Permaculture

per·ma·cul·ture

noun /ˈpərməˌkəlCHər/

The development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient

I'm about to take a course on permaculture. I've been wanting to do this for years and years and years, and I finally get to do it! Never mind that my own garden is covered in grass, the tomatoes need some support, and I haven't seeded my fall plants yet. I'm going to learn to be a farmer. I wonder if they'll also teach me to do my chores on time too? Or maybe I won't need to do chores because everything is self-sufficient. I hope they tell me I need chickens....

What I do with all of this knowledge is up in the air. Construction continues on our house (tiles have been purchased and the walls are done) but I'd really like to get out of the city someday. What good is learning how to farm if you don't have a farm? Until then I'm trying to work on a list of reasons I like Massachusetts, and specifically Boston. Here's my list so far:

1) The American Provisions shop is just around the corner if I want to buy some local eggs or meat.
2) I can take the bus or cycle to work
3) My yard is south facing (and may have inspired a few neighbors to actually plant something other than grass)
4) Health insurance in MA includes IVF under "medical necessity" laws
5) I live in a diverse population, restaurants and shops reflect the variety of cultures that surround us.
6) My church is awesome, even if I don't go every week.

Perspective

I watched the president tonight and couldn't help but think about all the changes, or lack of changes, that have happened in our country over the past 10 years. Now, I'm sure life wasn't just a bowl of cherries 1o years ago, but the overall outlook on life, and our country just seemed so much more cheerful and positive. Now we've gone so far in decline that our president admits that we have a dysfunctional government, the only way we can avert a credit crisis is by raising our debt limit, and we're still going to loose all kinds of program funding.

In those 10 years, I've been through war, broken off an engagement, finished a master's degree, moved states, married, and well, there's so much I could keep going on and on. I guess it makes sense that the world doesn't stay still, but why can't I, or anyone else (at least on the news anyway) see a way to a brighter future?

There are times when I get stuck in my own muck. Fourth of July is always hard, and it really hasn't been our favorite year so far. But even my own muck goes away when I look at things from a different perspective. For example, I read one article that has helped me look at my PTSD firework experience from another angle. It turns out the survivors of the World Trade Center attack have the same problems as I do. Somehow, by understanding what others have gone through, I get a new take on my own circumstances. When we realize that something is wrong with us, we look for ways to fix it. We diet when overweight. We cut back when money is tight. We can see when things are going down the tube and make changes.

But where is that perspective for our nation? How do we get past this bout of national depression? Can we, as the president asked, find compromise and build our nation back together? Or will we remain isolated and angry as we dwell on all the evils that, over the past 10 years, have gone our way. The most frustrating thing about government is this feeling of complete lack of control. Was life better 10 years ago, or did we have more faith in our system of government? How do we get ourselves back to our pre-war selves? How do we heal?

Lots of questions, but not a lot of answers. What do you think? Please weigh in and let me know how you see our current situation, and how you see our future.

Mid-Month Status Update

We're not on budget. We're not doing too badly, but still...not on budget. In fact, we're around $700 over budget in food, entertainment, medical expenses, and my personal spending (but I think that's unfair...$150 from our travel spending ended up on this month's spreadsheet, and we weren't budgeting then....) Groceries for 2 people, so far, have totaled $375. Actually, for 2 people, eating 3 meals a day, plus snacks on that amount, I don't think that's too bad. If we didn't buy any more groceries our total would add up to something like $2.5/meal.

Fortunately, we also have a few less expenses than expected, so we'll still save some money this month. The fireplace has to wait. The whole fireplace idea has just become drama, drama, drama. Without going into how much drama one shop can keep you in, I'll abbreviate by explaining that a) we are NOT going to tear down our already existing chimney to build another one, and b) we received differing prices, from different people within the same company, but nobody will guarantee one final price. We'll get our fireplace someday, but maybe not this year, and most likely not for the place we thought we would.

The laundry room is drywalled and taped, and the tile, paint, and light fixtures have been selected. Gerd has been eying wet saws for a few weeks, and it looks like he'll start tiling either this weekend or the next. I'm hoping for sooner, but he works on his own time (plus we need to do something with the mini over the weekend)

Life outside of house repair has been just as busy. I started teaching my ESOL class, and while I love my students, I'm struggling to figure out what to do. Everyone has offered advice or materials, which is great, but it's the tying together of all things English that I'm having a hard time with...how do I make it STICK? After the first week the only thing keeping me there was a commitment to the summer, and that I've got great health care benefits through the organization. It's getting a little better, but I still wonder sometimes if my time wouldn't be better served being a housewife.

Not in the budget, but something I'm going to do anyway, is a Permaculture class in western Massachusetts over the next four months. The last weekend in July, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Veteran's Day weekends will all be taken up with camping and farming. I'm so excited! It's something I've wanted to do for years, but the classes are usually a two week long block during a time that I'm teaching...

Anniversary

I would have written this yesterday, on our actual anniversary, but we got home from our "event" late enough that writing wasn't a realistic option.

Two years ago we quietly married and said we'd have a wedding later. My dad said a wedding would be fake, and I was offended. But you know what, he was right. I don't really need a wedding. We have a great life together, and that's what's important.

Maybe one of these days we'll have a party, but if not, I'm okay with that. We're pretty happy together just the way we are.

Reality Check

After about 5 hours of budget deliberations, we now have a budget. It's an ambitious budget, and it will get us nowhere near a 9k savings in a couple of months, but it is a bit more realistic than my original thoughts. Funny how hard data can bring clarity.

Our bank has a great application that allows you to categorize your expenses and download all kinds of charts and graphs. If everything would just categorize automatically it would be perfect, but we do need to go in and mark some things that aren't clear to an automated system.

It's through this program that I found out that I earn 15% of our household income. Depressing, right. 20% of our income goes to the mortgage, but lately 40% of our budget has gone to travel. Just as I was about to nix the travel fund for the next few months, Gerd reminded me that his annual trip to Germany for his grandmother's and mother's birthdays is coming up next month.

So we're cutting back on food. Let me tell you, food is EXPENSIVE in Boston. I'm allowing us $100 for dining out in a month, $100 each for our own monthly personal spending (like lunches or whatever), $200 for groceries, and $100 for a mad cash fund for unexpected things that come up.

Today was the first spending day, and it was much, much harder than I thought it would be. I've already spent $22 of my $25 for the week going to dinner with a friend. We had a groupon or it would have been twice as expensive. I went grocery shopping and spent $44 for the week, but I have about $10 worth of groceries yet to buy!

Gerd has already complained that $100 a month won't be enough for him. He's going to lunch with former coworkers of his on Wednesday and seems to think he'll go over budget by the end of this week.

Well, it IS an extreme budget, but we're trying to save up a bunch of money. I guess we'll see how it goes over the next week or so. Crazy to be on such a tight budget when our combined salary seems so high...but we really want that fireplace. So save we will. Wish us luck :)

Budget Crunch

We're back!

Our trip through the U.S. was pretty great, and it was wonderful to hang out will friends and family along the way. I'm really so thankful that we a) had enough savings to be able to do it and b) were able to see and do so much in such a short time (10 states in 14 days!) I don't regret our vacation at all.

But...the thing is, we need to get back on budget. I haven't gone through the receipts yet, but this trip likely cost us 4k. The car alone was nearly $2000, then there's the gas, and the hotels, the plane tickets, and the park fees, and the food (ummm, the food!) The worst expense though was unpaid leave. I don't make that much, but 9 days is nearly 10, which is half of my salary for a month. Not that I'm really complaining (I really needed some time off), but it was an expensive trip.

So the plan is to get back on budget, right. Well, except that we might not be able to right away. We've already had the fireplace guy come over and give us a quote. That price (4k) will go up if we don't get the work done before the end of August. We're finishing up the laundry room (likely another 3k after the remaining labor and buying a new washer and dryer). Then there's the garden (I'd like to replace the bolted spinach, lettuce, and radish bed with other cool season crops) and the dehydrator that we want to buy in order to use the grain CSA stuff that I got last summer... Well, the list just goes on and on.

All of this spending while both of our jobs, while safe for at least another 6 months, are questionably secure, is about to make me go into panic mode. I vote for a construction loan on the house, but my other half (who probably has way more money sense than I do) had nixed the idea. In my mind the value of the house will go up with the improvements we've made, and therefore it'll be like we bought a newer, nicer house, and we really have a bunch of things to do to this house before either of us will feel comfortable in it. We would get to keep our savings in savings and still get our house out of construction hell. But that's not going to happen.

So, the question is...what's going to give.

Option 1:
Finish the laundry room construction, but leave the downstairs bathroom unfinished until later.
We tape the drywall ourselves and do the flooring, and keep the washing machine from downstairs until we buy a set later.
We put the fireplace in during August, giving us one more month until that bill is due.
(approximate cost: 5K)

Option 2:
Finish the laundry room and downstairs bathroom entirely (we still tape the drywall and do the flooring)
Buy the washer and dryer, but skip the fireplace this year.
(approximate cost: 4k)

Option 3:
Leave the laundry room unfinished and keep using the creepy basement setup for a while longer
Skip the fireplace again this year, or pay more after September
(approximate cost: 0-5k)

Option 3 really isn't a pleasant option for us for a couple of reasons. 1) our contractor is back to work and we don't want him to move onto another job before he finishes our laundry room, and 2) we have a big gaping whole in the center of our house

SO...Do we live without a downstairs bathroom or without a fireplace? I vote for no fireplace, but my husband REALLY, I mean REALLY, wants a fireplace. We'll decide together, but I figure we can close the bathroom door for now and nobody will be the wiser for a while. We can finish the bathroom a few months down the road without the price going up significantly.

The question is, can we, in 2 months, put 4k back in the bank while spending 5k on the house? 9k over our necessary spending? Theoretically it's possible, but improbable. Maybe if we didn't eat, use electricity, or do anything that involves money. So I will be number crunching to see exactly how much money we actually could save. A wedding present for a friend, and my garden supplies are non-negotiable, but other than that, what do we really need to spend money on?

Oh, and why 2 months? Because that's the time that we have to have paid for the fireplace, and we don't use credit cards as a credit line (all debts are paid off in the month that we make the purchase).