Goals for July

One more week of June...I've just been to look at my June goals and I didn't touch on half of them I don't think.  I did work and I worked hard for the first couple of weeks and then I slowed down considerably due to a painful knee...Oh and have I mentioned that John is using sick days to extend his time off so he's been home more days and you know that means I get less done.  It's one thing to ignore my basic needs and push hard to get things done, but he balks when he sees me in pain and when I ignore his needs.   Let's see...I think he had three five day stretches off this month...So yeah, that took a bite out of project time.   As well, we had far more rain this month than we did in May.  It's made a huge difference in the ability to do things.  We had six inches of rain from Wednesday through Sunday this past week (writing this on Monday, June 24) alone.



If you want to see what I did do for June, then please check the June goals post.  I've scored through those I've done at this writing.  If I get more done, I'll note it in this weeks' frugal living post.  In the meantime, the reason why I didn't get some things done...

Café set: found a table I loved at Aldi but John didn't want to buy it  though it was affordable and discounted.   I  decided against it myself because it had no chairs...Every thing I've looked at looks flimsy or is not affordable and I've only seen any café sets  online.  There are none in the stores at all.

No plants for the patio as of yet, except that avocado tree that I planted from a pit I started last summer.   We'll see how it does there in that sunny location away from the eaves of the house.  Rain has done it's best this past week to drown that little tree of mine.

I bought only two six packs of plants and two hanging baskets and  haven't bought any more. .  I didn't move my flag yet.  I should really go out in the shed to look for that flag pole bracket, I saw it when I was cleaning up in spring.  Nor have I bought paint to use on any outdoor items.

And just NO on cleaning railings or rafters on the porches.  My knee hurt and I've been limping along, quite literally.   Saturday Taylor and I were playing and I told her to copy me in doing something, which happened to involve walking.  My knee wasn't hurting but it was stiff and sort of locked up and John snorted when she said "Gramma I can't  walk like that!"   It's been hot.  When it wasn't hot it was storming.  Ditto for why the two access doors on the foundation of the house are not yet painted.  They've been too wet.  I've got more excuses...

I did a lot more in the house than I'd planned...just none of the jobs I'd meant to tackle.

I am on target financially with all my plans...Though I did end borrowing from a sub-account all over again.  John had a fun fling this weekend, something he wanted to do while Taylor was here.

I found a pair of sandals...just one.  I am shopping mostly Goodwill and thrift for accessories and so far not so good.  However, I did see a tutorial on making kimonos that I plan to try with two or three really large scarves I have that are just bulky when tied about my neck and shoulders.  Repurposing accessories to create new accessories works fine!

I am woefully far behind on my New Year's resolution to read a book a week however, I did finish one book this month and started two more.

Enough of what I didn't do!  Here's my plans for July.  Note that few of the planned jobs for June are carried over.  I might get to some of them and if I do great and if not, they'll wait just as they've been waiting all this time.  It's getting warmer and warmer and I've no intention of being a sweat bomb outdoors nor in.

Outdoors:
I will buy some more landscaping blocks for edging and two cinder blocks to expand the new flower bed and bring in a few bags of soil to start filling that.  It will all be done a little bite at the time, because it is hot and it takes me a long time to cool off once I get heated up.  Then I am drained for a day and can do nothing else.  So little bites.  No more.

Front porch: continue to look for a café set. In the meantime,  I'll buy paint and paint the one I have on the back porch and use it on the front porch until Katie calls for it and takes it home.

Plants for the planters on the patio.  I'm going to look at plants that need a bit of rehab.  Mama has a small gardenia growing in her flower bed that I'm going to see if I can pull up.  It's self rooted there and John would love to have gardenias here.  It's one of two flowers he's mentioned he really likes.  She also has some creeping jenny that would do nicely in one of my shady spots on the patio.  I'll get enough to start a pot.  I think I've got coleus seed in the seed bag but where is the seed bag? Hmm?

And if I feel super perky or need to work off a worry or upset, I know where my list from last month is to guide me.

Indoors:   Little jobs I've seen all this month are going to be my focus.  The bookcases in the living room look messy because I've added books and the children have moved some things about and then I came along and put things back on the fronts of the shelves instead of where they ought to have gone...So I'll be sorting out the bookshelves once more.

Oh I've seen a bookcase wall I love and have saved the picture for the future...It's from an Instagram account Chrislovesjulie (Julia?) or something like that.  I don't care a thing about pot lights but I love that the whole wall has free floating shelves.  I can dream...

The broom/cleaning closet is a mess.

I'm running out of room in kitchen cupboards and some things don't fit well in their space.  So all those will get sorted out this month.  Sort messy cupboards.

Our bathroom needs a good turning out.  The cabinets need to be decluttered further, the curtains I bought irritate me no end, they are just all wrong.  The boys wanted the little blue chair moved to the living room so they could fight over who gets to sit in it and so there's now a tray table to drop towels on next to the shower and that's all wrong...I also have no pictures on the walls at all.  The baseboard area is dusty beyond belief.  I noticed it yesterday and was horrified.

The bins above the washer dryer work too well... I don't know what on earth is in them!   So I'll pull them down and label them with  black board tags so I'll know what's what and incidentally clean them out and arrange them in a better way.

John has every single pair of shoes he owns in the back entry.  For years the man stuck with two pairs of shoes, now he's got ten and they are all under the bench and in the laundry area and it's driving me nuts.  I have to find a better way to organize that space and corral those shoes.

Overall, I am feeling it's time for a general house declutter so I'll tend to that as I go through each zone this month.

Finances:
Continue with the additional savings.  It was smaller deposits for June to the new savings account and pushing up the account we paid for foundation/front porch from but I did make a deposit to each and it was all in addition to my usual sub accounts savings each month.   This month we have to pay for car insurance.  I'll want to replace that amount as quickly as I can so we're prepared for the next time it's due.  I have a sneaky feeling that we're going to have to pay another quarter of house insurance, and another quarterly bill as well and that will need to be replaced too.  Things are going to be a bit snug, but I'm going to keep pushing it.   We should have a holiday pay in July...and it works out so that we have three pay periods this month so savings should all receive a healthy injection if all goes well. Deposit for July into savings and repay a portion to other savings account.

I borrowed from the money set aside for vacation.  Not a problem since we aren't planning on going anywhere for a few months yet but...I'll spread the love from the above holiday/extra pay period to this account.  And I've an idea to boost it back to flush that I'll share in a moment.

My credit card has had quite a workout these past two months.  I used my personal savings to pay off the balance last month.   John purchased an item and we used my credit card.  I've got cash to cover that but I played free and loose with the card over this birthday month and ordered a substantial amount of stuff from Amazon for the household, as well and dog food subscription came, etc.  It is my goal this  month to put nothing on my card save the Amazon Prime and Netflix auto charges.  Since my bill dropped recently, I can tell you that this part of the July goals has already started.  That credit card is dead to me.

Pantry/Freezer:  

My freezer is full.  It's so full I can get nothing else into it.  The fridge freezer is almost as full.  This is a problem.  I can't put up any summer produce, not that I put up a lot.  I can put in no extra baking or entrees for those days and times when I don't want to cook or am ailing or someone in the family is ailing...  The freezer being full is a lovely problem on the one hand and a hindrance on the other.  So I'm thinking for July I'm going to do a pantry/freezer challenge and try to cut back on the grocery budget.  That money can go towards replenishing the vacation account.

I want to do a pantry and freezer inventory this month.  It's been about six months since I did the last one.  I'm in a better place with both than I was in January but I have little idea of what I have at present, especially in the freezer.  I expect to find far fewer outages this time around, but I always have a few odds and ends that I really want to plan to use, like that box of Matzoh crackers.  I also want a new shopping list to go by when I'm in the grocery so if I see a good deal on a pantry stock up item I can take advantage of it.

I didn't grill out as much as I wanted last month because my charcoal just wouldn't light.  It took an hour of trying and then calling John to get it going and it took him a half hour or better.  I bought a new bag of charcoal and will mix it with the old.   I'm going to try once more to grill at least once a week this month.  

Personal:  I'm getting better at turning off the computer and walking away from it rather than just wasting time to waste it...That said, I can still stand a bit of improvement in this area. 

I read through my goals for the New Year this morning and I have some work to do there as well. 

I might not be able to make my goal of reading 52 books this year but I do want to try and read more.  I would like to complete three  two   one more books in July.

Make music a part of every day in my home.  And a good sermon to listen to while I'm working, too.

I've really indulged in sweets this month.  It's been six weeks of  birthdays (or will be by the last day of June) and we've celebrated and then we  got in the habit of eating something sweet a little too often.  I'm not going to say I'll cut out all sugar, but I'm going to cut down to a half serving once a day instead of a whole serving of anything sweet twice a day.    Besides there are so many good fruits right now that it's a shame to waste time eating anything else!

Really concentrate on the accessory side of my wardrobe: purses, scarves, shoes, toppers like kimonos, cardigans, shawls and light jackets.  All from the thrift stores, too.  I'm not buying new unless I come across an awesome clearance!

In the meantime it's still June...and I've a whole week to accomplish something more of those June goals, so off I go!