2022 was a year with mixed results for me. As I reflect on my 2022 goals post from March of this year I am struck by how different my year turned out from where it started. I started the year gung ho about my career and moving up the corporate ladder then a family member got very sick and my priorities completely shifted. It is crazy how one event can change the direction of your life. I took some time off shortly after I wrote this post because I was experiencing major burnout and at the moment I do not see myself going back to a corporate type environment any time soon. To be clear, my coworkers were fabulous and I loved my team but I realized in taking some time off that I love working for myself and being able to set my own pace.

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2022 Goals

Our goals from last year were:

1. Max out IRAs
2. Increase our 401k contributions
3. Save, save save.
4. Decrease our grocery spending
5. Be more mindful of our spending

After looking them over again I would say we met most of our goals for 2022 which is surprising. The only one I am not sure of is our 401k contributions. We did initially increase them but then decreased them for a few months and then increased them again towards the end of the year so I don’t know where our ending percentage was for the whole year but we are increasing my husband’s for 2023 by 1%.

As far as grocery spending goes we definitely made huge progress on that. We started out the year spending $1000 plus a month on food even though we were also getting free lunches from the universal free lunch program. For the last few months we have kept our spending to between $400 and $700 which is amazing progress. You can check out my grocery content on my Oscoey YouTube channel linked here. Below is our last grocery haul of 2022.

I am really proud of our grocery progress and filming as much of our groceries as well as a weekly fridge and freezer recap has been helpful to keep track of where we are at. I am going to keep up with it for 2023 as well as work on some self-care goals such as doing more puzzles!

2023 Goals: Puzzles

I am using my planner more diligently this year to help me keep track of everything. I use the Commit30 planners and love them. I love that they have goal setting built in every month but there isn’t a lot of pressure to keep up with it. The website can be found here. They are currently on sale so check them out!

That’s it for my recap of our 2022 goals. Short and sweet this time. Look for more posts surrounding our puzzles, cross-stitch and of course, finances!

Links:

Commit30 Planners

New Year’s Puzzle Start: If Fish Could Walk

Puzzle Trays

We continued to work on our grocery budget for August 2022 with a goal of $600. I wasn’t sure if we could make it this month but we came closer than last month at $709.79. We definitely ate better this month and a large chunk of our spending towards the end of the month was on fresh fruits and veggies. We also looked at the sale ads for the last week of September and found quite a few items that were on super sale that we bought while the price was good and that put us over budget. For August we also had over $100 worth of groceries we bought the last couple of days of July due to sales that I counted towards our August budget so that contributed to our overage as well. Overall I am pretty happy with our progress. We came closer and since we didn’t utilize the free school lunches at all this month $700 seems reasonable for our family of four with one adult child out of the house.

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As you can see, we had one big Costco run mid-month and several smaller trips throughout the month. This seemed to work for us and we may try it again for September but we are out of a lot of things, including items needed for school lunches starting the second week of September so I am not sure if the timing will work out. We are continuing to be mindful of our spending and I am going to set our grocery budget at $600 again for September 2022.

We started out our August grocery spending in July with a quick trip to Target. I needed to go for a couple of key items and get gas which is right next to the Target we go to and I always try and group my trips together to save on gas and time. We buy most of our gas at Costco and I do not enjoy sitting in the line for the pump so if I am in the area during the week I will get gas then instead of on the weekend.

For our second grocery haul of August we went to Costco for a couple of fresh items and to take advantage of the last day of the sale. We bought a bunch of pork shoulder to grind into sausage, some milk and other staple items.

For our third grocery store trip in August we went to Grocery Outlet for some great deals. Grocery Outlet is one of my favorite places to hunt for bargains like the $0.50 cinnamon rolls we found this trip.

After our Grocery Outlet trip we didn’t go to the store until the 11th for a major Costco haul. We bought a lot of basics, fresh produce and some meat to last us. This was the last of the popsicle type ice cream we are buying this year. We typically don’t eat ice cream or popsicles after Labor Day unless one of us is sick. I usually use the ZOKU (linked here) to make popsicles with whatever juice or Gatorade we have lying around when we are sick or buy a pack of Outshine bars.

After our Costco run I did not film any of our small grocery hauls this month. I injured my ankle and was on strict orders from the doctor to stay off it completely for at least a week so my husband did all of the small grocery shopping trips. I ended up needing closer to two and it is better now but I still am not back up to full speed. My goal for September is to keep up on the small hauls with the channel, even if I film short snippets and compile them at the end of the week.

We did end up digging up potatoes from the garden multiple times over the past few weeks and they were delicious! I have been trying to stay ahead of the squirrels digging them up but we have gotten a few pounds worth so far which is fabulous. I am totally digging them up earlier than they should be but I love small potatoes best. I did plant a few more that I found in my pantry so maybe we will have another set in late September if the weather holds, or later if not. I am always up for experimenting with potatoes in the garden. They are my favorite vegetable to harvest since it is always a surprise!

Overall we did pretty well at keeping our groceries to a minimum. I am not sure how September will go. My goal is to eat through what we have. As I mentioned in my Fridge and Freezer Recap from this Monday the 29th, I am waffling between doing a pantry cleanout and a freezer cleanout. What do you think we should focus on? Let me know in the comments below and until next month, happy shopping!

Links:

Reusable Grocery Bags – Seriously these are the best. I wash them all the time and they have lasted several years.

ZOKU Instant Popsicle Maker

July 2022 Final Grocery Spending

For 2022 we are really expanding our garden and possibly adding in some chickens later in the year. We are garden zone 8b in the Pacific Northwest located in the Seattle area. Our weather is wet a lot of the year and we have been effected by wild fire smoke in the summer. Our last frost date is mid-May so a lot of our summer crops are either planted around Mother’s Day or I baby them with some sort of covering if I get impatient. We did purchase some new supplies as part of our expansion so I thought I would list out what it is we are using. We are not affiliates with all of the companies listed below except for Amazon. Some items were bought at Costco but if I can find a similar one on Amazon I will link it. Enjoy!

This site participates in affiliate links and receives a small fee for affiliate recommendations at no cost to you. As always we only recommend products we have tried ourselves. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Seeds:

I get most of my seeds from Territorial Seeds. They are a PNW company located in Oregon which is close enough to Washington that a lot of their varieties are bred to grow in our climate. I also have bought some of my rarer seeds from Baker Creek.

Click the link below to go to their sites:

Territorial Seed

Baker Creek Seeds

Garden Supplies:

This year I bought several large Birdies beds from Epic Gardening as well as some netting, inoculant and frames from Amazon. We bought our fertilizer from Costco I believe a couple of years ago. Epic Gardening and Territorial Seed both have natural fertilizer listed on their sites but I have not tried them so I don’t know how well they work. The best thing to do for fertilizer is to test your soil and check with your local garden store (not a big box one) to see what they recommend.

Epic Gardening

Click the picture or the name of the product below:

Raised Garden Beds – These ones on Amazon are similar to the ones I bought from Epic.

Hardware Cloth – We bought this to line our beds with to prevent rodents from digging up from the bottom.

Row Cover – This is to help fight the cabbage butterflies that decimated our brassica plants last year.

Cloche – These are used to cover our summer crops I planted a little early and protect them on cold nights.

A-frame plant support – We are using these in the beds for our vining plants to extend the space.

Inoculant – This helps our beans get a head start on growing.

Craft Sticks – I use these to label plants. They are biodegradable and break down after about a year or so. The kids also use them for crafting.

Seed Starting Tray – I needed more of these. I put the pots or cups inside so I can water from the bottom.

Grow Bags – I use these as an inexpensive way to add extra garden space where I can’t necessarily put beds in year round.

Pruning Sheers – I needed another pair of these. I did buy them at Costco but here are the ones I bought at Amazon.

The only thing missing from this list is soil. We do a mixture of bags of soil from Costco and if we need more than enough to fill a few pots we will either go pick up a truck load or have some delivered. The best thing to do for soil is ask around maybe in your local gardening group on Facebook and see who has the best soil in your area.

We are very excited to see how our garden will do this year and look forward to showing everyone our progress. This week I am getting the large beds in and ready for soil hopefully over the weekend. How is your garden coming along this year?

Thank you for reading and happy gardening!