So, I like setting goals for myself. Goals keep me motivated. Often times, I set my goals just slightly out of reach, if I were performing at my normal and comfortable level. This can be a really good thing for other people who are depending on me, because I think I'm a pretty hard worker, and others get to enjoy the benefit of my hard work. For me, personally, it's a mixed blessing. yes, I get the satisfaction of doing well on a job. But also, hard work is hard work, and I do get exhausted. Despite this, I don't really know how to be any other way. I do try to give myself time off when I've exhausted myself.
For this summer, my goal-setting is a good thing. I've goaled myself to fill the small freezer with blackberries and other free produce. In specific, my goal is for our family to fill 20 ice cream pails with foraged blackberries. This is far more than we've ever picked in one summer. These blackberries are completely free for us, only taking our time and energy. And my whole small family (4 of us) is on board with picking all of these berries. We have gone out picking just one or two of us as well as all four of us. This week, we've been out picking on four days. So far, we have filled 14 ice cream pails with blackberries. We are definitely within reach of our goal. If the four of us go picking together on Sunday afternoon, we should add another 3 pails. That leaves just one more afternoon of picking some day next week.
We've consumed about 1 to 2 ice cream pails as fresh berries, filling our need for much of our fresh fruit for this month. The rest have all gone into the freezer or made into jam. And how does my small freezer look? It is filling up rapidly, too. It is almost all blackberries in there. We'll be able to use these berries in homemade yogurt, smoothies, baked goods, jam, pancake syrup, and for upside-down pancakes. I'm pretty proud of how hard my family has been working on this.
About our grocery budget -- it's going well for the month. And, I think we have enough in our overall budget that I can increase our grocery spending by a small amount, $10 per month beginning next month. For 6 months, we only spent $125 to feed the four of us. Beginning in September, I'll allocate $135 per month. If this goes well, and if our overall budget can give a bit more, then I'll be able to increase the grocery budget by additional small amounts. In the past 6 months, we've learned that we can push ourselves further than I ever believed possible. I remember when we combed the budget and set grocery spending at $125. I wondered if this was even possible. It was. The bonus in all of this is I am so much more disciplined in my spending than I ever was before. My plan is to continue with discipline and use that extra $10 on basic ingredients, and not convenience foods. Thanks for all of your good thoughts for me and my small family. Your support has gotten me through rough moments. Thank you.
