Budgeting My Way To Retirement - Week 4

 

Today is the last day of January!  Our first month of 2020 went by very fast, but I'm very happy with how it is going so far.  I'm taking it one day at a time with intent and purpose.  Much more thought is going into my days and my actions.  It feels really good.

 

I had very good luck at the grocery stores

I love a nice productive day and my Sunday was exactly that.  My daughter and I headed out early that morning to run errands.  I had a list and four stops in mind, mostly grocery shopping.  We started at Fred Meyer, then went to Winco, stopped to drop off a box plus two big bags of donations at the thrift store, then Albertson's before heading back home to wash produce and put away groceries.  We took our time and came home with everything on the list but two items so I called that a successful venture.

 

Markdown meats from Albertson's was a happy find

After groceries were put away I ran a large load of laundry, tidied up around the house, fixed us a four course Chinese meal for our Sunday dinner and got some writing in and did some meal planning as well as some financial planning.  It was a very good day.

 

I stocked up on cheese $1.47 a package

I perused all of the new grocery ads that came out on Wednesday and determined there was nothing I needed so I did not do any more grocery shopping for the month of January.  You can click here to see what all I bought this past month and my final totals if you are interested.  I was very pleased with how I did.

 

I filed my tax returns

Wednesday evening I was able to easily finish up and file my federal and state income tax returns because all of my documents were ready ahead of schedule.  This year it appears the IRS is accepting returns and processing them earlier than usual, with refunds sent out within twenty one days.  We shall see how it goes and if I actually do get my refund any earlier than usual.  I'd be pleasantly surprised if that was the case.  I have big plans for that $$.  Can you guess what I'm planning to do with that money?  If you said save it, you are correct!

 

Lots of fresh green salads last week

Saturday was another wonderful and productive day as I enjoyed being home and puttered about the house.  First thing was to take out a ham bone and a container of the drippings from our Christmas dinner as well as some onion scraps I'd saved in a bag in the freezer.  I placed that in my largest slow cooker with a large carrot and the center stalks from a bunch of celery along with three quarts of water and let that simmer all day.  Once that was done I removed the meat from the ham bone to add to soup and strained the broth.  I saved the carrot and celery for the chickens and tossed the spent bones.  I saved a quart of broth for soup and froze the rest to use later.

 

I made ham broth to use in bean and split pea soups

I got my living room tables dusted and polished, the floors vacuumed and mopped and even cleaned and tidied a few drawers in the kitchen.  A clean, neat and organized home does wonders for my soul.  I feel completely calm and relaxed. 

How was your final full week of January?  What thrifty things did you do?