As I spend my Friday night mindlessly exhaused I stare at my computer, YouTube and Social media have me completely unaware of the moments passing.  There are so many  ads.  Ads for things that I never would have even thought about and for a brief second do I think I need them.  Wow!  I am that easily manipulated.  Wow!  

This year we strived as a family to consume less.  I would say that we are definately consuming less, we still have a long way to go.  We do still buy way more than I want.  We order staples from a store about once a month.  High salt food that I can not replace with food on the farm.  I have a condition where I am always low on sodium and feel like I am the only person in the world that needs a high salt diet.  This horrible high salt diet also causes us to eat out way more than I would like.  I really, honestly would never like to eat out, but I need to figure out a way to maintain a healthy low salt diet for my family consistanting of food raised on our property while having 8000-12000 milligrams of sodium a day myself is really hard to do. 

We have researched the things we do need to buy and have tried to buy made in the USA or used when we can.  Unfortantly, that is not able to happen all the time.  

Our vacuum cleaner broken. Instead of replacing it, we were able to get it repaired.  Our washing machine also broke, I was able to find a used Maytag, (made in the USA and used bonus points).  

We are still not physically going into stores, so used clothes shopping is not easy.  We have had to buy a few items, but for the most part we are using what we already have.  

Imperfect Foods and a local dairy delivery service are great for keeping us out of the grocery stores.  We are eating through the foods we have put away from last summers bounty.  We are very thankful for such a productive year. 

Continuing to vow to do better.