300 a Month, Goals, and Menu.

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This is the two fires from my backyard.

Not sure where the time has gone, I hate when it takes me a week to get a post out. But in my defense, it has been pretty busy here. Have had two weddings in the last two weeks one of them we took our camper and stayed the night. The other was far enough away it was pretty much an all-day event.

 

We did get most all of the gardens in, we have three different spots this year, in our old garden spot, in some new raised beds, and over where we are leasing pasture. Hopefully, we will get some produce this year after last year being so bad.

 

Well, my income has dropped a lot this summer I only have 2 part time kids. So I will be living out of my pantry and will be trying to implement all of my homesteading/ self-sufficient ideas and the ones that I haven’t really focused on lately. At least this way I can see if there are any holes in all my plans.

 

We have two huge fires not far from us the 416 above Durango already over 2000 evacuations and more on pre-evacuation notice over 20,000 acres so far. Then the Burro fire about 30 miles (2000 plus acres) from us so the air has been horrible. With all the evacuations it really makes you think about what you would take in an evacuation if you had time to pack a few things ( everyone should put a list together way beforehand then in an emergency you won’t panic and forget half of what you need to take.). My daughter is working the smaller fire as an EMT and we have several from our volunteer fire dept on the 416  fire above Durango.

 

A couple weekends ago we had to make a quick and unscheduled trip to Olathe to pick up a tiny camper that Andy’s Mom had parked at some friends to use while she was there. It had been there for close to 15 years and they were needing it moved. It isn’t in to bad of shape for having been parked for so long.  I am going to totally redo it so I can use it then when Andy has something to do and I am wanting to do something different I can use this camper it is small enough to pull with my pickup. Pretty excited about it I am thinking pink and white. I do have to do some work on our main camper first so hoping that it won’t take to long. I want to paint and put new wallpaper in it then eventually put down wood floors. ( Guess I decided I didn’t have much else to do hahaha). After I get that done I will start on the little camper.

 

I am getting about a quart and a half of milk from my goat, I have been feeding it to one of my doggie calves. Wanting to get a couple more milk goats with the money from selling my calves when they get bigger. Been getting around 5 to 6 eggs a day from the chickens. I do think something is getting in and eating some of the eggs, thinking it may be a couple of my outside cats. Going to have to keep a petty good eye on that.

 

300 a Month

As I mentioned above my income has been reduced by a lot for the summer so I am really going to have to buckle down on my spending. I am thinking about ordering milk from a friend who has a dairy down the road and they deliver this way I won’t have any reason to go to town if I am getting milk delivered then I can just make all my dairy products think I will even try my hand at cheddar cheese.

The last two weeks I bought tea, bananas, cream cheese, mushrooms ( marked down), spinach leaves, kale & spinach blend ( also marked down), macaroni, strawberries , coconut oil ( two pack), milk, sour cream, almond milk and some foil pans ( I got the foil pans to make the girls some freezer meals for their Birthdays).

I spent 101.98 the last two weeks so that is 101.98 for the month. It leaves me 198.02 for the rest of the month.
I have spent 883.21 so far for the year. That leaves me with 2716.79 for the year. Hoping this gets better this summer although It is going to have to with not having as much money this summer.

Goals

Kitchen,
Got all the pineapples finished, about 2 gallons in the freezer.
This week I need to get a couple hams cooked and canned and a turkey cooked and canned. We have a beef going to the butchers this week so need to make more room in the freezers for it.
I also want to make up a lot of freezer meals for the girl’s Birthdays they are so hard to buy for and with my money being tight this year I thought this would be a good idea since they don’t do a lot of cooking and are tired of fast food.

 

Fiber Arts,
I worked a little on wash clothes ( very little) going to try and get more of these done this week.

 

Sewing table,
I have got to find some time to set down and do some sewing seems like I put that off until the last and it never gets done. So hoping to get a little sewing done need to work on the girls’ quilts and have a little mending that needs to be done.

 

Yard,
I did get the playground areas cleaned, flowers hung along the walkway, and I got the back patio area started.. Having a hard time getting the yard done this year seems like there is so much other stuff I am trying to get done. Guess I need to have a BBQ or something so I will have to get it finished haha.

I would like to get the back completely finished this week so I can start on the front.

 

Garden
We have most all the garden planted, do want to get a couple more raised beds put together and planted. We planted in three different places this year one in the old garden spot one where we are leasing pasture and then the raised beds so maybe we will have some veggies this year.

 

What I am reading,
Haven’t got much reading done but still on the same books I was on, Tox-Sick by Suzanna Sommers it is about all the toxins in our everyday lives and the effects they are having on our health.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand I love this book even though it takes forever to read, If I didn’t know better I would think it was written today but it was written in 1957.
And The Game of Thrones I am on the first book.

 

Fitness,
Trying to get back to daily workouts and not doing very good at it seems there is always something else that needs to be done. Going to try a little harder to get back on a daily routine.

 

Music,
I won’t be taking lessons this summer but will try to work on it a little this summer.

 

Menu

Breakfast

Cream of Wheat
French toast
Cheese Omelet
Oats
Pancakes
To these, I will add toast or fruit.

 

Lunch

Mac & Cheese
Pizzas
Chicken Potato Soup
Grilled Cheese
Mac & Tomato
To these, I will add fruit, crackers, or something as a side dish.

Andy will have leftovers from the night before.

 

Dinner

Green Chili Enchiladas
Sausage and Potato Casserole
Swiss steak
Stroganoff
Cheesy Spaghetti
Beans

To these, I will add a vegetable or appropriate side. One weekend night we will have leftovers.

 

Kids Snacks

cereal
Applesauce
Fruit
Graham Crackers
Popsicles

 

Andy’s snacks

Strawberry Cheesecake
Peaches and cream Cobbler

Andy takes a snack to work every day (breakfast) to eat at break.

So what are your goals for the week?

Have a great week.

4 Replies to “300 a Month, Goals, and Menu.”

  1. NRP

    Welcome back.

    Well I have finally figured out how to keep under $300 per month, STOP reading your “2018 Deep Pantry / Food Storage Challenge”.

    The fires are sure making a mess that’s for sure, I hear 550 is closed and the San Juan’s are closed for the rest of the summer. NOT GOOD!!!!
    I wake up to a full blanket of smoke here in NM every morning. Nasty, word is they are not going to get the 416 fire out till the Monsoons hit, if they do hit.
    FNM is going stage two drought this week. The Animas was a full 3 feet lower than the norm at peak runoff here.

    A word on Atlas Shrugged, GREAT Book, Ann Ryan wrote the book in 1957 I believe, and could have been written during the Obummer Administration. I swore it mirrored exactly what was/is going on, y-all want a wakeup call, read the book. A word, it’s a long read but worth the time.

    I have taken up Golf, and I now understand why it’s called Golf, tis because all the other Four Letter Words were taken, God I HATE that ‘game’, but it’s fun as all get out LOLOLOL

    Ranchers Wife; Ask the milk dude if you can buy the cream off the top, last place I bought from always had a gallon or two, use that for the Cheese. And remember, the older the Cheddar Cheese, the better, I Like Tillamook Cheese, I buy the extra sharp and let it sit in a cool place for at least 2-3 more years, so SHARP it will cut the enamel off yar teeth, but OMG is it gooderssssssss

  2. watkinsranches@yahoo.com Post author

    NRP,
    First off I didn’t do a very good job of proofreading this post just went back thru it and holy cow not sure how you could read that haha.

    Haha, you just have to learn to NOT go to the store. Can save tons that way haha. Although Blue may not like it if you do that.

    The smoke here has been horrible. They closed all of San Juan forest ( first time ever).
    They said the same for the burro fire that they won’t get it out till monsoons. That really concerns me because I read somewhere ( think the Farmers Almanac ) that we will get the monsoons just not till late fall. I also wouldn’t be too surprised if the two fires don’t join since there are only about 12 miles in between them. I know a few people in Rico that are packing up just in case they have to evacuate. Can’t believe the Animas is so low scary how dry it is everywhere. Really worried about the storm coming this weekend more than likely be a lot of dry lightning.

    My Daughter is working as an EMT on the fire, the first time she has really had to deal with the federal government, she isn’t impressed, to say the least, haha. Other than that she is loving it ( at one time she had thought about wildland fires but decided that just wasn’t really a thing for girls to do) and yes she is my strange child haha.

    This is my second time reading “Atlas Shrugged ” figured it was time to read it again When I first started reading it I thought it was a newer book when I figured out it was from 57 I was shocked it was so spot on at the time. Ya it isn’t a weekend read haha.

    I played a little golf in my previous life just never could really get into it. It wasn’t bad just I was always thinking of all the other things I could be doing.

    I can buy cream from the ” Milk Dude ” I never thought about making cheese with cream, going to have to try. Guess I am a weenie but I have to disagree about the sharper the better a nice mild cheese is the best lol. I love cheese ( I think it is in everything I cook) but just can’t handle the sharp cheese.

    Have a great week.

    1. NRP

      Rancher’s Wife;
      Ohhhh I can see we’re going to have a debate on Cheeses…..

      Honestly I do love all cheese, a nice Gouda or slightly Smoked Brie on homemade crackers with a VERY nice Merlot, maybe some WELL Aged Cheddar with Cabernet Sauvignon or a Malbec, or if ya really want to go nuts, a nice Australian Port with a naturally aged Bleu Cheese OR!!!! if ya really want to go completely CARZY, a chilled bottle of Pinot Gris with an imported Garrotxa or a slightly softer Camellia.

      No wonder I’m fat… HAHAHA

      PS; You’re going to LOVE making Cheese, just don’t get into a hurry, let them age a bit.

  3. watkinsranches@yahoo.com Post author

    NRP,
    Ok, I have to admit I have lead a very sheltered life. I haven’t tried most of those cheeses,
    I know I need to get out more hahaha.