So let's see how I did with my To-Do list last month---
JULY
* Digitize financial household spending 2009-2015 Done! Took me an entire day and a half but it's done.
* Back up household spending reports Done! Once I got them digitized backing them up on a flash drive(or two)wasn't so difficult.
* Have eye surgery Done! So glad this is all over with!! I even finished up the eye drops this morning...woohoo!
* Go to 2 Follow-up appointments Done! I have one more follow-up mid August and then this chapter of my life can be closed. rah.
* Go to sleep clinic appointment Done! Nothing to this one, easy peazy.
* Go to VA to apartment hunt Done! And that saga has already been posted on the blog.
* Bike 80 miles Done! Even though I wasn't home to bike for 5 days in July I did an average of 3.36 miles per day for the other 26 days in the month. My target was 3 miles per day this month.
87.50 miles for July
* Use Hand Weights 5 days Fail! Didn't even look at the blasted things let alone pick them up.
* Pay the Bills Done! Everything paid and on time or early.
* Take donation to SA Done!
The donation wasn't very large as I didn't get much decluttering done in July as I had wanted to. We got it taken in the day before we left to go move Eldest son as we needed Hubs car trunk emptied. Now there's motivation to finally get something done! lolz
* Hem a pair of pants Done! Got Hubs new pair of pants hemmed.
* Sew nightgown Half Done! While I DID sew on it in July it isn't finished yet. Stays on the list and becomes "complete nightgown" for August.
* Cut out 2 Tops and Sew Them Fail! Didn't even work on this at all.
* Write a letter Fail! Now I have 2 letters to write. Just not motivated enough I guess.
* Clean my Inbox Done(or maybe half done)! I was up to 16 pages of unsorted/half-unread emails. After using my delete key and throwing important emails into folders I am down to 6 pages in the inbox. I could stand to whittle that down to 3 pages by the end of this week.
* Move #1 Son Done! As of last Friday the move is completed. Now we need to work on transitioning him off the car insurance policy onto his own(even though he pays for his portion, now that he lives in a different state, he needs a new VA policy).
I guess July turned out pretty well as far as getting things accomplished.
Only 3 fails this month. Let's see if I can turn those 3 items around in August.
So what did you accomplish in July?
Anything you are proud of?
The plan for moving Eldest son was drive to Pittsburgh Thursday morning, help them pack the truck/trailer, stay over in P'burgh, leave early Friday a.m. to convoy down to Fredericksburg VA(GF's relatives in the truck, Eldest son in his car, GF and cat in her car and Hubs & I in our car),unpack truck/trailer, start setting up apartment/unpacking boxes between a couple of meals, stayover in F'burg that night and bug out for home Saturday morning.
Pretty straightforward plan, right?
Hahahaha
Here is how things actually went--
Monday of last week started off slowly with the usual stuff on my plate......clean, cook, blog, etc.
for breakfast I took some leftovers of that grits/ham/eggs casserole I had on a whim last week, sliced it up and pan fried it in some bacon grease. Served it up with a couple of eggs(casserole had very little egg in it already)......
The casserole was better pan fried. Hubs made himself some on Wednesday morning but we'll never finish it all up so feel free to come over and take some off our hands. ;-)
On Tuesday I harvested another summer squash............
The larger of the two was the newly harvested. The smaller one was picked last week.
I sliced up some onions and sauted it all together in some olive oil......
I served this with the leftover roast chicken Tuesday night.
Later Tuesday night we got a phone call from Eldest son with a change in "the plan"(change #1).
GF's grandfather was driving/supplying the truck/trailer for the move and GF's dad and brother were coming with him. Grandfather decided that he wanted to leave P'burgh Friday in the middle of the night morning.....3 a.m.ish. No way Hubs and I were driving to P'burgh and getting up at dark o'thirty to leave for F'burg. Eldest son's buddy from college was suppose to help load the trailer on Thursday so they really didn't need Hubs for that, so we decided to drive directly to F'burg on Thursday(instead of P'burgh), stay over that night and meet them at the apt. office at 8 a.m. on Friday morning when they pulled into town.
So I had to cancel the hotel reservation in P'burgh altogether and then make new reservations for 2 nights in F'burg.
You still following this?
Good.
So Tuesday I was up late cancelling and making reservations. Only the website for the Days Inn in F'burg was having seizures and wouldn't let me confirm a stay.
So I called the hotel directly and got a voice mail with no option to leave a message to be returned.
Great.
The voice in my head is now recalling a trip to Ohio and the last time we had a "PROBLEM" making a reservation online.
So I call the national call center and attempt to complete the reservation. And she quotes me a price a bit more than the deal on the website(Summer Sale, stay at least 2 nights and get 25% off). I argue for awhile and then just say "whatever", make the reservation because I just don't have any fight left in my today.
A few minutes later she "finds" the Summer Sale deal and I got the cheap nights.
Yes. 2 nights in a motel with a pool and breakfast for $103+change counting taxes.
After all, this hotel staying $hit starts to add up after awhile so get the costs down where you can......
On Wednesday Hubs was home from work so we ran some errands--
Picked up a couple of items College Boy needs for school.
Then we finally got around to taking in a pile of stuff to donate to Salvation Army.
Next we hit the bread outlet(they finally had my favorite nutty almond bread back in stock rah!)and then had lunch out.
Went home did a few things, got Chinese take-out for dinner, packed and then bed.
We leave early Thursday morning to make our way to Fredericksburg VA.
A quick stop at Mickey D's for Hub's coffee and we are on the way.
Thursday's weather sucked donkey balls actually wherever we were driving from PA to MD to WV to VA.
It was so bad at times you couldn't see anything, especially in WV when the fog started from the change in temp between the atmosphere and the cooler rain.
I quietly panicked in my seat as Hubs plowed ahead in this mess!
The rain let up around 1pm and we left the interstate to find lunch. Saw a sign for the Marshall Diner in....Marshall VA of all places. ;-) Sounded a bit better than fast food but cheaper than a sit-down chain restaurant.
It was a dinky little place but cheapish. I had a fish sandwich. It had homemade tartar sauce on it that had quite a bit of mustard in it? Strange but tangy and tasty.
Hubs ordered a corned beef sandwich. At least for us(and I grew up in the South remember)a corned beef sandwich "should" come on rye bread with mustard(also seem with swiss cheese on the non-kosher Rueben version of this sandwich).
Here is Hub's sandwich......
corned beef....check!
rye bread.....check!
Tomato and Lettuce??
Pickle?
MAYO????!
WTF......well that's what happens when you order off the menu and don't specify I guess. lolz
I think they put the mustard in my tartar sauce and the mayo that was suppose to be in the sauce went on his sandwich?
Who knows but it was noteworthy.
After lunch it was back on the road for awhile longer.
While driving along this last stretch toward Fredericksburg the phone rings.
It is Eldest son letting us know there is yet another change in "the plan". (Change #3 I think.)
They have gotten the truck/trailer loaded already and they are getting on the road NOW to F'burg.
They will drive until they all get tired and stop for the night along the way.
They have to take a somewhat circuitous route from P'burgh to F'burg because GF's grandfather doesn't want to take any toll roads(this would mean the PA Turnpike)as the costs PennDOT extorts from you for hauling a big trailer like this on their turnpike is ridiculous. And grandfather isn't paying it.
Thankfully this change doesn't affect us so that's fine....leave now leave at dark o'thirty tomorrow, I don't care.
Hubs and I got into F'burg before 3(so couldn't check in at the motel yet)so we have time on our hands and need to find something to do.
So we head over to here...........
If you guessed that is a "tasting bar" in the distance at a distillery you would be correct!
I posted this teaser on FB last weekend.....
Here's more of the sign......
A. Smith Bowman
I found my paternal drinking ancestors!
Well not really.
These are German Bowmans.
Mine came from England by way of Ireland to New York to Virginia. At least I don't think they started out in the Palatine region in what is now Germany before going to England.....
But that doesn't mean I can't drink their stuff, right?
And visit their gift shop and buy stuff, right?
George and Mary Bowman hitched a ride home with us. We are such accommodating relatives......
Hubs with his bag of alcoholic loot....
The weather in Fredericksburg on Thursday was swampy.....Swampy=downpours + heat + high humidity.
We go check into the motel and of course the pool is closed due to inclement weather.
So we take a nap.....to rest up for going out for dinner. It's a hard life but somebody has to live it, right?
Dinner found us at this place.....
If you can't make out the sign it reads "Cornbread & Caviar" ("gourmet comfort food" in small lettering).
This is what happens when you take a camera out of an a/c cooled car into swampy weather outside and attempt to take a photo.
Lens fog.
And my next attempt at a selfie with the sign was even worse.....
LOLZ!
The staff was very friendly here and the owner kept coming over to our table to chat.....a little too much tho.
I had a roasted red pepper and crab bisque soup.....
It was tasty and lighter than a She Crab Soup and the price was good.
That hunk of cornbread however was nasty. It was too sweet, dense(like a cement slab)and overcooked(see how brown it is?).
This is how a Yankee would make cornbread.
You would think if your restaurant has Cornbread in it's name that you'd perfect that one dish, right?
The only way to eat this cornbread was to soak it in the soup so I left most of that nasty hunk behind.
Hubs had fried green tomatoes.......
Now these on the other hand was perfect. Hot, lightly breaded and juicy sweet. Heck, the sauce they served it over(a remoulade thing)even had big ol shrimp in it...bonus! lolz
Then I ordered something strange for my entree.....
This was called a Muffaletta sandwich on the menu.
A Muffaletta made with grilled steak.
No, proper Muffalettas are not made with steak!
This should have been called a "New Orleans Style Steak Sandwich" if anything.
But I ordered it anyway.
Muffalettas come on a special type of bread and are HUGE. They also come with Mortadella and other deli type meats and a tapenade(or olive salad spread).
This was served on a hamburger type bun with lettuce and tomato(and a piece of steak, not sliced steak, but a hunk of actual steak), barely any olive salad spread and a heavy dose of what tasted like a garlic/feta/olive oil spread.
The steak was very tender and this was a tasty meal.....but it was no muffaletta.
And the garlic spread was too much as I tasted garlic and feta until breakfast the next morning. eh.
I also got the grilled Brussels sprouts with bacon in the background in the photo above.
NO complaints about this side.....yummy!
Hubs had some grilled fish dish with peppers and a spicy sauce on it which overpowered the delicate flavor of the fish. He was not impressed. His side was fried okra which was fresh and lightly breaded but some of the okra pieces were tough. Not the cook's fault just how it goes with okra sometimes.
We dropped $50 on this meal and it got a mixed review.
I spent the night tossing and turning on a subpar mattress and imagining that bed bugs were crawling on me. (There were NO bedbugs but this is the type of motel you'd imagine would have them.)
The next morning we were up early to shower, change, grab some free breakfast at the motel and wait for the call from Eldest son that they had arrived in town.
The free breakfast was among the WORST free breakfasts I have experienced in all my traveling days. Better is a way than the all-time worst(that offered fake OJ and fresh oranges ONLY)but among the filthiest breakfast rooms. Even before 8 am when we arrived to eat they were out of milk for cereal and almost out of bread too. The counters were filthy and filled with spilt food.
The only food they offered that I could eat was Cheerios. They were kept in one of those big plastic dispensers that you crank the wheel to get the food to come out at the bottom. When I turned that crank in my bowl landed Cheerios but also stale bran flakes and petrified raisins(I HOPE they were raisins!lol). Obviously this dispenser held Raisin Bran before it was Cheerios and no one took the time to clean out the dregs of the old cereal before putting the new cereal into it.
yuck.
After that lovely meal we waited on the phone call to come in and then drove over to the apartment complex to meet the convoy.
After having some "difficulties" with the office staff over rabies paperwork for their cat(you would think that this is something they should have told him to have in his hands when he went to pay and get the keys?), said paperwork was located inside the trailer(without having to empty half the thing out in the parking lot)and keys were had and we set upon unpacking said trailer.
With 7 able bodied(ok maybe 6.5 as I am half-able bodied!lol)adults we got it unloaded in under an hour. After everything was in/outside the apartment GF's 3 relatives said their goodbyes and headed home for a very long ride back to Erie.
I snapped this badly lit shot of GF's dad, GF's brother, Eldest son, GF and her Grandfather before they all took off.
Then my camera died.
Well the battery died so I got no more pictures of that day. sigh.
My lunch-photo lifted off of Yelp from another diner.
We hit Lee's Retreat for Lunch at "Lee's Retreat" at the Blue & Gray Brewing. I got the BBQ pork Sandwich again but they were out of Stonewall Stout(it's a seasonal offering, they don't brew it again until the Fall)so I got the Washington's Cherry Wheat Ale.
We went back to the apartment and helped unpack a bit before going back to the motel for a swim and a nap. I only stayed in the pool about 20 minutes(I forgot to bring sunscreen)and still got quite the burn on my forehead. Ah, whitest white woman on the planet problems.......
Hubs and I headed back to Eldest and GF's apartment around 5pm and we went over to Total Wine.
Eldest needed to stock up on brews to get them through August and Hubs and I picked up a couple of things too to take back home with us.
Then it was to the Target store nearby so the kids could pick up a few things like paper towels and a shower curtain.
At about dusk we headed over to have dinner. I had snapped up a Restaurant dotcom cert. for Durango Grill before leaving home.
photo from F/B
I had read the reviews and it sounded like a neighborhood bar and grill with a few tables and that it could be a bit rowdy at night, but most of the reviews said the food was great.
One review did include this, which should have been a portent of things to come...."Most people there are friendly until you get some of these older guys and bikers with big egos that can't handle their alcohol and start trouble. "
Well I figured we'd eat early but it's after 8pm when we pull up and see 20 or so motorcycles parked out front. And there are tables and folks sitting outside smoking and everyone seems to have one of those galvanized buckets filled with bottles of beer on ice.
Like this...........
We walk in and it's quite loud and a woman is standing on the bar taking a group photo of about 15 people standing in front of the bar whooping and hollering.
The jukebox is blaring Hank Williams Jr. tunes.
Some woman then comes over to greet us and give us menus and show us to a table. She must have seen the look of concern on our faces as she launched into a "I know it's loud and the bar folks are rowdy tonight, but the food is really good" speech. She said something about Hank Williams Jr. being in concert tonight in F'burg and all the patrons were stoked to see him(and I might add quite a bit liquored up!).
We figured we could take on the dew-ragged tatted-up bikers if it came to that and besides, why waste a perfectly good certificate for a cheap steak dinner? ;-)
So we stayed and ordered and the atmosphere continued to spiral downward.
I blame the "Happy Hour" there for this.
Happy Hour at the Durango, as the banners on the walls states, starts as 11AM and lasts until 9PM.
A 10 HOUR long Happy Hour!
About the time our meal came beer bottles began to get smashed outside(I was hoping it was just tipsy
drunk patrons missing the table when they emptied their bottles set their bottles down and not a beer bottle shiv fight about to commence.
Then halfway through my steak I glance over at the bar and some floozy has her legs wrapped around a biker dude and they are "dry humping" for lack of a better term and he's got his hands under what little shirt she had on.
So I kept my eyes on my food and ate faster.
Things inside seemed to be calming down a bit by the time dessert hit the table(why of why did we stay for dessert anyway!?!) when the shouting exploded at the bar and I looked up to see 3 women doing this on the bar......
But much less attractive women(about the same amount of clothing on)and very drunk.
I couldn't believe I was right in the middle of something out of Coyote Ugly and didn't have a camera!
I told the GF to take a photo of them for my blog and all 3 of my dining companions said, "Are you CRAZY?! They see the flash and we'll end up in a dark alley in pieces!"
To which I replied, "Well take a video then so there is no flash."
They just blinked at me in unison like they couldn't believe I just said something so stupid.
To which I replied, "Hey! Look at me. I'm an old fat middle-aged woman who is obviously no threat to anyone. What could they do?"
Yes, I amaze even myself sometimes with my stupidity.......
We survived our visit to Durango Grill when all was said and not done. Everyone left with all their appendages and there were no gaping head wounds.....though we did have to walk/half-run through some broken glass on the way back to the car.
Despite my best efforts I didn't get 3/5 of my family(plus a GF as collateral damage)murdered last weekend.
So it's all good, right?
We took the kids home to their new apartment and goodbye hugs all 'round ensued.
Another sleep on the torturous mattress back at the motel and we hit the road to the nearest Hardee's for breakfast Saturday morning.
There was no WAY I was going to endure another crappy breakfast at that motel.
A nice grilled pork chop biscuit and a carton of milk from Hardee's hit the spot.
We spied a Food Lion grocery store across the street so after downing biscuits we hit the FL looking for lard, figuring we were far enough South to find some in the grocery store.
The making of "proper" buttermilk biscuits requires lard(even if you aren't a 90 year old black woman from NC). Crisco is a sad substitute for lard, but I digress.....
Well I was wrong, we were NOT far enough South to find lard. But I did find some country biscuit ham and hog jowl meat as well as a case filled with discount stickered meats!
Oh, to have had a large ice filled cooler to transport all those lovely discounted meats home to PA......!!!
I did get a few items-2 nice flank steaks and a 3 lb. tube of ground beef which was all I could fit into the cooler.
I had been mulling/stewing over what to serve company that was coming for dinner on Sunday at home the last few days as the day drew near.
Problem solved.....marinated flank steak being the answer.
Of course I would serve company discounted meat that I got cheap. That's how we roll here at Chez Sluggy. 8-)
I could fib and say I spent dearly on this steak but anyone who knows me knows that's a bold-faced lie.
About half an hour northwest of F'burg we spied a farm produced stand set up in a fire stations parking lot so we pulled in to check it out.
Found some lovely produce--REAL tomatoes, beans, zuke, squash, corn and 'loupes.
Another problem solved......I 'd serve fresh ears of corn and grilled/marinated veggies on skewers with the steak Sunday evening.
Fresh from the farm that morning veggies and now I didn't have to go to the grocery store when we got home Saturday night or early Sunday.
Win/Win!
More excitement on the trip home included--
We saw an big self-propeller RV pulling a car behind it almost wreck on I-66 right in front/one lane over from of us. He had a tire blow out while going 70 mph(at least as that was the posted speed limit but you know everyone goes faster).
He almost tipped it all over when he hit the shoulder but kept it together and upright.
Man, I about peed my pants just watching it, I can imagine the color of HIS drawers after that! lolz
While traveling through WV we stopped at a Walmart. Though they didn't have any lard either we did find some things--canning supplies for cheap, a floor lamp for the living room, and clearance Summer clothing for Hubs and College Boy.
We left WV behind as well as another $108 of this stuff......
Stopped in Chambersburg PA for lunch.
Chicken Salad sandwich and iced tea hit the spot.
I about got knocked over trying to get out the door here by a family who wouldn't stop to let me out before they plowed into the building.
Welcome back to rude, ill-mannered Northeastern Yankee Land.......
We made good time until we hit about 1 hour from home on I-81. Some lane shifts and closures added about a "half hour sitting and not moving" adventure to our trip.
We finally got home around 5pm.
I set about cutting and marinating veggies and steak.
The first REAL tomato sighting of the year in these parts, thanks to that farm stand in VA.
Then I snapped, blanched and froze green beans for the Winter.
A small drink and a rerun of Doc Martin on the boob tube.
And then it was back on the exercycle to get a couple of miles in.....after all it was the first of the new month and never let it be said that I am a slacker with my goals. ;-)
And then to bed.
Sunday morning found me pitting and peeling peaches and making jam....
Hubs picked some beans.......
A bit of cleaning and then putting my feet up and then the call came that my company was arriving soon.
And before you knew it, here comes blogger buddy Lorraine and her DH Chris standing on my driveway!
We had a drink while dinner cooked on the grill and then dug into steak and grilled veggies with a side of corn on the cob. And I did not even insist on proper "extend the pinkies while eating corn" etiquette. ;-)
Lorraine brought me a giftie too!
Inside was a bag of glazed pecans(nom nom nom), a bottle of pecan oil and a jar of Duke's mayonnaise, "THE" mayo on the South......
I laughed because I grew up eating Duke's and until last year I couldn't get it here in Pennsyltucky.
But that all changed when the local small Shurfine markets started selling it.
Thanks Lorraine!
And that jar is now happily waiting it's turn in the stockpile rotation with it's siblings, the "lite" brothers........
We gabbed and ate and gabbed some more and before you knew it they had to get to the motel to get some rest before starting their long journey home at dark o'thirty Monday morning.
I totally forgot to snap any photos until right before they left.
Here we are throwing gang signs......this is wrong on so many levels, isn't it? lolz
And something more serious......
Geez I look like I'm falling over.....I probably was as I was so tired from the weekend hullabaloo!
While they were here we looked at the garden and I picked this.....
Lorraine took that photo and I lifted it off of FB.
Man, I should have worn a bra that day don't you think? 8-)
And here's Lorraine and DH Chris, the Steam Punk Master of the Universe......
I made bunny ears on Lorraine when Chris took our photo so he had to make them too when Hubs took their photos....I always knew I liked this guy. ;-)
Then it was goodbye hugs, I sent them off with parting gifts of there own(peach jam and pepper relish) and they were gone to Motel 5 and 3/4s.
And after an episode of Poldark I fell into my comfy bed here at Chez Sluggy.
It was great to see you again Lorraine and Chris! We need to do this again, and more often.
We are $9,043.31 up from last month's net worth(only cash/investments, as I don't count housing or car values).
We are also $116,342.43 up from the August 1st of 2014 net worth.
Yeah, I especially like that latter one. ;-)
Love me some good ol' compounded interest on large sums of money, ya know? lolz
Every year I keep a close eye on our monthly expenses and our monthly income.
Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job. We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it. This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, health insurance premiums, long term care insurance premiums, investments and retirement savings. It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings or these other categories.
Once the automatic savings amounts, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision premiums are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on". From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, annual etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, clothing etc.) Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into an interest bearing Savings Challenge account.
For 2015 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge. I am raising the Goal amount slightly to $28,000 this year, $4K more than my goal for last year.
On to the July report.....
I have posted my July End of Month $28K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.
I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $2,333.33.
I have to report that we finished up July with a lovely amount of $.
The extra amount we ended the month of July with?.......$4,089.56
Income
We had $3933.47 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Other monies received in July totaled $156.09. This included interest made on non-retirement accounts and a per diem from Hub's work.
This brought us to our gain of $4089.56
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.
Outgo
As for the expenses this July, here are the good and the bad side of things....
HERE are the GOOD THINGS
* Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month.
* The gas credit card went down $85.41. Hubs didn't buy gas at the Sunoco station because it was so high last month there, even with his .5¢ discount. He put most gas charges on the reg. credit card and bought at a non-Sunoco station. This credit card earns us point we can cash in for gift card.
* The credit card charges went down by $2873. There was no vacation spending on it plus we put very few charges on it before it closed mid July.
HERE are the BAD THINGS(and the not so bad)
.
* Water bill went up by $10.63.
* Electricity bill went up by $11.51(A bit more a/c used and the washer/dryer were run more with an extra person here.).
* The cash withdrawals went up $326.52 due to using cash for some of the apartment hunting trip expenses and I bought a $100 Rite-Aid gift card this month.
The Food Budget costs for July are in another post, which is located HERE .
July has been out "cheapest" month so far in 2015. Our expenses in July came to only $2200.00.
And that was even with a few out of the ordinary expenses(a Sam's club c/c charge, some medical co-pays, buying a gift card and paying the garbage bill ahead for the last 6 months of 2015. These all came out to about $700+/- beyond our normal monthly costs.
The 2015 TOTAL.....
With 7 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2015 is $22,886.92. That averages $3269.56 a month put into savings so far.
We have left $5,113.08 to put away this year to reach our $28K Goal.
With $22886.92 saved already we only need to put away $1,022.62 each of the next 5 months to reach the $28K goal for the year and that's very doable for us. ;-)
Finally thoughts on July---
I am amazed at how fast we've been able to pile up the extra/unspent $ this year! It helped that in April we had that third paycheck.....this always builds our momentum and when it comes early in the year it gets me revved up to keep going.
July was NOT a third paycheck month but even so by not putting charges from mid May to mid July on the c/c we were able to keep the bills somewhat low. Not having any car repairs last month also helped in that regard.
I am stoked to only be $5K+ away from reaching this savings goal for 2015.
THOUGHTS going forward into August----
As for irregular expenses.....
We have both the house insurance and $695 of car insurance due the end of August.
There are no trips planned this month, except for a one day trek to take College Boy back to school. We will be renting a van for that trip so there is some expense for that.
The credit card bill is going to top out at around $1900 by the time it closes next Tuesday. Yikes! I blame eating out(both traveling and having kids home to visit in July expenses)plus a little retail therapy(mostly Hubs and getting a few things for College Boy before he heads back to school).
The last big irregular expenses coming is end of September and that is the school tax bill(local property taxes here are broken up into a school tax bill and a local tax bill). I pay one in March and the other in September. If we can keep the c/c spending down for the rest of the year we are golden for making our savings goal this year. 8-)
With 7 months behind us we have $22,886.92 down and $5,113.08 left to save in 2015.
So how was your July financially?
Did you spend less than the income you had in July?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
What did you do with any money leftover at the end of the month?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
Or did you blow it on a want?
If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check out your progress too and celebrate or commiserate with you!
Since a few readers have asked for my peach jam recipe, here it is.
Let me put a disclaimer that this is the first time I've ever made peach jam(I've made other kinds though through the years).
There was a grocery deal on local peaches last week here before we left for our trip to move the Eldest son to his new digs so I had Hubs pick me up about 6 lbs.
Totally forgot to process them and make the jam before we left on Thursday so I threw the bag into the fridge and left them.
When we got back I needed to get on the jam making so Sunday morning before company arrived later that day for dinner I made the jam and canned it.
I sort of used the recipe on the back of the Sure-Jell package. Sure-Jell is a pectin used for making jellies/jams/conserves/marmalades. It is what makes your jams/jellies set up, "jell" as it were.
You can also take your peels and boil them down to get the natural pectin in the fruit and use that, put it's an added step and using a packaged product is easier. ;-)
So I pit, peel and slices my peaches up until I have 8 cups. Put the slices, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice(any kind) and a package of pectin in a pot and turn on the heat to get it boiling. As there is little liquid at this point you'll need to stir often.
When it starts boiling, add 6 cups of sugar.
Now if you want to do a low or no sugar version jam you'll have to use a special pectin for that or a different proportion of pectin to fruit.
This is a regular old jam with sugar in it. 8-)
So add the sugar and stir until it all liquefies.
Then continue to cook at a low boil for 20 minutes.
Turn off the pot and put your jam into containers of your choice.......plastic for the freezer or glass canning jars if you are preserving it that way(shelf stable).
If canning wash and sterilize your jars, rings and lids. Put jam into jars, place lids and rings on and tighten the rings. Process jars in a water bath canner for 15 minutes. Make sure the water covers the jars completely 2 inches above the tallest jar.
Remove jars from canner and place on a towel to cool.
A few hours later check all your lids to make sure they sealed(when pressing on the lids there is no give or spring). If any haven't sealed either reprocess them in the water bath canner or keep in the fridge.
This batch made 10-4 oz. jars, 1-8 oz. jar and 1 pint jar......so 64 oz. total.
This is the odd assortment of jars I had that were smaller than quarts. Ideally I'd use the 8 or 12 oz. jars instead but these tiny 4 oz. jars are good for giving as gifts or if you don't consume a lot of jams(which we don't)and you don't want it to go bad after you open one.
I don't know what I'll do with that pint jar of jam! lolz
1 jar is missing as it left with our company last night. 8-)
Next time, if there is a next time, I'm going to try a lower sugar version. Since it was my first time making peach I wanted to do it the regular way once.
If you are reticent or unsure in your jam making skills there is an excellent fruit to sugar to pectin calculator on the Ball site HERE.
You can select full sugar, low sugar or no sugar versions and it gives you the proportions to use for each.
87.50 miles for July
The donation wasn't very large as I didn't get much decluttering done in July as I had wanted to. We got it taken in the day before we left to go move Eldest son as we needed Hubs car trunk emptied. Now there's motivation to finally get something done! lolz
