Around the Urban Homestead

I’ve been looking ahead at some of my upcoming expenses and worrying a lot.  Our new health insurance has a large deductible I’ve started putting money aside for. I need to put on a new roof and my first estimate was $8,000, which was considerably more than I expected for my cozy little house.  It looks like I’ll be headed back to school in fall and although it would be employer funded, I have to pay tuition up front and wait for reimbursement after the semester is over.  I’ve also re-evaluated how much emergency funds I want put aside and will be increasing that amount.

I’ve been living on the frugal side for a while now.  But with these things in mind I went over the budget again and got rid of some nice to haves.  I had allowances for entertainment, clothing, and eating out (having a cafeteria in my building is waaaaaay too convenient) that I can cut now that I’m tightening my belt.  My netflix and very discounted gym membership were canceled immediately.  I still have a spending allowance for daily expenses and projects, so I’ll be able to do a few more planned additions to the “farm” and keep household supplies up.  But some of the less necessary projects and expenses I’ve been looking forward to like putting up a privacy fence and getting my 2 year old perm refreshed may not happen.

I’ve done a few practice sessions on the spinning wheel, and am glad I took the advice I heard to spend 10 minutes each time.  It’s long enough to practice, but short enough you don’t frustrate yourself.  And I’ve started having problems with the juvenile rabbit.  On a few mornings she’s become suddenly very aggressive when I feed her, growling and once even biting me.  Then the next time I go to feed her she’ll be herself again and not mind being petted.  Not sure what’s going on there.

To fill in my new entertainment void, I’ve found a few interesting sounding events and classes that are either free or with a small suggested donation.  They sound like fun and I’ll get to learn something in the process.  I’ll tell you about them as they come up   Now I’m glad that I have such a good book collection and a library nearby to keep me busy.  I’m sure that once gardening season gets underway I’ll be wishing I had enough free time to worry about entertainment.