Continuing to painfully pay down a ton of debt. Had to use credit cards for unseen emergent reasons over the years...now paying them off. I always feel so much guilt and shame for them, but slowly getting them down. We have struggled going from about 40K down to 12k in 2 years...its not been pretty. The goal is to sell some things and get it down to 4k by the end of the year.

 

I have little sprouts of non GMO, heirloom tomatoes popping up. I am now looking into some container gardening maybe for herbs to dry. Went to seeds for harvesting every year, saving about $125 each year. (I am saving everywhere possible in the present and future).

 

Things I had been putting off: House market really is poo..we didnt sell and realtor contract ran out a couple weeks ago,(we were going to buy a cheaper home that would be a "fixer upper" doing the work ourselves with a lower mortgage to pay off quicker)...Time to move forward. Got the go ahead from the hubby for a rain barrel...will try to pick up one @ Sams, around $100 last year...I will use it to water the trees and garden ground, little nervous about dry conditions this summer with all the weird weather.Wood burning stove this summer. I figure with rising heat cost it will pay for itself in 2 years. Also with planting a dwarf pear tree and strawberry patch.  Things I didnt want to invest time/$ for someone else. Will make another LDS run in a few weeks. The whole oats were awesome, so much cheaper also.

 

Next items on the long term list for fall maybe- better wheat grinder and Berkey water filter. I'm actually thinking of trying to talk the hubby into the "big berkey" for the home, when you read about the crud in the city water supply !

 

So many out of work..I want to prepare just in case my husband were to lose his job, he's in manufacturing with a contract running out. So we want to hedge our bets for the future to maintain what we have for our children. I feel so bad for so many losing everything with the loss of jobs.  God bless !

 

I am buying alot of items at the Dollar Tree, something I never would have done before, but I have tried some of their things and they are great.  We don't buy huge amounts of snack foods and chips, but I found the things they have are pretty good. I now buy 2 bags of their generic tortilla chips and a jar of salsa for the same price you would buy  a bag of Lays in the grocery store. The salsa is made by the Red Gold company and they make under a different name for the Dollar Tree, but it tastes the same as the Red Gold salsa you buy in the regular grocery store for $3 a jar. Their frozen chicken tenders and popcorn chicken is pretty good, they carry fresh bread, hot dog and hamburger buns and $1.00 is cheaper than the grocery store. They also carry some name brand cereals at different times, their stock changes.

 

Stocking up on grocery items will only save you money in the long run because inflation is far greater than any interest you could possibly get in the bank.  Consider buying extra clothes because these are all imported.  As the dollar falls, clothing prices will skyrocket.  Consider buying shoes, socks, underwear, and anything else you might need in the years to come.  If or when we have a financial collapse, then lots of items will be in short supply.

 

We planted a peach tree 3 years ago & just ordered an apple tree for pickup in May. 

 

I don't like scratching in the dirt and can't possibly see how we could grow enough vegetables to sustain us.  The fruit trees will help if things get bad though.  The apple tree is supposed to yield lots of apples.  Our town has sponsored trees every Arbor day & 3 years ago they added fruit trees as well as plants such as raspberries for "sustainability".  At least someone on the city coucil sees the writing on the wall.

 

We currently have 1 peach tree and several mulberry bushes. I had planted a pear tree last year, but we had to have some work done and it had to be taken out, so we will plant another one this year. I think our apple tree has died, it gave off huge amounts of apples every year, but it just looks dead this year and I am wondering if was from the drought or some drilling that was done in our yard that may have damaged the root system. I am trying to plant fruit items that ripen in different months of the summer so we have ongoing fruit throughout the summer.

 

Looking at the thornless bleckberry bushes also and some grape vines. We do plant strawberries in pots every year and will plant tomatoes and green beans, thinking about broccoli for the fall when it's cooler.

 

Last week when I was in Dollar Tree they had Hanes t-shirts for kids, girls, boys, men's and Just my Size/Style not sure of the exact name, but the plus sizes in all different colors. Everything in the Dollar Tree is only $1.00. You can find some great buys in there if you frequent that store (I am a vendor there, so I am in there every week)

 

In the past I have found sports socks that regularly sell for $10 other places and socks from Footlocker that had prices of $8.00 a pair (nice) packs of 3 Hanes socks for $1.00, packs of 3 Hanes Underwear for $1.00, name brand sunscreen for $1.00. I buy alot of medications there, they have generic Mucinex, Benadryl, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, nasal spray, etc. all made in the US (I don't buy any of their food or meds not made in the US, look at the labels).