Oh so much jet lag

I got back late last night, and I'm very much recovering today. Jet lag is the worst! I'm hoping that I can get a few things done around the house today (unpack, laundry, clean the fridge, etc) before I head out to volunteer at the school this afternoon.

We have a crazy weekend with SO MANY soccer games! I need to get my schedule sorted soon. Also, our nanny was not very reliable while I was out of town, which made things extremely difficult for M. *sigh*. This nanny thing is extremely hard. If I can't find anyone else more reliable in the next few months, I'm seriously considering quitting my job at the end of the year.

And with that, I'm (very groggily) off to do some chores. TGIF!!

The make do menu plan

Because I wasn't planning to be around much this week, I didn't build a real menu plan. M & the kids typically eat out a bit more frequently, eat pizza, etc, so even if I make a meal plan, they don't stick to it. ;-) However, fate intervened & I'm still here, & it's taken a bit of scrambling to get everyone fed. Here's what we've eaten & what's planned for the rest of the week:

• Sunday - homemade pizza & calzones (chicken pesto for the adults & canadian bacon for the kids)
• Monday - a variety of leftovers. I had chicken pilaf, M had leftover curry & spicy eggplant from our "date night", and the kids had leftover orzo & chicken. 
• Tuesday - leftover homemade pizza + edamame
• Wednesday - enchiladas (from the freezer)
• Thursday - quinoa, chicken & edamame
• Friday - I leave early to fly to Seoul, so I'm guessing the boys will eat pepperoni pizza. Yes, that's a lot of pizza in a week. ;-)
• Saturday - boys are on their own
• Sunday - boys are on their own

All I have to say is, thank goodness for freezer meals! In other news, I've sold a few items on my FB group (a Frozen DVD, a top sheet from my son's bed when he moved out of the crib - he's 10 ;-), and a bunch of books the boys were done reading. In fascinating things I don't understand, I posted a total of 20 books (shown in a photo) for $10. They were 6 of one series, 14 of another. Someone reached out & wanted just one series & made me an offer of $8. Great, fair enough. Our FB exchange is porch pickup only, so she stopped by & left the money under the mat. I added a comment to my original post with a note that I only had the other series left (6 books). The same person came back & offered me $3 for those books. . . So, why she paid $1 more for the books in two batches, I have no idea. And, why she didn't want them the first time, it's all a huge mystery. Anyway, the books are gone, & I made a total of $21 on my sales, but more importantly, got rid of a bunch of stuff we don't need around the house. Win/win!

Hope your weeks are going swimmingly!

Weekly Spending Report (9/12-9/18)

I was originally supposed to London tonight, but my boss has a family emergency & my trip was delayed. I'm now heading out on Friday morning for just the APAC portion of my trip. This means I will also have to add another London trip at another time before the end of the quarter, which is really going to be difficult.

But, onward & upward! Tracking my weekly spending enables me to see patterns & just keeps me more accountable toward my budget & goals.

• Monday - 9/12 - $200 deposited into the boys college accounts
• Tuesday - 9/13 - $335 - nanny
• Wednesday - 9/14  $8.58, M was late coming home from a team event & picked up Baja Fresh
• Thursday - 9/15 - $1770, season soccer fees for two kids
• Friday - 9/16
• $95 - school was out, so sports camp for two kids
• $4.69 - produce stand for celery, mushrooms & cucumber
• $6.58 - Lucky for milk
• Saturday - 9/17
• $37.98 - socks (me) & a hoodie (Sam) at Nike outlet 
• $34.50 - pedicure for me to cover up my crazy purple toes (bruised)
• $1.95 - a drink for Sam after playing soccer for 90 minutes in the 90+ degree weather
• $14.76 - lunch at Smashburger for Sam & M
• Sunday - 9/18
• $18.40 - baggies & lens wipes at Costco
• $136.32 - groceries at Costco

Total spent for the week = $2663.76, with the majority being kid expenses (camp, nanny, soccer & college!). Yikes!! We need a few inexpensive weeks to bring things back in check. :-) What about you? How did you do with your weekly spending? 

Soccer, soccer, & more soccer

Sam is playing in his own State Cup qualifying game this afternoon, and then this evening is helping out another team (one age division up) with their state qualifying match at 5:30. It's supposed to be 90 for the earlier game. Yikes. Yesterday it was 90 & all of the boys were wrecked by the end of their match.

Nick is out of town camping, and is by far our picky eater. It's always very hard to eat out with Nick, so Sam asked if we could go out to dinner to a restaurant of his choosing yesterday. Who can say no? ;-) We went out to Thai food - he loved the curry, satay, pad thai, etc. He was less of a fan of the eggplant, but I feel similarly.

My handsome date!

There were a few splurges yesterday,in addition to dinner out with our cutie. . . Three of my toenails are purple from my relay, so I got a pedicure yesterday & painted them a deep plum. It blends in perfectly. ;) I've been going without any polish on my toes, so it's quite a change. We also took Sam out to lunch yesterday (I ate at home for health reasons, as well as financial ones). And, I picked up new running socks at the Nike outlet.

But, I did sell $8 worth of kids books on my local FB group. Super easy & fast. I also paid cash for my pedicure, as you save 5% over using a credit card.

Today we have the following our list:

1. Yoga
2. Water the plants (x2, so hot!)
3. Sam's 1st game
4. Sam's 2nd game
5. Nick getting dropped off after his camping trip
6. Finish working out details of weekday/nanny/carpool schedule while I'm gone.
7. Make dinner early (calzones with salad), so either M can heat them up while I'm at Sam's 2nd game, or I can do it while he's at the game. 
8. Pack lunches
9. Laundry. Why is this such a never ending challenge?
10. Produce stand
11. Build calendar/schedule for the weekend I'm gone, for M
12. Create a list of meal options for M while I'm gone
13. Costco (moved over from yesterday)
14. Call my parents :-) 
15. Read my book for at least 15 minutes outside. In the shade!

And, that's it! How about you? Anything fun happening in your world? Hope it's a relaxing & productive (can those two things go together? Maybe?) day.

Happy Saturday

I've been up since 4:30 (despite my valiant efforts to go back to sleep) & have had a delicious scone (homemade, yesterday - amazing!) & a cup of coffee. At least I can get a few more things done, being up this early? ;-)

We have one boy going on an RV trip with a friend for his birthday, and the other playing soccer. I, as usual, need to get a bunch of stuff done around the house. Here's what I have in mind for today:

1. Strength training
2. Cardio
3. Start packing for business trip
4. Drop off Nick for RV trip
5. Take Sam to soccer game
6. Laundry
7. Hopefully sell books via FB group
8. Finish schedule for the next two weeks for the kids/nanny/carpool
9. Time permitting, go to the Nike outlet with a gift card/coupon to get a Christmas gift before the coupon expires
10. Have Nick finish school project before he leaves
11. Corral kids into cleaning their rooms
12. Juice lemons
13. Figure out dinner
14. Plan menu for the week
15. Make a Costco list
16. A trip to the big C

I've lost 2.2 lbs so far this month (woohoo!!!!), so I want to stay on track, particularly before I travel, which makes eating consistently well & working out challenging.

That's it! How about you? What are you up to today? 

Weekly Spending Report - 9/5-9/11

I'm late with this one, but still find it helpful to track. Here goes.

• Monday, 9/5 - $15.24 - took 3 boys out for Pokemon hunting & ice cream
• Tuesday, 9/6 - No spend day
• Wednesday, 9/7- No spend day
• Thursday, 9/8 - 

• $9.14  - milk & bananas at Lucky
• $41.97 - dinner for 5 (bonus carpool kid) at Sweet Tomatoes. This one frustrated me a little, because M got there before me with the kids, and paid. I had coupons. It would have been $10 less. Sigh.
• Friday, 9/9 - No spend day
• Saturday, 9/10
• $8.85 - produce stand (2 tubs of organic strawberries, 2 bunches of radishes, lavash, mini cucumbers)
• $127.34 - Costco. Regular groceries + salmon for M this week.
• Sunday, 9/11
• $9.63 - lunch for Sam after two back to back soccer games
• $41.26 - gas fill up in one car
• $32.15 -gas fill up in other car

Total spent = $285.58, which includes multiple meals out (unusual for us). I'm happy with the results. If only every week looked like this. :-) What about you? How did your weekly spending go? Any big wins?

Five things Friday

Yeah for the end of the week. It's Friday! Here's a random collection of things from my week, for your enjoyment. ;-)

1. I managed to use the last of my dried cranberries making these scones (highly recommend). I have a list of food I'm tackling from the pantry here. I've also used the poppy seeds, most of the nutella, some of the quinoa, and have plans for the orzo tonight. Woohoo! The lemons remain an ongoing struggle/opportunity. :-)
2. I'm working from home today, so I made a healthy breakfast from things laying around in the fridge (a piece of lavosh, an egg, a smidge of shredded cheese leftover from taco night, and a few golden grape tomatoes from the garden). Yum.
3. I need to prep for my trip (fly out on Tuesday). It's going to be everything from a high of 60 & rainy (London), to a high of 80 (Tokyo). It's going to be pretty challenging to pack. :-) I also need to get all of my carpooling, nanny & scheduling stuff worked out in advance.
4. I have to pay the boys soccer club fees for the fall season. It's not cheap - $1770 (that's the price for both).
5. Our nanny continues to be a challenge. And, work is a challenge right now, and it's not a good combination.

And with that, I'm off! What about you? What are some random things happening in your world this Friday? 

A new goal to close out 2016?

As I reconsider all of my work options (moving to fewer hours, leaving my employer altogether, taking on a reduced hours role at another company), I want to have a big safety net/cushion for this change. This safety net is critical for my own security, but also opens up lots of options for us on the relocation front (still under discussion), and gives me more freedom to find a different type of role & career altogether.

I'm tossing around the idea of challenging myself to have saved $200,000 by the end of January. I get a bonus mid-January, or I would have preferred the round 1/1/17 end date, of course. :-) I also want to have a maxed out 401K (important given my employer match & plans to change roles), and save $20K for our taxes (not included in the $200K).

I'm currently at $183,216. Do I think I can save $16,784 in just over 4 months? We are also coming up on Christmas, and have a vacation in Hawaii scheduled for Thanksgiving. It's going to be tight, but I want to set the goal! I think I can do it. Funds up for grabs will include:

• Anything leftover from my bonus (although, after tax deductions, my 401K, and then my $20K saved for our 2016 federal taxes, I highly doubt there will be anything left). 
• Stock vests (I get them monthly), minus taxes. 
• Anything leftover from our standard monthly budget

Having this goal should give me a lot of motivation to cut down on our spending, stay on track for Christmas & our trips, & look for additional ways to cut the budget. 

I'm excited! I like big goals. What about you? Do you have any big goals you are working towards? I'm already 91% of the way to my goal, so this is about focusing on that last mile! 

Saturday Happenings

It's been a regular Saturday around these parts, which included a soccer game, a walk (for me), menu planning, a trip to Costco, the produce stand & Rite Aid for a prescription. Plus, laundry, wrapping a birthday gift, and feeding hungry kids. Nothing too crazy.

I'm thinking that it might be time to mix up a batch of lemon drops, grab my book, and head out to the patio. I'm currently reading this & it's amazing! I've already ordered the other book from this author (from the library, of course). :-)

And with that, I'd love to hear what everyone else is putting on their menus this week. Bonus points for recipe links! I need some fresh ideas.

Weekly Spending Report (8/29-9/4)

Documenting my weekly spending reminds me of where we're going over, staying on track, and generally keeps me more accountable for my daily choices. They really do add up! Here's how things went on the long weekend:

• Monday, 8/29
• $420 - nanny
• $300 - gravel for some landscaping work at our vacation house. My dad & his crew did the work, so this was the cost of the supplies.
• Tuesday, 8/30
• $49.26 - dinner out for a school fundraiser
• Wednesday, 8/31 - No spend day
• Thursday, 9/1
• $15.99 - shoe repair. Had the heel replaced on one of my two go to work shoes (other shoes had the heel replaced earlier in the summer). Much cheaper than a new pair of shoes.
• $407.32 - four flights for a trip to Seattle/Portland in February. We will combine a bunch of things (kids birthdays, ski trip, as well as re-evaluating the Seattle area while we are there, and seeing our old house. I haven't been back since we moved!) I used a $500 credit on the airline from a previous snafu. 
• Friday, 9/2
• $12 - Tylenol. I was sick & had a high fever, so M stopped by the store to pick this up.
• $5.49 - Trader Joes. We were out of parmesan cheese & I was in the middle of dinner. Normally, we are much better prepared!
• Saturday, 9/3
• $10.73 - Costco, lunch at the food court
• $26.99 - a bottle of wine to take to dinner
• $187.17 - groceries at Costco, including a huge stock up of meat
• $14.99 - socks for Sam, who can now wear adult socks!
• $22.99 - plastic gloves for M, who likes to wear these when he's working with raw meat (grilling, etc)
• $45 - a sitter for date night
• $65.46 - dinner out for myself & M (date night!)
• Sunday, 9/4
• $36 - entry fee for 4 to the local water park
• $15.58 - fruit for smoothies at the produce stand. I flash froze all of this & stuck it in the freezer

Total spent = $1634.97! A very expensive week between the gravel, the flights, and more eating out & entertainment than usual. What about you? How did you do with your weekly spending? 

Frugal happenings

It was a great long weekend, & I took the opportunity to prepare for the week ahead & complete a few frugal tasks.

Here's what I accomplished:

• Made my own hummus vs buying
• Brought homemade pasta salad & lemon bread to potluck
• Went to inexpensive local water park vs Great America (savings of more than $80)
• Made my own smoothie fruit (bought super inexpensive, in season fruit, flash froze & packaged vs buying frozen fruit from Costco)
• Baked my own bread
• Listed 2 items on Ebay
• Cleaned both freezers
• Took leftovers after date night & used remaining chicken to make 2 lunches
• Made a big dinner on Friday night, yielding 3 weekend lunches (+1 bonus meal for the week)
• Cleaned fridge, & made a list of things we need to use
• Menu planned
• Maybe a stretch, but brought our own wine to date night :-)

And, there you have it! What about you? What are your frugal accomplishments for the week? 

Late night update - did I get anything done today?

In fact, I did. It was a pretty productive day! We also had two unexpected play dates (one for each kid), which was a bit of a distraction, but we managed.

1. Figure out schedule for the week. It's going to be a late one for me, given no work on Monday. Because I deal with Asia, and they are offline by my Friday, I had to consolidate all of my standard meetings into three days. Toss in that it's our yearly performance review time, and it's going to be a CRAZY week.
2. Build carpool schedule for the week.
3. Email nanny with all schedule details.
4. Build workout schedule for the week.
5. Make hummus
6. Make bread
7. Go for a run - went for a walk instead! 
8. Complete a strength workout
9. Call my parents
10. Finish up smoothie fruit. I bought $10 worth of fruit at the produce stand and flash froze most of it. I need to get the rest of it in the freezer. Much cheaper than buying previously frozen fruit. 
11. Clean the freezer! Didn't get to it yesterday, and it's full, but I have no idea what's in there. I need to update my itemized list.
12. Steam a sheet & list it on Ebay. (A Pottery Barn Kids sheet that's super cute & we never used, because my son will only sleep with a fitted sheet).
13. Start working on schedule for my LONG business trip. :-(
14. Carve out some time for reading my book, in the sunshine. 

If only all of the days could be like this. ;-) How about you? How was your day?

Menu Plan Monday

Plus other Monday miscellany. I love a long weekend! The bonus day of getting everything done makes all of the difference.

Here's what's on the menu (as well as a look back). It's a crazy work week, so we're going to take more shortcuts than normal.

Saturday -- out to dinner for our date night
Sunday - at a friend's potluck. I brought lemon bread & pasta salad
Monday - grilled burgers + pasta salad & watermelon
Tuesday - Super late night for all of us. Probably out to dinner
Wednesday - Another late night, so probably "Asian" dinner, with a variety of Trader Joes options from the freezer
Thursday - Leftover burgers
Friday - Rice pilaf with sausage (pushed from last week)

Here's what's on my to do list for today:

1. Figure out schedule for the week. It's going to be a late one for me, given no work on Monday. Because I deal with Asia, and they are offline by my Friday, I had to consolidate all of my standard meetings into three days. Toss in that it's our yearly performance review time, and it's going to be a CRAZY week.
2. Build carpool schedule for the week.
3. Email nanny with all schedule details.
4. Build workout schedule for the week.
5. Make hummus
6. Make bread
7. Go for a run
8. Complete a strength workout
9. Call my parents
10. Finish up smoothie fruit. I bought $10 worth of fruit at the produce stand and flash froze most of it. I need to get the rest of it in the freezer. Much cheaper than buying previously frozen fruit. 
11. Clean the freezer! Didn't get to it yesterday, and it's full, but I have no idea what's in there. I need to update my itemized list.
12. Steam a sheet & list it on Ebay. (A Pottery Barn Kids sheet that's super cute & we never used, because my son will only sleep with a fitted sheet).
13. Start working on schedule for my LONG business trip. :-(
14. Carve out some time for reading my book, in the sunshine. 

That's it! Let's hope I can get it all done today. What about you? What's on the menu for the week? What are you hoping to accomplish? 

A long weekend Sunday

My favorite kind of Sunday, after all. ;-) I'm listening to the sounds of three boys (Nick had a friend sleepover last night) play Nerf guns. They've been at it since 6:30, pausing briefly for breakfast. We're also heading to an outdoor movie/potluck at a friend's house this evening. Here's what's on the agenda/to do list for today:

1. Cardio of some sort
2. Yoga
3. Make lemon bread to bring to the party
4. Plan the menu for the week
5. Laundry
6. Wash all sheets/make all beds
7. Return books to the library
8. Take the kids to a local farm with a swimming pool
9. Plan schedule for the week, including work schedule, carpools, etc. 
10. Clean fridge & freezer

I think that will do it! Having a bonus day makes the weekends so much more relaxing. What about you? What's on your agenda for today? If you are in the US, are you taking advantage of the long weekend?

Tales from the grocery store

It's been a while since I've done a post like this, but here goes! This is a trip to Costco, pretty standard but with significantly more meat than we normally buy. We've been eating down most of the freezer, so lots of meat was purchased this week.

Dairy - $31.64

• 2% milk - $4.99
• Organic eggs - $6.49
• A brick of cheddar cheese - $8.49
• A brick of Romano cheese - $11.67

Fruit - $30.33

• Pears - $5.99
• Honeydew melon - $2.59
• Bananas - $1.39
• Bananas - $1.39
• Kiwi - $7.99
• Grapes - $7.49
• Pineapple - $3.49

Vegetables - $30.73

• Onions - $6.49
• Tomatoes - $5.79
• Romaine - $3.49
• Carrots - $4.49
• Cauliflower - $3.49
• Cucumbers - $3.49
• Cucumbers - $3.49

Grains - $6.49

• Sandwich rolls - $6.49

Meat - $88.77

• Salami for sandwiches - $13.99
• Breaded chicken - $11.99
• Tilapia - $9.99
• Chicken breasts - $25.47 ($2.99/lb)
• Hot dogs (a rare splurge) - $10.99
• Ground beef - $16.34

Pantry  - $4.99

• Cooking spray - $4.99

We also bought a bottle of wine to take to dinner tonight, but that goes into our alcohol budget. Can't wait for date night. What about you? Have you been sticking to your grocery budget, or blowing it? I'm going to have a hard time sticking to mine with a big first purchase for the month, but I should be all stocked up for meat for a while. 

Goals for September

I'm trying to take advantage of the long weekend to get ready for September! I have a 12 day business trip scheduled for this month, so I need to plan accordingly.

Finances:

• Stick to our budget
• Save $2,500, in addition to our stock vests. 
• Put $100/each in the boys college funds

Family:

• Have one date night with M
• Donate, sell or toss 50 items in the house.
• Clean the garage!
• Plan one family fun night, potentially a movie, popcorn, game night.
• Try a new recipe that everyone (including my little guy) will eat. 

Fitness:

• Lose 2 pounds. 
• Eat 5 servings of fruits & vegetables 
• Complete 5 stretching workouts (yoga or pilates)
• Complete 7 strength workouts
• Complete 900 minutes of cardio. It's a big month with my adventure relay 
• Average 1350 calories/day
• Stay on track during my epic business trip

Work/Career:

• Maximum of one late night/week
• Work from home at least one Friday this month

Personal/Creative:

• Read four books
• Get together with one friend

I'm concerned about my progress, given my long trip, but need to stay focused. What about you? What do you have teed up to accomplish in September? 

How did I do on my August goals?

As usual, August was an absolute blur! Let's take a quick look back at how I did for the month.

August goals

Finances:

• Stick to our budget - yes! We were $1300 under, mostly due to not having a nanny for much of the month. 
• Save $1,500, in addition to our stock vests. This will be tight this month, as we are back to having a nanny. - Crushed it! We saved $4,000 (in addition to our stock vests) & also paid an additional $750 on our 2nd mortgage. Woohoo!
• Put $100/each in the boys college funds - Yes!

Family:

• Have one date night with M - Yes, when the boys were at summer camp. We went out 3 nights, hence the higher spending on dining out. ;-) 
• Donate, sell or toss 50 items in the house. - Yes, easily achieved this. The boys & I went through their entire closets. I'd say we donated more than 100 items. 
• Clean the garage! - Nope, didn't make this happen. 
• Train nanny. Mostly hired. ;-) - She's hired & trained, but we're still working through some issues. Her sister is getting married & she needs a bunch of time off, plus is not consistently available on Fridays. It's been a process.  

Fitness:

• Lose 2 pounds. - I lost .7 of a lb. So, progress! Not as much as I wanted, but I'll take any downward progress. :-) 
• Eat 5 servings of fruits & vegetables - I didn't track very often. Need to get back on this. 
• Complete 5 stretching workouts (yoga or pilates) - I managed to get in 4 stretching workouts. 
• Complete 7 strength workouts - And, 4 strength workouts. 
• Complete 1200 minutes of cardio. It's a big month with my adventure relay  - Woohoo! I'm at 1245 for the month. 
• Average 1350 calories/day - I finished at 1426, which is slightly higher. I had a few higher days that really impacted this. 
• Successfully finish my relay! - Yes!!!! I came in exactly at my pace time, for two really challenging legs, so feeling very proud of this. 

Work/Career:

• Maximum of one late night/week - I definitely didn't achieve this one. Between the nanny training & general work chaos, I had to split my day up a bit to accommodate being home in the afternoons. 
• Work from home at least one Friday this month - Yes, I managed this once. 
• Explore other work options at my existing company - I've pretty much ruled this out, and am not planning to find another role here. 

Personal/Creative:

• Read four books - Yes! Probably more like 8. 
• Get together with one friend - Yes, I did a hike, spent time with my parents when they were here, and also got to spend time with my sister & BFF last weekend. 

All in all, I'm very pleased with my progress this month. Next month, my focus is on fitness & actually making progress on the weight loss! What about you? How did you do with your August goals?