Frugal Vacationing.....or Buying Groceries for Fun!

We try to be frugal even on vacations. 

We go to places that we are within driving range of instead of flying.  If it's a very long drive(2 days or more), we will rent a car if we can find a deal.  I figure if the trip is going to pack on the mileage to the vehicle I'd rather do it on someone else's car, not mine.
We stay at campgrounds that have RVs to rent set up already on the property or that have cabin rentals.  It's much cheaper than hotel rooms(nice hotel rooms, not cesspool hotel rooms), especially if you have a larger crew that won't fit into 1 hotel room.  It's also more economical because these kinds of set-ups offer cooking facilities so you don't have to spend a fortune eating all your meals out....unless you want to do that. ;-)

The drawback to renting RVs or cabins in most places I've found require a week's stay.  That's fine if you want to stay put for the whole week.  But I grew up in a family where we didn't stay put on vacations, my father moved us every day or two no matter...I still have nightmares involving Kettletown Park in CT when I was 9 or so.  Having grown up with this routine I find I get itchy feet and want to move on every few days.  Hubs on the other hand wants to hunker down in one spot. 

Another drawback is that campgrounds, if they are full, are crowded with people and the spaces are generally close to one another.  So it can be noisy but most have quiet hours and the places I've been usually do enforce them. 
But if you like being around people, campgrounds are for you.  It's very easy to get to know your neighbors if you want(and good if you have kids since they can find someone to play with easily).  And if you don't want to, just close your RV door and hike up the A/C.lol

The last way we save money on lodgings is to stay with friends or family.  A free bed for a night or two can help the vacation budget go much further.  And sometimes you luck into free meals as well. ;-)  But don't overstay your welcome or impose on your hosts and try to help out or at least take them out for a meal or pay for groceries.

We also find things to do that are cheap or free of cost.  It's just as enjoyable to do a free thing as it is to pay to do something, unless they only thing you are interested in is amusement parks and shopping.
The bridge observatory wasn't free but combined with the entrance to the military fort and the "Paranormal Fair" that was being held that weekend at that state park, it was a great deal for the money.  Both museums we visited were free(though the Penobscot one took freewill donations), as was the sightseeing we did and walking around the farmer's market(which had free live musical entertainment).
The internet can be a boon for information on free and cheap things to do wherever you find yourself going on vacation.

And speaking of shopping,  one of the most popular things people do on vacation is shop.  This would be why outlet malls have sprung up everywhere considered a vacation destination in this country.  You can't go anywhere people summer without being near an outlet mall!  There is a stretch in southern Maine on Rte. 1(Kittery and north of there)that is just ridiculous with outlet stores.  Like Wiscasset, it's a nightmare of a stretch of road to navigate in the summer.  We avoid southern Maine because of it.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to the Tom's of Maine Outlet Store in nearby Kennebunk because of this non-stop traffic.

Buying souvenirs is a vacation tradition going way back.  When the kids were small we'd give them each some money that they could spend on whatever they wanted.  Sometimes this worked but usually they spent it the first day or two and then whined for the rest of the trip for more stuff.lol  So we tried giving them a portion of their vacation money each day to spend or save up for something nicer.  This worked out much better for them and my patience.lol
Souvenirs for me was usually buying a t-shirt for everyone.  I learned not to buy them at the souvenir shops though, but to find the local drug store or discount store or even grocery store as many would carry souvenir items and at a much lower price.  On a trip to Atlantic Canada once I bought souvenirs at the local Walmart....and they were on clearance to boot!lol  Souvenir shop shirt=$25US equivalent.....Walmart shirt=$4US equivalent.  And the quality the cheap shirt was on par with the pricey shop's shirt.

Though I've changed from a recreational shopper in the last 4 years to a "I only shop out of necessity" shopper, I do shop for pleasure on vacation.  I'm a discount/clearance shopping from waaaaay back and I enjoy checking out the local discount stores while on vacation. 
So one of my activities in Maine was shopping.
Ok, I did buy some postcards, a piece of fabric and some shirts(for the kids), but the main thing I shop for on vacation is food.
Yes, I travel 500 miles to buy groceries!LOLOL

But I seek out unusual foods at a cheap price that I can't get at home.
I'll buy locally, like the wild blueberries I carted home.

All 3 quarts ended up in the freezer, since I had that virus when we got home and didn't feel up to making jam.  I may still take some and make a jar of jam at some point this Fall.

Here is some of what else I brought home from Maine....

The suet was one of the Marden's finds. 

Two of the discount stores carried a large selection of Bob's Red Mill items, including the Pastry Flour I like.  I'd pay double at the local health food store here for Bob's line.

I found large bags of dried cranberries for $3 each.  The instant coffee was $2.99 at Marden's.  The maple syrup was on sale for $14.99 at Reny's...I got 3.  The coconut milk was under $1 a can.  The Daughter loves coconut rice so I stocked up on those.

Ocean State Job Lot had these dehydrated mushrooms for between $1.75-$2.25 a package.  Not just regular old button mushrooms but Shiitake, Enoki, Woodear, Porcinni, as well as a few other varieties that cost an arm and a leg in the grocery store.  My favorite was a mixed Medley of types in a package.  I heart mushrooms....
I also stocked up on my favorite native Maine yellow eyed beans.  They look like a black eyed pea but have a yellow eye(duh!lol)and are a bit smaller.  It's the traditional bean used for making baked beans in Maine.
While you can't get them here in PA, they sell them in the grocery up there! 
My last find was 1lb. bags of wild rice from Minnesota.  Not a wild rice mix but straight wild rice.  I can use this and make my own wild rice mix with brown rice.  These were $3 a bag.  I've never even seen it sold like this before anywhere I've lived.

In all I spent $133.48 on groceries to bring home(not counting the suet since we aren't eating that!lol).  If I could have figured out a way to freeze lobsters and cart them home I would have.lol

All totaled we spent right around $1,000 on this trip.  I can't be exact on the cost since Hubs doesn't always give me the gas receipts when he pays cash so I'll have to live with an estimated cost.  If we had eaten out less and used that food I brought to cook we could have shaved off $100 or so.  But I am good with what we spent for 7 days of peace and quiet and fun. 
Just the hotel bill alone could have been $1,200 if we had stayed at the Holiday Inn so I think we did this trip fairly frugally.

Do you have any tips for being frugal on vacation?  Please leave a comment and let us know your secrets!


Sluggy

What I Did on My Summer Vacation.....Part Four--The End!

This is Part 4 of my Summer Vacation Travelogue.  Catch up on Part Three HERE.

Monday was Hubs day to do what he wanted most. And what he wanted most was to explore history. Specifically,  some Native American history.
He's been interested in learning about the history of indigenous peoples since I've known him.

So we set out for Orono Maine, to the University of Maine's Museum.  They have a nice, well presented permanent collection on the Native Americans of the Maine region: the Penobscot, the Passamaquoddy, the Maliseet and the MicMac.
As a bonus over the next 3 days, there was suppose to be a full sized wigwam constructed in the art gallery space, by Native children, coordinated by former Penobscot Nation Chief and birchbark artist Barry Dana.
The local tv news report about it is located HERE(it starts after the motorcycle store ad).
Unfortunately, when we were there they were just bringing in the materials and no one was there to build it yet so we didn't get to be a part of that experience.

I am a crafty type person, so something they had at the museum that interested me was a video/interactive presentation by Native American master basket makers. There were videos of them talking about their craft and demonstrating aspects of it.
You can view the videos online HERE.  There are also videos of woodcarvers as well.

After a good hour there we got back into the car.
Two years ago we had been up here as Hubs wanted to see the Penobscot Indian Museum over on the Penobscot Tribal lands by Old Town.  The Museum was closed that time.
Since we were about 2 miles away I suggested we drive over and see if they were open.  We had come 500+ miles....might as well try since we were so close, right?
Hubs gave me an argument at first but I insisted in that way only a wife can, that we go.
So he threw up his hands, figuring it would be a goose chase again.

And he was wrong!

The Museum was open and he finally got to check it out.  It is housed in the old Government Indian Agent's office so it's a bit small.  But you wouldn't believe the amount of items and displays they have crammed into the building!  It's chalked full of photos, newspaper articles, and Penobscot items.  They even have 2 full sized birch canoes on display.  One is approx. 100 yrs. old and the other is over 200 yrs. old.  As there was no one else visiting at the time, the museum director, Mr. James Neptune, was able to chat with us at length on many of the items on display and answer our questions.  We only stayed about an hour but there was so much to see we could have been there all day and still not taken in everything.  Many of the items on display had been in private collectors' hands but were donated back to the museum where they can be appreciated by many.
I really enjoyed talking with Mr. Neptune.  He is an artist in many media as well as a writer and an activist....a true Renaissance man.  We found many things in common to talk about and we commiserated on the eBay scene as well.lol

He even consented to posing for a photo with me in the Museum's foyer. 
I take fond memories of the day with me....it was a pleasure to connect with Mr. Neptune.

Me & the Penobscot Museum Director, James Neptune, at the museum on Indian Island, The Penobscot Indian Reservation.  The Island is in the Penobscot River just off shore of what is called Old Town Maine.

On Tuesday morning, Hubs and I packed up at the campground and headed out to my friend's house outside of Augusta.  We made a quick stop in Waterville to check out the new Marden's store, for some discount shopping, and then a quick lunch across the Kennebec River in Winslow Maine.
While I didn't get a photo of my friend Brenda this trip, here is the one we snapped 2 yrs. ago...

And here is her backyard.....

Her property is right on the water.  Dusk brings alot of skeeters(that love to dine on me!)but otherwise it's lovely and peaceful.

We spent that evening and most of the next day just sitting and visiting.  There was also some drinking and eating.lol  Nothing very interesting except to us.

Of course Tuesday through Thursday turned out to be 3 of those hot and muggy days that they do get in Maine.....figures, right?  I'm there so it gets hot and muggy...lol  Brenda doesn't have A/C at her house.
She does have an awesome spa room she built onto the house with floor to ceiling windows.  Most of the day with the ceiling fan going, that room was nice and cool.

Hubs and I did wander off on Wednesday afternoon to Gardiner to check out the farmer's market at the Common in town.

The Wednesday Farmer's Market in Gardiner Maine.  It was hot enough to pop corn.
I spent most of my time sitting on a park bench to the left of the red wagon on the left in the photo(with the open door). That wagon belonged to an ice cream vendor that made a luscious ginger ice cream. Mmmmm.
 We bought home to Brenda's some fresh organic veggies and homemade hummus.

On Thursday Hubs and I had decided to head to the coast...Rte. 3 to Belfast, down the coast via Rte. 1 to Camden and Rockland and Wiscasset and up Rte. 27 to Gardiner and back to Brenda's place.
The weather however, did NOT consult us!  We hit Belfast and after some more discount shopping at Ocean State Job Lot, we drove down the hill into Belfast by the harbor...into a thick fog that obscured any lovely ocean views we had set our hearts on seeing and photographing for you all.
So much for sightseeing along the coast and some lovely photos.....

So we just kept going and hoped that the weather would clear(which it did not).  Stopped for lunch at a little joint called Nana's Kitchen outside of Rockland.  Not very impressed with the food or the prices(a gussied up shack with tourist prices).  We had a funny thing happen though when we were getting out of the car.  Two ladies were getting into the car parked next to us with Maine plates.  They saw our PA plate and asked us where we were from in PA.  Turns out one of them used to live literally 2.5 miles down the road from the development where our last house was/is in PA back during the time we lived there!  What a small small world it is....

So we drove through Rockland(the fog was still rolling in)and continued on.  It would have been nice to hit the Wyeth Museum while there but our timing was again bad since Thursday was the first day of the yearly Lobster Festival held in Rockland.  The traffic was miserable and getting worse with all those extra tourists in town for that event.  We hit one of those roadside seafood sellers out on Rte. 1 for some lobsters to cart back to Brenda's for dinner.
We also stopped in Edgecomb on the way back to Brenda's and bought 3 quarts of wild Maine blueberries to take home to PA(I should have bought more!).  August will find entrepreneurs along Rte. 1 in Maine selling berries, pies, seafood, you name it!  The prices are ridiculously low so it's always a good idea to have a cooler in your car when you hit the coast.

This is the celebrated Red's Eats at the corner of Rte. 1 and Water St. in Wiscasset Maine. I took this from the car stopped in the summer long gridlocked Rte. 1 traffic heading into town, westbound from the bridge over the Sheepscot River.  Wiscasset is a quaint little town.  The woman who founded and still ran the Maine State Music Theater(then the Brunswick Music Theater)back when I worked there had her summer home here so I've been here quite a few times.  I still mourn the loss of the old relic Schooner ships on the banks of the river that were still there in the 1980's.(There were various pushes back then to refurbish them before the sea reclaimed them but nothing was done and they disintergrated over time.)

The traffic traveling through Wiscasset in the summer months has boomed since then, as this is the direct route to most of the coastal points that lie east... but it's still a 2 lane road here.  Between the road going through the center of town and the speed restrictions and the Red's traffic, traveling on Rte. 1 here is a nightmare in the summer.
I've eaten at Red's a few times over the years....the last time in 1998.  I hear the food hasn't changed a wit since then and the lobster rolls is still most excellent.

We all dined on fresh lobster that evening.  Brenda made us wear the silly bibs and use her lobster napkins, plates and wooden mallets.  Hey, if it means I get to eat lobster, I'd wear clown shoes and a g-string.  Of course, if I did, no one would have much of an appetite anymore.lol

Sluggy looks a hot, atrocious sweaty mess but she finally gets her lobsters.  Don't we look like a couple of mental patients here?lol

We headed home bright and early Friday morning, again taking the back roads to the Interstate in VT, through MA and down into CT.
The next time we go through CT I'll need tranquilizers.
What.
A.
Nightmare.

It's been 2 years since I've been through CT and I can't believe it, but it has gotten so much worse!  The people drive like lunatics....Seriously!
Hubs has to drive to Hartford for business on a regular basis.
I don't know how he does it and doesn't have an accident.
The drivers are unbelievable and you NEVER see a policeman!

We almost were in an accident too.
A car, 2 car's ahead of us got cut off by some maniac flying up the left lane....we were traveling in the center lane.  He cut off that car trying to get over to the righthand lane to the exit.  The car spun out, hit the concrete median, blew 2 tires and blocked the left and center lane.  The guy inside looked fine(in shock but fine).  The idiot who caused the accident just kept going!
So the car in front of us and Hubs sped up to catch the idiot driver's car(at least get the license plate number). We both boxed him into the emergency lane and made him stop before he got to the exit ramp.  I got on the cell and called the police to report the accident since the interstate was now down to 1 travelable lane.
We couldn't stay there and keep him until the police arrived since the traffic would have smashed into us so we left after we got the plate number and I made the call.
I think I was still shaking when we arrived home hours later.

As an added bonus, at some point traveling on Friday(probably at one of the places we stopped to eat) I picked up a virus bug.  I got to spend the entire night and half of the next morning puking my guts out.  Seven trips to the "porcelain god", seven.  I spent Saturday sleeping all day and most of Sunday too. 
But I lost 5 pounds!lol
My ribs were sore for a solid week.
Not a good end to our vacation but I'd do it all over again if I could.....well, except for that puking part.

I hope you've enjoyed my little narrative on our summer vacation. 8-)

Sluggy

The Week Begins...Yaaaaaaaaaaawn!

Have you ever had one of those weeks were you just wanted to pull the covers over your head and stay in bed all week?

That's what last week here was like.
First off, it was a HARD week anyway, since we had been on vacation the previous week.  I am still struggling with laundry catch-up.
Then I didn't rebound quickly from my stomach virus ordeal last weekend.  I still feel weak and the muggy, hot weather hasn't done anything to aid me in feeling like my old self either.

The store sales sucked last week also.  Daughter and I made up a very short grocery list, using the prices for a certain store.
This is about the ONLY perk I see in having a child old enough to drive--sending them on errands and you can stay home.  The extra car insurance has to be good for something, right?lol

Anyway, I sent her with the cash to pick up the items, mostly milk, lunchmeat, fruit and veggies.  Well, she comes home and hands me the change....and it's not even CLOSE to what it should have been according to the sales flyer!  So I started asking her how much things were and she gives me a blank stare and says she doesn't know that.....she just bought what was on the list.  She hands me the receipt and I almost had a coronary when I see she spent $5.80 on grapes.....this bunch of grapes.....

Ok, there were about a handful more of grapes than this when she bought them but even so!!!
They were suppose to be $1 a pound!

So I look at the receipt again and noticed she had gone to the WRONG STORE!LOLOL
It sure doesn't help to make a shopping list using Store A's sale prices and actually BUY the items at Store B.....
And I just felt so awful still, that even though I thought about returning it all that she didn't immediately open and use and rebuying it at the correct store, I didn't.
The frugal Sluggy was willing but the flesh was weak....or too lazy, you decide. ;-)

And other than that we just ate from the pantry and freezer this week....except for Sunday when Hubs got Chinese food.
But I did drag my carcass out to Rite-Aid Saturday evening, ONLY because I had +Ups expiring that day.
While the grocery store mix-up couldn't motivate me, the thought of letting $11 in +Ups go bad got me out of the house.

Last week was the first week of Band Camp for #2 son so this week is the final week.  Just making sure he gets to bed at a decent hour is stressful to me.  I don't know how he operates full-out like that in the hot sun on so little sleep....

Both the teens here have grown out of all their clothes this summer(one grew, the other lost weight)so I've got to deal with rebuilding their wardrobes in the next 2 weeks.

Next Sunday #1 son returns from working at Lake Erie for the summer so I'll have less than a full week to deal with getting him packed up for college again, as he's due back the following Sunday.  The same day he starts classes, the high school here resumes as well so all 3 kids will be off and running with the new school year very shortly.
Somebody tell me......WHERE did the summer go??

As an added bonus, I have been called for Jury Duty again in Sept.  Cross your fingers they don't actually need me or need me for a short time only.  Driving to Scranton 5 times a week for a month is NOT my idea of fun, useful, or anything else!

We haven't done anything about the remodeling project or the heating situation yet.
I haven't decluttered anything in weeks!
I haven't cleaned anything in weeks.....well except the bathroom.lol
I haven't meal planned in months(since the kids were gone for the summer) and am having a hard time getting motivated enough to deal with meals again.

Things are just piling up here and frankly, I don't care.
I'm feeling so Scarlett O'Hara today.....I'll think about all that another day.....

It looks like rain again so I'm taking the wet laundry in and heading back to bed.
I'm hoping for a do-over for the day.

If anyone has a mojo solution, I'm all ears.....

Sluggy

What I Did on My Summer Vacation.....Part Three

 This is Part 3 of my Summer Vacation Travelogue.  Catch up on Part Two HERE.

**Warning-If you have a fear of heights, you may want to avoid viewing the following photos.**


Bright and early on Sunday we headed out.
To where you ask?
Here of course.....

Well not to "this" Tim Horton's(which is in south Bangor), but the other location in north Bangor.
While Tim's may have better coffee, Mickey's Place still has better breakfast sammies....


After breakfast we started our busy day!

First on the agenda was something I had wanted to do on the last trip to Maine 2 years ago.
We crossed the river to Brewer and took Route 15 south to Bucksport.


See this bridge?

That's the new Penobscot Narrows Bridge that opened in 2006. It carries Route 1&3 over the Penobscot River from Prospect Maine to Verona Island Maine.

The bridge to the left is the old bridge, that was opened in 1931, it replaced.  It's called the Waldo-Hancock Bridge(for the names of the 2 counties it connected).

Both bridges are quite high up.

The last time Hubs and I traveled on this stretch of road was in about 1988 on an overnight trip to Campobello Island so we had traveled on the old bridge then.  This is a National Historical Landmark now.

We got to talking with one of the 'Rangers' working at the bridge & accompanying national park site when I mentioned that we had come through here many years ago.  The Ranger could remember all the way back to the mid 1950's when he first got his driver's license.  There use to be a toll on the Waldo-Hancock Bridge back then.  You had to stop, honk your horn and the toll keeper, who lived next to the bridge, would come out and collect your toll.  If it was late at night when you rolled up you just kept track of how many tolls you owed and paid up later when you crossed at a "decent hour".
Even I am not as old as that Park Ranger. ;-)



And here is the new bridge from below......

That support tower actually also holds an observatory.  It's the first bridge observatory in the US as well as the tallest public bridge observatory in the world.  It reaches 420 feet into the air.

Here's a photo of the old bridge from the top of the Observatory......

The elevator climbs from the bottom to the top in 50 seconds.  Well not quite the top, as you still have to climb 2 flights of stairs to reach the top vantage point.
But when the elevator opens and you step out, you are 2 feet away from a glass wall overlooking the river.
Here's Hubs posing for the camera.....

It's a real life version of the Hitchcock classic VERTIGO up there!
One of the older ladies from England in the group after our ascent looked a little green around the gills as she exited the elevator.


Here's a view of the Penobscot River looking south toward Penobscot Bay and the Atlantic beyond....

And here's the view looking north...Fort Knox Historic Site to the left shore, Verona Island to the right & Bucksport Maine on the far shore.

Did I mention that we were quite high up?


After our towering adventure*ahem*, we headed back up Route 1 to Bucksport and then east.  We decided to meander along the Blue Hill Peninsula, along Route 175/176.

We like to do that in Maine.  Just pick a road down one of the many finger-like peninsulas along the coast and drive until the road and the land ends.  You never know what you'll find and if you find nothing, well, at least the scenery is nice.
We stopped at one of the many take-out clam shacks that dot the coast line.  This one we happened upon in Penobscot Maine, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.
Here is the view from our lunch table overlooking Littlefield Cove on the Penobscot Bay.....

The clam shack was 30 feet to the left of our picnic table, which faced a gently sloping green down to the shoreline.  It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze and the best place on earth I could have imagined to eat freshly caught fried clams and scallops.

We continued meandering the peninsula down to the quaint village of Stonington.  The main street was small and the storefronts were mainly artsy-fartsy clothing boutiques catering to moneyed preppies and "art" galleries.  I prefer the villages that still retain the look and feel of working harbors so we hightailed it out of there quickly.

We ended up in Ellsworth around dinnertime.  After a quick run into Reny's discount store we had dinner at Helen's Restaurant.  We had been to the original Helen's up in Machias on that aforementioned trip to Campobello in the '80s. Don't know if both are still owned by the same folks but the food was good and fresh.  We didn't have room for the pie however, which is what Helen is known for.  I saw that Helen and crew had a framed photo of themselves posing with Bobby Flay.  Did he come through Maine here and do a Throwdown??

Ellsworth was as close to Bar Harbor as we wanted to venture this trip so we headed back to the campground and lit up the old campfire.

Speaking of campground neighbors.....the only sighting of the folks next door on Sunday was a quick glimpse of the Dad as he retrieved his laptop from the car and shut himself back into the RV.  The Mom did emerge briefly to hike up to the office area to do a load of laundry.  Otherwise, all 4 were hold up in the RV when we were around on both Sunday and Monday.  To be fair, we weren't at the trailer much either day.  They hadn't brought any kitchen stuff or food with them that we saw so we KNOW they had to leave to at least eat.
At least the Dad seemed to have gotten the pyromaniacal urges out of his systems and I could sleep with both eyes closed now.

To Be Continued....

Sluggy 

2nd Quarter Update on my 2010 Goals

Since we are more than half of the way through 2010 I thought I'd update my list of Goals for 2010 from this post Here.

1. Put more money into savings than was put away in 2009.
--$23,865.36 was banked in 2009.  I will be shooting for $30.000 in 2010, barring any unforeseen personal economic crisises.  
IN PROGRESS/ON SCHEDULE...We are still plugging away on this one and are currently ahead of schedule for the year at $19,782.91.

2. Pare down the stuff I need to eBay by sending more of it to the Thrift Store or sell it on Craigslist.
--Get off my rump and get stuff SOLD!  And what I can't readily sell, send it off to a Thrift Store.  I have had enough of boxes of crap hanging around my living room.  It's time to actually USE that room in the manner it was intended.
IN PROGRESS/ON SCHEDULE...I worked on this goal fairly diligently for 2 months this past quarter by selling some things on eBay and I sent 6(yes I said SIX!)loads to the Salvation Army last quarter.....3 in April, 2 in May and 1 in June. That's 213 items donated to charity!

3. Get rid of my last storage unit!
--This goes hand in hand with #2 above.  If all the crap goes, I won't need to pay for a storage unit any longer.  I went from 2 to 1 units last year.  It is time to let this one go as well.
UNDONE!
I threw the extra toiletries that didn't sell at the flea market in May into the storage unit.  #2 son and I repacked things into smaller boxes and organized so that come Sept it will be easy to load it all into the van and head to the flea market.  We also moved all the paper goods stockpile into the garage.  Once the weather cools down I can go back over there and work on whittling down the stash some more.



4. Plan and implement my garden better so I have a chance for it to be more productive this summer.
--Last year's garden was lame.  I need to be more proactive and get things planned and going earlier this year for it to be successful.  Every bit of work you put into a garden will pay dividends in increased health from eating better and  money saved on food spending.
DONE!!!
I did succeed in getting #1 son and DH to help me with getting the gardens up and running in May.  We've been pretty successful with how it's doing this summer, knock on wood!

5. Do the taxes and complete paperwork for #1 son's schooling.
--This will be the first Hope accomplished as is needs to be completed by mid February.  It could also be a big PITA as we have added tax implications for 2009 due to an estate/inheritance issue.
DONE!!! 

6. Decide on and install a hew heating system for the house before the rate cap expires and heat is needed this fall.
--This one is VITAL and it must be completed by September!  

UNDONE!
Ok...I am way behind on this one and it won't get completed in time.  Actually, this goal has changed due to changes in the BIG PLAN for our life so this goal needs modifying.  To be explained in a coming post.

7. Rethink how and how much I coupon/rebate and reorganize my freezer/pantry/stockpile.
--With my 1st year of extreme couponing and stockpiling over, now is the time to step back and see what I did well, what I need to improve upon and what needs to go. 
DONE!!!

8. Continue to meal plan and retool our diet, including cooking from scratch/semi-homemade.
--This will involve making better choices with food, will depend partly on how successful  #4 is, and will  require all of us to change some old habits.  It's probably going to be the most difficult Hope to accomplish.
DONE & IN PROGRESS!!!

9. Decide on and complete 1 major house remodel project.
--Once we decide what it will be, it's just a matter of pulling the trigger on the job, as the money is there waiting to be spent thanks to our savings challenge of 2009.

UNDONE!  
We are still wrangling over how much to spend/what to do.  At any rate, we are not under a weather deadline as whatever we do will be an inside project.

10. Complete all the unfinished craft and sewing projects!!
--This Hope is my own personal one that doesn't involve any other family members directly.  I need to just put my head down and plow through all these started projects OR make a decision to release them to someone else who wants to complete them.  This should take a good part of the year to accomplish.
UNDONE!
I have gone as far as uncovering the storage tub with some unfinished projects inside.  Ugh!  This is SO far from done....lol

In closing, I've got 3 Goals DONE and 3 Goals IN PROGRESS & 4 Yet to be Tackled.
Not great but not awful.  I'd rate myself a C+....


My Plan of Attack for the rest of August & Sept.--
I'll be doing some additional organizing in the garage as well as preserving food by canning and freezing.
As the weather dictates I'll attempt some more cleaning out of the storage unit and sending stuff to Salvation Army or setting aside to donate to a local fundraiser. 
I'll be going back to the flea market to sell more of the excess stockpiled toiletries in Sept. plus I'll be getting back into eBay again.
DH & I need to re-evaluate Goal #6 & #9 so those are on hold. I'll expand on this in a later post. 
Along with all this, I'll be keeping up with the garden, keep putting money away into savings, and continuing to cook more from scratch.

How are you doing on your Yearly Goals?
Let us know what you've finished or started so far this year.

Sluggy