My 2021 Challenge

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alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I have been working on my 2022 budget. So far things are looking good.

I am thrilled. A local CSA (community supported agriculture) farm has an opening. I have tried to join the last two years, but they did not have any openings. I belonged to it years ago but dropped out due to medical problems. At the time they were just starting up and you had to drive down a long road, park in a parking lot and then hike to their barn to get your items. They now have a store where you can pick up your items. I bought a $200.00 membership. The nice thing is they only need a $50.00 deposit now and then they will let me pay it off in payments in 2022. I will get a debit card to buy what I want and will also get a 10% discount on whatever I buy in the store. The great thing is I will be allowed to go out to the field and pick things like strawberries for free. Anything U-pick is free. I know with my medical problems I will not be able to pick a lot, but it will be nice to get out and pick a few strawberries or green beans etc. All of their fruit and vegetables are certified organic. The nice thing is their store also sells grass fed meat and free-range eggs from the surrounding farms. I need all of that for the leaky gut diet. When this couple first came here, they were young and had no children. They were doing all of the work by themselves. They now have two children and a lot of workers to help them grow and expand their business. I think the first year I was with them they noticed I was not showing up for my share of the produce. She called and wanted to know why not. I told her due to health reasons I was not able to come. She offered to refund my money. I told her no. I knew they needed the money to get started and, in the beginning, I knew things were rough for them. That year we had horrible weather and they had to replant some things at least 3 times. I went twice and picked up somethings but had to drop out. So glad I am doing better, and they are doing great.

Poor Teddi is itching badly due to his skin problem. I think the bath at the groomers using the special shampoo the Vet recommended is stirring things up. I had to take him for an allergy shot today. Very pricey. It cost $ 68.00! They weighted him and he has gained 2 lbs. since the last time he was there which I think was about 6 weeks ago. Bummer. The only thing different in his diet was I added some rice or boiled potato to his meal a few times. However, I cut back on his meat when I did that. I weight and measure his food, so I think the problem is he is not getting enough exercise. So, I need to make sure he gets outside more instead of just going out to potty and then run back into the house. He has been picking at his food the last several days and would not eat today even with a freshly baked pork roast. So, I went into town to buy him a roast beef slider from Arby's to see if that would temp him to eat. He did not eat right away but finally he did eat.

I was surprised to see a note at the Arby's drive-thru that they are cutting their hours to 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM. I feel sorry for the staff having such short hours.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Forgot to mention that Soc Security did not take out my Medicare premiums this month. For quite a few years my low income qualified me for the state of Illinois to pay them for me. However, I received a letter from Medicaid that I no longer qualify due to my income. So, I need to factor that into my budget for 2022. It is going to be a big chunk of money and the COLA we will be getting in January 2022 does not even pay half of it. I had forgotten about it so I need to go back through the 2022 budget and make some adjustments. Bummer. I thought things were looking too good...lol.
Janet Alliesmama
HappyDaze
Posts: 4186
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:11 am

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by HappyDaze »

alliesmama4 wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 10:26 pm I have been working on my 2022 budget. So far things are looking good.

I am thrilled. A local CSA (community supported agriculture) farm has an opening. I have tried to join the last two years, but they did not have any openings. I belonged to it years ago but dropped out due to medical problems. At the time they were just starting up and you had to drive down a long road, park in a parking lot and then hike to their barn to get your items. They now have a store where you can pick up your items. I bought a $200.00 membership. The nice thing is they only need a $50.00 deposit now and then they will let me pay it off in payments in 2022. I will get a debit card to buy what I want and will also get a 10% discount on whatever I buy in the store. The great thing is I will be allowed to go out to the field and pick things like strawberries for free. Anything U-pick is free. I know with my medical problems I will not be able to pick a lot, but it will be nice to get out and pick a few strawberries or green beans etc. All of their fruit and vegetables are certified organic. The nice thing is their store also sells grass fed meat and free-range eggs from the surrounding farms. I need all of that for the leaky gut diet. When this couple first came here, they were young and had no children. They were doing all of the work by themselves. They now have two children and a lot of workers to help them grow and expand their business. I think the first year I was with them they noticed I was not showing up for my share of the produce. She called and wanted to know why not. I told her due to health reasons I was not able to come. She offered to refund my money. I told her no. I knew they needed the money to get started and, in the beginning, I knew things were rough for them. That year we had horrible weather and they had to replant some things at least 3 times. I went twice and picked up somethings but had to drop out. So glad I am doing better, and they are doing great.

Poor Teddi is itching badly due to his skin problem. I think the bath at the groomers using the special shampoo the Vet recommended is stirring things up. I had to take him for an allergy shot today. Very pricey. It cost $ 68.00! They weighted him and he has gained 2 lbs. since the last time he was there which I think was about 6 weeks ago. Bummer. The only thing different in his diet was I added some rice or boiled potato to his meal a few times. However, I cut back on his meat when I did that. I weight and measure his food, so I think the problem is he is not getting enough exercise. So, I need to make sure he gets outside more instead of just going out to potty and then run back into the house. He has been picking at his food the last several days and would not eat today even with a freshly baked pork roast. So, I went into town to buy him a roast beef slider from Arby's to see if that would temp him to eat. He did not eat right away but finally he did eat.

I was surprised to see a note at the Arby's drive-thru that they are cutting their hours to 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM. I feel sorry for the staff having such short hours.
Janet, your CSA sounds wonderful! Our local one is over $400 to join - and I'm sure it's worth it but I can't do it and DD didn't want to go in on it. I hope Teddi enjoyed his slider!
"All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. After all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog."

Charles M. Schultz
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

HappyDaze wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 8:37 am Janet, your CSA sounds wonderful! Our local one is over $400 to join - and I'm sure it's worth it but I can't do it and DD didn't want to go in on it. I hope Teddi enjoyed his slider!
This CSA has different levels $200.00, $300.00 and $400.00. The larger amount is for families. My niece has the $400.00 but she has 5 children. She puts in a garden herself and has goats and chickens but she home school the kids and needs to supplement from somewhere else.

I think Teddi did like the slider once he ate it. He finally has settled down and was not hoping up out of his sleep in the middle of the night to scratch and scratch.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I wrote an update the other day and it disappeared.

Nothing big going on here. I have been working on my 2022 budget. There are some repairs that need to be done to my house in 2021. I need to get some BIDS in the spring. One of the things I am considering is buying a small to medium chest freezer. I feel that I can take better advantage of food sales if I have a freezer. I had one but it died a few years ago. It had belonged to my parents, so it was fairly old. Also, I can cook ahead and then be able to pull meals out of the freezer instead of having to cook every day or every other day depending on what I have cooked. When we came back from Mexico in 2013 my friend that went with me came to my house and cooked Indian food. She made 18 meals of different Indian food for my freezer as a thank you for inviting her to go to Mexico with me. We could do a marathon cooking spree. She is a fantastic cook. She used to make meals for her husband's law firm and invite 65 people to dinner. It was no big deal to her. I can handle maybe 3 people now... lol. Also, with the CSA membership I want to be able to freeze some of the produce from the farm.
Janet Alliesmama
Momof2Still
Posts: 173
Joined: Mon May 14, 2018 10:05 pm

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by Momof2Still »

Janet,

I am so relieved that you are okay after those horrible storms in your area. I do not post often due to time constraints, but I do read and pray for your and others safety and well-being. I continue to enjoy reading how you stretch your budget and how creative you are with your food and resources. It is very motivating on days when I just want to stop and get something fast (I haven’t, but boy is it tempting some days). I am hoping to at least start posting in the challenge section as I now finally have an assistant at work, so am hopeful I will not be completely exhausted or have to work at home additional hours daily to get all things done. I am moving closer to my family at the end of this school year (or sooner if things continue to decline where I work), so I am looking forward to that, but it is a long-distance move, so costly so I am on a very tight budget. I hope things with Teddi continue to improve.
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