Our "Poor" Month is Over, and we welcome February (but it is not much better usually)

February often brings snow in our part of the country.  We can usually count on at least one snowfall each year and it usually happens in February.  When the snow falls we dance around our house and sing, "It's snowing money...." in all sorts of tunes.  This is because my husband will plow snow in parking lots, driveways, etc and it brings in a bit of welcome money.  February is also a time when the last of the oak leaves fall and people begin to think about cleaning up their yard for one more time.  (March is a much better month for this) February brings drips and drabs of business for the husband.  Thus,  our "poor" month is over.  But February isn't much better really.

We still have to watch our money and usually January ended with at least one bill left unpaid.  This year it was a $400 bill that waited. Today we paid it with the pay check I received.  This means that we are already $400 down for the month.  We will continue to be tight with our budget and continue to eat from our food storage.  But it is quickly dwindling.  Tonight in fact, I noticed that I have one more jar of spaghetti sauce left.  I smiled and thought that I need to start looking for a sale on sauce again.  And that item needs to go on the grocery list.   It has been months since I bought spaghetti sauce because I use my "three month" rule.  So when I find it on sale I will buy 12 jars if I can. I still have a lot of pasta left but if I see a great deal on that I will pick up a few boxes also.

Recently I have been working on trying to get my information in order.  I want a hard copy of things in case I can't access the internet and I have been slowly printing things off to keep.  At this point I am thinking that a few three-ring binders will work for me.  I will need three I think:

1. Food Storage
2. Emergency Preparedness
3. Recipes

I will use page protectors for some things, particularly the recipes so I don't ruin the page if I accidentally spill something on it while cooking.

I will post some photos of the notebooks filled up when I get there.

The other thing I have been thinking about is coming up with an organized plan to collect my food storage and to make sure I haven't forgotten anything.  There are so many great sites out there that help with this.  Some give you great lists of items, others break it down by week.  Many of these sites are on my sidebar if you are interested in looking.

Some favorites are:

http://preparedldsfamily.blogspot.com/

http://www.safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/

http://readynutrition.com/resources/52-weeks-to-preparedness-an-introduction_19072011/

These are great to get going on an organized way to gather your supplies.

I know I am a bit scattered in my blogging.  I seem to have no rhyme or reason for my thoughts.  This is a bit how I feel about prepping and food storage.

Boy do I need a plan.  I will let you know when I have one.