From My Home to Yours: 2/14/25

 From My Home to Yours

...  these beauties are growing in my yard!

2/14/25

(Really, it's 2/16 when I'm actually getting this posted!)

~  Do 'not good' things really come in threes? ~

Our dishwasher died (I'm handwashing our dishes, it's not the end of the world but I will be glad when finances allow us to replace it!)

Hubby spent 7 days in the hospital in a specialty unit (Whatever it winds up costing us will be worth every cent.  I'd rather be in debt with my hubby by my side, then the other option.)  (Yes, we do have health insurance.)

Our oven went out (We're using our air fryer until hubby gets well enough to make the repairs.  Yes, we know what the problem is, but hubby needs to recover a bit more before he tackles repairing it.)

If 'not good' things come in sets of three, we've had our three!

We're certainly aware that in the big picture, these three things wouldn't even stack up against some of the thing's others are going through or have gone through, However, we are ready for things to settle down and behave themselves, if you know what I mean!

Since all three of these events involve money let's talk about finances this week and about how we're going to approach these new items in our budget.

First off, we can do this ... 'hunkering down' financially last year to the extent that we did prepared us to be able to handle these additional expenses.

It's not the financial plan we envisioned for this year, but we will redo our budget and make room for these expenses.  Absolutely no pity parties here!

We know how to 'hunker down' financially, we know how to make do for a time for a specific purpose, and we're willing to make the sacrifices to get this unexpected debt paid off and out of our lives.

Sometimes, life throws us a curve ball that we have no control over.  Sometimes financial things happen that blindside us and when it does, our attitude is one of our most important assets.

With that thought in mind, we've chosen to turn this debt into a challenge and maybe even a contest with ourselves to see how well we can meet our needs and wants while slaying the debt.  Even though the debt occurred through no fault of our own, it's still our debt and we are responsible for it, so it's time to come up with a game plan and play the game! 

What did 'playing the game' look like this week ...

Just call me a 'jill-of-all-trades!'  I can now add stove repair to the lists of things I've done!  We determined that the problem with our stove was the bottom element, so we purchased a new one and hubby walked me through replacing the old one with the new one.  It really was a funny site, me with half my body in the oven and hubby giving me step by step instructions standing beside me outside the oven.  Did I mention that my knees were 'killing me' while I was halfway in the oven doing the repairs! Sometimes, I think we would make good candidates for old people commercials, you know, the ones that make you laugh and smile all at the same time, we do get up to some shenanigans in some of our DIY projects!  Regardless, we got it done and now, our oven is working again!  The part costs us $45, if we had called the repair man to come out and repair it, there is no telling what we would have had to pay for parts, service call and labor combined!  We played the game ... the money saving game!

The cabbage seeds I planted last week in one of our salad barrels have sprouted, take a look ...

Can you see all those baby cabbage plants coming up!  This will save us quite a bit of money not having to purchase cabbage plants for planting when the time comes to put them in the garden!  We're playing the 'saving money' game!

I also planted 'little marvel green peas' in one of our raised beds.  

Pea seeds like to be crowded when planted and as you can see these should be some happy pea seeds!!!    The 'little marvel' variety does well in our climate, and we can grow enough in this one bed to last us for a year.  No, we don't use them every week, but we do like them in soups, stews, casseroles, etc.  It's one more thing we don't have to buy at the store.  Did I mention that this variety is an heirloom and that we save seeds from year to year for the following year's planting?  We're playing the 'saving money' game!

The first load of next year's winter wood was delivered over the weekend.  We put our order in back in the fall ...

We have more coming!  We are playing the 'money saving' game!  This wood will save us heaps on next winter's power bills as well as keep us much warmer!

I had some milk that needed to be used so I made yogurt ...

Here's the method I use to make yogurt.  Playing the 'money saving' game means nothing goes to waste!

Each week I am on a schedule to plant seeds for plants to go in the garden.  This week I planted calendula and sage ...

This is the first year that I've tried the milk jug method of growing seeds.  Our greenhouse is in need of some repairs right now, but alas, hubby has not recovered enough to tackle anything that will require that much exertion ... so, the challenge before me is to grow our garden plants without our greenhouse!  Again, we are playing the 'money saving' game by growing our own plants from seeds, the best way we can!

In closing, to the reader who has requested my hubby do a tutorial on our container garden watering system.  He has agreed and will get onto it as soon as the weather cooperates, and he can get outside to build another one for a somewhat new container garden grouping we have.  He wants to include pictures with the instructions so it will make it easier to understand.

One more thing ... We had several medical appointments to keep and medical stuff to do this week, hence the reason this post is late!  While I want to be as consistent as I can in sharing and writing each week, right now we are adjusting to a new normal and things might look different for a little while in regard to how often I post and my ability to respond to comments.  Please, just bear with me, I'll get back to my regular schedule as soon as possible!

One more, one more thing ... for the ladies that are following along with our Bible study on Rahab, the final lesson has been posted HERE!

That's it for this week!  What did your week look like in your home?

  How are you playing the 'saving money' game?

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

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