November Goals Report

I made my goal of getting rid of an item (or many times a lot more) for the number of each day. That was a total of over 475 items. That is pretty impressive when I calculate it! I did take pictures of pretty much every day but I didn't get around to blogging and I decided that you probably didn't need to see pictures of all my rejects. I did choose to share a few pictures to highlight some of the areas that I went through. I did do a lot of cleaning out in paper areas so that doesn't tend to make as big of visual difference. There is definitely still areas in  my home that could use some decluttering. I am super thankful to have gotten to the areas that I did however - some of them especially were good to work through mentally.

Cupboards were one area that I did clean through. I found French dressing that was outdated. It isn't a surprise - only Ken liked that dressing and he hasn't lived here for nearly 2 years. I hate to waste food and wish I would have thought to give it away a long time ago but at least it is out of my cupboard now.

I had a chance to make some Thanksgiving Cards and envelopes from things that I already had on hand. I was able to go through my card making scraps some with that project and then give away the results (which took them out of my house) and burn leftover scraps.

The pictures above and below were really good for me to go through. It was letters that Ken and I had written when we were engaged, lots of cards that Ken had given me and cards we had been given for our wedding (and I think I am sounding a bit like a hoarder now - I did have a cute little chest that they had a place in) as well as other various paper things from our wedding and bridal showers. I dealt with some sorrow when going through it but mostly it just felt good to get rid of it.

I had a burning time last night to get rid of a bunch of this stuff.

I am pretty excited to have gotten my new will all witnessed and notarized yesterday and so I burned up the old one. 

So, all in all the decluttering goal went well and was quite helpful!

Goal number 2 was to have a really low spend month. I would only buy groceries 2 times - at the Amish Bulk Food store and then one other time when I got needed things for the Thanksgiving. I did also mention that I might need to buy catfood. We did need it and I was planning on buying it but when I went to Aldi to get Thanksgiving stuff they were out of the cheap catfood so I didn't get it then and I found some bones and old meet in the freezer so I have been making cat food instead using up old food. 

At the Amish store I did spend $252.47 but I got a lot of baking supplies that will last throughout the year as well as over 12 pounds of cheese (which will last quite a while - I freeze it). 

I did also have that one trip to Aldi where I spent $34.47 to buy a turkey and a couple other things. I may have cheated a bit in that I did buy a gallon of milk and some whipping cream that we didn't actually use for Thanksgiving itself.

That is a long way from the lowest amount I have spent on food in a month but with so much of it being stored away for the future, I am quite happy with it. 

This month has been one of my favorite cooking months in a long time. I have just loved the challenge of making do with what we have and enjoying some pretty delicious meals in the process. Whenever there seemed to be something lacking I would think through what we did have and what else might work and then I would just get overwhelmed with the abundance that God has given us. We are incredibly blessed and are a long way from going hungry - even if we didn't go shopping for a while. :-)

These pictures are from a couple of yummy breakfasts that we enjoyed. By the way we were blessed to be given 5 dozen eggs from a couple of friends and my parents. That was a lovely addition to our diet. We would have been baking with flaxseeds for eggs if it weren't for those gifts.

This is a Brazilian Cheesebread that our exchange student from 2020, Debora, introduced us too. It has a different texture but I think it is super yummy. Here is a recipe that seems to be the same as what I use.

   I have had to make do with deodorant and toothpaste (I had some but discovered it was giving me canker sores. I was going to make some but haven't gotten around to it yet so I have just been using baking soda - it works). 

  I did also buy gas this month. I spent $69.73 along with a $25 gift card. 

  I did also spend some money on Entertainment. I spent $36 for Aaron, Megan and I to go to a musical at the community theater. I was reminded later that I could have checked on ushering to see if I could have watched for free (as they called me to see if I wanted to do that later on) but I don't regret spending it. We enjoyed it. I also spent $5.39 for more texts on my Tracphone. I guess that is kind of entertainment too :-). The other expense I had this month (besides the normal electric, internet/phone, etc) was $40 for going out to eat TWO times! I rarely go out to eat but for some reason or another the kids really wanted to a couple of different times (once on a Sunday after a busy Saturday and the other time to satisfy the cravings of my pregnant daughter, Mara. The adult children paid for themselves but I did pay for Megan and I. I am putting that in the entertainment section too but I know that is rather cheating. :-)

  Over all it was a good month of setting and achieving goals. What I am really excited about is the progress I have been able to make on paying off my mortgage early when I work to save money in our day-to-day expenses. Today I was able to go in and pay the principal of the Mortgage payment on two extra months. Paying just those two months of principal only today saved me $800 in interest. That is pretty exciting to me. I am now 14 months ahead of schedule in paying it off. Having both that and saving up for going with my kids on a mission trip is a good motivator for me in being careful in my spending. It pushes me to figure out and take the time to pack a lunch each morning when I head of to work instead of running and picking something up in town. It pushes me to try to use what I have instead of buying new - and I have a lot of fun in the process. 
 

I am hoping to share with you soon more about what I am doing to save money and make extra money. Is that something that you are interested in?

I hope to share my fun goals for December in this post also but it is time to head to bed so I guess that waits for another day.