Frugal Friday

 It's Friday again! Here's how we did.

Saving on things we buy

• I had to pick up a prescription at Rite Aid, and had $2 of rewards expiring. The store is pretty much empty, but I did find one of my preferred protein bars. It was $1.49 after rewards, but I also used an iBotta offer for $1.25, making the very expensive bar $.24. I'll take it! 
• I used CVS rewards, coupons & some iBotta offers to similarly pick up some treats to make Easter bags for the boys for $14 or so. 

Earning money

• Continued to apply for jobs
• Cashed in $20 of survey money

Avoiding spending

• I stocked up on lunch items, so I would avoid the temptation of eating out
• I cancelled Sam's gym membership, which was on a pause that was expiring
• In an attempt to avoid wasting the United credits, I pre-booked Nick's Thanksgiving & Christmas flights from college. While we may need to shift the dates/flights slightly, getting them on the books means I won't waste the credits. Flying home for Thanksgiving is eye wateringly expensive, so I'm glad to have the credits to use!

Eating what we have

• Finished off spaghetti & meatballs + garlic bread leftovers
• Used the last of the taco meat to make a taco salad
• Made chicken shawarma for dinner, which used up a lot of odds & ends, including a package of naan bread from the freezer

For others 

• Reached out to two friends who have suffered family losses recently
• Met with another student I'm mentoring

What about you? Any wins to share?

Things to do today

First up, thanks so much to everyone for sharing their non-linear college experience & feedback. As a parent, it's so hard to know exactly how to support your kids during this time of so much change and growth. It's two steps forward, a step back, and vice versa. 

I'm looking forward to getting outside & maybe getting some gardening in today. Inspired by Kim, I thought I'd share my to do list. 

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

• Attend a morning yoga class. I realized that my yoga pass will expire soon, and I still have two sessions left. Wasting money is definitely not my goal, and my back has really been bothering me lately, so yoga it is!
• Seriously sort out the boys taxes. They received a link to their W2s (summer jobs), but no information on how to create an account or access the W2s via the link. 
• Prep content for week 2 of my class.
• Continue to apply for jobs. Specifically, send email to a friend who has offered to refer me, and prep details about role qualifications & some background about why I would be a good fit.
• Figure out what's for dinner. It was originally supposed to be leftovers, but I'm not totally convinced there are enough. If not, figure out what to add.
• Gardening
• Walk
• Hit up CVS & Rite Aid to use expiring rewards

What about you? What are you up to today? 

April Goals

 I'm hoping April is a better month for achieving my goals than March!

Here's what's on the list:

Financial:

• Pay our state & federal taxes
• Get a new job
• Prep for part-time job
• Earn $300 in side hustle
• Pantry/freezer challenge:
• 1 bottle of dressing
• 1 package of holiday cheese
• Soup from freezer

Family:

• Help Nick with college prep, spring break & senior trip planning
• Optimize points, perks & miles. Track value
• Date night with M

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs
• Strength train 15 days
• No S diet 15 days
• Average 13,000 steps/day
• Meditate 10 times
• Attend another tread class workout

Personal:

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

What about you? What's on your list of goals for April?

March Goals Recap

March has been quite an adventure, and not always in the best way. But, I don't set these goals with the assumption I will always hit all of them, and having goals motivates me. Even when the results aren't so great. 

Here's how the month went (or, didn't go, might be more likely). 

Financial:

• Continue to pay for Sam's college expenses - yes, although Sam is rethinking how he wants the rest of college to go & if he wants to transfer, stay where he's at, or switch majors. 
• Get a new job - I've continued to interview & have 3 jobs in the hopper, but one may not get funded do to the economy. That's the one I was most excited about, so I'm pretty disappointed. I've invested a lot of time in it so far, but fingers crossed maybe it will still happen. 
• Prep for part-time job - I've prepped my content for week 1, and have set a goal to be 2 weeks ahead at all times, so I'll finish week 2 soon. 
• Earn $300 in side hustle - I only made $80 in March, all through Prolific user studies. 
• Pantry/freezer challenge:
• 1 bag of frozen fruit - yes, done
• 1 bottle of dressing - nope
• 1 package of holiday cheese - nope

Family:

• Help Nick with final college decision, including two tours - we did two tours, and Nick finalized his decision to go to Boulder! He's very excited. 
• Enjoy spring break with Sam. Help him finalize his summer plans - Sam & I spent a lot of time together over spring break, and as noted above, he's trying to sort out how he wants to handle the rest of college. It's a big change for young adults. 
• Optimize points, perks & miles. Track value. - I've saved $3,864 by using points through the following: 3 nights in Sedona on my girls trip, 3 nights at the Marriott in Corvallis, 2 nights in Boulder for an upcoming orientation for Nick, & a free night during skiing. 
• Finalize Spain trip details. - Spain was cancelled, so this definitely didn't happen. 
• Enjoy Nick's senior year. Attend soccer banquet & at least 3 tennis matches. -I attended the soccer banquet, but his matches have been rescheduled a lot due to weather & I haven't been. 

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs - I lost 1.3 lbs
• Strength train 15 days - 11/15
• No S diet 15 days -  6/15
• Average 13,000 steps/day - definitely not! I was at 11,600/day, which dropped my average for the year. 
• Meditate 10 times - 7/10 times & found an app to use (free with my credit card). Having access to the app is making this goal much easier. 
• Try a new workout - I tried out a new workout class format & really liked it. It's a much longer running class, so I'll be adding more of these into my workouts. 

Personal:

• Language lessons 15 times - I totally fell apart on this, particularly once I realized we weren't going to Spain. While I didn't track this, I'm also not sure I did any language lessons in March. 
• Declutter 50 items from the house - No progress this month!
• Get together with friends 2x - Yes! I went for three hikes, a girls hiking trip & met another friend for yoga & lunch. 
• Play pickleball x1 - nope
• Help students (volunteer role) make college decisions - Yes, I've continued to meet with my mentees. 
• Do something towards my goals of "Try something new & uncomfortable" and "Say yes to more adventures" - went on another girls trip (hiking to Sedona), which was a wonderful adventure. 
• Reduce screen time - I've made progress on this, and also spent time skiing & hiking, which is definitely good for reducing electronics time. 

All in all, it was a very "okay" month by objective measure, but I kept on & am more than ready for April! What about you? How did you do with your goals for the month?