Frugal Friday

 It was a busy week, with all of the jet lag & a pile of work that seemed to just multiply over night. As is the trouble with work travel, my standard work (e.g. not the whole meeting each other, spending time understanding what the local team is up to) just piles up in my absence. So even though I'm absolutely working on trips, it's not the same type of work, which means unfortunately a lot to catch up on. 

Saving on things we buy

• I go through my credit card bonus reward offers each month, and save them to my card. I use the offers infrequently, and only when it's part of a regularly planned purchase, but sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised when an offer comes through. This week I received three: a Southwest reward of $15.62 & a $6.92 reward from Seat Geek (where I allowed Nick to purchase football game tickets), and Google Play (a Spotify subscription, which was a gift to Nick) for $1.19. The money gets credited back to your account as a payment, so it works great. I also used a Southwest credit for part of a flight. The tickets are for my flight to Las Vegas. 
• I uploaded all of our receipts to Fetch, and one receipt (CVS, for my prescription) to iBotta. I rarely use iBotta for anything but CVS, but they have a recurring cash back offer that is super helpful. Saved $.22 on my prescription. 

Earning money

• My paycheck felt very hard-earned with the travel last week!

Avoiding spending 

• Promptly returned clothes that I purchased & didn't need for my work trip, which saved some money. To be clear, I kept the items I did need, so this was just the stuff that I wasn't going to use. 
• About half of the order I'd placed for work clothes didn't arrive on time, despite paying for expedited shipping. I used the customer chat function and asked for a partial refund. They credited me back for the entire amount of shipping, which was helpful. 

Eating what we have

• On the Uber ride back home from my flight, I'd sent a Door Dash lunch to myself at home. We arrived at the house at the same time. However, Sam hadn't answered the phone when I called to see if he wanted me to add anything to the order for him. He was sick, but also very hungry, so he ate 90% of the chicken salad I ordered. You might be asking how this relates to eating what we have, but the good news is that I was hungry enough not to care, so I ate microwave popcorn and an apple & called it a day. (The lunch was purchased using monthly credit card rewards for Door Dash, plus a gift card.)
• M made me a gorgeous breakfast using a lot of odds & ends in the fridge, when I woke up like a bear from hibernation on Saturday morning. Given how much I slept, that analogy felt right. The last of the bagels & eggs, some leftover melon & part of a pear. 
• Used two packages of Boursin cheese, well past their "best by" date. We ended up making this pasta/chicken dish, as Sam asked me to make enough for leftovers for him to eat when he got home late from work. The base of the recipe was okay, but it needs a couple of tweaks, IMO: add broccoli or another veggie at the very end, to steam. And, I think it needs a bit more spice. 

For others

• I used an Alaska gift card (purchased on sale at Costco at Christmas time) to buy my sister's flight to Las Vegas, as her birthday gift. 
• Two neighbors randomly reached out on Saturday to ask if we could pick up packages off of their porch & keep them in our garage until they are back in town, so we did that over the weekend. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

Thursday things

 I'm going to channel my inner Kim (at Out My Window) & make a list today. Things are wild here, with work. I know the timing of this role could never have happened unless we had kids of independent ages. M is working in the city, with a long commute. I have lots of travel, super early mornings that would prevent me from any school drop offs, etc. And, just overall volume of work on both sides is intense.

Here's what I need to get done today:

• Meetings start at 6 am, which is always a treat ;-) 
• Get 3 items done off of my 90 day work plan
• Figure out why I can't add any Japanese colleagues to expense report. This is blocking me from getting it submitted.
• Sort out schedule for next week, including impromptu overnight trip to San Diego, for work.
• Talk to Sam about: his schedule for the upcoming weeks, get access to college billing, and make a final decision about family weekend & if he can go
• Workout class. I felt terrible yesterday after my flu shot, so didn't work out. Not getting in consistent cardio leaves me feeling like a slug, so it's a must do today.
• Talk to the accountant about my IRS "fun"
• I've hired a cleaning service & they come every other week. Today is the day. Juggle rooms, so I can stay on calls & stay out of their way. This is money well spent for this season of my life. 
• Change flights for next weekend, to arrive earlier. 

If I get all of that done, I will be incredibly thrilled. 

September Goals

 Definitely late to the party for September, but as with many things, better late than never!

Family:

• Finish 401K max
• Check in on 529 contributions & max
• Meal plan, & use up 3 freezer/pantry items

Family:

• Enjoy Family Weekend with Nick
• Start cleaning out the closet of "things" leftover when Nick moved out
• Help Sam with the start of fall classes
• One date night with M

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs
• Get back to regular fitness checkins
• 15 & 15 (strength training, no S days)
• Half marathon training plan
• Stay on track on trips (Boulder + London)
• Average 12,000 steps/day

Personal:

• Get together with friends x2
• Finish planning November concert trip
• Say yes to adventure & trying new things
• Continue to explore work/life balance
• Declutter 50 items
• Work on planning travel & budgets

What about you? What's on your goal list for September?

Another haphazard menu plan

 Things were again a bit nuts around our house, and I have zero clue what M & Sam ate while I was gone. ;-) I'm back now, and trying to sort life back out. I'll start with a menu plan, as that always helps.

• Friday - I wasn't in the mood for dinner (body clock was way off), so sat with the boys while they had a salad, grilled chicken (freezer) for M & taquitos (freezer) for Sam
• Saturday - Philly cheese steaks
• Sunday - chicken fajitas (using the rest of the peppers from the Philly cheese steak recipe
• Monday - leftover cheese steak & peppers on salads
• Tuesday - chicken with Boursin cheese (have some to use up), so trying this recipe
• Wednesday - leftover chicken fajitas
• Thursday - leftover chicken with Boursin cheese
• Friday - remaining leftovers, or wings & pot stickers

What about you? What's on your menu this week? Any recent recipes to share? 

Saturday Happenings

 I'm back & slept for close to 12 hours yesterday. I could have slept longer, but my back protested. I'm feeling very groggy this morning!

It was a lot of transportation for a trip, and I'm still bitter that I had to fly into Narita (the airport much further from the city) vs Haneda. It had probably been 10 years since I flew into Narita, and I was very much reminded of why, as the logistics of getting to/from the airport are terrible. I'm not up for the train after such a long journey, with my bags. When I landed, after a delayed flight, the next available bus ride was almost two hours wait. Followed by a two hour bus ride. :-( I will protest mightily if my company requires it again. 

The weather in Tokyo was extremely hot & humid, which being a west coast girl, I'm not used to nor a fan of. Then, a typhoon was expected to hit on Friday. I don't know if it actually qualified as a typhoon, but it was an absolute insane amount of rain & wind. I'm grateful my flight left, but it was also delayed. 

It was good to spend time with various team members, and the hotel I stayed at was perfectly acceptable, but the location of this office was not as convenient to the hotel vs previous trips. Given the weather, that was a hassle. I also got to meet my nephew for ramen & a beer one night, as he happened to be in Tokyo visiting a friend. It was fantastic to get to see him & we successfully navigated the train to go a few stops away. I do not miss the Tokyo weather in the summer.

I'm back for two weeks, and then we head to Denver for Nick's family weekend. I will leave Denver & head to London for my last work trip of 2025. HURRAH. 

When I woke up this morning, I hadn't eaten in 18 hours, so M made me a lovely breakfast while I inhaled two lattes (double my standard amount!) 

Things I need to do today:

• Work out
• Sign up for workout classes this week
• Work on my schedule & plan for the week
• Sort out Las Vegas schedule with friends
• I bought a bunch of clothes for the trip, not knowing exactly what I would need. I can now return almost everything I bought online, and a few things I bought in person. I ended up with a very good work capsule wardrobe, perfect for one week trips. Unfortunately, I was in London recently enough that my manager (a bit of a clothing person) is likely to remember my outfits as the same. ;-) May have to add in something different this time. 
• Laundry
• Finish unpacking
• Catch up on bills & the budget
• Start expense report
• Pick up my prescription

What about you? What are you up to today?