Off Grid Budget with Kay

Hi there friends! I earned an additional $20 this month doing online surveys, so I made roughly $60 for the month of April! It was my goal to complete the National Pet Month savings challenge by May. I decided to roll the entire $20 to the challenge, and pick up the other challenges next month. Savings Challenge #2 This challenge is for $50, with each part of the paw print worth $1. This challenge is complete and I'm ready to purchase items to donate to a local nonprofit. This savings challenge was a March FREEBIE FRIDAY and is available at  ko-fi.com/offgridbudgetwithkay Finding a Donation Location I was somewhat surprised how difficult it was to find a place to donate new dog food and supplies. Many of the nearby animal shelters have corporate sponsors donating pallets of food on a monthly basis. Hence why most of the shelters requested monetary donations over goods. After a few days of online searches, I decided to donate to a local food bank serving low-income and homeless popu...

Welcome back friends!  Happy Freebie Friday!!  This Friday, we're featuring the beneficial honeybee. California has a lot of honeybees, but not so many bumblebees. It has been a huge surprise moving north to find so many bumblebees on our homestead. I hope to capture a photo of one enjoying my little garden soon.  This customizable mini savings challenge is size A7 envelope and is available as a FREE PDF DOWNLOAD at my Ko-fi shop:  https://ko-fi.com/offgridbudgetwithkay Let's Roll It's mid-April and I've already reached $40!  My FREE  30 Deposits Survey App Challenge  is definitely keeping me motivated to reach my online survey side income goal. As you may remember, I don't have dice at home, so I use this free dice simulator for my rolls:  https://www.calculator.net/dice-roller.html   Starting with the  $40  dollars, I'm going to start at challenge 1 and move down the list, rolling a D5 for amount saved.  Here is my tally for ...

Welcome back friends!  March was a crazy month filled with random snowstorms and an unplanned trip to Montana. With so many unexpected events, I was certain we would overspend our budget AGAIN! Like last month, unforeseen expenses were our weakness. But with the trailer payment DONE, we actually didn't do as bad as I had expected!  Variable expenses projected for March: Laundromat: $50 Fuel (gasoline, kerosene, diesel): $450 Groceries: $800 Home Improvements: $2800 Propane: $100 Dining out/entertainment: $250 Pets: $100 Online orders: $200 Total: $4750 Following is what we  actually  spent for March: Laundry: $20 Fuel (gasoline, kerosene, diesel): $583 Groceries: $1056 Home Improvements: $1500 Propane: $55 Dining out/entertainment: $1200 Pet: $0 Online purchases: $115 Misc: $92 Total: $4621 Here's the comparison: Laundry: +30$ Fuel (gasoline, kerosene, diesel): -133$ Groceries: -256$ Home Improvements: +1300$ Propane: +45$ Dining out/entertainment: -950$ Pet: +100$ O...

Hi there friends!  I've been at a loss about what my next savings challenge is going to be. While scrolling a cashback reward app , I saw quite a few money back offers for pet supplies and food. Since my senior pup is on a fairly strict diet, I typically ignore those deals.  However, since May is National Pet Month in the US (April in the UK), I felt compelled to do something and decided to start a savings challenge to donate to a local shelter. I am starting this challenge now with the hope (goal!) of having it completed by the end of May. Once complete, I'll jump on the app to make my shopping list and head to the store to grab those treats for the lucky animals. This savings challenge is also my FREEBIE FRIDAY and is available at  ko-fi.com/offgridbudgetwithkay I know I could easily donate the cash saved, but I wanted to make it a bit more fun by personally shopping for the animals. Dependent on how well this challenge goes, I'm eager to do it again, with my cashback r...

Exciting news friends!  In honor of spring just around the corner, I'll be posting three Freebie Friday saving challenges featuring amazing insects of California, all available at my Ko-fi shop:  @offgridbudgetwithkay This Friday, we're featuring the beautiful Monarch Butterfly. Last year, my parents raised a handful of Monarch Butterflies at their homestead in California. My dad snapped this gorgeous picture of one of the new additions. This customizable mini savings challenge is size A7 envelope and is available as a FREE PDF DOWNLOAD at my Ko-fi shop:  https://ko-fi.com/offgridbudgetwithkay I'm featuring each challenge separately to make it easier to download.  Hope you enjoy this Freebie Friday savings challenge! This post and savings challenge are for entertainment and information purposes only. I am not a financial professional, and I am not giving financial or legal advice. 

Spring is almost here friends!  We are hitting a big milestone this month and finally paying off our trailer. It took us about a year, throwing as much extra cash we had at it. Following are our fixed expenses for March: Cell Phone: $130 Car Payments: $1140 Trailer: $160 **PAID OFF Insurance (i.e., car, medical, etc.): $350 Waste Management: $47 Internet: $120 Subscriptions (i.e., streaming services, etc.): $52  Total: $1999 Paying off the trailer is huge, and means we'll have $1000 to put somewhere else next month. This month, after paying the $160 owed (that interest will get you every time!), I had $840 left over. $40 got diverted to my garden savings account, and $800 will go to the home improvement variable expense to help with permits. I'm not sure where I'll put the $1000 next month... leave a comment below where you would use an extra $1000 each month!  Accounting for the additional monies from the trailer payoff, below is my new list of variable expenses: Laundro...