Catching Up and making goals

Amazingly my vow to start blogging regularly somehow disappeared into all the stuff I ended up doing over the summer. I did keep to my goals of menu planning, staying in my food budget, using my clothesline and growing some of my own vegetables. This last goal turned out to be only a couple of tomato plants and a bell pepper plant and herbs but still it was a small step in the right direction. Much time was spent enjoying good books and warm summer days with my teens, a camping trip and a fabulous week in Kansas with more family. And then before I knew it it was back to work for me and school for the kids.
September was spent getting back into the routine and organizing ourselves.
And now it is October, my favorite time of the year. At the end of September I did a financial review and found some areas where change is needed. I was able to stay under my budget goal for groceries during the summer months due to diligent stocking up of pantry goods but now I need to resupply.
Our old deep freezer finally died beyond repair but I was able to get a new one from a neighbor who had one he was no longer using for only $100. And it came with a turkey and a ham that he was going to ask if I wanted anyhow (single young guy doesn't cook, these were Christmas bonuses). I will cook these up and send back some of the prepared food to him. Sadly we lost all of the food that was in the freezer since we didn't discover it had died until it was too late so restocking this is also a priority. In order to do that  I've temporarily increased our food budget to $450 for food and another $100 for household goods for October and November only.
Our electric bill has been ridiculous so that is an area where we need to be more diligent. And finally last year there were too many impulse purchases made, especially of books. I'm getting out that library card and dusting it off and putting it back in use. And staying out of Target.
My other financial goals for October include: paying off my portion of our Kansas trip to my gentleman friend (critical for me to do this since we will be going back there for the week of Thanksgiving and I want to have my half up front), paying off my sole remaining credit card and then start using that sum of money to finally finish paying a small college loan I took to help my oldest son out with his education. Long term once that loan is paid off (February is my target) I will then use that sum of money and start applying it to my car loan.  And I need to begin rebuilding my savings, after looking at weekly expenses (gas, bowling), monthly expenses (hair, nails) and income I figure I should be able to stash $200 a month in my savings. I am working a small twice a month cleaning job that will easily cover that amount.