Wow, what a busy month! With a few health issues being dealt with by all of us, harvest happening at work for me, and school activities, we were a bit busy and crazy.

When I have had energy, I have been doing a lot of cleaning, decluttering, and organizing with the intention of making life simpler and calmer at home. I haven’t gotten rid of a lot except for trash and unusable goods. Some of the kids’ clothes have gone to the thrift shop if I haven’t been able to bless anyone else with them, but I am still weeding through a lot of fall and winter clothes for Paige and Dane. They are both growing so quickly right now that keeping up with them is a full time job! Thank goodness, they don’t have a problem wearing clothes from the thrift shop!

We have been eating at home for the most part except a few concession stands here and there. We did eat once on the road at a fast food place. I don’t know why I bothered with that considering the kids were hungry again in an hour. The amount of food just doesn’t fill them up or give the nutrition they need. I also have eaten lunch out a couple times, but I avoid the fast food places and go to places that have a buffet or the grocery store deli.

I will tell you this: I have blown my grocery budget for the month. For a good cause though. Our local food cooperative had to close its doors this month and was selling the rest of their inventory. I stocked up on stuff we use at home that I have trouble finding locally. I made two trips and spent about $60. I also spent $60 twice at the grocery stores this month for a grand total of $180 for groceries this month. Most of what I buy is fresh produce and milk which my growing kids need and prefer so it is all good. However, I would like to keep November’s grocery budget around $130-140.

I received a $25 gas card in the mail last week for filling out three recommendations on Angie’s List. Sometimes it pays to pay attention to the emails offering things like that!

I received several freebies in the mail: tea, coffee, book, product samples, bracelet, coupons, and stuff for the kids.

I trimmed my bangs again and trimmed a few of my ends that were getting really split. I will need a haircut next month due to the fact that now it is tangling up underneath. A good trim will get rid of that for me. I keep my hair long to reduce the amount of times I go get a haircut. I did get Paige and Dane haircuts because they both really needed it! That costs me $32 for the both of them.

I worked some overtime last week which brought some needed money back into our budget and helped to pay down some more bills.

Sometimes, being patient and waiting for things is worth it. For awhile now, I have been wanting to add a third 20# propane cylinder for my grill and campstove. These are my back-ups if the power goes out and I want to have plenty of gas on hand for that particular prep. A couple weekends ago, my grandma cleaned one of her garage and sent it to my house so I could dispose of it. On closer inspection, all the tank needs is a new valve. She doesn’t want it back so I will replace the valve for $20 and have another tank on hand! Yeah!

We gleaned a bunch of tomatoes from some friends as well as some cucumbers from a customer. I love gleaning!

Paige made a Halloween costume out of props we had around the house like slings, braces, and crutches. She is going as an injury prone person. Dane is borrowing a costume from another friend of ours so he can a ninja! Thank goodness for friends!

Keep an eye on Amazon for Christmas shopping! I have been able to score some very excellent deals in jewelry and prepping items that I will give as gifts and stocking stuffers! Most of them are sitting in my cart for next week when I get paid.

I almost certain I am forgetting some things so I will try to remember for next week!

Have a great day!
Erica

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