The Homemaker Sets Her Monthly Goals: July 2024

The seventh month of the year is upon us.  We've gone halfway through.  I can say honestly the year has not felt as though it's flying past this year, at least not so far.  It's felt like a productive year, and a full one, but not a fast one.  I'm all for time slowing down just a little.

That said, I've a few more goals than I had in June.  The calendar for July is not nearly so full of things to do.  I'm glad of that!  I like sitting indoors with the AC on during these hot summer days.  Outdoor jobs will be at a minimum.  I'll also slow down on housework.  No big tedious cleaning projects for the next couple of months.  I get far too hot, even indoors in the air conditioning.

I want to savor July.  Some of the things I wish to do this month involve food: fried green tomatoes, fresh corn, peaches and more peaches, fresh tomato sandwiches, fresh beans and potatoes, cold crisp melons, lemonade, and a good icy cold beer when the heat has been particularly oppressive.

I want to adapt the idea of an afternoon sipper, an aperitif as it were, though I'm leaning less hard on alcohol.  I'd like to have lighter meals and since I am finding on these days that I am hungry well before supper, I thought a mid-afternoon drink and light snack might help offset that overwhelming hunger I feel just before it's time to begin cooking supper.  I'm thinking of fruit juice over ice mixed with sparkling water, iced tea, lemonade, perhaps an Italian cream soda.  As for the snack part, I was thinking stuffed celery, cucumbers with hummus, a handful of salted nuts, crackers with cheese.  Nothing complicated or fancy but just a little something.

I also want to turn on the sprinkler and sit near enough to get sprinkled even if the kids are nowhere around.  The aroma of water on hot concrete and grass is lovely and how refreshing to enjoy the coolness of that water while it's running.  I'll set it up near the plants on the patio so they can have the added benefit of that bit of cooling water, too.  

I want to feel the hot sun on my skin now and then before it's gone for the year.  I always regret it when I step outside in October and the air has a cool undertone because then I know I've missed another summer entirely because I felt it was too hot.  I want to savor the sights and sounds of summer this year.  The aroma of rain-washed leaves, even the smell of parched grass at the end of the day.  They all speak memories of summers past that I enjoyed.  

What are you going to do to savor July?

Spiritual and Mental Health:

Continue to study in the New Testament.  I'm currently reading II Peter.  

Continue reading Joy Marie Clarkson's You Are A Tree.  The book is not set up as a devotional but that's how I'm reading it.  I read a little each day and then at the end of each chapter she has a listing of activities to do to enhance the chapter lessons.  I did not read the book recommended at the end of Chapter one.  It was available online but over 300 pages.  I didn't want to start that with all that was going on in June.  

I've just finished reading Chapter 2 and will start those extra activities this week then move on to Chapter 3.

Listen to music.  Journal.  Get outdoors for a little each day, obviously mostly in the early morning now that we're in the midst of summer and it's so terribly hot.

Family:

Go to the library with the kids.  I think I can get two or three more visits in before the summer program is over.  The kids are doing well with it.  I want to plan some added activity of some sort, but I don't know just what now that it's so very hot.  I hate to take the kids right home after the library and they seem to enjoy the outing part of the day as much as the library.  However, on these days when it's 100F out, and the library only open in mid-afternoon, it's far too hot to do much of anything extra.

I'd like to get Caleb for one or two nights over the next few weeks.  Once he starts school my opportunity to have him here will be a lot less.

Katie and Cody will be getting married July 6.  We'll be attending that event.  

Visit Mama twice.  I know she prefers take-out in the car but it's so danged hot!  I'll try to think of places she can get in and out of easily without too much physical stress on her.  The other alternative is to take lunch to her in her house.  Her dog barks, she yells at the dog, the dog barks, she yells...It goes on ad nauseum.  It doesn't make for a very pleasant visit... Besides she does need to get OUT of the house now and then.

Have Gramma's Fried Chicken at least once this month with Taylor, Bella and Caleb.

Finances:

It's a new quarter with increased costs.  Electricity and gasoline are higher than in previous months.  Auto insurance has increased.  I've set up a budget sheet with decreases in other areas to offset the extra costs.  Now to stick to it!

Call the agency and see if we can get a better rate elsewhere.  Typically, we end changing carriers about every three to five years.

Put aside at least $75 for vacation.

Try, try, try to add to savings.  I would very much like to make this more routine and not just a happenstance sort of thing.  It may mean a bit more budget juggling and a good bit more belt tightening, but I feel the urge to do this.  

Car and house insurance are both due this month.  It would mean a bit more wiggle room in the budget if I paid the car insurance for six months.  Can I manage that?  I don't know.  I need to look at our savings accounts and determine if I can afford to take anything from anywhere to swing this.

Just dig my heels in and get through the month.  July is typically a tighter month for us.  It has been for years and years.  Knowing this, I just want to get through it with as much financial grace as I can muster.

July is the month I go to financial bootcamp.  This year I plan to deeply explore several blogs and cull tips and hints from their archives to help enhance our lives in our home.  I'll be looking for recipes, savings tips, ideas.

Home and Garden:

Walmart is supposed to have clearance bags of mulch.  I'd like to get about 10 bags if I possibly can.  Small investment of about $15. I may not get it spread this month unless we have some very pleasant mornings but at least I'll have it on hand.

Buy two blooming perennials to plant in the yard.

Plant the fig tree, the forsythia and hydrangea I'd rooted.  I'm not sure it's the best time to transplant any of these but I'll wager the fig tree is more stressed by the pot than it will be in the ground.  

Try to keep the plants going in the heat.  I may have to move those things on the patio to less hot, less sunny locations just to give them a little ease if the high temperatures keep up.  Definitely will be watering routinely.

Fourth of July will be just John and me.  That's fine with me.  I plan to grill in the early morning.  I have a menu planned and everything is on hand that we might want as sides.  I said I'd celebrate these days and I mean to do just that.  

I cleaned and reorganized half my panty this past week.  I want to refine a couple of spots in that section then move on to the other side, but I'm giving myself a month to get all of that done this time around.

Hang plates in the kitchen.  Get John to remove anchors and spackle holes in the wall from previous years.

I set this as a goal in May and then didn't get to it.  Learn to fully make use of each appliance in my possession at present.  I can do more with what I have.   I'm not utilizing things as they ought to be used.  I want them to earn the space they sit in!

Build up my pantry.  I am concentrating on buying mostly from the clearance rack at the discount store for produce but there's often enough of a quantity to warrant preserving.  Recently they had lots of tomatoes so I could probably do my own canned diced tomatoes or salsa.  They also had onions last week and it occurred to me I can dice and freeze those if I see them in the future.   But I want to be very careful to do the things I know we'll eat and not get too carried away with things we might not use.  I also have quite a few dry beans that I might can.  I'd like to make enchilada sauce (small batch). I'm also looking at buying certain things.  John mentioned wanting a quantity of strawberry jam and mentioned a brand he liked.  I bought six jars last month.  I'll watch for sales on other staples and try to get in a six- month supply if the budget will cover it. 

Personal:

Make an appointment with the chiropractor.  I hadn't meant to let this go until this month when I cancelled two weeks ago but I figured until my toe was better, I might as well wait, since my gait was thrown off.  I'm not in too bad pain thankfully but I've noted my hips are hurting more.

Limit computer screen time.  It's the games, darn it.  I'm going to have to set a timer and get off them, regardless of how well I'm doing.  I'll read, color, work on genealogy notes, get some jigsaw puzzles...anything but sit for hours on the computer!

Continue eating low carb.

Enjoy the library and stretch myself to reading books I might normally not choose.

Find a new coloring book.

Visit a thrift store or two.  I'm not looking for anything in particular at present, except a small table to go next to a chair in the guest room.  And maybe a bookcase to hold all my extra books that are boxed up.  Mostly I just want to get out of the house for a bit on my own.

My hair is much better since I've let it grow a bit.  I want to be very mindful of self-care this month, especially with skincare, manis and pedis.

Chill.  Seriously, it's hot outdoors and I don't want to work too hard in the heat.  I'd like to just sit back and relax in this month, especially since I have had such a busy month behind me. There's plenty of time when it cools off to consider working hard once more.

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