Ok, maybe that was a trick title...I don't have a money tree here, but...

it's tax time again and that means prayers and plans around the homestead.  What do you do.....short term projects that maximize long term ones, stock the pantry and prepare that way for the coming year....pay own whatever you can on whatever you have out there....

so many thoughts run around the homestead this time of year.

Dewey's thoughts...well, there is a $5000 back-hoe he's been watching.  Not a bad thought.  It will do our footings for the building on here, it will dig our new septic and field lines, it will dig out the pond area, and we can clear the land with it.  I vote for that.

Of course, there's fencing.  Always in need of fencing on the homestead.  If we had more fencing done here, we'd have larger areas for Miss Escapee, that pretty-yet-useless horse.  If we had more fencing, we could simply get a few goats out here and let them deal with the over-growth around here we'd like cleared off.  If we had more fencing, we could seriously look at the goat vs cow issue as it pertains to milk, which in the long run means less grocery spending.  There, fencing it is.  I vote for that.

Wait -- what about stocking the pantry for the year?  That saves money in several ways...less gas needed for trips to town, no splurge spending while in town, planned menus always save money.  Stocking the basics if nothing else is a good idea.  I had a list made out at one point, but it needs some reworking to be truly feasible for a full year.  I've been checking out the LDS sites (and sidebar items here) for menu and storage thoughts, as well as Nana's $20 a Week Storage Plan over at the Mrs. Survival site.  Not bad stuff, but honestly, those aren't my idea of storage really.  I'm not going to stock spaghetti sauce, for example...I'm going to stock tomato seeds and plant a garden full, then make my own.  I'm not going to stock flour...I'm going to stock a few buckets of wheat berries to grind my own.  But, still, not a bad list really.  It's a starting off point for my thinking, I suppose.  So, stocking the pantry is a good idea.  Long range thinking and planning...a great use of extra money.  I vote for that.

Ok, obviously I'm not going to get each of these things accomplished at all.  Granted, Dewey worked long and hard this year, and the refund isn't looking shabby really, but hey, Uncle Sam isn't about to make my life full of that much sunshine and rose petals.  So, what do you do?  Save the money?  No, we want to put it to use.  We don't like banks, so saving that way isn't even coming into the picture.  We could bury it in the back forty....LOL, of course, down here, come summer, the sun baked ground won't yield up those coffee cans of loot without a struggle...or that back-hoe!

What about just a little stocking up?  How much powdered milk would you need for a full year of drinking and baking?  What about wheat berries for grinding?  What about olive oil?  What about...well, here would be a starter list I might be looking at -- you let me know what amounts you think are serious.

Powdered milk
hard white wheat
soft white wheat
oat groats
sweetener for baking and use (we have been using fructose...what should I be using?)
dried beans...what kind?  pinto, black-eye, lentils, navy, etc?
what about butter for the year if you aren't making your own?
how about buying a half a steer and getting it put up in the larder?
maybe some canning jars and lids for all the canning to be done
certainly some seeds for the garden


Another thing being ordered here for the homestead is the finishing additions to our curriculum.  I am going to get the Ray's Arithmetic Primary book I don't have, probably 2 of them, and then another Intellectual book as well.  Christina was telling me what they didn't like about Harvey''s Grammar, but I can't remember what it was now so I'll have to check with her on that.  Debi and I were talking about Handwriting Without Tears for Jacob.  He is having some issues with writing letters and numbers.  It just isn't connecting with him.  I'd like to get the other Mystery Of History volumes as well.  We really like that.

There's just a lot of things in the prayer bucket around here right now....what do you think?

I followed a link this morning and found this.  I totally agree with this.  We haven't had a credit card in years upon years.  And now, DH has one for 'emergency purposes' -- I don't like that one bit.  We've lived over 14 years without a debit card or a credit card.  Does he think we haven't had any 'emergencies' in all that time?  Trust me, we have.  There have been a great many where a quick swipe of a credit card would have made it much nicer to deal with.

But we didn't.  We had to save in the budget.  Things had to be planned for.  There was no 'whim shopping' and even though it might have appeared to have worked out better to have had one, we managed to make it through all the little 'emergencies' that crept up along our path.

We have blown tires that put a car out of commission until replaced.  Sure, it would have been nice to swipe the card and fix the trouble right then and there, but instead, we waited and set aside some funds in the budget to fix it.  And that actually saved us money.  I had to make ONE trip weekly, because I had to drive DH to work so I could use his car.  I wasn't running to town for anything.  It was a hassle.  And, we saved what we thought we'd need for a set of tires, and ended up, because we had cash, making a much better deal price-wise.

Think of the things you use a credit card for.  Goodness, especially this time of year.  All of a sudden, we feel compelled to spend money we don't have on people we think we need to impress with some fancy gift, or some large gift.  Some of us even go so far as to buy for folks we never would have thought of had we not had that little bit of plastic to whip out.  And then, come January, as the bills begin to come home to roost, we bemoan how foolish we were, how we over-spent again this year.  It's 'gold fever' same as those pioneers felt rushing into California at the first hint of something sparkling coming out of those hills. 

I have a friend who once gifted everyone on her list with the most beautiful handmade goodies.  It might be a gift basket with cocoas and teas, or she might knit a dishcloth set and maybe some potholders.  She might put together a small table runner (quilted).  It might just be a special Christmas ornament, personalized with your name...but it was always, without fail, made from her hands and given straight from her heart.  A couple of years ago, she started working outside the home.  She discovered her paycheck was "her own money" and her husband agreed -- he didn't really know why she went out to work in the first place.  Since then, her gifts have gone store-bought.  She spends for a good month straight, picking out this or that for this or that person.  And she now buys for many of her co-workers as well.  That independence of making her own money went to her head completely.  She lost such a gift of blessing by seeing how she could whip out some plastic and buy everything she wanted without having to wait or plan for it.

In my mind, those cards are nothing but trouble.  Bad company corrupts good morals is a fitting statement with them.  Once you make that first purchase, no matter how cautious you are to write it down and deduct it from the account, on day, you will forget.  When nothing serious happens, you'll find it easier to 'forget' next time, and it will snowball from there.  I've been there and done that...I'm still shaking the snow off myself from years back!