I forgot to log in my last week’s spending and then… poof! Another week came around, so I figured I would do them together. I did save ALL my receipts and was very diligent to remember them. I really don’t think I’ve missed any, because I’ve just trained myself to stash them in a little pocket in my purse and then to dutifully pop them in my little basket. Even when I am done with the actual reporting and such of this learning experience, I do believe I will keep up the effort of gathering them weekly and examining them. It’s REALLY been an eye opener. If you are anything like us and I suspect you are… it’s the little things that really do add up. And just knowing that WALKING into a store costs me $30 on average… well… makes me think about whether or not I need to go into stores!!! Haha…

The one thing that struck me immediately about these last two weeks is that my “extras” was SUPER low… I’m pretty sure that was from two things. Me being a little more aware of that “extra” spending and deciding I didn’t need it and also, being very busy with the farm, and with projects, etc. Just wasn’t much time left to browse ebay or Craigslist, or to just “shop”. I imagine that the extras will be a little higher in the winter months, just due to lack of things to do. Something to consider and watch, perhaps.

Another thing… these last two weeks have been high in the pet/farm department because we took on building Maggie’s new flock’s coop and the purchase of her 18 hens. I considered if I shouldn’t include that, since, some of her money went into the purchase and she wants to repay some of that as well. But then I thought, no, because we have several projects planned around the farm and it’s a reasonable ongoing cost of rehab. It’s wonderful that she wants to repay some of the costs, since she garners the money from egg and chicken sales. She sold 6 lovely chicks to a family starting out their home flock and she sold 2 roosters at auction this week, bringing in almost $50 for her, as well as selling 12 dozen eggs for another $24. She put all that towards her new coop and hens. I told her that the farm was paying for half because she is such a good worker and helps with the rocks and orders as well and doesn’t really get paid. She’s thrilled with that. It’s all good. So, yes, I included that in the last two weeks because we are always going to have projects going on here, at least for the next couple years!!!

Okay… here we go!!! The best part about the last two weeks??? NO KEROSENE and way way way way lower Electric bills because we have not run a heater for the last two weeks!!!! YAH EARLY SPRING!!!!!!!

We might even get caught up with our electric bill eventually!!!

Week Five Spending…

Spent a total of $869 this week…

I was happy to see that our household costs were reasonable, at least to my eye. Soap.com seems to really be helping us. I only had one Dollar Store visit week and it was really reasonable. I believe in time I will be able to do all my non-perishable shopping at Soap.com. I just have to make sure that I order things BEFORE I run out. It’s that running out of _________ (Fill in the blank… soap, paper towel, toliet paper, cat litter etc) that really gets me in the car and to the place. We’ve done really well with paper and personal products. Just have to figure out the pop and canned pet foods, and litters. Yep.

And this last week had two seasonal household costs… all of us bought new tennies at the Dollar Store! (Spent $40 for three pairs…) AND… we had to buy a whole tank for the used BBQ grill that we got for $30 this winter. The tank was $50! But now, we can just exchange it forever and it’s much much more reasonable. And we love to grill, in fact we’ve already used it three times this week!!! I suppose that you could call those extras, but we really needed some new town shoes and grilling, well, that is cooking for us! So I didn’t. Farm life is REALLY hard on shoes. I made the girls PROMISE not to wear their new town shoes out on the back 40. Me too. When I noticed that Maggie was going to wear her muck boots to a benefit lunch last Sunday and then she said she didn’t have anything nicer, I knew that we needed to get a pair soon for the spring and summer… something we can keep nicer for those go to town occasions! Jessy needed some too, as she was wearing her litle half farm boots too! We looked so special. Haha….

We spent a total, so far of $240 on our egg empire expansion, including the 18 mature hens. I believe we’re done with all the major costs, just have to finish up their outside run. We wanted to get that done this weekend, but it rained so much on Thursday and Friday that when we tried to dig post holes on Saturday, they instantly filled with water! So we decided to go back to mucking out all the winter bedding in the four animal barns instead. I am happy to report that we have the little coop done… the sheep shack, half done and the big barn, half done. Cody Pony still needs his, and we need to finish the two others this week. Moving six months of deep bedding is a REAL CHORE… let me tell you!!! I’ve been laying down exhausted at night the last couple days. But it was really worth it. The material is about half composted, and it saved us a TON on electricity that we might have spent heating those areas. I really think we could probably not even do ANY heating next year if we let it pile up again and do the deep bedding method to keep the areas warm. They were SURPRISINGLY warm even when the temperatures dipped way low. We didn’t loose a single animal or bird to the cold. And we only had two single heat lamps going during the coldest part.

We are definitely going to have to find a better and more economical way to heat the house, though, before next winter. We’re going to be putting in a basic propane furnace in the basement, hopefully by the end of summer. We have an almost full tank of propane in the yard, so that will help to offset the cost of the furnace. We will probably use the two kerosene heaters here and there to just boost an area or two when we need it and we will probably use the Eden Pure clone for the same reason, but as extra spot heating, rather than central heating. I would like to consider a small wood stove as we have a LOT of trees and wood that would be nice in case we loose power and to utilize some of that free energy, but I don’t want to use it as central heating. We gave it a try, but it was just too time consuming, too much driving around, acquiring the materials to burn and just too much baby sitting all the time. If we HAD to… that would be another story, but it was just a lot of extra work and I think I’d rather not go through that again. You just have to pick your battles here and there and I think I like the idea of a simple easy way to stay warm. After all, all the time spent, kept me from working and there were many days that we were just too cold and would end up spending the day wrapped in blankets on the couch, basically loosing a whole day for work, or even crafts and other enjoyments. Naw… our house is too big for that little house on the prairie stuff when it comes to heating. With the upgraded insulation and all new duct work, I think it will be reasonable to heat with gas next year. And we will consider sectioning off areas to conserve, I don’t want to be foolish, but I would like it a little more, well, modern!

Well… that’s all she wrote for the most part…. Two more weeks and then a big recap. I’m so thrilled to be doing this and I totally see some areas that I need to improve on. I’m also happy to see some very consistent totals, such as gas for Blue. We are pretty consistent on that… about $40 to $50 a week. And with the cost of gas these days, I don’t think we’re out of line with most families. We use about one tank of gas a week and it seems to get us about 250 to 300 miles of driving. When you consider one trip to any big city is 75+ miles, two trips a week and then some around the county driving is pretty much what we do. We could probably try harder to keep it to one trip a week and sometimes we can manage that, but other times, well, it’s just part of life.