Frugal Saturday

I was traveling back from Sedona yesterday, so I didn't get this posted. We had such a fantastic trip, and really enjoyed the hiking & gorgeous location. Hiking trips are fabulous for chatting & catching up.

I went from a Lake Tahoe snowstorm & a dicey drive home (Monday), to a cold but sunny Sedona (Tuesday) in one day. 

Saving on things we buy

• Used $240 of dining vouchers during our trip to Lake Tahoe (we stay at a casino, so the rooms sometimes come with food offers.) We bought dinner for four teens one night, M & I had a dinner out, and then I picked up some breakfast items for the teens on our last morning. 
• Stopped by Costco for gas at the halfway point of our drive to Lake Tahoe, for the cheapest gas option. Did the same on the way home, and stopped in to feed all of the hungry teens. 

Earning money

• Cashed out $20 for research studies
• Earned $10 in Fetch rewards for a gift card
• M received his annual bonus (this is for 2024)

Avoiding spending

• I used points to cover the cost of our hotel in Sedona
• Used Starbucks points to pick up a breakfast for myself & M one morning in Lake Tahoe

Eating what we have

• While we ate out for two dinners in Sedona, we also bought groceries & turned that into our lunches & ate leftovers for dinner one night as well. We tried to keep things pretty reasonable. 

For others

• Helped my sister navigate some investment/retirement stuff while we were together. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

Frugal Friday

 It's been a busy week!

Saving on things we buy

• Ordered Nick a birthday cake, and the bakery he loves isn't open on Sundays or Mondays. His birthday is a Sunday, so I found another highly reviewed place. It was 1/3 of the price. I could definitely have made this myself, but he's turning 18 and wanted a very specific cake. Done. 
• I used a $20 grocery store reward to buy items for the soccer banquet, and another $20 reward to buy drinks & snacks for the tennis match I was asked to cover. 
• Used a $10 CVS reward + another $4 reward to pick up some Advil. 

Earning money

• Continued filling out surveys
• Applied for more jobs
• Worked on prepping for my teaching class. Once I get this prepped, it should be much easier to teach future sessions. I'm paid out after the 10 week class is done, although it does include some prep time in the payout calculations. 

Avoiding spending

• I don't typically keep lunch meat on hand, but sometimes I'm craving a sandwich. I thought of buying one, but instead picked up sandwich fixings at the store, which was about the same price as a sandwich out, but will allow me to have 2-3 sandwiches, plus a few for Nick as well. 
• We cancelled our trip to Spain (it is right at the end of M's "job search window" through his current employer, so in addition to wanting to cut costs at the moment, it also gives him more flexibility to job search.
• We cancelled our train tickets (minus a small fee) & got a refund for those, which is awesome.
• I was able to get a large credit back from United, which we will likely use for a trip to Hawaii in October for our 20th anniversary, and to cover our flights to my parents house for Christmas.
• United is also supposed to be refunding us for one ticket, and $700 from the second ticket for our cancellation.
• I was able to cancel our hotel stays. While we were using free night awards x2, points for another hotel, we were paying out of pocket for another, so that was all cancelled. 
• I re-booked my parents flights (they were going to come to watch Nick while we were in Spain) to cover a visit for his graduation. They also received a $108 credit for a future flight.

Eating what we have

• Found two lonely hamburger buns in the freezer, so turned those into chicken patty sandwiches for a late dinner for Nick
• M bought two very large packages of Costco cauliflower rice when they went on huge sale, so I've been trying to incorporate those into the menu. We had orange chicken with cauliflower rice & edamame. All from the freezer.
• M has been laboring under the illusion that our Meyer lemons are oranges, and thus unwilling to use them on his salad. We finally went down a rabbit hole of Google images, and he's now convinced. ;-) This means the lemons will be quickly used up, as he makes his own dressing each day for the salad (not so much dressing as lemon juice, balsamic, and olive oil). 
• Made a large chicken stir fry for dinner, using up lots of veggies that were in the fridge, including the not super fresh carrots. 
• Picked up two oranges from our neighbor's "free" bin, which I will use in smoothies. 

For others

• Nick's soccer banquet was planned by a novice mom, who forgot some of the details (creating a spreadsheet for parents to indicate what they were bringing, so you don't end up with all of the same items, etc). I filled in the gaps for her, to make sure we had everything we needed. 
• We weren't going to use one of our free night awards (due to cancelled Spain trip) before it expired, so I offered it to an old coworker who long ago used his United upgrades for the boys when we flew to Dubai. 
• I also used a small amount of our United credit for my friend's flight next week, as I knew she was flying on United. She hosted us last weekend, so this felt like a nice way to thank her. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

Fitness Updates

I'm a few days late getting this post up, so let's dive right in. I was in Colorado with Nick & definitely ate more calories than normal (restaurant meals), and then came home with some sort of bug. I feel like I've been fighting the same bug on & off for at least 8 weeks. I've tried harder to take it a bit easier on days I'm not feeling great. 

Weight: I've lost 1.1 lbs since my last weigh in, for a total of 5 lbs for the year

Steps per day: I was pretty inactive the days I was sick, so my daily average dropped a bit. I'm currently at 12,403 steps per day for the year. Still over my target of 12,000.  

Calories: my goal is to be around 1,400 calories/day. With being on vacation, that didn't happen. My new cumulative 2025 daily average is 1,552. I'll continue to work on this, because of course, calories in makes a big difference on weight! 

Workouts recently:

• Several no workout days
• Several hiking days
• Multiple hard workout classes 
• A few casual walks

Overall nutrition: this is going well. I've been doing a better job of increasing intake of fruit & veggies, and reducing carbs & snacks. I also have had a few "No S" diet days, which is always great. I'm trying to get back on track, because the no snacking in particular is a super helpful target for me. 

I'm giving myself a "C+" for the past few weeks. Low energy, eating out, etc so definitely room for improvement. But, a nice drop on the scale! According to my measurements, I've also lost a little bit of body fat, which is always a win. We are theoretically skiing this weekend, and then I'm heading out on a hiking trip. That will likely result in plenty of physical activity, but higher than average calories as we eat out. I'll work on making good decisions, and keeping to my No S plan.

What about you? How are things going with your health & fitness?

Menu Plan Sunday

 

• Friday - ate an eclectic meal at Nick's soccer banquet
• Saturday - quick chicken stir fry
• Sunday - M is grilling burgers
• Monday - mystery chicken dish from the freezer + spring rolls (I hope this combo goes together!)
• Tuesday - leftover burgers
• Wednesday - chicken fajitas
• Thursday - tacos
• Friday - leftover fajitas

What about you? What's on your menu this week?

Not much to report - Frugal Friday

 It's been a week! M got laid off a week or so ago, and we're still trying to figure that out. He has 8 weeks to job search internally, and if he doesn't find something within that time, he gets a severance. He would prefer to stay where he is, as he has quite a bit of stock still available to vest.

In the meantime, I've been much more aggressively job searching. Financially, we can weather quite a storm, but we absolutely need health insurance. I need to start considering doing regular infusions, and those are crazy pricey. So, that's been taking up the majority of my time.

Nick & I had a great trip to Colorado, and he absolutely loves Boulder. So, that remains a top choice, while we wait for the final schools to trickle in. He is likely to have a decision in the next few weeks, which will be really helpful as we lock in our college payment plans, as well as travel, schedule, calendars, orientation, etc.

On the frugal side, I've been doing the basics:

• (Mostly) eating at home, although ate out with Nick in Colorado, and then again with a soccer mom group I put together a few weeks ago. 
• Eating from the freezer.
• Made smoothies a few days when lunch didn't sound great. I'm *still* getting over some sort of chest congestion thing, which seems like it's come & gone a few times. It's a very unwelcome guest at this point.
• M drove us to & from the airport, to save on transportation.
• I've done a few surveys here & there, to earn a little bit more.

That's pretty much it! We have Nick's soccer banquet tonight, which should be fun (we paid for it a month or so ago, and includes food, although they have definitely run out before, because... teen athletes). Otherwise, I need to keep working on prepping for the upcoming class I'm teaching.

What about you all? Any wins to share?

March Goals

 It's time for March goals - can you believe it?

Here's what I'd like to get done this month:

Financial:

• Continue to pay for Sam's college expenses
• Get a new job
• Prep for part-time job
• Earn $300 in side hustle
• Pantry/freezer challenge
• 1 bag of frozen fruit (smoothies?)
• 1 bottle of dressing
• 1 package of holiday cheese (sealed, so still fine to eat)

Family:

• Help Nick with final college decision, including two tours
• Enjoy spring break with Sam. Help him finalize his summer plans
• Optimize points, perks & miles. Track value.
• Finalize Spain trip details.
• Enjoy Nick's senior year. Attend soccer banquet and at least 3 tennis matches

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs
• Strength train 15 days
• No S diet 15 days
• Average 13,000 steps/day
• Meditate 10 times
• Try a new workout

Personal:

• Language lessons 15 times
• Declutter 50 items from the house
• Get together with friends 2x
• Play pickleball x1
• Help college students (volunteer role) make college decisions
• Do something towards my goals of, "Try something new & uncomfortable" and "Say yes to more adventures"
• Reduce screen time

What about you? What do you have planned for March?

Menu Plan Sunday

 It's definitely going to be a busy week, with Nick's soccer banquet, me shadowing a class I'll be teaching in April, a soccer mom get together, and Nick & I don't get back from Colorado until tomorrow!

Having a menu plan is a small step towards keeping me (mostly) sane during a busy week. When we are gone, M typically has fish & salad. He's a man of routine. ;-) 

• Friday - lounge food for me + Nick, followed by pizza at our friend's house. Mahi mahi for M
• Saturday - at a friend's house
• Sunday - at a friend's house
• Monday - Nick & I will eat at the lounge ahead of our flight home
• Tuesday - chicken satay + rice, after I finish my class
• Wednesday -  soccer mom get together. Fajita chicken (from the freezer for M + Nick)
• Thursday - leftover chicken satay
• Friday - all of us will be eating at the soccer banquet

What about you? Any wins to share? 

February goals recap

As always, the month flew by! Here's how I did with my February goals. 

Financial:

• Continue to pay for Sam's college expenses - yes
• Get a new job - I have a new part-time job that I start in April, but still looking for something else as well
• Earn $300 in side hustle - $1276, with a large part of this being our Costco rebate. Without that, I would have still been over $300
• Pantry/freezer challenge 
• 1/2 pizza - gone
• Bottle of dressing - no progress
• Rest of the holiday cheese - 1/2 gone
• Estimate taxes & figure out funding plan - one set of returns filed, one set estimated, and funding plan in place

Family:

• Continue to help Nick with final college decisions - yes, and we have two tours this weekend to hopefully finalize a decision. 
• Have a great visit with Sam - we had so much fun when I was in Corvallis
• Optimize points, perks & miles. Track value. - the failed ski trip included a free night awards & points, so at least the hotel was free? We saved $720 vs paying out of pocket.
• Finalize Spain trip details. - booked trains
• Enjoy Nick's senior year. Have a great visit with family when everyone visits for senior night. - my dad being sick made this challenging, but Nick had an incredible senior night. 

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs - I lost .8 lbs
• Strength train 15 days - 16/15
• No S diet 15 days - 5/15
• Average 12,000 steps/day - 12,554
• Meditate 10 times - 2/10
• Try a new workout - no 

Personal:

• Language lessons 15 times - 12/15
• Declutter 50 items from the house - 10/50
• Look into a college class - no progress
• Get together with friends 2x - met a friend for a hike, and a friend for coffee
• Play pickleball x1 - no
• Do something towards my goals of, "Try something new & uncomfortable" and "Say yes to more adventures" - no progress

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

Frugal Friday

 Saving on things we buy

• Bought a few travel gift cards that we will use, and earned $45 in grocery store gift cards. 
• I had expiring Target Circle rewards (I rarely go there), so I stopped in to use them up. I also noticed I had a birthday coupon & some sort of other 10% off a purchase offer, so stacked everything together. Picked up two bags of goldfish crackers for Nick, who likes easy snacks between school & practice. I paid $2. I remember when you could regularly buy goldfish for $1/bag on sale, so I guess I managed to get the price down to what I paid 15 or so years ago? ;-) It wasn't exactly a great bargain, but it was a little something. 

Earning money

• Cashed in $55 in user studies

Avoiding spending

• Received a refund from a shuttle for Sam. It's a long story, but the cancellation code I had wouldn't work, and they only had one seat left on the shuttle he needed. I'd tried to get a hold of them for weeks, so I booked out of pocket. They got back to me a week later, and even though it's not their policy to offer a refund (you just get a credit), they made an exception. Saved $60. 

Eating what we have:

• Used up overly ripe bananas to make banana muffins for M.
• Ate leftovers from the freezer (tacos & lemon chicken)
• Picked lemons from our tree for salad dressing & other things
• Used up the last of the sliced cheese purchased on sale (replaced with cheaper bricks of cheese for future sandwich making) to make a few grilled cheese sandwiches for Nick
• Used up remaining taco meat, tortillas & shredded cheese to make taco quesadillas for Nick
• We've cleaned out the fruit drawer this week, with the exception of a few oranges
• Finished off the garlic beef noodles, rounded out with some edamame, as we didn't quite have enough for a full meal. 
• Used the last of a bagged salad, edamame & chicken for a lunch

For others

• Sent a gift to a friend who lost her father
• Rounded up shopping carts blocking parking spots (WHY DO PEOPLE DO THIS? It's my pet peeve.) & returned them all to the corrals. 
• Gifted a workout friend a Guest of Honor pass for a stay at the Hyatt in April. I get these with my status, and they are intended to be used if we are booking two rooms, and/or for gifting to others. She's going to Japan with her family, and is thrilled to have this. It will save them several hundred dollars, as well. 

Decidedly unfrugal: when we put our solar panels on, we increased the estimate from the solar company, to ensure we'd produce enough to offset the majority of our power bill. The cost of power has continued to rise, while production drops slightly over the lifetime of the panels. What does this mean? Once a year you get a "true up" power bill, and ours was over $1000 this year, which is both unexpected & not great. I need to start cleaning the panels at least once a month to increase production. I can't do much to change the cost of energy, but I can make sure our panels are producing as much as possible. Cleaning them is, as you can imagine, a PITA, but a task I can take on. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

Crossing off the nagging to dos

 I made some good progress yesterday, particularly on chores that have been lingering forever:

• Finally resolved the error in my taxes that was blocking me from submitting federal & state returns. It had to do with a mismatch on a state code on a form from a bank, and was endlessly irritating. We owe a lot (severance pay is withheld at a lower rate than what we would normally have withheld), but at least I can mark this off of my to do list, and move on to DH's taxes, as well as helping the teens with their tax returns.
• Called our insurance company & had our policy match the name of our trust. Apparently, your homeowner's insurance can decline claims if there is a mismatch between the names on the policy, and the deed of your house. We have our house in a trust, but the policy was just in our names. That's now been addressed, and I verified our fire insurance, which has been on the to do list forever.
• My dad wants to create small investment account for his four grandsons. I needed to call & provide the company with some information. Finally got that squared away as well. 
• Made banana muffins out of all of the lingering bananas in the freezer. They turned out really well.
• Cleaned the house, minus the shower. That still needs to happen.

As for today:

• Work out. A hike, as my workout class timing isn't great today.
• Call with a recruiter.
• Apply for two jobs
• Appt with my rheumatologist
• Pay doctor's bills
• Work on DH's taxes
• Clean shower
• Shadow a class I'm teaching 
• Add all of Nick's tennis matches to our family calendar

Any nagging tasks on your to do list?

Fitness Monday

 The weekend felt like it went by very quickly at our house. With Nick's soccer game, a long hike with a friend yesterday & lots of time spent on taxes! Working on taxes is always so fun. ;-) 

Here's how things are going on the fitness side:

Weight: I've lost .1 lbs since my previous low, for a total of 3.7 lbs for the year.

Steps per day: Last week I averaged 13,181 steps per day, an my current daily average is 12,436. This is lower than where I was a few weeks ago, as I had a few long driving days to Tahoe, a few days where I wasn't feeling well, etc. Luckily, I had almost 24k steps yesterday, which is greatly helping my average!

Calories: It's my goal to be around 1400 calories/day range consistently. Last time I checked in I was at 1,528 as the cumulative average for 2025. My daily average last week was 1,503, so slightly below my previous cumulative average, although still up a bit from my goal. My new 2025 cumulative average is 1,533. 

Workouts for the past week:

• One day with no workout, when we drove back from Lake Tahoe
• One day with a 30 minute elliptical workout in the hotel gym
• 4 days of my 60 minute workout class
• One very hard & hilly 8 mile hike with a friend
• Plus, a couple of additional 2 mile strolls a few of the days

Overall nutrition: things weren't great while we were traveling, but now that I'm back home & in my routine, I've been doing really well. Of course, I leave on Friday for a trip to Colorado with Nick. Traveling always makes it challenging for me to stick to my goals, so I need to work on that. 

I'd give myself another "B". Goals for this week include: continue with planned workouts, ensure I get plenty of steps & workouts while traveling, keep my calories to 1300 on non-travel days, and 1500 on travel days. Increase fruit & veggie intake. 

How are you doing with your health & fitness?

Menu Plan Sunday

 It's not a very impressive menu planning week, but even putting the loosest plan together is very helpful for me, as I try to organize my life. 

• Friday - we had lemon chicken from the freezer
• Saturday - beef kebabs & rice
• Sunday - garlic noodles with beef & broccoli
• Monday - leftover lemon chicken & rice
• Tuesday - kebabs
• Wednesday - leftover garlic noodles with beef & broccoli
• Thursday - wrap up any leftovers, or spaghetti & meatballs
• Friday - DH will eat salmon, Nick & I will grab something at the airport lounge ahead of our flight to Colorado

What about you? What's on your menu for the week ahead?

Drumming up a small list for Frugal Friday

 Because, it wasn't the most frugal week!

1. Cashed out some survey money
2. Earned $970 through Costco rewards, and had that auto deposited to our savings account.
3. Other than pizza on senior night (when there was really no time to cook food), I made meals when we had all of our guests. Tacos on the first night, taco salads for lunch the following day. Cheater pad thai from Costco + spring rolls for dinner on Thursday. Lunch of salad, baguette, various cheese & fruit for dinner on Friday. Pizza on Friday. Easy breakfast options every day. It did keep the costs way down from dining out, although our grocery bill was noticeably larger.
4. Gave my dad a pair of shoes I bought for Sam & didn't fit properly (but, were beyond the return window). They fit him perfectly & he had just been discussing needing a new pair, which is what reminded me of these shoes.
5. Received two days of free breakfast vouchers at the hotel we were staying at, thanks to my hotel status. 

What about you? Any wins to share?