. I have been fortunate with both Phoebe and Lola on their first litters. First time rabbit mothers can often lose their entire first litter. I'd like to keep that track record up.

Back to School Clothes Shopping

September 3rd, 2013 at 12:51 am

I took DD shopping for back to school clothes. Fortunately she had a lot of t-shirts she got as presents for her birthday last month, including one that will work for PE, so we didn't even have to look at those. I hate shopping for clothes. I'd sooner go to the dentist and you all know how much I hate going to the dentist. But except for a pair of dress flats we are done. She will have to purchase her own accessories, scarves, and hats this year (I am not talking about scarves and hats for winter, but the fun kind).

The damage was $322.75. For that we purchased:

2 pairs of men's boxers (she wears under her skirts)
2 sports bras for PE
2 pairs of trousers
2 pairs of sweats (1 for PE)
8 pairs of underwear
1 sweater (light weight, fall type, 3/4 sleeves)
2 pairs of boot cut jeans
2 sweatshirts
1 denim vest
2 skirts
1 pair of tennis shoes for PE
12 pairs of socks (2 pairs for PE)
3 long-sleeved button down shirts

She has several dressy blouses from last year and the year before that are still in nice shape, 3 skirts, 1 dress, 2 pairs of boots (one faux leather, one faux suede), and 2 pairs of pants.

I am glad DS doesn't need to go shopping for new clothes. He doesn't care much since we are homeschooling anyway. He will be happy in his silky basketball shorts, t-shirts and polo shirts until late November and then we will get him some sweats and jeans and socks. He won't wear them before it gets cold. Currently his tennis shoes from last spring still fit, but who knows for how much longer as he has grown so fast.

Coin Jar

September 2nd, 2013 at 08:49 pm

I cleaned out my purse and swept DH's wallet for ones and coins and added $9.63 to the coin jar today. It was left over from some weekend spending we did.

Meal Planning and Swagbucks

September 2nd, 2013 at 05:13 pm

I have done great on Swagbucks this month already without hardly trying. Today there is a swag code until 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET. It is prosperity and worth 7 points.

Meal planning this week is again trying to get in some of end of summer vegetables and fruits.

Monday:
Beef chuck pot roast
Baked potatoes
Romano broad beans
Watermelon

Tuesday:
Spaghetti
Homemade spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes, fresh onions, minced garlic from the jar, fresh basil, fresh oregano, fresh thyme, a pinch of dried rosemary, freshly ground sea salt and freshly ground pepper and some tomato paste)
Meatballs (ground beef, Italian bead crumbs, parmesan, romano, egg)
Cole slaw

Wednesday:
Meatball sandwiches
Leftover cole slaw
Fried potatoes made with leftover baked potatoes
Nectarines

Thursday:
Fried rabbit
Corn on the cob
Broccoli/cauliflower
Cantaloupe

Friday:
Homemade pizza made with leftover spaghetti sauce (onion, bell pepper strips, ham, pepperoni)
Kohlrabi

Saturday:
Bacon cheeseburgers with homemade buns
Fried potatoes
Salad
Watermelon

EF Update

September 2nd, 2013 at 05:44 am

I got my Capitol One 360 interest today of $4.97. I added that to my Emergency Fund.

$6054.92 Old EF Balance
+___4.97 Interest Added
-----------
$6059.89 New EF Balance