Minimalism In May: Wrapping it up!

Our minimalist month is over on Friday, so I think it’s time to reflect and see what worked and what didn’t.

What worked:

·         I spent less time running errands.

·         We stayed under the grocery budget! (The eating out budget is another story!)

·         I had what I needed to cook/clean when I needed it.

·         I was more thorough making my shopping list because I knew I wouldn’t be making short trips to the store.

·         I didn’t have to spend time doing price-comparisons between the stores/ check the sale ads every week.

What didn’t work:

·         Due to many things coming up, we blew our eating out budget. Totally blew it.

(we were planning on going out for anniversary and then an extra cheap meal for “Pinterest meal fails” {Yes, that’s what Chad calls them} but we went out 2 extra times. Oops. Whatever. Life is short, right?

·         We over-purchased at the beginning of the month “so that we could make it through the month”. Next time, aka next month, we will just do without/improvise if we run out.

·         I saw that we had “room in the budget” so I took advantage of that and stocked up on a good K-cup sale. It was a good deal, and we still stayed under, but we would have been even more under if I wouldn’t have noticed the sale.

·         We spent money on two things not in the budget out of “necessity”. I use the quotes because we may have needed the weed eater, but I definitely didn’t need to go get my hair done (although I needed relaxation and it helped!)

This month:

·         We will still do one main trip to the big 4 stores (Sam’s Club, Walmart, Aldi, and Shop n Save)

·         I will also be making a small Trader Joe’s run. I try to only go every other month for the few things we use from there, but it’s now the second month and time to go again.

·         We have stuff left over from last month’s trips so I don’t need to buy (or buy as much) of several things!

·         I will be picking produce with better longevity (possibly canned/frozen/etc.) so that I won’t need to go for that.

·         I also had to make special trips for presents, and usually more time in the store means more money spent, so I will be trying to plan ahead for gifts as well as things for home use.

So, here we go again! I am hoping that a month from now I will have put together the most effective, simple, and frugal plan for this area of home life.

Wish me luck! 

One Weekend, Two Graduates.

One Weekend...

+

562.4 miles...

+

2 graduations...

+

1 graduation open house...

=

One busy weekend!

Minimalism in May, Part 3, Halfway Point

May is already half over!

ALREADY!

Maybe its the busy-ness of this month, but the days are moving so fast!

I was planning on writing a post for our two year anniversary that was Monday, and then suddenly it was Wednesday afternoon, and I gave up on that idea!

Anyways, we are halfway through our minimalist month, so its time to check in and see how it is going...

I went to Aldi last night, which was the first grocery shopping since the beginning of the month trip.

The milk was expired, so I figured it was about that time.

For the first time since I can remember, I left the grocery store getting everything on my list AND spending under $10.

Now THAT is impressive!

(I only had two things on my list, but whatever!)

The only thing keeping it from being truly minimalist was that a carton of ice cream and a carton of sherbet "jumped into my cart".

Oops.

But oh well...sometimes you have those weeks where you need a little treat (Chad) or to satisfy a craving (me).

I haven't even looked at the sale ads for the local grocery stores the past week.

Because then I see good deals that I think we need.

And it seems to be working well, and I have more time on my hands (that gets filled very easily with other things!)

2 Years

TWO YEARS.

We've been Mr. and Mrs. for two years!

Happy Anniversary, Hubs.

Thanks for living life with me!

2 Months at Home!

Dolly has been home for two months now!

It's easy to track that time, because it is exactly one week after we moved in.

She has made some big improvements!

The one I am most proud of is that she doesn't hoard her food anymore.

For the first month or so, whenever we would feed her, she would gobble it down quickly and be protective over the food bowl.

She would also go hide and eat her treats or bones whenever we gave them to her.

Not anymore though.

I never anticipated food hoarding in a dog.

I know it's a common occurrence in children when they get adopted, but I didn't expect it with her.

So now I am glad that she doesn't do that anymore.

I think it means she realizes this is her home now and she will get consistently fed.

She also will jump into the tub at bath time instead of being picked up and forced in by Chad.

She still tries to escape before she's all done, but I will take the fact that I don't need to have help to bathe her as an improvement.

Dolly had her first sleepover at Gramps and Bella's last Saturday night.

We went out of town overnight for a wedding, and Chad and I both had separation anxiety over leaving her!

Mom's rule is that unless its an emergency, her grandkids can't sleepover until they sleep through the night.

Dolly did wonderfully though, and when I went to pick her up on Sunday I was sure she would come running and be clingy because she missed us.

I was wrong.

And a little hurt!

She would have been completely happy to stay there longer.

When I went to get her, she sniffed and licked me once, and then went back to playing. Ouch.

Anyways, the day before Easter she also had her first trip to the "puppy spa" (which is what we called Petsmart grooming center).

She got her teeth, ears, and nose cleaned; as well as her nails clipped.

The groomer said she had very good teeth for being a rescue dog. That made me VERY happy.

....and then she said she was worried that she may have an ear infection.

Seriously?

Even my dog-child has ear issues like the ones that run in the family!

She was groomed just in time for family pictures on Easter.

I give her a C- for behavior during that.

But I think it was just because she was excited to be around the whole family.

And she got her first Easter basket!

Yes. The dog got an Easter basket.

Get over it.

She really just needed some new toys and treats so I gave them to her on Easter.

Overall, she seems to be very happy at home, and we LOVE having her there.

Even when she wakes me up ten minutes before my alarm goes off.

Even when she chews on things she shouldn't.

Even when she follows right on our heels if a storm is coming. (we call her the Four-Legged Forecaster. and for the record, she's WAY more accurate than the weatherman.)

We love you, "Puppy Dowwy"!

Here We Grow!

I don't know about you, but I am LOVING the warm weather!

When I first saw the forecast for this week, I thought to myself, "This is it! Time to get growing!"

So I left work Monday and went to the local greenhouse, Wiethop.

They had an excellent selection, despite being VERY busy over the weekend.

Thankfully, I got there in time to claim the last Black Beauty Zucchini seedling they had for the day.

After loading up a flat of vegetable seedlings and a few of their inexpensive flowers, (Seriously, where else can you get quality Zinnias for 80 cents?!), I forced myself into the checkout line.

I could spend a LOAD of money there.

They have gorgeous flowers and a huge selection of perennials. (Annuals too, I am just in the market for perennials for the front yard!)

I also stopped by a local farmer's produce stand to pick up some Everbearing Strawberries that i had seen last week.

The good thing about these is that they were taken from already producing plants so they should produce this year. (I asked)

As soon as I got home and let Dolly out, it was go time.

I had to re-till what we had done a few weeks ago, and believe me, my arms are definitely feeling it.

Anyways, the garden was planted Monday night, and the flowers went in last night.

Here's what's growing in the garden:
-Beefsteak tomatoes
-Better Boy tomatoes
-Roma tomatoes

-Black Beauty Zucchini
-Everbearing Strawberries

-Yellow Sweet Peppers
-Red Bell Peppers
- Sweet Green Peppers

-Spacemaster Cucumbers

-Pickling Cucumbers

Here's what's growing from seed:
-Sugar Pie Pumpkins
-Calbrese Broccoli
-Sugar Baby Watermelons

Flower-wise:
-Zinnias

-Sunflowers
-Wildflower Mix

-Cut Flower Mix

Minimalism in May, Part Two

Part two is post-shopping trip for the month.

After trips to Aldi, Sam's Club, Walmart, and Shop N Save, we have used up approximately 3/4 of the budget.

I don't know whether to laugh, panic, whatever...hopefully we won't be needing anything for a while.

And judging from the looks of the pantry and fridge, as well as the overflow shelf downstairs, Chad and I (and Dolly!) will be eating fine for the rest of the month!

And I will hopefully not have to waste time going to the store frequently.

I did go to the local nursery today to pick up some plants for the garden, but that was bought with a previously allocated line from last month's budget and we just didn't use it because its been cold.

(More on the garden later.)

Anyways, the shelves are full and I am feeling good so far.

Give me a week or so though, and then we will see!

I do feel accomplished knowing that I have something that can be checked off my to do list for the whole month!

We (I) meal plan every month to help save time and energy when it comes to meal time.

(Often, we don't eat dinner until 8pm because Chad works late).

This, plus planning around what we have, helps us waste less, use what we have on hand, and have less leftovers.

We have put much time and thought into how to make our household run smoothly, and hopefully minimal trips to the store will help that!

Minimalism in May

Happy May everyone!

May is always a crazy hectic month in our family.

This month we have:

• 2 weddings
• 1 wedding shower
• 2 graduations
• 1 graduation party
• 2 cookouts
• Mother's Day
• Amy's friend moving back to the area
• 1 set of grandparents in town that we want to spend time with
• Our 2 year anniversary

Given the amount of things going on this month and the need for a new challenge, (yeah, I know, here I go again!), we are going to try a challenge that will hopefully save both time and money. These are two things that are tight these days.

So. Anyways. Minimalist May.

What does that mean for us?

The idea is to minimize the items we need and the number of trips to the store (and coincidentally the headaches that comes with it all!) in order to save us time and finances.

While I may be the queen of deals and coupons, what is it really worth if I am causing stress and a time crunch by running to the store once (or more!) a week because last week I thought to myself, "I can push off buying this another week!" or "Hey that's a good deal!"

...and then coincidentally going back the next week and probably spending more than just buying it in the first place or ignoring the sale ad.

Many of you are probably thinking this is a "duh" statement, but whatever, I am stubborn (its the Polish blood in me!) and have to try things out for myself.

So what will this look like?

On Sunday (the start of the new budget month, since we go by full weeks, not by 1st-30th or whatever), I will be dropping a load of cash. I say a load, but basically, it will be this month's Sam's Club trip, the trip to purchase all gifts for the events upcoming (within a predetermined budget), the only Walmart trip and the only grocery store trip.

The grocery trip thing is with exceptions though.  Because things like milk and produce won't stay good for a full month.

So here's now the exceptions will go...

If it doesn't fall under the category of basics (milk, bread, eggs, produce) and I can't get it at Aldi, it's not happening.

And we are allowed to go out to dinner once (for our anniversary!).

This is may not seem like a big deal, but it is to me!

Because I am one of those weird people that love to grocery shop.

And in turn, love to cook/bake/try new recipes as a hobby.

But again, this month is about saving time, money, and as a result, whatever sanity I have ;-)

So here we go! This is going to probably not be too fun, but worth it!

...Oh, and since according to the weather, next week it will finally be turning permanently to spring, I will be making a trip to the greenhouse to pick up our little seedlings for the garden.

I often remind Chad how "wonderful" I am for choosing a hobby, gardening, that will in the long run save us money since we are growing our own food.

He knows I am being sarcastic. I just like to annoy him.

That's another hobby I have ;-)