Menu Plan Monday

We have a bit of a crazy week, so I'll try & take everything into account while planning the menu for the week ahead.

In Freezer Challenge news, I was able to use up the chicken nuggets, taquitos & one of the two frozen pizzas while we were at the house, so I'll consider that a win.

Here's our menu plan for the week:

• Saturday - we had lasagna & salad
• Sunday - we made risotto out of leftovers from the meat & cheese tray. It was so delish!
• Monday - steak, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts & sauteed mushrooms
• Tuesday - we're flying home, so I will pack sandwiches for everyone.
• Wednesday - kebabs (from the freezer) & rice
• Thursday - chicken fiesta rice + guacamole
• Friday - we are going skiing, so we will bring something with us to the cabin we're staying in. I'm thinking maybe I'll make chili, or we'll bring a frozen lasagna or pizza. Something easy!
• Saturday - we'll be coming back from skiing, so probably leftover chicken fiesta rice

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

2018 Goals - Final Wrap Up

I can't believe it, but it's the last day of the year! I'm looking forward to setting a fresh new set of goals for 2019, & refining my focus for the year ahead.

1) Financial:

• Build/follow a 2018 "interim budget" (until I leave my job) & a 2018 "post-job budget", after. - I didn't end up leaving my job in 2018, but I do have a revised budget for when I eventually leave my job. To be honest, we've made so many tweaks to date to lower our expenses, the budget looks pretty similar from a spending perspective. 
• Save another $125K before I quit - I would have been at $110K, but we opted to put $200K into paying off our vacation house, so I'm now under for the year. Additionally, we paid for air conditioning & solar this year, so I'm feeling very happy about our progress.
• Every month, come up with a new way to reduce what we need/spend on an ongoing basis. - We weren't consistent on the monthly cadence, but I'm considering it an overall win: 
• I started using a handkerchief instead of kleenex. However, my plan to get more (for the rest of the family) fell through. I now have an old sheet saved, & I'd like to sew these in 2019.
• We installed solar! This is the biggest win in this category. ;-)
• We paid off our vacation house! No more mortgage payments.
• I found a recipe for my favorite store hummus, avoiding the need to buy. 
• We discussed a rainwater solution (didn't implement) & cancelling Amazon Prime also didn't implement), so those are opportunities for 2019.
• We can charge our electric car for free at work, and thus haven't needed to install a charger at our house. 
• We replaced our battery powered outdoor lights with solar powered
• We bought flasks for everyone, and have both kept them for months (a win with the kids), but have used them to replace water out while traveling. We also gifted them to my dad & nephew on a long car trip, and now everyone wants one. They are awesome, and keep water cold for 12+ hours. We bought ours at Costco. 
• Model out a 3, 5 & 10 year financial plan - We actually spent quite a bit of time modeling out what it would take to pay off our primary residence. There's always more work to do here, but I feel reasonably good with what we have to date. I'm sure life with throw more curve balls at us, either way. :-) 

2) Family - Spend more time together as a family!

• Do a minimum of one fun activity/month with the kids. This can be family puzzle night, cooking dinner together, board games, going out somewhere, etc. - This happened. Not sure it happened every month, but definitely had months where we had more than one activity as well, so considering this a win. We also had lots of fun time together over the Thanksgiving & Christmas breaks. So many rounds of Yahtzee! 
• Be more present with the kids & M - play games, minimize computer time, exercise together, etc. - I'd still like to shave another hour of computer time (work, etc) off of my day, but overall, this has gone well.
• Have two dates with M per month (one lunch, one evening) - Yes, although it was realistically one per month + a weekend getaway. 

3) Fitness/health - Lose 20 pounds, bringing my weight to 135. - Nope. I've lost a few pounds for the year, but nowhere near 20 lbs. 

• Make running a consistent part of my life. Build & follow a training plan, & run a half marathon. - Yes! I ran the half marathon. I wasn't as consistent as I'd like, but I'll take it. 

• Eat five servings of fruit & vegetables (combined) per day - I'm at about 4.12, so close but not quite.
• Get back to more actively tracking my calories, at least until I start to see a consistent weight drop - I do this regularly. 
• Complete 10,000 minutes of cardio - Nailed it! Already over 10,000 minutes. 
• Complete 100 strength workouts. - Yes! Last one on the agenda for today. 
• Complete 75 stretching workouts. Make yoga a consistent part of my life. - I'm at 40, which is an uptick from previous years, but nowhere near 75. 

4) Work/career - Improve my work life balance.

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress (until I leave) - It's still hard, but I've made some big strides here. Knowing the end is in sight has been really helpful for my perspective. 

• Determine an end date for my job. Tentatively scheduled for end of June. And then, quit my job. Really. Do. This. - Well, when I advised my manager of my plan to leave, they offered me a sabbatical. So, I'll be taking that instead & then determining if I'm coming back part time, or at all. 

5) Personal/creative - Spend more time on myself/creative pursuits.

• Learn how to cut my own hair - Nope. I got two haircuts for the year & . . . paid! 
• Learn how to make yogurt - Yes! Well, I made it once, and it went fine, but now my stomach rejects yogurt, so I haven't been buying or making it.
• Make time for my friends. Do something social at least once per month. - While I haven't achieved once/month & have actually spent less time on small interactions (walking, meeting friends for lunches), I've done a few get togethers over longer weekends, etc. I did a girls trip in April & July. I also have a few friend lunches scheduled over the upcoming months, but this is an area where I can do better. 
• Volunteer a minimum of 1x/month. - I've been pretty sporadic on this one, and need to find a flexible volunteering role. 
• Complete a Dream Bio (stolen from Frugalwoods) - Done.

Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about my progress this year. There is always plenty of room for improvement, but we had a lot of wins this year! How about you? How did you do with your goals this year? 

Fitness progress in 2018 - how did I do?

With just a couple of days left in 2018, it's time to check in on my fitness goals for the year. There is, as usual, both good news & bad news. If health & fitness changes were easy, we'd all be at our ideal weight & running ultra marathons (or, insert your fitness goal here). :-)

Here's how I did with my 2018 fitness goals:
 

• Lose 20 lbs. I lost 7 lbs, so progress was made, but not as much as needs to be made, or what I was hoping for. A few thoughts on this. As I get older, each year I need to continue to look for ways to make changes, as my metabolism slows down. 
• Make running a consistent part of my life. Build & follow a training plan, & run a half marathon - Okay, so I ran a half marathon! That's the awesome news. I also didn't do super well with my my training plan, which means I hurt my knee during the half & it's taken several months before I can work out consistently again. But, I did run 48 times last year, so once a week. I really need to be running 3x/week, but I'm happy that I accomplished my half goal for the year, so giving this one a green. 
• Eat five servings of fruit & vegetables (combined) per day. I finished the year with 4.12/day average. This will be a good area for me to continue to focus in 2019. Generally, when I've had a high fruit & veggie day, it's also a healthy eating day overall (lower calories, healthier eating, etc). I finished last year with just over 3, so this was as solid improvement. 
• Get back to more actively tracking my calories, at least until I start to see a consistent weight drop. I did okay on this one, but probably missed about ten days where I just estimated. 
• Complete 10,000 minutes of cardio - I crushed this! I finished with 10,595 minutes. Woohoo! I had 10,160 last year. 
• Complete 100 strength workouts. - I have one day left, and I'm at 99 strength workouts. So, I'll be getting in a strength workout tomorrow & calling this a win! I can most definitely tell a difference in my more focus on strength training this year. I had 86 strength workouts last year. 
• Complete 75 stretching workouts. Make yoga a consistent part of my life. - Eh, I finished with 40 strength training workouts. I had 36 last year, so at least there was some improvement. :-) 

The thing about health & fitness - you can never give up. It's an ongoing journey that needs to evolve as you age. I'm learning this lesson from my parents, who are in their mid to late 60s & still in incredible shape. Here are my health & fitness goals for 2019:

• Lose 15 pounds. This feels achievable, but will be a challenge for sure.
• Eat 5 servings of fruit & vegetables/day
• Build & follow a training plan & run a half marathon in under 2:25. 
• Work out every day in 2019. (Realistically, this will be completing 365 workouts, vs hitting every day. I want a bit of flexibility for days I'm sick, traveling, etc.) 
• Get back to more actively tracking my calories
• Complete 10,000 minutes of cardio
• Complete 100 strength workouts.
• Complete 75 stretching workouts.
• Complete 100 meditations

What about you? Do you have health & fitness goals? How did you do in 2018? What are your plans for 2019?

2018 discretionary spending categories - how did we do?

I wanted to look at our discretionary spending across a few categories & see how we've been doing year over year. There are  a few categories where we hit all time lows. (And, by all time, I mean since we've been tracking in a dedication fashion, which was 2013).

I've highlighted the five year lows in green. There are a few where we were close to the all time lows, but didn't quite achieve it. And, one where we were close to the all time high. *Travel*. :-)

I track all of our budget categories, but feel we can most easily control the categories below, so specifics for those below.

Some thoughts one each of the categories:

• Boys all - we cut back on one activity, so that made the difference in the downward trend. This doesn't include college savings.
• Dining out - Super pleased by this number! It's taken quite a bit of dedicated effort to get this so low. We are just to a place where we try to replace meals out with easy at home options. I've also gotten better about prepping & planning meals during travel days, to avoid eating at the airport.
• Groceries - this one was at a five year low, but entertaining at the beach pushed us just over ($75) our five year low. I'm still very pleased, given we now have much bigger eaters & the price of groceries have gone up.
• Clothing - We're doing okay on this one, but I'm going to cut my own clothing expenses for 2019 way back to $250 for the year. This will include a new pair of running shoes, which will be the bulk of the spending.  
• Travel. We added two unplanned trips to the budget. Our trip to Hawaii was an agreement when I decided to keep working - an extra "motivation", so to speak. That's what pushed us way over. It wasn't, however, a 5 year high, as we apparently spent more in 2014!
• Toiletries. I did well, although we didn't track in 2013, so I'm not 100% sure it was a five year low. 
• Personal. These are hair cuts for the kids & M, primarily. I also got my hair cut once. You can see that my changes to spending in hair cuts have led to a huge tick down from prior years. 
• Gas. We bought an electric car, so we've been able to keep our gas spending much lower. 
• Utilities. Like gas, we invested in solar, so this was a planned investment to reduce our utilities over time. 
• Gifts. M & I greatly reduced what we bought each other for the year, so we could continue to by for others. We don't need anything at this phase of life, and can buy what we need. It's more fun to treat others. 

What about you? How are you doing with your discretionary categories? Any all time lows? Or highs? 

Budget categories over time
	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013
Boys all (no college)	6931	7884	7143	5597	7240	2760
Dining out	2677	3717	4590	3143	4133	3012
Groceries	7285	8047	8160	7913	7308	7210
Clothing	1726	2008	1965	3378	270	2346
Travel	15682	11836	11007	13726	16914	7210
Toiletries	152	205	335	614	989	0
Personal	453	377	1139	1143	1199	1052
Gas	1445	1901	1884	2139	2938	3684
Utilities	5238	7905	5357	5328	6084	7619
Gifts	981	1466	4009	1826	2127	2120

Frugal Friday

It doesn't feel like a particularly frugal week, as we were back & forth for the holidays, stocking up on groceries, and doing house projects at our vacation house. But, we did have a few frugal wins:

• Found soccer cleats for Nick for $6 at the Nike outlet. We bought two pair, so he can rotate between games & practices, as they get wet & don't dry out. 
• Very limited meals out. Lunch at Costco after we flew in to Portland, and stopped at a local Costco to pick up groceries.
• M & I had an unexpected day without the kids, and shared a burger & each had a beer at a local brewery. After that, we came home & ate leftovers.
• Menu planned for the holidays, including when we are entertaining with the family at our house.
• Brought a few things from home (cilantro). I've made guacamole twice with it. 

How about you? Any frugal wins for the week?

Goals for 2019

I love the beginning of the new year, and new goals. January always feels like a time filled with potential for the year ahead. I'm excited to tackle my 2019 goals!

As with previous years, I find the buckets of goals helps me keep things in reasonable balance.


1) Financial:

• Stick to the budget
• Come up with a "pay off our house" model, & a 3/5/10 year plan
• Every month, come up with a new way to reduce what we need/spend on an ongoing basis.
• Make $3,000 in side hustle money (I made $2,791 in 2018, so this will be a nice stretch)
• Continue to track "unplanned" money & divert it to our goals
• Increase our charitable giving to cover the new corporate match. 

2) Family - Spend more time together as a family!

• Do a minimum of one fun activity/month with the kids. 
• Be more present with the kids & M - play games, minimize computer time, exercise together, etc. 
• Have two dates with M per month

3) Fitness/health - lose 15 pounds 

• Eat 5 servings of fruit & vegetables/day
• Build & follow a training plan & run a half marathon in under 2:25. 
• Work out every day in 2019. (Realistically, this will be completing 365 workouts, vs hitting every day. I want a bit of flexibility for days I'm sick, traveling, etc.) 
• Get back to more actively tracking my calories
• Complete 10,000 minutes of cardio
• Complete 100 strength workouts.
• Complete 75 stretching workouts.
• Complete 100 meditations

4) Work/career - Improve my work life balance.

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress (until I leave)
• Take a sabbatical
• Decide on returning to work part time
• Stop using electronics by 7:30 each evening

5) Personal/creative - Spend more time on myself/creative pursuits.

• Make time for my friends. Do something social at least once per month.
• Volunteer a minimum of 1x/month
• Write/journal 
• Make something homemade for Christmas
• Make photo books & get rid of our all extra digital & photo clutter

What about you? What are your goals for 2019?

2018 Travel Freebies & Savings

Inspired by Cheap Chick, I thought I'd check in our travel freebies for 2018.

Most of our freebies are earned through either our credit card (we charge all purchases, and then pay the bill in full each month), our frequent flier accounts, or through work travel. I am also sitting on a large number of points on United that I've yet to use this year. Here's a post I wrote about our travel plans for 2019, and our inventory of travel points/miles.

Here are the discounts/freebies we used for travel in 2018. We saved the following:

• $295.76 by using points for a flight to Las Vegas
• $20 by buying a discounted Southwest card for another trip to Las Vegas
• $452.41 on three flights to the beach for the summer
• $187.57 on a companion fare for Nick for our flights for the holidays
• $351.20 by using points on Sam's flight for the holidays
• $286.60 by using miles for a flight to Portland for my half marathon
• $37.80 by using a 10% off code for a flight to the relay I run
• $1150 by using a three free night offer in Las Vegas, plus earned a $400 promotional credit
• $1400 by using miles for two flights to Hawaii
• $150.39 for a trip to visit, as a gift to my sister. I used credits on Alaska
• $126.40 for a work trip, by using Alaska credits. I'll get reimbursed by work after the trip is complete

All told, we saved $4,458.13 by utilizing points, credits & promotional offers. Unfortunately, Alaska discontinued their low fare price matching program, which has saved us a significant amount over the past few years. I'll have to stay on top of our organization & planning, as we have had to change our plans more than normal due to work schedule issues, etc. Those change fees add up & can eliminate any price saving advantages. Reducing/eliminating those fees takes quite a bit of up front planning (ensuring the dates are locked for work & most advantageous from a scheduling perspective), but is one of my goals in 2019.

What about you? Do you track travel freebies & savings? How did you do in 2018?

Financial wins in 2018

We had an amazing Christmas with my family, and I'm still eating the leftover cookies & candy. ;-) Last night, as we were packing up to drive back to the coast, Sam asked if he could stay with my parents for one more night. My parents were super excited to get an additional day and a half of bonus grand kid time, so the kids are off with my parents, & M & I are at the beach alone. We bought the house nine years ago, and have never been here together without the kids. What a fun treat! We slept in this morning, went for a super long walk on the beach, and we are planning a fun dinner tonight. I'm also getting a few things done in the bliss of a quiet house.

I don't know how you operate, but I often forget about our accomplishments as soon as they are past, focusing instead on the next big goal. It's a productive method, but one that leaves you always on the next hunt, not reflecting on what you've accomplished to date. So for today, I'll stop & take a look at what we accomplished financially in 2018:

1. We installed solar in our house. This was a big goal, both for environmental reasons, as well as a hedge against future power increases, a desire to be more self sufficient, and a long term reduction in our energy costs. We also wanted to take advantage of the expected tax savings. We'll know more about the tax savings, but have so far saved $1,670 on our power bills. I'll do a full calculation of our payback timeline on the installation once we understand how it impacts our taxes. We paid $27,864 to have the solar installed.
2. Once we had solar installed, we had air conditioning put in our house. The cost of running an a/c unit can be cost prohibitive, which is why we wanted solar first. Our house is not at all energy efficient, and required multiple upgrades to get up to code, so this wasn't a standard a/c install. We needed all new duct work, a full electrical rebuild (which, we was included with the solar installation), etc. We've lived in the same neighborhood (different house) without ever really needing air conditioning, but the layout of our house & direction it faces makes it incredibly hot during the summer. It also makes it a prime solar candidate, so I suppose there's that as a blessing. We spent $30,000 for the combined air conditioning/energy upgrade project. We consider this a financial win for 2018, as it was a much needed & planned for upgrade to the house. 
3. We maxed out our 401Ks, including a catch up contribution for M, as he's over 50. We invested $43,000 in our 401Ks, not including employer matches. 
4. We maxed out our HSA plan. This was a last minute add towards the end of the year, once I realized we were leaving money on the table, and understood the tax advantages of maxing this account. We saved $6,900 in our HSA account. 
5. We invested in the kids 529s. While not our top priority this year, we did divert a significant portion of non paycheck (e.g. unplanned/unexpected) money into the kids college accounts. We will end the year with $5,590 getting added to the kids college accounts. 
6. And, the big one . . . we paid off our vacation house mortgage. The majority of our unplanned/unexpected money went towards this. We also used additional savings for the year, plus some of our profit from our rental house (Seattle house) sale towards this. We paid an additional $202,546 of principal to pay this off. 

I'm pleased with our progress, and looking forward to more forward momentum in 2019. Fortunately/unfortunately, we have our primary mortgage left, and it's a beast, so we'll need to create smaller milestones to celebrate next year.

What about you? What financial wins are you proud of in reflecting on 2018 & your progress? 

Merry Christmas

There was a break in the storm yesterday, so we got outside again to go to the beach & fly kites. The beach was almost gone because the waves were so far up the beach. It was a totally different landscape than Friday.

A few more pictures, because I just can't stop taking photos of the beach. We will be heading out shortly to celebrate the holidays with my family. Wishing everyone and lovely & relaxing holiday with their friends & families.

Freezer Challenge - the vacation freezer edition

We had great success with our freezer challenge, so we'll try the vacation freezer edition now that we're at our vacation house. Unfortunately, we've been adding to the freezer here vs cleaning it out, so my freezer challenge is to avoid ADDING to the freezer, vs removing from the freezer. Here are a few things I want to make sure we use up while we're here:

• A small bag of chicken nuggets
• Two lonely taquitos 
• Two frozen pizzas

And, here's our menu for the upcoming week or so:

• Sunday, 12/23 - we are having salmon, rice & salad. 
• Monday, 12/24 - (Christmas Eve). We'll be having lasagna. I'm in charge of bringing salad, a veggie tray & a few other things. 
• Tuesday, 12/25 - (Christmas Day). We're having soup & salad, with garlic bread. 
• Wednesday, 12/26 - We'll be having spaghetti & meatballs
• Thursday, 12/27 - We'll be having guests at the house. I'm thinking tacos (meat from the freezer) + homemade chips & guacamole. We made homemade tortilla chips yesterday & they were amazing, so we'll try them again when we have my family over. 
• Friday, 12/28 - We'll be having guests at the house. M will make a stuffed baguette with homemade chicken strips. 
• Saturday, 12/29 - pizza from the freezer 
• Sunday, 12/30 - salmon 
• Monday, 12/31 - For New Year's Eve, we'll be having steak & mashed potatoes

I'll serve the two lonely taquitos & chicken nuggets to the kids for lunch one of the days. My goal for the vacation house is to use up the food we purchased, and not waste any, and minimize what we add to the freezer. I also am planning on doing a freezer & pantry inventory before we leave. I bought a few things that we didn't need (could have used things from the freezer or pantry). But, because we don't have an inventory & we shopped before arriving, we wasted money. So, that will be a goal for 2019 - to keep an updated inventory for the vacation house & ensure we're reducing waste.

That's it for the food related stuff. Here's what's on my to do list for today:

1. Some sort of indoor workout. I brought DVDs from home, and the weather here is stormy, so an indoor workout it is
2. Make shopping list for tomorrow, as we'll stop by the store on our way to Christmas
3. Finalize packing list for tomorrow
4. Laundry
5. Finish wrapping all of the gifts

Hope you are all productive & relaxed today!

Happy Saturday

The Oregon coast is stunning in the summer, but I adore it in the winter. Cold, windy & no one on the beach. The clouds, fog & waves almost blend together!

We had to be up early yesterday (5:00), but were on the beach by late afternoon. It was worth it! We'll be enjoying our time together for a few days, and then heading to my parents on Christmas Eve.

Two boys + a frisbee = bliss. . .

I hope you each find ways to celebrate, in whatever way that means to you. For us, it was going for a walk on the beach, flying kites, bundling up & then drinking hot tea out of flasks, playing games with the kids, & lots of laughs. Followed up by spaghetti & meatballs at home (with an amazing bottle of wine for the adults.) Feeling super blessed. 

Frugal Friday

It's the home stretch, friends! So happy to be on vacation officially starting today.

• Sold one of the kids BMX bikes. He paid me back for the skateboard he bought, & then we split the rest of the profit. Half went into his college account, and he gets the rest to spend. These bikes were purchased from their own money. Otherwise, they don't get any of the profits. ;-) 
• Used up leftovers in the fridge before we took off on vacation
• Packed a few extra items for our beach house (pasta & risotto) that we'll use in our menu
• Used a flight credit for a work flight, which I'll be reimbursed for
• I made my husband truffles for a work baking exchange (he was attempting to buy)
• Helped my son make marzipan (vs buy) for a school event. It's actually easy to make (first time for me), but a pain to clean up the paste like substance that's left over in your food processor). 
• Bought Uber gift cards (I use Uber for work trips, as well as personal travel) and earned a $30 grocery store gift card
• Made two last minute kid exchange gifts using things from my stash, vs having to go to the grocery store
• Ate all of the planned food (dinners) before we left, and avoided meals out & food waste

Looking forward to a relaxing time together with family. I hope you all have an amazing and festive upcoming few weeks, with time off, friendship, family & fun, as well as whatever personal meaning the celebrations may have for you!

What frugal activities have you been up to this week?

Almost there!

It's a crazy last week before we take off for the holidays. There's a tremendous amount of work to be done at the office, plus a bunch of family stuff on the agenda.

In positive news, both boys made the school soccer team. It's very competitive, and this was a great outcome for both kids. Sam is going to stop playing club soccer, so this was a really good transition for him after a particularly hard season of club soccer. We selected our club for the kids because it was a good mix of player development (vs winning) & many of their friends attend. Nick's experience has been amazing throughout. Sam's experience has been really challenging. This past season was the end for us. A few of the parents feel that some of the kids (mine included) are holding their kids back, and they haven't been shy about it. Their kids hear this at home, and are really negative with the kids at the lower end of the team. The coach is also much harsher as a style than I think Sam needs for his personality. (Nick, ironically, loves the harsh coaching & adores the coach.)  Altogether, sports are supposed to be fun, positive, & focused on sportsmanship. We've crossed over that on Sam's team, so he won't be playing in the spring. It will be a huge identity shift for him, and he's struggling with it very much. (There's a bunch more as to why this became a decision that I've shielded him from, but it's a must do for us as parents.) I'm looking forward to some of the soccer drama dying down, but I will very much miss the great parents who were part of the team. The other parents. . . won't miss at all. ;-)

The school soccer season kicks off in earnest with two games this week, so I have to sort that out. Then I have a holiday dinner with my peers, at my manager's house on Thursday evening. And, we fly out super early on Friday morning. So, quite a lot going on! I need to be very productive this week. I'm mostly packed for the trip, all gifts are purchased, snacks and the like are in the bags & ready for the flights. It's mostly last minute stuff left that can't be packed ahead. I also have created a draft menu for our time on the coast, so hopefully I'll be reasonably organized. It's not totally locked in, mostly because I can't recall what we have in our freezer & pantry, so I need to go & inventory a bit before we finalize our plans.

Where are you at with your end of the year plans? Is this the crazy stretch, or are you mostly ready?

Freezer Challenge Week 4

I'm still really enjoying our freezer challenge, and will try something similar once I get to our vacation house on Friday & inventory our freezer & pantry there. I was happy to move out a bunch of stuff, and there is definitely more room in our freezer. (Although, M bought two giant bags of cranberries for cranberry muffins, so new things did get added. ;-))

Freezer challenge items for next week:

1. 2 containers of sauce with beef tips
2. Another container of chicken soup - this was a fail because I'm the only one who likes this type of soup, and this one has a ton of dairy, which bothers my stomach. Trying to think of what to do with it. 
3. Gravy
4. Stuffing
5. Turkey - we had a turkey in the fridge that needed to be used first, so we went with this instead.

We also were able to use up a few bonus items:

• A container of taco meat 
• A bag of tortillas
• Lasagna
• A container of tortilla soup
• A small package of ham 

I have just a couple of items for the week, as I'm trying to be realistic about what we will eat before we leave. 

• 12 freezer burritos
• Lubia polo (Persian beef & rice dish)

And, here's a menu that should use up most items:

• Saturday - lasagna
• Sunday - Lubia polo
• Monday - Freezer burritos with guac
• Tuesday - leftover lasagna
• Wednesday - leftover lubia polo
• Thursday - freezer burritos w/guac
• Friday - we will be out of town, but it will definitely be a freezer meal from our vacation house

I will still try to get one of the kids to eat the soup that's left today, but that's a maybe for completing the challenge. Otherwise, I feel good about the bonus items & the planned things we used. What about you? Are you trying to use up anything in your freezer? How are you doing with your freezer challenge?

Frugal Friday

We didn't really do anything too exciting this week, but here are a few wins:

• All meals from home (or free from work), with the exception of one using a coupon & a gift card. The kids played in a tournament over the weekend, so they were ravenous by the time we were on our way home from soccer.
• I read freebie books from work, rather than buying. I haven't made it to the library recently, and was tempted to buy a book online. Instead, I read a few freebie books I get from work. One was not good enough to finish, but the other was good & enjoyable.
• Went to see Christmas lights, as a free holiday outing.
• Drove electric car for free all week for my commute

In big frugal news, however, I received my comp for the year from work, and I'll be getting a sizable raise & bonus + a large equity grant. The bonus is fantastic news, because I will get it before I go on sabbatical. I'll also have at least a few months at the higher salary, and equity vests. I feel incredibly grateful for the increase, as I'm already well compensated. They are making it very difficult to pull the plug! ;-) 

What about you? Any frugal wins for the week? 

Freezer Challenge - Week 3

I've been really enjoying the freezer challenge, as I'm seeing visible progress by selecting a few items each week to use, & incorporating those items into our meal plan. I don't know why I've never approached a freezer clean out this way in the past, but I will definitely be continuing.

1. 1 container of taco meat - dinner for Monday/Wednesday  Done!
2. Container of homemade tomato sauce - Done!
3. Rotisserie chicken - dinner for Friday. We ended up using leftover chicken pesto in place of this, so it didn't happen. In fact, I froze extra chicken from that dish. 
4. Chicken broth - dinner for Friday
5. Tortillas (won't use all of the bag, maybe 1/2) - dinner for Monday/Wednesday - Done, and actually used part of another bag from the freezer. There were fewer tortillas in the bag than I'd expected.
6. One container of soup - Done!

Bonus items:

• 4 small burritos (lunches while I was unexpectedly at home)
• Leftover delivery pizza
• A full frozen pizza
• Deli meat
• Single serving of butternut squash soup
• Bagel bites as fill ins for snacks after many soccer games

Freezer challenge items for next week:

1. 2 containers of sauce with beef tips
2. Another container of chicken soup
3. Gravy
4. Stuffing
5. Turkey

So, based on my freezer challenge items, our menu plan for the week is shaping up to be:

• Friday - we had two kinds of pizza from the freezer! Bonus items!
• Saturday - we went out to dinner, using a gift card ;-) 
• Sunday - Rice with wine sauce with beef tips
• Monday - turkey with stuffing, gravy & mashed potatoes
• Tuesday - Leftover rice w/wine sauce & beef tips
• Wednesday - Leftover turkey, stuffing & potatoes
• Thursday - If no more leftovers, spaghetti & meatballs
• Friday - Homemade pizza

What about you? What's on your menu for the week, and do you have any freezer items you're trying to get rid of?

Soccer Saturday

It's a tournament weekend, with at least four guaranteed games, and perhaps a 5th. I'm trying to squeeze in a few things around soccer, while continuing to rest & recover from the car accident. I'm hoping I'm about 75% healed, and as long as I take Tylenol & the swelling is going down, I feel okay. If I forget to take Tylenol, all of the sudden, the pain is very present.

Here are the plans for the rest of the day:

• Finalize baking day for my cardamom bread (I think this is going to have to be next Sunday). 
• Start on my packing list for Christmas travels
• Vacuum
• Clean the kitchen
• Bathrooms
• Laundry
• Produce stand
• Costco (my husband is doing this)
• Get an estimate for the car (M is doing this as well)
• Decide on a menu
• Make dinner
• Take Sam to a soccer evaluation
• Take both boys to the soccer game this afternoon
• Work out. Something slow & easy, given my neck. I'm thinking of a walk during soccer warm ups. 

What about you? I need inspiration - what are you having for dinner tonight? 

Frugal Friday

Ahh, what a week. I was rear ended on my way to work on Wednesday morning, so I've been resting up at home while my neck & back heal up. It's so frustrating to feel out of commission, but I'm grateful that no one was seriously injured, and that I have a job that still pays me even when I can't work.

Here are some of our frugal things for the week:

• Sold a few things on eBay. I made a mistake on shipping for one item (drat) & had to buy a more expensive envelope, which meant I made basically nothing on the sale. But, did make $55 on eBay sales. 
• Continued using things from the freezer, and re-purposed a meal we didn't love into a risotto that, while not amazing, was good enough to eat a second night
• Listed one of the kids BMX bikes for sale. Hoping to get that sold, as he wants a scooter instead. ;-)
• Listed three more items on eBay. One of which was an ornament that I've never really liked. I wasn't sure if it was valuable, so looked it up today, & it is! Sold it via an offer for $50 this morning . Wow! Just when you think you've listed all of your valuable stuff on eBay. . . 
• Used Rite Aid rewards to get Claritin for M, who has had really terrible allergies lately. I had a 20% off coupon, so used that for popcorn for the kids. They also had a certain candy bar 2/$1, with a $1 reward, so free candy! Picked those up for a treat for the kids. 
• M was finally able to repair the window in Nick's room. It wouldn't close all the way, creating a chilly draft above his bed. It's now much quieter & warmer, which will help reduce heating costs.

Other than that, I've been drinking a lot of tea, using my flask for water, eating things out of the freezer, and making do with what we have around. I also gave my nanny a couple of days off (paid), as I was at home & could be with the kids. Not frugal for me, but this gives her the opportunity to fill in with other babysitting jobs. 

That's it for us. How have you been frugal over the past week?

2018 Goals - how are we doing?

Can you believe we're in the home stretch of the year? I try to check my yearly goals often, and bake the yearly goals into monthly goals as well. But, I also find it helpful to do a last minute check in December, and see if there are any areas that require particular time & attention with just a few weeks left.

1) Financial:

• Build/follow a 2018 "interim budget" (until I leave my job) & a 2018 "post-job budget", after. - I didn't end up leaving my job in 2018, but I'll share a budget roundup as it gets closer to the end of the year. 
• Save another $125K before I quit - I would have been at $110K, but we opted to put $200K into paying off our vacation house, so I'm now under for the year. Additionally, we paid for air conditioning & solar this year, so I'm feeling very happy about our progress.
• Every month, come up with a new way to reduce what we need/spend on an ongoing basis. - We weren't consistent on the monthly cadence, but I'm considering it an overall win: 
• I started using a handkerchief instead of kleenex. However, my plan to get more (for the rest of the family) fell through. I now have an old sheet saved, & I'd like to sew these in 2019.
• We installed solar! This is the biggest win in this category. ;-)
• We paid off our vacation house! No more mortgage payments.
• I found a recipe for my favorite store hummus, avoiding the need to buy. 
• We discussed a rainwater solution (didn't implement) & cancelling Amazon Prime also didn't implement), so those are opportunities for 2019.
• We can charge our electric car for free at work, and thus haven't needed to install a charger at our house. 
• We replaced our battery powered outdoor lights with solar powered
• We bought flasks for everyone, and have both kept them for months (a win with the kids), but have used them to replace water out while traveling. We also gifted them to my dad & nephew on a long car trip, and now everyone wants one. They are awesome, and keep water cold for 12+ hours. We bought ours at Costco. 
• Model out a 3, 5 & 10 year financial plan - We actually spent quite a bit of time modeling out what it would take to pay off our primary residence. There's always more work to do here, but I feel reasonably good with what we have to date. I'm sure life with throw more curve balls at us, either way. :-) 

2) Family - Spend more time together as a family!

• Do a minimum of one fun activity/month with the kids. This can be family puzzle night, cooking dinner together, board games, going out somewhere, etc. - This happened. Not sure it happened every month, but definitely had months where we had more than one activity as well, so considering this a win.
• Be more present with the kids & M - play games, minimize computer time, exercise together, etc. - I'd still like to shave another hour of computer time (work, etc) off of my day, but overall, this has gone well.
• Have two dates with M per month (one lunch, one evening) - Yes, although it was realistically one per month + a weekend getaway. 

3) Fitness/health - Lose 20 pounds, bringing my weight to 135. - Nope. I've lost a few pounds for the year, but nowhere near 20 lbs. 

• Make running a consistent part of my life. Build & follow a training plan, & run a half marathon. - Yes! I ran the half marathon. I wasn't as consistent as I'd like, but I'll take it. 

• Eat five servings of fruit & vegetables (combined) per day - I'm at about 4.6, so close but not quite.
• Get back to more actively tracking my calories, at least until I start to see a consistent weight drop - I do this regularly. 
• Complete 10,000 minutes of cardio - Nailed it! Already over 10,000 minutes. 
• Complete 100 strength workouts. - Almost - at 93 for the year, with 3.5 weeks to go!
• Complete 75 stretching workouts. Make yoga a consistent part of my life. - I'm at 40, which is an uptick from previous years, but nowhere near 75. 

4) Work/career - Improve my work life balance.

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress (until I leave) - It's still hard, but I've made some big strides here. Knowing the end is in sight has been really helpful for my perspective. 

• Determine an end date for my job. Tentatively scheduled for end of June. And then, quit my job. Really. Do. This. - Well, when I advised my manager of my plan to leave, they offered me a sabbatical. So, I'll be taking that instead & then determining if I'm coming back part time, or at all. 

5) Personal/creative - Spend more time on myself/creative pursuits.

• Learn how to cut my own hair - Nope. I got two haircuts for the year & . . . paid! 
• Learn how to make yogurt - Yes! Well, I made it once, and it went fine, but now my stomach rejects yogurt, so I haven't been buying or making it.
• Make time for my friends. Do something social at least once per month. - While I haven't achieved once/month & have actually spent less time on small interactions (walking, meeting friends for lunches), I've done a few get togethers over longer weekends, etc. I did a girls trip in April & July. I also have a few friend lunches scheduled over the upcoming months, but this is an area where I can do better. 
• Volunteer a minimum of 1x/month. - I've been pretty sporadic on this one, and need to find a flexible volunteering role. 
• Complete a Dream Bio (stolen from Frugalwoods) - Done.

Okay, what about you? How are you doing with your 2018 goals? Are you looking for any last wins to check off? :-) 

2019 Travel Plans & Budget

One of my favorite parts of the upcoming year is to plan out our travels, and build a budget based on our priorities.

We've discussed a lot of options this year, including having M join me on a work trip to London, and go from there to Paris. In the end, we decided we'd rather spend that money skiing with the kids, but will try to prioritize a Europe trip next year, when hopefully we'll have more time & flexibility for something like a week in Italy.

Before I finalize our plans & budget, I take stock of all of our travel "assets" (miles, points, etc) as well as predicted number of flights/year. Here's what we have going into 2019:

• Alaska Air miles - (combined across our accounts): about 200,000 miles. A round trip ticket on peak days (when we usually need to travel due to school & work) is 40,000 miles. So, this is equal to roughly 5 round trip tickets.
• Alaska Air companion fare - pay for a ticket, get the second one for $99. I need to use this by March (book, not travel) & I want to maximize the award value by using it for our most expensive trip. This can be hard to predict. 
• Alaska Air wallet balance - $744 of credit that can be used for future travel
• Southwest Air - we have a $200 gift card
• United - I have 100,000 miles, but we don't fly United domestically, so may hold out for a trip to Italy in 2020. 
• Marriott - 25,000 points. Not enough to do anything with yet, and we don't have any hotel stays where this would work. 
• Hyatt - 20,000 points. Ditto the Marriott comment. 

How many flights will we take?
Similarly, I've added up all of our expected flights this year, and I'm expecting about 15 flights. (When we travel as a family, I consider that 4 flights for this purpose). My goal for 2019 is to cover all of our flights with miles/credit. Unclear if that is feasible, but we also have an Alaska credit card, so should be accruing new miles throughout the year. It will be tight, and will require us to not change travel plans, which is something one family member (*cough*, my husband) frequently does. We'll try & be better in 2019. I'm also planning to swap some of my international travel to go through an Alaska partner, where possible, so that will also help generate miles.


Here's what we're thinking for 2019:

• January - we'll take the kids to a couple of day skiing outings. We're buying them skis as their Christmas gifts, so would like to get multiple uses out of the skis this season. 
• Budget = $500 or so for lift tickets + gas.
• February - I have a work trip to London, and then the kids have a week off for "ski week". We are planning to do a few nights at a hotel & skiing.
• Budget = $2000, including the ski passes + hotel & food. Ski passes are crazy expensive. We'll be staying somewhere not fancy, so the hotel isn't the big outlier, but the ski passes. We're not quite skiing enough for season passes to make sense (right on the bubble), but want to be protected in the event the snow isn't good & we opt to cancel. As a result, we booked at a hotel vs airbnb (no cancellation charges) & didn't buy season passes. If we ski as many days as we think we will, we'll lose a few hundred dollars. However, if something comes up with our schedules, the snow isn't good, etc, we'll save quite a bit.
• March - tentatively planning a trip to the beach/Oregon coast with my mom & sister, and/or my sister/BFF. The trip will likely happen, but as I think my sabbatical will begin in April vs March, unlikely I will combine this into one trip due to vacation time off. 
• Budget = $250. (Miles for flight, so this will cover gas money & food) 
• April - M & I would like to do an adult trip while the kids are on spring break. We'd fly my parents in & they'd stay with the kids. The flight for my parents is typically covered under "childcare", as the option without having my parents around would be to book a camp. So, different budget.
• Budget = $1000. We will drive (looking at Napa), but hotels & wine tastings are expensive. Don't think there will be a hotel with points options, but will keep that in mind. 
• May - my sister & friend will be visiting for a half marathon, but no travel plans
• June - I will likely fly with the boys to my parents house (they participate in a big mountain biking tournament with my dad). The boys typically stay with my parents for a week of "Nana & Papa Camp"
• Budget = $300. I'm hoping to cover the flights with miles. I'll give my parents money to spend during the week with the boys, and the budget will also cover transportation to/from the airport, etc.
• July - we'll take a trip to the Oregon coast for the 4th of July. I'll pick up the kids from my parents. Additionally, the kids will likely be at sleepaway camp at the end of the month, so M & I may plan a long weekend. That's TBD based on cost of April trip. 
• Budget = $1000. Gas, food, rental car, etc. I'm hoping to cover flights with miles. It will just be me + M, as the boys will already be there. 
• August - I'll do my family relay, and Sam is likely to join me this year. 
• Budget = $250. Gas + food. 
• September - no trips
• October - no trips
• November - no trips
• December - we'll go to the Oregon coast, and spend Christmas with my parents.
• Budget = $500. Gas + additional food + rental car. Hoping to cover the flight with miles. 

Total predicted cost for the year = $7,300. This is a very tight estimate, so I'm hoping we can be creative with flights & other options. What about you? How do you plan & budget for your travel?