Hey friends! I’m back for another homestead update. I’m really enjoying having them in one place. It makes it so much easier to see what I’ve been doing on the homestead on a weekly basis. Of course this time of the year there’s not a lot of homesteading per se, but more getting organized for the upcoming year. Let’s get started. There was a LOT of organizing this past week.
Eggs
The girls laid 14 eggs from 1/2-1/8/2021, with Maran laying 4 of those eggs. I can tell her eggs because she is the Black Copper Maran and lays dark brown eggs (you can see them in last week’s update). We did have some frostbite on a couple of the girls. Nothing serious but I am keeping an eye on them since the temps have dropped drastically lately.
Budgets
Well…we didn’t do as great on our grocery budget for December. I think it was mostly because we splurged for Christmas, New Years Eve, and New Years Day dinners. Plus I was really missing fish in our weekly diet so we went to a fish market to stock up on a little bit of fish. We also really started meal planning and filling in the gaps on things that we need. I’ve been eating really healthy as well and that is costing a little extra money. But we just did next week’s meal plan and it is the first time that we don’t have a grocery list (other than milk. I think I need a dairy animal so I can have fresh milk and dairy products without going to the store). So I’m really excited to see how next week’s meal planning turns out. Did we end up buying more at the store? Or did we really stick to the meal plan, no shopping plan?
Speaking of meal planning, I have some meal planning inserts for my planner but I’ve been taking them out of the planner and putting them on the refrigerator so it’s easy to find. We don’t plan out days, but instead meals. Then we can decide each morning what we are in the mood for and take it out of the freezer. It’s been working really well and we have been eating so really yummy food!
December: groceries and supplies: $503.49; eating out: $52.69=$556.18. Compared to November though, we overspent but we are lower than October.
Projects
I’ll have a total project list update next week, but this past week I got so much stuff done behind the scenes. Quickbooks is set up, balanced, and ready to go. Financials is just not something I like dealing with and I put it off for a very long time but finally sat down for 2 days this week and totally got it done. I also wanted to organize my photos but that was a daunting task. I spent a few hours on it but because of my habit of just dumping photos into a folder it was just too much. So I’ve got the past few blog posts pictures all organized plus the ones I had organized before. I’m going to come up with a ‘blog post’ check list to keep myself accountable and part of that will entail organizing my photos before I am finished for the day. Same with the financials. There will be a checklist that will hold me accountable so I enter things every day rather than waiting. If I wait it never gets done so it will become part of my routine. Just get it done! But the bottom line is that I feel organized and ready to tackle the actual making money part of my business. Haha.
Health
And I’ve been walking a lot. I bought myself a Garmin watch and it counts my steps. I’ve been trying for 10,000 steps per day. I’ve just started reaching that goal every day but it’s been an effort. I’ll keep going with trying for 10,000 steps 5 days per week. I think that’s doable. I’ve split my walking time between getting Anna Lee on the hill and then finishing up on the treadmill. I usually get on the treadmill in the evenings-right before dinner. I look at my step count for the day and then run on the treadmill until I hit 9,000 steps. I usually shoot for 9,500 because I assume I’ll walk at least 500 more steps before bedtime. It’s been good. And I noticed I have a theme for when I’m walking outside. One of these things doesn’t look like the other. LOL.
That’s it for this week. It’s been a really productive week. I look forward to keeping the positive momentum going into the coming weeks. And you can catch up on the weekly updates starting with this post.
’til next time
-k
xoxo
Tracy
I. Love. This. Post.
Yes! These are the “stories” I referenced in my other comment made this morning that make your blog stand out. You might list challenges, but you tell your visitors how you are addressing them and share your methods. And, it’s a story about Chicken Librarian. You are so good at this, Kristin!
I love how you broke this out into categories and addressed. Like you, I have returned to a meal plan of sorts. I use my OneNote and fill out for the month. Often it’s a repeat of the earlier month with season change ups. More grilling dinners in nicer weather, for example. I haven’t finished my January blog drop over at GCER yet, but one of the posts I’m putting up is on my Word for the Year, which is Order. It was borne of the desire to focus on “save” and “clean.” Anyhow, my point is one of the items I keep reminding Mr. Gordon that we should always do is “shop the pantry first.” This is such a good way to save on the grocery bill. Frankly, we are so stocked up right now we should not even be going to the store. But there’s always something. I would LOVE to do a no shop month (like for February) but it’s hard to get Mr. Gordon on board for that. Maybe I’ll try to convince him for this coming February. We’ll see.
Our girls finally slowed down on laying eggs in January. They were going strong through pretty much the end of December. But, we’ve had plenty to share and we have not had to buy eggs once. And we eat a lot of eggs. But now there have been a couple of days where there was only one or two eggs. I’m happy to have them recharge their energy. The eggs will come again. 🙂
That chicken dish looks great! We don’t eat as much chicken as we used to, but I just found one of our dishes that uses cinnamon and pomegranate and I’m thinking that’s coming up in the rotation.
GOOD on you for keeping up on the exercise! *applauds* And yes, good running shores are so important. Mr. Gordon used to run (two marathons under his belt) and he used to spend the money on good running shoes. It’s critical for foot health.
Pics… one of these does not belong? Pink coat Or glasses? 😀
Okay, off to slay the dragons! (Or at least hide in the bushes.) XO!
chickenlibrarian
Tracy! You are the sweetest and most kindest. Thank you. I love writing about my adventures. There’s nothing earth shattering here but I do like sharing my experiences….all of them! I finally feel organized and centered enough to have a schedule. All that ‘back office’ organization I’ve been doing these last few weeks have really helped get me focused. Now I just need to get back out there and start booking classes and making money. HAHA.
I love a good meal plan…especially one we stick with. And we too are stocked enough that we don’t really NEED to go to the grocery store, other than the obvious things like dairy. We still do our misfits box so we get fresh produce that way. Really. I don’t know why we’re spending so much money but I guess that was the point in putting it together and putting it out there…to see how much we really are spending. I like the idea of a no spend month. We did that in 2019 (I think) and it worked really well. Maybe February is a good month to try for it! Let me know if you decide to do it.
And the pics…the one that doesn’t belong. I was referring to the pink coat but you are right with the glasses too! Haha. I didn’t even notice that until you mentioned it. I thought it was funny that in every pic I’m wearing the exact same thing, except it really is on different days! The pink jacket was on Christmas day when it was 50 degrees and raining and all I needed was a light rain coat. It was crazy!
I’m looking forward to reading all about what you’ve been up to. Until then. xoxo