An Overview of My Month

 Not that one needs a magnifying glass to go through what I have managed to get done this month or what our budget looks like (kind of horrible really, need to work on this even more). 

But I thought I would give a bit of an update on things here on the old homestead.

The first of the month saw us heading to a cabin for the family reunion.

The first night was at our place for hamburgers, hot dogs and whatever anyone else brought to share. Come to think of it many did not bring anything so I am really glad that some brought extra bits and bobs. 

The next evening was our supper and a silent auction. There were I believe 51 family members there. Friday only saw us with about 20. I did not succeed on many of my bids and neither did Harvey. Which is quite okay as the money (change) I had saved just went into my savings envelope.

Once home for about a week Kurt arrived and spent a week with us visiting, and even going to the football game in Regina. He left straight from there to his home, we stayed an extra day with Kris and enjoyed a bit longer visit. Kurt even took me out to forage for echinacea which are still drying.... I think I might be able to chop it up next week and store it for tea.

Home, and garden work began in earnest. Right now I am concentrating on dehydrating herbs before the harvest of however many veggies we manage to get. The weather has been so very hot after the cool and rainy start, that I am afraid that things might not be that productive. Could be a year of buying produce at the Farmer's Market (they are pretty darn expensive).

Once we got the cherry trees netted, I am happy to say that I managed to save many a cherry from the greedy robins. This year I actually had enough to make a batch of jam, and two batches of pie filling. There are even a few left to make some cherry muffins tonight, some of which will go into the freezer.

I have actually been able to use the lines outside for drying clothes. Love it, and it cuts down on the electric bill for next month (considering the A/C seems to be running constantly).

Got some more infused oils started, I am pretty sure the lemon balm one will be made into salve next week. The others will be a bit longer.

Started the second scarf and things are moving along much quicker on this one. I still have to move around after about 20 or 30 passes of the shuttle with the beating, but I have ordered the stand for it and hopefully that helps a bit. I have a feeling this scarf will be done and dusted by the end of next week if not before. 

Still knitting those mitts, and I am up to 32 pairs of the size that would fit children in grades 1-3. Once I reach 40, I plan on making some smaller ones (about the same amount if I am lucky) and then perhaps about 10 of the larger size.

Now the evil budget.....

Over on many a line, but because we did not spend much on our short holiday (the leftover will be put towards our get away in September), we managed to stay under for the total budgeted for this month.

I failed at keeping the grocery budget below what we had thought it would be. I think part of that could be because we had a bit of company, prices have risen in some areas, and I just didn't concentrate on what I was spending. 

The same can be said for health expenditures. The insurance did not pay as much as they usually do for my dental appointment (seems they might have cut down on certain items like cleaning), and since Harvey got that extra eye drop prescription costs have risen as well. My prescription has also gone up a bit.

Yard maintenance took a chunk of cash as well. The good thing is many of the items that were purchased will not have to be purchased again as they can be reused for a number of years. Looking ahead we will probably only need fertilizers, seeds, plants and soil next year. I am going to see if I can collect a few seeds from my annual plants this year as well as bring in a couple more plants to winter along with the lemon trees. 

There were a couple of wins though. Not as much was spent on hobbies this month, no clothing was purchased, the cost of fuel and vehicle maintenance was lower than budgeted for, vehicle insurance was lower, as was property taxes. So I am looking at those wins more than where I fell down. There is always another month to work on getting the budget down and more to focus on.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.