March Review

FINANCIAL
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account-

2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary- still waiting to see how everything with the tax rebate falls. Hopefully we will have money to set aside for this.

3) Make 1 extra house payment- For some reason, i did not have to make a house payment this month. I think when we were on maternity leave, i got one payment ahead. So, this month when i tried to go online and pay, it told me no. So, when i am allowed to make my house payment, i will hit it with some extra money.

4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)- I have decided to drop this goal. I never could get started keeping a record of all the applicable purchases and i think its too late to start. I am still doing whatever i can to save money. March was full of some great deals at publix (spend $20 save $100+). I will continue to find these great deals and stock up when prices are good.

5)Never use a credit card - We did not use it in March. YEA!!!

6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw- WE DID IT! Aaron bought his new chainsaw on Mar 4th. He has already used it a couple times.

7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower- We have decided to not buy a new lawnmower. We are working on fixing our old one.

8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer- After some research I have realized $500 will come nowhere near to buying half a pig of cow. But, this is still something i wish to do.

9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. (Only have some medical bills, but i want to keep it this way)- As of now, we still have no debt. Aaron and I are going back and forth on getting a new vehicle, so this may change, but i hope that it doesn't. p.s. If anyone would like to donate us a excellent condition minivan, we would graciously accept it.

10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)- DONE in February

11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- none this month

12) Start a savings account for a new car- still waiting to see how the tax return is divided and see whats going on with my not being able to make a house payment. If all things work in our advantage, we may be able to have some money towards this goal.



FAMILY


1) Go on two weekend family vacations- We went on our first family minivacation on March 1st and 2nd. We had a great time in Orlando (yes, even through the pneumonia and cramped hotel room)



2) Visit both families at least once- we have officially planned to visit both families in June and July.


HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer-
2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer-

3) Grow a successful garden-
4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc. - we did can tangerines but that's it so far.

SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight- With travel, family, and sickness, I did not have a chance to weigh in. I will hopefully be better on this in April.

2) Make two dresses for Hannah-

3) Learn a new hobby-

4)Make 2 books on picaboo- No more done. Hopefully in April
5) Read the entire bible- I never seem to have time. But i need to make it. I am still keeping this goal up here and hope to be better about it.
6) Get more involved at the church- Still searching for my place.

7) Read 7 books - Well I have three great books i want to read. Again, its just finding the time. I hope to be better about this.

AARON

1) Hunt something-
2) Process one animal

3) Make a rocking horse


OTHER

1) Make our own breads (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- I did buy croissants this month, but do they really count?

2) Make 52 new recipes- Well i only got to 11 officially. Really there were many recipes i tried but never thought about to blog on. I will though and then will all count towards my April total.