Menu Plan Tuesday

 I flew back from Portland yesterday, so I'm a little late to the party. Here's what's on the menu at our house.

• Friday - I ate at the airport lounge, and then had a glass of wine when I got to my sister's house
• Saturday - my sister's partner made us Mexican chicken rice skillet, which was delicious.
• Sunday - we celebrated our 10k run with nachos, which I try to only have on special occasions, because they are a true indulgence. These were delicious, with carne asada on top. Yum!
• Monday - I got home from the airport & scrambled a bit to figure out dinner. M grilled salmon & I made a spinach salad to go with it.
• Tuesday - tonight will be grilled chicken over salads
• Wednesday - likely pasta & meatballs, if Nick is going to be home. It's his favorite.
• Thursday - I'm making chicken fajitas, after we pick up my parents at the airport
• Friday - tacos, so we can use up the rest of the chicken fajita fixings

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

Frugal Friday

Sometimes it feels like my frugal "wins" are drops in the bucket compared to expenses, but I keep on keeping on. Because, what's the point of spending more than you have to, and all of the savings adds up. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway. ;-)  

Saving on things we buy

• Saved $134 by paying upfront for Nick's orthodontia
• Saved $6 on a cash back offer I'd forgotten about (on our credit card) for the pizza we ordered for Nick's VP debate watching party last week. 
• Uploaded grocery receipts to Fetch
• Used CVS rewards to pick up Nick's preferred brand of deodorant, and used an iBotta/CVS offer to save another couple of bucks. 

Earning money

• Sold Sam's old bike, & made $300
• Sold a pair of sunglasses & made ~$90

Avoiding spending

• Arranged for a friend to drive Nick to a far away soccer game (Nick drives him to all of the practices), so we both share on gas costs

Eating what we have

• Picked out first few pomegranates and have had those for a snack in the evening (largely Nick)
• Continued eating basil, peppers & tomatoes from the garden, but the heat has killed everything else. 
• Brought home leftovers from date night, and had that for two lunches (veggie risotto, which was so delicious)
• Made Nick & his friend snacks while they were studying at our house, saving them the cost of eating out or grabbing snacks
• I'm working on eating a huge container of spinach, so I've been trying to incorporate it into all of my meals. Had the last of the veggie risotto over a bed of spinach. I just heated it in the microwave, which helped the spinach soften a bit. It was delicious & just the right amount of spinach to risotto ratio to be healthy while not overwhelming tasting like warm spinach. ;-) 

For others

• This is a busy time for seniors applying to colleges, so I've been spending quite a bit of time helping my volunteer students with their tasks, answering questions & generally providing guidance. 
• Stayed after a soccer game to collect the goals, flags & shade/bench to put away in the shed with another parent. There is no assigned roster of people to help, so unfortunately, one parent does most of the heavy lifting on this. I was able to help & streamline it all, which was great since it was unbearably hot. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

Thursday Happenings

I've had lots of medical appointments over the past few weeks, so that's been keeping me busier than usual. I'm having a lupus flare, and trying to figure out the best way to manage that. It's no fun, I do not recommend. 

That said, I have a bunch of fun things lined up for the upcoming few weeks, including my trip to Portland tomorrow (running, or more likely walking + a little running a 10k with my sister & BFF). I'll also get a chance to see my parents for brunch. My parents are flying here in a week, and then we're heading to Costa Rica. The weather looks pretty terrible for our trip, and we've gone back & forth between going & just enjoying what we can between rain storms, or going somewhere else. I think we've decided to just make the best of Costa Rica. 

The final college application has opened up (this is the complicated international one, that has to be hand mailed in), so Nick & I need to get started on that, as it will take the longest. That will be it! Otherwise, he has scholarship essays to work on, and a few other small tasks, but nothing quite like the bigger application process, which he will have finished. We will both be thrilled once we're done. ;-)

As for today:

• Attend workout class
• Stop by Trader Joes on my way home
• Laundry
• PT exercises
• Check in for tomorrow's flight
• Pack
• Daily chores (language, meditate, journal)
• Work in the yard (I'm especially loving this, as the weather has cooled way off)
• Clean the shower. We have very hard water, so this is my most dreaded chore of all.
• Call with Nick's orthodontist. I don't really understand what it's for, but it's required ahead of kicking off treatment.
• Work on job search stuff for ~1 hour

That's it on my side. Hope all of you in Florida are staying safe & escaped the storm(s) with minimal damage. Thinking of you all. 

Menu Plan Monday

I'll be eating more red meat in the upcoming month or so, as I try get my iron level higher. So, if you see a lot less chicken on the menu, that's why!

• Friday - grilled chicken salads
• Saturday - spaghetti & meatballs + garlic bread
• Sunday - grilled burgers
• Monday - leftover spaghetti & meatballs
• Tuesday - tacos
• Wednesday - leftover burgers
• Thursday - leftover tacos
• Friday - I'm out of town, so the boys are on their own

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

Sunday things

Yesterday was a good day, as I finally got Sam's old bike sold! Woohoo. I find that the bike buyers on FB marketplace are sooooo in to haggling. My approach to all items I list are to price very low & not negotiate. Most people don't bother when you've underpriced, but on bikes... there are still hagglers. ;-) Anyway, got the bike sold yesterday, and I'm feeling happy about that.

I also went to yoga, which was nice & very peaceful. I really like the class. I'm so not flexible, but I suppose maybe that will come with lots of time & practice. Or, maybe I'll forever be not so good at it, but it's still good for my body. Who knows?

M & I went to dinner & tried out a new Greek restaurant in our town. We had a great time, and it was such a lovely location. We chatted about career pivots (me) & bucket list items (both of us). I brought home about 2/3 of my dinner (vegetarian risotto), as we shared a feta/pepper dip appetizer & I had a few bites of M's dinner as well. 

I'm so excited for pomegranate season! We picked our first pomegranate on Friday, and have maybe 15-20 on the tree. We had probably 3-4x that earlier, but the squirrels knocked off the majority of the blossoms. 

I'm off to head to Nick's soccer game. There are maybe 3 left in the season that I will be able to attend, and this will be his last season of club soccer (after 10+ years), so I want to make sure I attend as many matches as possible. 

Finally, hoping it cools down, as I'm so, so ready for a break in the heat. Hope you are all enjoying your Sunday!

Saturday Grocery Shopping

 It's been a while since I've reported what we purchased at the grocery store (I had an entire year there where I tracked every single item grocery purchased & categorized it). That was a useful exercise, but I don't do that these days. I do still track all of our expenses, but just under the bucket of "groceries".  A typical week for us looks like:

• One trip to Costco
• 1-2 trips to Trader Joes (primarily for cucumber for Nick)
• sometimes a trip to the grocery store, if we are out of anything, or need recipe ingredients. 

Our monthly average grocery spend has been right around $800/month. Given we fed two teens for most of this year (and, additional teens most nights of the summer), I'm feeling pretty good about our budget, even though we are over goal of $550/month. I have no idea what I was thinking when I set that budget. Obviously, I wasn't thinking too hard. ;-) 

M went to Costco today, and here's what we bought & the cost:

• Organic bananas - $2.49 (Nick & I both eat these)
• Sparkling water - $10.99+$1.75 redemption deposit (we all have 1 or so a day)
• 2 lbs of organic broccoli - $5.99 (M's salads)
• Organic balsamic - $12.99 (M's salads)
• Olive oil - $29.99 (M's salads, plus regular cooking)
• Organic pears - $8.99 (fruit for me + Nick)
• Sliced cheddar - $10.69 (for cheeseburgers this weekend, and snacking after that)
• Cauliflower - $6.99 (M's salads)
• Organic spinach - $4.59 (for me, as I'm trying to eat a lot more iron)

Total spent = $95.46

How are you doing with your grocery budget for the year? 

Frugal Friday

 Nick needs braces, so once again, it was not a particularly frugal week on the major expenses front, and we are trying to keep the rest of our spending in check. 

Saving on things we buy

• I was really craving a turkey sandwich on sourdough, and was tempted to go out. Instead, I went to the store & picked up ingredients to make the sandwich. The local grocery isn't cheap & nothing was on sale, but it was still less than a sandwich out, and I can make plenty of sandwiches out of the ingredients. 
• Used $40 of rewards for pizza delivery for the debate party we hosted on Tuesday. 

Earning money

• Sold an old tablet on eBay, as well as an alarm clock, and a shirt I bought that I didn't notice was a final sale. 
• Made $2100 selling some old jewelry. Gold is super valuable these days. 

Avoiding spending

• We ate leftover cold pizza at home (and apples) on the day the power was out, vs going out to dinner. 

Eating what we have

• Continuing to eat the lettuce, tomatoes, peppers & herbs from our gardens. And, our pomegranates are almost ripe!
• Used some very old carrots in a crockpot chicken dumplings recipe.
• M finished off the last of a bag of panko shrimp for dinner last Friday, and I ate more of the buffalo chicken style meatballs that no one else seems to like. We served with Trader Joes cauliflower gnocchi. I thought that was very *okay*. It's hard to replicate a regular gnocchi. 
• Made Nick a grilled cheese (using the above bread & cheese) on a night he was just home briefly between events. 
• Made banana bread for the debate party, out of overly ripe bananas. 

For others

• Continuing to mentor my students who are applying to college. 

What about you? Any wins to share? 

Thursday Things

 Oof, last night was not a good night of sleep. It was 100 here yesterday, which is, btw, insane in its own right, and our power went off around 6 pm. I'd just caved & decided to start using the AC, so we could sleep, as I didn't sleep well the night before due to the heat. 

No power means no fans, and we have a large ceiling fan that we run probably 9 months out of the year to keep our bedroom cool. Ooooh, it was so hot in the house. I slept with a wet towel on my chest. The power finally came back on around 2 am, but when I went to turn off all of the lights, a smoke alarm started going off. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from, so I tried to sleep with two pillows over my head. M dealt with it this morning, bless him. 

Today is going to be a very sleepy day! 

On the positive front, I got to hold my friend's baby yesterday at lunch. She is adorable, five months old, and very squishy & smiley. Baby snuggles! On the way back from lunch, I dropped off my old jewelry at a shop that buys gold. This is very old jewelry that I haven't ever worn or don't want in general. It's been on my to do list to get rid of it forever, and it's finally gone. I also got way more money for it than expected, which is a lovely bonus! That money will help to offset Nick's orthodontia care. ;-) 

Nick & I finished the two Cal State applications that opened on 10/1. WOOP! We have just one to go, and it's for a college that hasn't opened their applications yet. We are in really good shape, and can now work on scholarship applications, etc. 

On to today:

• Workout class
• Finally got a doctor's appointment to establish care with a new primary doctor. I've been waiting for months.
• Package & mail an eBay sale
• Drop off a check for the orthodontist. There is a 2% discount by paying in full
• Work on job profile for consulting role
• Laundry
• Clean the fridge
• Daily chores (language lesson, journal, meditate)

What are you up to? Hope the weather is cool & lovely, wherever you all are!

September Goals Recap

September was a great month, with a hiking trip to Moab, dropping Sam off at college & that experience all going really well. There is still time for him to get homesick, of course, but for now, he seems to be doing fantastic, so we are thrilled about that.

Here's how I did with the rest of my goals for September.

Financial:

• Achieve September savings goal - We were about $800 short of our savings goal, although if I add in the October interest, we achieved our goals. Not sure where to count the interest we earn on our CDs/accounts at the beginning of each month. It doesn't really matter, but I want to be sure I'm tracking consistently month on month. For now, I'll count it was a win, and start including those at the end of each month.
• Confirm that M's BA miles were extended - done
• Freezer challenge: get rid of a minimum of six items - crushed this! Used up:
• Chicken Alfredo, chicken fajitas, chicken marsala, honey chicken
• Edamame
• Two chunks of French bread
• A breakfast sandwich
• 6 bananas
• White bean soup
• 2 burger patties
• Panko shrimp
• Get car sold - no, but M got it listed a couple of days ago & has shown it to a few people already
• Update CDs that are renewing - yes, done
• List 5 items on eBay - I listed at least 10, & I made $330 in September

Family:

• Help Nick with college essays/applications & achieve all school deadlines - yes! We got all schools that were open for applications completed in September! We are crushing it.
• Get Sam successfully moved into college & transitioned - yes, and he's doing great
• Adjust menu plan for 3 vs 4 diners - eh, we've been kind of winging it so far. And, is further complicated by Nick's practice schedule. We'll need to experiment a bit. 

Fitness:

• Continue PT - I really didn't do well with my PT this month. As my hip has felt better, and I do many similar exercises at my workout class. I need to remember to focus on the few that I don't get in at my class. 
• 15 strength workouts - I got in 13, with traveling
• Follow the No S diet 15 days & track calories daily - I tracked calories daily, and followed the No S diet 9 times
• Have a successful hiking trip to Moab - done, and it was fabulous!

Personal:

• Complete daily tasks 20 times (meditate, language lesson, journal) - yes, 22 times
• Get together with friends - tons of meet ups this month, plus hiking trip
• Declutter 25 items - got rid of 49 items
• Continue exploring jobs - had a few interviews, applied for additional jobs
• Spend time on volunteer role - I'm mentoring 3 students, and continue to really enjoy it
• Play pickleball 3x - we tried once and the courts were taken, and the rest of the time our schedule didn't work out, it was too hot, or we just plain forgot

What about you? How did you do on your goals for the month? 

October Goals

 I will post my September goal progress soon, but wanted to get my October goals posted. I like the motivation of a new month, even if the months are going by way too quickly!

Financial:

• Achieve new savings goal (~$2500). 
• Get car sold
• Update CD that is renewing
• I don't need a big freezer challenge this month, as I did such a good job last month eating down a lot of what was in there. Instead, I can keep my list pretty targeted.
• Eat 1/2 of the pizza in the freezer
• Use up the cranberries in muffins

Family:

• Help Nick with college essays/applications & achieve all deadlines
• Still working on adjusting menu plan for 3 vs 4 diners
• Have a great trip to Costa Rica

Fitness:

• Work on back & hip exercises
• 15 strength workouts
• Follow the No S diet 15 days & track calories
• Successfully run the 10k with my sister & friend
• See the doctor about lack of energy, overall health
• Lose 2 lbs

Personal:

• Complete daily tasks 20 times (meditate, language lesson, journal)
• Get together with friends
• Network a bit (2x)
• Declutter 25 items
• Continue exploring jobs. Apply for two jobs in a "pivot" field (e.g. not something I've done before)
• Spend time on volunteer role
• Play pickleball 3x

What about you? Do you have any goals for the month? Let us know so we can cheer you on!

Menu Plan Monday

 Still adjusting to feeding three people vs four, but we did a great job last week of eating all of our prepped freezer food. The freezer is looking good & ready for me to stock it with some soup for my lunches. 

Here's what's on our menu this week

• Friday - pizza (cauliflower crust + regular)
• Saturday - tacos
• Sunday - grilled chicken + rice
• Monday- leftover tacos
• Tuesday - leftover grilled chicken + rice
• Wednesday - chicken yakisoba (one of the last prepped freezer meals)
• Thursday - carnitas (the other last prepped freezer meals)
• Friday - leftovers

What about you? Are you adjusting your menu as the weather changes? I'm the only one who eats soup, so I make it & freeze it for lunches, as I can't get my other dinner diners to join me. ;-) 

Sunday Happenings

The weekend is whizzing by. I went to a really relaxing yoga class yesterday (I need more yoga in my life, as I'm really not very flexible) & got some chores done around the house. I also made this crockpot chicken & dumplings recipe, which is always a winner. I'm the only soup eater in the house, so I had it for dinner last night, saved some for lunches this week, & then froze the rest. It will make an easy & delicious lunch on busy days.

Sam & I texted a bit more yesterday, and he's thrilled with his roommate, enjoying the food & feels like his classes will be good this year. Says he loves his calculus professor. 

Nick & I made more progress providing his academic record to one of the schools he's applying to. It's a super *fun* process where you enter every grade for every semester manually. He also has to enter middle school grades, as he took geometry & two years of Spanish in middle school, both of which are "required" high school classes for some colleges. Luckily, I requested a transcript of his middle school grades way back when Sam & I were applying last year, knowing that I would need the same for Nick. We also provided transcripts to another college, activated his accounts at a few other colleges (you use this to track your application, and each college has their own system). We have a spreadsheet keeping track of login details for each school. There's a lot of info to manage!

Nick worked at a soccer tournament yesterday to earn some extra money. He and Sam are such different creatures. Sam has spent none of the money he earned last summer, because he's still using money he earned two years ago. Nick, on the other hand, is a more prolific spender. ;-) This is a good time in his life to practice and experiment, to feel what it's like when you run out, and to understand how to better prioritize spending. 

As for today, here's what I'm up to:

• Workout class
• Laundry
• Vacuum
• Bathrooms
• Kitchen
• Pay Nick's physics tutor
• Meet a friend for a walk
• Package & mail an eBay sale
• Make my to do list for the week ahead & review the calendar
• List a bike on FB

What about you? What are you up to today?

Frugal Friday

Nick & I finished four more college applications (and, paid the application fees for four more colleges) , so trying hard to keep the rest of the spending under control. We are making great progress clearing out the freezer, so that's always a win. 

Saving on things we buy

• I go through our credit card reward offers (e.g. earn 10% back at CVS by opting into the offer & saving it on your card) & select any that we might use. There's no harm in savings them, as they are free & just expire if you don't use them before the deadline. I occasionally save money on offers I've forgotten about, and it's always a pleasant surprise. I earned a few bucks back on gas by doing this. I tend to save all of the gas offers, as you never know. We typically get our gas at Costco, but in Moab & traveling back & forth to Corvallis, we stopped at other places & one of them qualified for a small cash back offer. 
• I used a few grocery store coupons to save a bit (free avocado, free bananas, and $1.50 of of my total). I also uploaded my receipt to Fetch & iBotta, saving another $3 between the two. I rarely see produce coupons, so was happy to find a few to save money on things we would already be buying. 

Earning money

• Listed a few things on FB Marketplace, as I clean out Sam's room. 
• Moved Sam's desk into Nick's room, and sold Nick's desk. When the boys move into college apartments, we will definitely buy local items vs trying to move things from here. Made $90. 
• Sold three card games, for another $25. 
• Earned $460 in dividends, and moved those over to cover some expenses. We reinvest all dividends in our primary investment accounts, but we are trying hard not to draw down our savings right now, during this very expensive life phase, so opted to pull this out. This is not from our primary investment account, but a stock account that we are trying to sell off (to diversify our investments), & are just waiting on timing given tax implications. 
• Earned $107 on my blog (the only amount I've earned in 13 or so years, so my hourly rate is fantastic. ;-)) I've been experimenting with the ads & changed them to hopefully be less irritating. Fingers crossed. 

Avoiding spending

• Really limited grocery shopping this week, as we were out of town here & there, we no longer have DS18 eating at home, as well as we aren't also feeding his GF for most meals. That makes a big difference on how much food we need! I need to adjust our shopping & menu plans. DH loves to shop at Costco, but there are things we just no longer need that quantity of, and it will be an adjustment for the two of us to align on what we should buy there vs at the store in smaller quantities. ;-) 

Eating what we have

• I've done a good job of eating up leftovers for various meals
• Finished off the fantastic mango a friend left at our house while she was dropping off meals for Nick when we were gone. I'm usually kind of meh on mangoes, but this was incredible. 
• Had a few delicious salads, with garden lettuce & tomatoes. 
• Made Nick a smoothie using up strawberries a friend gave me, as well as some orange juice that is about to expire. It was a good post soccer game snack. 
• Made muffins out of overly ripe bananas out on the counter, plus six bananas from the freezer. I left out one container of muffins for M this week, and the rest went into the freezer. No bananas currently in the freezer, which I always like to see. We've made a real dent in the freezer the last few weeks, which is always nice. 
• I try to have salad with leftover protein for lunches, but had a day when I didn't have any leftovers. I dug into the freezer & found some buffalo chicken meatballs that no one seemed to like, and heated up a few of those to go on the salad. It was an unexpected combination, but was pretty good. 
• Defrosted two chunks of French bread (we cut up Costco bread, wrap it & freeze it, as we can't use it all before it goes bad) to make cheesy bread for Nick. 
• Found a container of white bean rosemary soup in the freezer, and had that for lunch with some cheese and an apple. It wasn't my favorite recipe, but that was the last of it. 

For others

• Passed on a few job options to a friend who is looking for work. 
• Did another volunteer call with a student I'm mentoring. 

What about you? Any wins to share?