August was…something, all right. I knew we’d have some big things happening, like our kids starting school (including our second oldest starting kindergarten at “the big school”) and the usual flower farming craziness since August and September are peak season, but we sure hadn’t anticipated that there would be a super unexpected job loss thrown in there, too.
But you know, other than having to get over the initial shock and unpleasantness of the situation in general, August was a pretty good month for us. We saw some huge strides forward with our business on the flower farm, and we had a lot of good quality family time. We’re also feeling really hopeful about my husband’s next job, especially with the kinds of companies he’s been interviewing with. We think good things are ahead for our family!
Here’s how the goals shook out, though:
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August Goals
Get insurance situation sorted out- If you’ve been reading my weekly frugal wins, you’ll know that this finally got done, but WHEW, this was such a relief to not have that $350,000 hospital bill staring at me anymore!
Order birth certificate for NaomiSet up well child checks for all kids- Wash couch cushion covers
- Definitely still need to do this, yeesh…
- Declutter master closet
- I definitely got a really good headstart, but we’re not quite there. I’ll tack the rest of this onto September’s list.
Declutter master bedroom- I can’t wait to post some before/after pics because we haven’t had a fully simplified/cleaned out/organized master bedroom since we moved here three years ago!
- Repaint laundry doors
- Flower farming chores are definitely taking priority over house projects at the moment, but I’ll roll this over to next month to still keep it top of mind.
Cut Matt’s and the boys’ hair- You guys, I am still amazed at how much money we’ve saved by buying this relatively inexpensive home haircutting kit and learning a few basic skills for cutting hair (especially boys’ hair). We’re definitely into hundreds of dollars saved at this point by having done this for the past couple years!
- Publish 3-part series on NICU stay
- The new eterni-goal, maybe? Hopefully not, since I want to do this before I forget any more details.
Finish 3 books- Sure, two of them were for our family read aloud, but I read three nonetheless! I finished Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, Pippi Longstocking Goes Aboard, and The Artistry of Flowers.
September has always been a favorite month of mine for a lot of reasons — it’s mine and Matt’s birthday month, the weather starts to cool down (which often means the end of our flower farming season at the end of the month), we’re in more of a routine with school, and there is nothing more beautiful than living in a mountain town during autumn.
This September is shaping up to be particularly eventful, starting with our blessing Naomi at church this month and ending with a bunch of flower farming/business things that are exciting for me, like attending an entrepreneur conference and pitching our business for grant money, as well as being the featured speaker at a meeting for local business owners. We’ll also be selling flowers right up until the last second we can before a frost hits (including providing flowers by the stem for several weddings and events), and because I’ve come up with some good strategies for avoiding flower farming burnout, I’m actually approaching the end of our season feeling pretty darn good.
Here is the official list of goals for the month:
September Goals
- Register van
- Always need some easy wins on here!
- Wash couch cushion covers
- Get new filing system set up
- Wasting hours of my life searching for important papers over the past year or two has made me want to greatly simplify my paper organizational system once and for all. I purchased this inexpensive paper filing bin along with some file folders for it, and this is going to replace both of the filing cabinets in our room (since I’ve decluttered down our paper drastically and we no longer want the filing cabinets). This is one of the organizational projects as part of my minimalist journey that I’m most excited about!
- Declutter master closet
- Declutter playroom
- List items on Facebook Marketplace
- As a general rule of thumb, I don’t really bother selling any of the stuff I’m decluttering, but I have a few items that are a bit higher value ($25-30+) that I think might sell quickly, so I’m going to give them a go this month.
- Repaint laundry doors
- Transplant herbs and other plants out of new perennial area
- We’re totally transforming one area of our backyard into a new garden/perennial area for me to just enjoy (rather than to be exclusively for cutting), and I’m SO EXCITED! Right now though, we have a LOT of work before that can happen. First on the list? Transplanting all the perennial herbs I still want to keep out of their current raised beds, which are falling apart and old and which we’re going to just take out entirely.
- Make applesauce from the apples on our tree (or dehydrate some)
- It’s unfortunate that the harvesting/preserving time for fruits and vegetables comes at the same time as peak season for flower farming because it means I usually lack the time, energy, or inclination to preserve the produce we do end up getting, which unfortunately means that a lot of it tends to go to the birds. I want to at least preserve some of the hundreds of apples we have currently ripening, however, so I’m putting this on the list to hold myself accountable!
- Start making list for Christmas
- Yeah, it’s a little early maybe, but Matt and I have a fun idea for a Christmas surprise for the kids that will take a ton of time and work on our part, so we’re wanting to start soon.
- Publish first two posts in 3-part series on NICU stay
- Finish 3 books
Here’s hoping September has some (fun) surprises in store for us, and no more crazy ones since we’ve about had our fill this year 🙂
