How we're saving money

Like I said yesterday, we're saving up for a farm. We've already cut a bunch of things from our budgets over the years, so we don't have a lot of excess bloat we're willing to cut. I'm sure there are still some places we can cut, and we'll do that, but so far, here are some things we're doing to reduce our spending:

• Making our own yogurt
• Making our own butter
• Making steel cut oats for breakfast (and subsequently not buying expensive breakfast cereals)
• Making our own bread (mix and rise in the bread machine and bake in oven)
• Making beans instead of buying canned
• Making my shampoo and using cider vinegar for conditioner
• Planning meals for the week and shopping accordingly (I spent $25 for this week's menu, though that is low even for me)
• Planning the tiki drink menu in advance (Jeff's idea)
• Joining the 2silos meat CSA (Jeff now has now bought all of his dead animal flesh for the rest of the year with a half share)
  

And some things we plan to start doing to save us more money*:

• Making our own cheese, especially mozzarella
• Making our own soap
• Making snacks and desserts instead of buying expensive processed stuff from the grocery store
• Using up my craft supplies before buying more
• Use up what we have in the pantry before buying more
• Planning the garden around what I canned most last year and what I most bought at the farmers' market
• Further insulating the house
• Refinance our mortgage
  

And to make some money:

• Restarting my Etsy store
• Cleaning out the basement and putting stuff on eBay or Cragislist

Anyone have any other ideas for us?

*Jeff's unwilling to dump cable, I'm unwilling to dump high-speed internet, we already don't have a landline phone, and we're on the cheapest cellphone plan we can be.

Happy new year! (several days late...)

Hi! A belated welcome to 2009! It's been an OK year thus far; I hope it stays that way. How's it been for you?

I have a new year's resolution this year. Those of you who know me well may know that years ago I made a resolution to not make resolutions and it's been the only resolution I've ever kept. Until now. This year, Jeff and I made a resolution to save money to pay off debts and buy a farm.

A what?

A farm.

In my defense, the farm is Jeff's idea, but I'm more than happy to go along with it. It would be a small, sustainable farm, raising chickens and meat goats to start with, along with food for us and the animals. Next would come a few pigs and perhaps dairy goats. Then the prawns.

So keep posted as we save money and look for 10-25 acres within 25-30 miles of Columbus. It should be interesting!