June Wrap-Up & July Goals

I'm a bit tardy with the monthly summary. DH and I didn't have a chance to sit down and talk about about goals until this weekend.

Just in case you missed it our huge praise this month is for DHs job going to full-time. After a year of surviving on 3/4 salary we are back to normal. Keep in mind 'normal' for us is still pretty darn frugal but we are just so excited that all our bills are covered with DHs salary again.

We are continually amazed at God's provision. Even as God was engineering Ed's return to full-time work, He worked through many people to bless our family. We received several generous gift cards in June, a friend made me some beautiful earrings, another friend gave us a bike for one of our DDs, we had several instances of babysitting help, I was given many hand-me-downs and new things to prepare for DD #4, and there were lots of other wonderful blessings that I can't remember right this second with my pregnant memory. *sigh*

We have been looking at our budget and trying to decide which of the many things we have been putting off should get financial priority. For July we settled on new tires for the Suburban. We could wait a couple more months, but we thought it would be wisest to buy the tires when I have the Suburban in Oregon later this month so we can avoid about $70 sales tax. This is not a special trip to buy tires! I already planned to have the Suburban there since I have to haul a bunch of stuff home that won't fit in the Toyota.

My goals for June included:

• $200 on groceries (to include a Costco trip). I spent $228.51 which is close enough!
• List one thing on ebay or Craig's List. Uh . . . Nope. But I do think I'll manage some this month because a) we are reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and every time we ready it we end up selling a bunch of stuff, b) listing fees on Ebay are free for up to 100 items until July 12th, and c) I am coming across lots to get rid of as the Spring Cleaning progresses
• Finish the Spring Cleaning. Rats - I would love to have this done. I did get the kitchen chairs scrubbed and the ceiling fan cleaned which were both 'biggies' I had been avoiding.
• Use the dryer just 5 times. I did this one! Unless my mom used the dryer more than twice when she was here, which is entirely possible. She can be sneaky. Anyway - even with our terrible weather in June I managed to keep the dryer usage to five loads.
• Post about spring cleaning, chickens, and how I grocery shop. I got the How I grocery shop series finished, but no chicken posts and more spring cleaning to come.

Goals for July:

• Groceries under $200. We have a camping trip the first week of August I'll be preparing for and I am running low on all my meat except pork chops. I want to have enough budget to stock up if I find a good price.
• Finish the Spring Cleaning. This is becoming Summer Cleaning so I'd better just wrap it up. I think I've made the mistake of organizing as I clean so it's taking much longer than I hoped.
• List 5 things on Ebay or Craig's List. Yep - back to five.
• Use my dryer less than 5 times (again)
• Post about chickens, stringing a clothesline, and start a series on gift giving.

I don't feel like I have any "new" goals this month, but I'll just give myself a break and try to maintain for the two remaining months of my pregnancy.

Katie