idk if i'll be able to get another crop of carrots down tho. if i plant them on the 23rd, will they be able to be picked on the 30th before it goes to winter?
Uh I'm not sure but if they don't you can always use the exploit which I'll post below. It would just be for one day so it won't be a big deal. Also, make sure you save first because on the morning of Winter 2, Mayor Thomas will request an item from you and you can only turn it in that day. You may have to save scum a bunch of times in order to get an item you already have. I was able to have him request the black grass after about 30 resets. He also asks for mushrooms a lot so save at least one of each mushroom if you can.
And now is a good time to start giving Ellen (the old lady) a gift every day because she'll knit you a stocking which is useful for getting a Christmas gift from Mayor Thomas at the end of the month.
As for spending more of your money, you'll need 20,000 for the beginning of Spring if you want to upgrade your farm to level 2. You can also upgrade your coop / barn and get the makers since they're 20,000 each as well.
Here's the exploit you can use for the carrots:
You can exploit the game to force crops to carry over to the next season. This allows you to harvest the single-harvest crops before they wilt. For multi-harvest crops, this trick carries them over to produce all new season long. Pineapples in Autumn? Yep, it's possible if you're crafty!
On the 30th of the current season, don't cut back the field crops. Leave them in the field as you would any other day of the season.
Once you are ready to sleep for the day, use your tools to deplete all your stamina (the power berry icons) and increase your fatigue (the face icon). Stamina is tracked by stamina points (STA) and count down to zero as you use your tools, while fatigue starts at zero and increases to 100 as your fatigue points (FAT) tally up. Details about STA/FAT can be found on the Health page. For this trick, you want to have 0 stamina and enough fatigue that the face marker is blue colored.
The blue face icon appears once the fatigue value is around 80 FAT. The next step is to use your tools a few more times until you believe you have between 95 and 99 total FAT. Using a tool when you have 0 stamina will earn +1 FAT when the in-game time is before midnight or +2 FAT when it is after midnight. Count your tool swings and try to get within the proper range. Keep in mind that you'll naturally increase fatigue at specific times of the night as a penalty for being awake so late: +3 at midnight, +4 at 2:00 am, and +4 at 4:00 am.
The last step is to stay awake until the game forces you to sleep at 5:59 am. If you own the mysterious books in your farmhouse book shelf, rewarded to you by the Harvest Goddess based on the number of offerings you have tossed into her pond, read the books until the in-game clock reaches the proper time on the first day of the new season. For farmers who don't own the books yet, stand outside until the clock naturally becomes 5:59 am.
What happens is the farmer protagonist will recover -5 FAT naturally when the game forces the farmer to go to bed at 5:59 am, but then also earns +10 FAT for not voluntarily going to bed. You want to ensure the combined fatigue earned is enough to push your health into the dangerous 100-FAT level to force a fainting spell. For example, if you had 93 FAT at 6am, you would first end up with 88 FAT (93 - 5 = 88) and then finally 98 FAT (88 + 10 = 98), which isn't enough to pass out. So that's why you want to have between 95 and 99 FAT.
When the farmer awakes at 6:00 am on the 1st, having 100 points of fatigue will trigger an exhaustion event that lands the farmer in the Mineral Town clinic for the whole day. You'll then regain access to your character on the 2nd with full stamina and a fresh level of fatigue. Since the clinic visit outside the farm triggers before the crops wilt on the first day of the new season, the prior season's crops will remain in the field.