Frugal Friday

 Not much happening on the frugal front this week, but here's what's happening at our house. 

Saving on things we buy

• Nothing exciting to report this week. I continued to upload all of our receipts to Fetch, which (ever so slowly) adds up to a bit here & there.

Earning money

• Redeemed Swagbucks for a $25 Amazon gift card
• Sold some vitamins that Amazon accidentally delivered to me & didn't want back, making $30
• Redeemed survey money for $45

Avoiding spending

• Picked up a free drink at Starbucks on my birthday
• M picked me up from the airport on Sunday, which was in the middle of the Super Bowl. Luckily, he wasn't really into the game this year, and didn't mind. 

Eating what we have

• Ate leftover burgers for dinner
• Brought home leftovers from dinner out, and made that into lunch another day
• Made a big taco meal for Wednesday night, to avoid eating out when my parents are in town. We had plenty of leftovers for lunches, and I froze about half of the meat I prepped. 

For others

• Filled out monthly coach's reports for the students I'm mentoring, and had two mentoring calls this week

What about you? Any wins to share?

Menu Plan Monday

 I'm late to the party, as I was visiting Sam over the weekend. Always so nice to see my young adult! (I wanted to say baby, but we are long past that phase!)

Here's what's on the menu for the week (and, going through Sunday, as I need to get planned for a visit with family:

• Friday - I took Sam & his roommate out for dinner at a place near the hotel. I had a Cobb salad
• Saturday - Sam & I shared appetizers for dinner
• Sunday - M grilled burgers
• Monday - out to dinner for a birthday celebration
• Tuesday - leftover burgers
• Wednesday - my parents will be in town, but we will be getting home late from the game. I will have tacos prepped, so we can quickly eat. 
• Thursday - chicken pad Thai + spring rolls (both from Costco), as we will be having 5 extra people staying with us
• Friday - likely pizza, as we have Nick's senior night + a bunch of guests
• Saturday - any leftovers from the week
• Sunday - out, as we are going skiing

As you can see, it's a bit of a wild ride this week! What about you? What's on your menu this week? 

Frugal Friday

 Because I was sick for a lot of the week, we ate leftovers for multiple meals.  Not very exciting, but definitely saved some money. As a frugal fail, I did order a delivery meal. I used two promo coupons & it was still pricey. I was able to turn it into two meals for myself & one meal for Nick, so I suppose at least there's that. 

Saving on things we buy

• While I was doing my taxes (oh boy!), I found a $25 multi use gift card. I went online & redeemed it for a Panera gift card, which we will definitely use. 
• Used a $5/off a $25 purchase at CVS to buy some Valentine's & birthday items I needed. 
• Used a $2 Rite Aid reward & picked up a few Valentine's treats to add to the boys Valentine's bags.

Earning money

• I cashed out $40 from the survey site I use
• Completed a $150 user study on travel
• Sold a few items on eBay for ~$35 or so

Avoiding spending

• Really wanted to buy lunch out after running a bunch of errands, but reminded myself that I'll be eating out over the weekend with Sam, and we have plenty of food at the house.
• As the corollary to the above, used a Subway gift card to pick up food for myself & Nick on a busy day. No out of pocket spending. 
• M is taking me to the airport this morning for my trip to Corvallis, saving me the cost of an Uber. 

Eating what we have

• Used the lemons from our tree to make the delicious lemon pepper chicken earlier this week. Even my picky eater (Nick) ate it! Always a win when that happens. 
• Ate lots of leftovers (tacos, lemon chicken, etc). The tacos had the bonus of also using up shredded cheese & salsa in the fridge.
• Finished off a loaf of sourdough bread, making lots of sandwiches for Nick between soccer and tennis. 

For others

• Helped out at a soccer game with some volunteering

Frugal fail:

• I used Pirate Ship to mail a package to Sam, and it cut off the second line of his address (there is an extra line specifying his dorm), even though I added it. I didn't notice before I mailed it. It was never delivered & then three weeks later, made its way back to him. Wasted postage, and I guess I'll be bringing it to him myself this weekend. Bummer. Cautionary tale if you are using this service for less expensive postage. Now that I know, it looks like it's a common problem. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

February Goals

 The shortest month of the year is upon us! Time to get going on these goals. 

Financial:

• Continue to pay for Sam's college expenses
• Get a new job
• Earn $300 in side hustle
• Pantry freezer challenge:
• 1/2 freezer pizza
• A bottle of dressing from the pantry
• The rest of the holiday cheese
• Estimate taxes & figure out a plan to pay for them

Family:

• Continue to help Nick with final college decisions
• Have a great visit with Sam
• Optimize points, perks & miles for travel. Track value
• Finalize Spain trip details
• Enjoy Nick's senior year. Have a great visit with family when everyone visits for senior night (this includes lots of meal planning, prep, entertaining, house cleaning, sign making & travel logistics).

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs
• Strength train 15 days
• No S diet 15 days
• Average 12,000 steps/day
• Meditate 10 times
• Try a new workout

Personal:

• Language lessons 15 times
• Declutter 50 items from the house
• Look into a college class
• Get together with friends x2
• Play pickleball x1 (weather permitting)
• Do something towards my goals of "Try something new & uncomfortable" & "Say yes to more adventures"

What are your goals for February? Let us know so we can cheer you on!

January Goals Recap

 January simultaneously felt like a very long month, and parts of it went by too quickly (like, the parts where I was supposed to be productive!) 

Financial:

• Continue to pay for Sam's college expenses - yes
• Work on finding a new job - I have a new part-time, side hustle job & am still looking for another job. Had an interview this week, and continue to apply.
• Earn $300 in side hustle - crushed this, with $760. 
• Monthly freezer/pantry challenge
• 1/2 of the freezer pizza - no progress
• 1 can of coconut milk - yes
• Figure out what to do with all of the red curry paste - yes, used up the remaining jar & opened the giant tub in the pantry & made a start on that.
• Make second property tax payment (majority from savings, cash flow $1500 of it) - yes

Family:

• Decide if we need to do any college tours for Nick - Nick got into Boulder (one of his top choices), so we will be heading to Colorado at the end of Feb to do a tour of both Boulder and Fort Collins. 
• Optimize points, perks & miles for travel. Track value - we used points for an expensive flight for Sam, I'm using points for my upcoming hotel stay while visiting Sam & we're using a free night award in a few weeks at Lake Tahoe. All told, $1355 of value. 
• Plan Spain trip details & start looking at Italy options - I booked the trains for Spain, but we are moving Italy out to 2026. It's our 20th anniversary, but with Spain already in the cards (and, we are tied to a very specific timeline for that trip, due to expiring travel credits), it feels like too much to have two international trips in one year. We will likely go to Hawaii for our anniversary. 
• Begin remodel discussions - no, and realistically this won't kick off until I get a job & we see what our income looks like. 
• One date night with M - we had dinner & drinks one night in Lake Tahoe, while the boys had pizza. ;-) 

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs - I lost 3.6 lbs
• Strength train 15 days - 17/15
• No S diet 15 days - 9/15
• Meditate 10 times - 5/10
• Try a new workout - nope

Personal:

• Language lessons 10 times - 19/10
• Declutter 50 items from the house - 34/50
• Look at college classes (for me) - nope
• Get together with friends x2 - several walks, coffee & hikes
• Play pickleball x1 - nope
• For my "Try something new & uncomfortable" & "Say yes to more adventures" goals, start looking at opportunities for these - I agreed to go on an all day hike with a new friend group, but that's not until March

What about you? How did you do with your January goals?

(Not Much) Fitness Monday

I was sick for most of last week, and this cold is still lingering on! As a result, I've been much less active than usual, and have turned to easy & saltier food (why does salty food taste good when you're sick? I assume because your taste buds are kind of dulled, so therefore you need higher fat/salt food to really "taste" it, when you're not feeling well?) 

Anyway, for transparency (and, because it helps me as well), still posting about the previous week:

Weight: my weight stayed the same this week

Steps per day: I didn't do well on hitting my step goal this week, so my overall trend/cumulative average dropped. I'm now at 12,438 vs 13,019 as the average last week. That's a pretty big drop in just a week! Small steps really do add up, literally & figuratively. 

Calories: Last week my cumulative average for 2025 was 1,528. I'm at 1,509. My eating wasn't the best, but there were a few days I didn't eat much. 

Workouts for the past week:

• 4 workout classes
• 1 - 30 minute elliptical workout
• A couple of days with bonus 2 mile walks
• A couple of days where the only thing I did was walk ~1 mile

Overall nutrition: It was pretty poor this week. And, I tend to be a snacker when I'm stressed. I need to reduce my news consumption and focus on other ways to reduce stress. 

It was definitely a "C" type of week. Here's hoping this week is a week where I'm feeling better. 

Goals for the week:

• Eliminate stress snacking
• Eat more produce
• Keep calories in check overall
• Increase workouts back to previous level
• Hit 12k steps/day

How did you do with your health & fitness last week?

Menu Plan Sunday

 I didn't do much cooking last week, so you can see a few carryovers from our previous menu. 

• Friday: DH had the last of the chicken satay, & I had a bowl of popcorn. It was a rough week, with being sick!
• Saturday: beef tacos (I had mine over a salad)
• Sunday: garlic noodles with beef & broccoli (didn't get made last week)
• Monday: carnitas (from the freezer) over salad
• Tuesday: leftover tacos
• Wednesday: orange chicken + fried rice
• Thursday:lemon pepper chicken (the lemons on our tree are ready to be picked!) - also didn't get made last week
• Friday: I'm off to visit Sam, so Nick & M will be on their own. I'm guessing they will have pizza, if Nick is even around at all. 

I also need to menu plan for next week, when we will be having a houseful!

What's on your menu this week? Have you tried any new recipes lately? Share & inspire us!

Saturday Things

 I'm on the road to recovery, but still feeling pretty worn down, so today will be a taking it easy kind of day.

Here's what's on my list:

• Help Nick with a volunteering form he needs to complete
• Work on my taxes (what a treat that will be)
• Pick up the house
• Make tacos
• Get some exercise, even if it's light (walking on the treadmill, etc)
• Book Sam's return shuttle from the airport back to college for spring break
• Apply for two jobs
• Build a menu plan & shopping list

What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish today?

Frugal Friday

It's a pretty short list this week, as I've not been feeling well, & have that cough/cold/congestion thing that is going around.  

Saving on things we buy

• Nick has been sick, so I stopped by CVS & used my monthly ExtraCare reward to pick up a few things for him. I spent just under $10 after the discounts, and earned another $4 back between iBotta & Fetch. 

Earning money

• Earned $25 from a user study, and cashed out $20 from the survey site I use.
• Helped Nick sell an item on eBay. He made $185, and is saving up for his senior trip. (He wants to do a road trip to various national parks.)  

Avoiding spending

• Booked Sam's flight home for spring break & used a credit for the flight home (earned when I drove him to Sacramento at the end of winter break, and he caught a ride with his roommate). For the flight home, M used his Southwest points. The flight would have otherwise been $850!! We are very limited on time of day options, as he has finals, and then needs to coordinate around a shuttle that gets him from college to the airport. I've never seen flights to/from Portland that expensive. So glad that M had points. 

Eating what we have

• Made a delicious chicken satay dinner, which had the bonus of using up two of my January pantry challenge items (one can of coconut milk, the rest of a jar of red curry in the fridge & I started on the giant tub of red curry that was previously in the pantry). I also used some very wilty spinach in the recipe.  

For others

• Donated money to the fires

What about you? Any wins to share?

If you like Thai food

 try this recipe for slow cooker chicken satay! I had it on my menu plan for the week, and we ended up making it yesterday. It was absolutely fantastic! Highly recommend. 

A few tweaks:

• I added the spinach right before serving, to avoid it being super over cooked
• I'd also add the red peppers later in the cooking process, as they were overly cooked as well

The flavor was so great. We added additional lime juice & some sriracha. I might bump up the soy sauce as well. We topped ours with peanuts, and served over rice. It would also be great with chopped cilantro on top.

M basically dislikes anything cooked in a crockpot, but even he was a huge fan & asked for it to go into the menu rotation. 

Sharing as there were a few people interested in the recipe. As a bonus, it also helped me use up two of the ingredients on my January "use it up" pantry challenge - coconut milk & red curry paste. Winner. 

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Have you tried any great new recipes?

Fitness Monday

 It's been a bit up & down the past couple of weeks, as we skied & then I came back with a cold that's turned into some sort of respiratory thing. Nick has been sick for a week, poor guy. I'm slowly but surely getting back into my routine. 

Here's how I've been doing with my fitness over the past few weeks:

Weight: I'm down another 1.5 lbs, so a total of 3.6 lbs for the year. 

Steps per day: it's my goal to hit 12k steps per day in 2025. Skiing isn't much for steps, and we had two long driving days to get there & back. But, I'm still over my goal, with 13,019 steps/day (on average.) 

Calories: it's my goal to be around the 1400 calories/day range consistently. Last time I checked in I was at 1,594. My current cumulative average for 2025 is 1,528, so I've made a bit of progress dropping it down. Still more work to do here.

Workouts for the past few weeks: 

• 9 workout classes (including a bonus 90 minute class that was a wildfire fundraiser)
• 2 days of skiing
• 2 days with 4 mile hikes
• 1 day of walking for an hour on the treadmill
• Assorted other walks
• One day where I did nothing, other than pack & load the car, corral up 5 teens, pick up their room & do an untold amount of laundry

Overall nutrition:  I want to increase my fruit & veggie intake. I do pretty well on this, but there's always room for more veggies! I'm also still pretty snacky, and want to reduce snacks. 

I'm giving myself another "B" for the past couple of weeks. Still plenty of work to do cleaning up my diet, but fitness has been good generally. Goals for this last week of January: stay the course on working out (adjust as needed based on how I'm feeling), reduce overall calories & increase fruit & veggie intake. 

How are you all doing with your health & fitness?

Menu Plan Sunday

 I really phoned it in last week, and we mostly ate from the freezer. I'm trying to do better this week!

Here's what's on our menu:

• Friday - Nick had a late game, so I skipped dinner
• Saturday - chicken & dumplings (freezer)
• Sunday - slow cooker chicken satay 
• Monday - garlic noodles with beef & broccoli
• Tuesday - leftover chicken satay
• Wednesday - leftover garlic noodles
• Thursday - lemon pepper chicken (the lemons on our tree are ready to be picked!)
• Friday - leftovers

What about you? Are you trying any new recipes this week?

Frugal Friday

 

Saving on things we buy

• Stopped at Costco for some inexpensive gas & lunch for five on our way home. 

Earning money

• Made $20 doing a focus group on honey, of all things.
• Cashed out $32 from the survey site I use
• Got an offer for a side hustle/part time job. I'm still looking for a full-time option, but this part-time one would be fun, and is something I'm interested in doing full-time in the future. I would start in April. 

Avoiding spending

• Went through the boys room (the teens had an adjoining room to us) after they left for skiing. Gathered up the garbage scattered throughout to make things easier for the cleaning lady (and, of course left a tip!) & found: a few snacks, two sealed drinks still in the fridge, a glove (will try to pair this up with someone's lost glove) & an unopened container of toothpaste. Brought it all home with us, minus a few of the snacks & drinks that the teens were thrilled to see on the car ride home.
• Booked a flight to visit Sam using an airline gift card (bought at a discount at Costco around the holidays) + two nights of a hotel stay, using hotel points. 
• Booked a college tour trip with Nick. Staying with a friend, and used Southwest gift cards (bought at a discount at Costco as well), and a small travel voucher that Nick had. 

Eating what we have:

• Got home after a relatively long drive from Lake Tahoe, and then unpacked the car. No one was particularly in the mood to make dinner, but I threw together a quick salad, baked some coconut shrimp, and heated up edamame (my favorite way is with a little sesame oil & kosher salt.) 
• I've been phoning it in with menu planning, so we've been eating a lot from the freezer. We had chicken teriyaki one night (freezer leftovers), as well as grilled burgers (from the freezer as well). We had the burgers over salads.
• For lunches, I've also been taking advantage of the soups I made & froze earlier in the month.
• I used overly ripe bananas to make banana bread for an event Nick is going to, and also banana muffins for our freezer. 

For others

• Planned and coordinated a social event for the soccer team. Nick is the captain, so some of this fun work falls to me. ;-) 

What about you? Any wins to share?