Christmas and Gardening....

Yesterday I opened up a "Dedicated Savings" account for our Christmas fund. We'll get about $300 by September. It will get us a great head-start on the Christmas season. Wouldn't it be so great to have my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving? I've never experienced that before...I can't help but think it would be a huge relief to focus the 'hustle and bustle' on something else besides crowded shopping malls and insane holiday drivers (which is everyone but me, of course)! Anyway - it's way too early to start thinking about Christmas, so I'll be content knowing that we are saving to get a good jump on it.

It IS time to start thinking about yard work and my garden. I am so excited to start planting, I can hardly stand it! I can't wait for yummy, fresh zucchini, squash, tomatoes, basil, cilantro....mmmmmmm. I have been craving basil and tomato pasta salad - its even better with fresh garden vegetables and herbs. My neighbor and I are sharing vegetable seeds this year, so the cost of the garden will be minimal. It could use some work but that will have to wait til next year. It could really use some nice, stinky, fertilized dirt, but I think it will be okay for this year. It'll have to be....we're on a BUDGET!! Which is why I'm so excited to actually have a garden! This is only my second year of gardening and I LOVED it last year. It will be nice to not have to spend any grocery money on vegetables that aren't nearly as good as what I can grow.

I might also see if I can borrow Dad's canning equipment and try to can some tomatoes. If I can go to the second hand store and buy some jars, then I could definitely save some money over the winter as well as the summer. We'll see how ambitious I am in August and also how big of a harvest I get.

I'm trying to figure out more ways to cut back on the grocery bill. It seems like I've never had an extra money in the grocery envelope. This paycheck I bought enough cheese, Goldfish crackers and laundry soap to last for both weeks but that means I have about $80 for next week's groceries. I'd like to figure out some more cheap and yummy meals so I can pad the grocery envelope for a really nice Mother's Day brunch. I see beans and rice in our future!!