Here it is, January, the first month of the year is already half over. Did you make any resolutions? I did not because in the past I have not kept up with them. I do have a few goals, but I don't think they are resolutions.

One of the goals is to try and cut grocery costs and use as much as we have. As I've aged, I don't eat quite as much as I used to. Which I guess is good. So, there is less waste. I try to cook once and we eat twice. And sometimes our meals are little creative, but fortuantely DH isn't super picky. Last night we scored a free meal at a meeting for our electrical co-op. It was a meeting on fiber Internet and being in a rural area, that is something a lot of us want for fast, reliable Internet since most of the stuff out there isn't in the middle of nowhere. 

In a previous post I said I have been making greeting cards. I have been keeping the scraps and have been trying to find other uses for them. My church's knitting group has had a bunch of smaller balls of yarn and I've brought some of them home and crocheted prayer shawls and have been using some of the card stock remnants to write a note to attach to the prayer shawl. I have used some rubber stamps to decorate the little cards too. I have also been making notes to myself on these scraps since I hate throwing stuff away. 

One of the things I have is a button jar. I've saved buttons for years and I have used some of them when I needed a button for a garment, but I recently used some of them to decorate some of the cards I made. I figure I'm making use of them and not spending money on more things.

DH and I have sat down and made a plan as far as spending goals and saving goals. I applied for Social Security last year; before this I wasn't truly eligible since I was a teacher, but when the previous president signed a bill saying those who were not eligible before because of their working in professions that paid pensions, I became eligible. It's not a ton of money, but we decided to put my Social Security as a payment on the principal for the house payment. We are thinking that with the extra money, it should cut off about three years off of the mortgage. Hopefully we will have the house paid off in about 4 years. In addition, we looked at what we want to spend as far as kids and grandkids. We have one granddaughter graduating this spring. Last year we had one grandson and one granddaughter graduating from high school and college respectively. 

I bought some seeds to start some of my garden plants this spring. This is a first for me. Menards has this bag deal for the next few days that anything that fits in a brown paper bag is 15% off. So, we figured this would be a good time to buy some seeds. I planted some herbs this week. A few months ago there was an offer to get a free hydroponic desktop garden that I saw on Facebook. I sent away for it, thinking, if it is a scam, I used the email I use for sign ups. Well, it was on the level. I think it was a grant program that was for people who lived in Illinois and were over 50, to try and get them to grow their own vegetables and eat healthy. I waited until this past week to start some seeds. I started 3 types of lettuce and peppermint. They included some seeds for two types of lettuce and I supplemented with a different kind. They also included peppermint. I've never planted peppermint and those seeds are super tiny. But if I get some peppermint plants, I'm hoping to have some to make peppermint tea. I put this garden in the front bedroom since it has a long time for the grow light to be on. My husband has been teasing me it looks like we are growing Marijuana from the road with the grow light. Fortunately we live on a dead end lane and only have one other house on it, so I don't think people will get too upset. Although, the small town we live in does have a Marijuana Farm owned by Jim Belushi. Hope he doesn't think I'm in competition!

I have been  propagating a few of my house plants. I shared some with a daughter in law since she likes plants. I'm hoping to have some of my Coleus for my outside pots this spring to save money.  A friend and I have been trading plant starts so neither of us have to spend money on buying plants. 

Hopefully my hobbies won't be costing me more money than they save. But they are keeping me busy and happy. 

So, after finishing the small spreadsheet, from July to December, that I used to keep track of how much we saved using coupons -- digital or paper -- and we saved $300.54. I didn't buy stuff just because I had coupons, but used coupons on things we would normally buy. So, the goal this year is to continue to make a spreadsheet and once a month move whatever we saved in coupons into savings for a way to build up our savings without taking a big chunk of money out of checking all at once. 

I probably should also keep track of how much I get in gift cards as far as my receipt apps. I don't think I've gotten a ton, but perhaps over a year, I would be surprised. We normally just use them as Amazon gift cards and credit our account because DH is often buying little techy things to either update or fix something. I donate blood and when they offer it, I take the chance for the Amazon gift card as well. We both received class action money from Facebook and I put mine into savings and recently I was given $27 for Boar's Head Class action. I used that money to buy white card stock since I have a new hobby -- using a Silhouette machine to make greeting cards.

Speaking of card making, I can't say that I'm actually saving money making them, but I like the creative aspect of them and seeing what I can figure out. I am using the Silhouette that DH's late wife had. I did use it to cut vinyl and decorate mugs and jars for Christmas gifts which did save money. I made gift tags for the kids/grandkids gifts too. It was fun working with it. 

Overall 2025 was a good year personal wise. I just looked at my retirement investments and I did make some money. I was a little worried earlier in the year, but fortunately my financial advisor had me diversified. Last night I thanked my dear husband for a lovely year together and he said he was going to say the same thing. We did a lot -- worked around here, made things, grew things, gardened, finished a room in the basement, made a couple of trips, and enjoyed being together. We probably spent more than we should have, but decided that we had worked all our lives, we need to enjoy our money some more. 

Next week is a big birthday for me...I turn 65. I have signed up for Medicare and got the supplement available to teachers in the state of Illinois. I think, if my calculations are correct, I will be spending less as far as paying for Medicare the supplement than I was spending just buying my insurance through the retired teachers, although overall it was a good deal too. 

Hope 2026 is a success for all of us!