May Goals

 April goals recap coming up soon, but I haven't finished crunching all of the numbers yet. 

May is similarly going to be an intense month, although minimal travel vs June & July.

Financial:

• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items
• Continue to track net new savings for 2026
• Make $100 in side hustle
• Find one expense to optimize
• Finalize work exit plan

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life
• Monthly date with M
• Visit another national park over Memorial Day weekend
• Continue working on "next big trip" plans with M

Fitness:

• Lose 4 lbs
• 10 positive days in a month (strength train, No S, meditate)
• Build out a workout template (strength, cardio, Pilates/yoga)
• Track nutrition
• Average 12,000 steps/day

Personal:

• Declutter 50 items from the house
• Get together with friends
• Try something new
• Say yes to adventures
• Get to know our neighbors
• Try a new recipe

This should all look pretty familiar, as these are my standard goals, but with a few specific additions as I keep making progress. 

What about you? What would you like to accomplish in May?

College move out budget round up

*I have edited the numbers down ever so slightly, as I found my receipt for one of the meals*

I had an original budget of $600 set for this trip, but was honestly hoping to keep it to $400. I was younger & more ambitious then. ;-)

Lodging - $0

• Used a Hyatt free night award for the first night, so I could work from the hotel in the morning, and then meet Nick to start move out. My free night awards covers all fees & parking.
• Nick & I stayed with my BFF the second night.

Transportation - $234.24

• The car rental was $131.50, plus I put in about $30 of gas before we dropped the car back off.
• Nick borrowed my friend's car (more on that, below), so I asked him to fill up her car as a thank you, which was the rest of this category. 
• Used United credits for both my flights as well as Nick's return flight home.

Meals - $308.17

• Free meal at the lounge before my flight
• $9 glass of wine on the flight. 
• Free meal at the dining hall for myself & Nick (and by "free", I mean included in Nick's room & board I paid for) ;-) 
• $68.42 - took Nick & his roommate out for a belated linner after a pretty long day of packing. 
• $230.75 - treated my BFF, her daughter/BF & Nick to another linner before our flight. 
  

Bags/storage - free, barely

• I get two free checked bags thanks to my United status, so we checked two large bags
• Nick carried on two back packs & I carried on a back pack & a roller bag
• The rest of his stuff is stored with my friend
• We BARELY got everything in to our available bag space! It was quite tight. Not confident another pair of socks could have made the journey with us. 

Total spent = $542.41

Having my BFF close by to Boulder has been such an incredible gift to all of us this year. She has dropped off medicine when Nick was sick, taken him on a camping trip when he was having a tough week, we've stayed with her many times, she let him borrow his car, is allowing him + his roommate to store their stuff in her garage, and is letting the roommate store his car at her house. She is an absolute gem & I can't thank her enough. We are super lucky.

I enjoy doing roundups of my trip it's kind of fun to see how accurate I can get with my predictions, without sweating the details while traveling. 

Fitness Monday

 Well, my weight is down, but I also think I'm losing muscle & am definitely not working out enough. It's absolute chaos right now, and this week promises to be top tier chaos (work & family stuff). My goal is to get through the week with a best effort, but to also prioritize sleep. I can do it!

Weight: 154.3 (down 1.4 lbs since last week)

Calories: 1,250/day

Steps: 8,190/day average

Workouts (it was a sad workout week!)

• 2 elliptical workouts
• 2 walks
• Moving Nick out of his dorm

Goals for the week: 

• Look for small pockets of workout time, even if it's just 15-20 minutes
• Focus on keeping calories in check
• Get enough protein & fruit/veggies

What about you? How are you doing with your health & fitness goals?

Menu Plan Sunday

 Another wild week ahead! Nick has friends rotating in & out of our guest room, as people road trip home, one friend is staying with us before he flies home to the UK, and another set of friends is going to Yosemite. I also have a mandatory in office week, and M is swamped with work. It's going to be an adventure for sure!

• Sunday - tacos
• Monday - We will have 3 extra college students for dinner, so M is grilling burgers. I haven't sorted sides yet, but I will likely pick up potato salad at Trader Joes. And pick up some treats.
• Tuesday - I will be at a work event, & the rest of the diners can have leftover tacos
• Wednesday - We will have 3 extra (but different from Monday night) college students for dinner. I have a late work day & M has a huge work presentation, so we are planning on takeout and/or pizza. We might do Persian food, however.
• Thursday - I have another late work event, so we are eating leftovers, or spaghetti & meatballs
• Friday - something from the freezer or leftovers

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

Frugal Friday

 A quick one, as it's been an insane week with work, in office days, dinner with the boss, flying to Boulder & working a half day today before I help move out Nick & his buds. The energy is high in Boulder this weekend (and it's crowded!) as it's graduation tomorrow. 

Saving on things we buy

• Stopped by Trader Joes to pick up granola & peppers, and uploaded the receipt to Fetch & then iBotta. iBotta has a semi consistent cash back offer for any receipt, so I made a whopping $.05 there. I'm getting rich over here!
• Picked up another prescription at CVS, and used a bunch of coupons & rewards to get two containers of vitamins (my hair is falling out faster than ever, thanks to the double whammy of menopause + lupus) for $3.45. 

Earning money

• Cashed out Fetch rewards for a $10 Amazon gift card.

Avoiding spending

• We spent money on gas & $30 on park admissions for our trip to Pinnacles on Saturday, but brought our own water + electrolytes, and breakfast/lunch from home. It was a very frugal day & I got to mark off another national park! 
• Ate dinner at the lounge (included with my credit card) & filled my water bottle as well, when I was at the airport yesterday.
• Got a ride to the airport from Sam, saving on the cost of a ride share or parking.
• Staying at a hotel with free Hyatt night award, which also waives the cost of the $25/night parking. When you have status & are staying with a free night award, free parking is a huge perk.
• Got free coffee this morning. They also offer breakfast, so I will likely grab a yogurt as well.

Eating what we have

• Before we left for our Pinnacles hike, I defrosted a small portion of Philly cheese steak meat I'd found in the freezer. Not enough for more than 2, I knew Sam was working on Saturday night. When we got home from our hike, M added a pepper, onions & provolone & made us Philly cheese steaks, but with no bread/sauce. I had mine over a salad.
• Pulled two bags of rotisserie chicken bones out of the freezer & made a double batch of chicken broth. Bonus points for using up some elderly carrots as well. I now have 9 additional various sized containers of chicken broth added to the freezer. 

For others

• Helping some of Nick's friends move out of their dorms, and transport what they are leaving over the summer, since their parents can't make it. 

What about you? Share your wins! 

Fitness Monday

 When work gets crazy, my ability to work out drops pretty quickly. I keep trying, but some days are a struggle!

Weight: 155.7, down .2 lbs since my weight before London. As with most work trips, I gained (although this time, very slightly) & now I'm down to my lowest of the year, which is nice. Plenty of work still to do.

Calories: 1,228

Steps: 12,385

Workouts:

• One really hard workout class with a friend
• Two 60 minute & one 30 minute elliptical workouts
• An 11 mile hike with M

Goals for the week:

• Keep the calories in check, despite the even wilder work week ahead (my manager is in town, I need to commute, I'm starting a class at Stanford, I'm going to Boulder...)
• Find creative workouts, & take advantage of time blocks that come up. It's going to be a scrappy week!
• Fuel myself well, despite the lower calories

What about you? How are you doing with your health & fitness goals?

Menu Plan Sunday

 Another week of menu planning! It's a short week for me, and the "use it up" freezer plans continue. 

• Friday: last of the chicken fajita rice
• Saturday: Philly cheese steaks (on the freezer "use it up" list)
• Sunday: Korean beef bowls + rice
• Monday: chicken stir fry + fried rice
• Tuesday: leftover chicken stir fry
• Wednesday: leftover Korean beef bowls + rice
• Thursday: I will be eating at the airport lounge before my flight to Denver
• Friday: In Boulder, will be eating at a friend's house. I might order delivery for all of us, depending on what she has planned

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

Frugal Friday

 This is a recap for a few weeks.

Travel savings: - adding these on weeks I have something to report, which is not every week. Paid $44 for $2200 of Christmas flights (flying to Portland to visit the family). I used American miles for three of the tickets, and those miles were earned exclusively through work travel. I didn't have quite enough for the fourth flight, so I booked that one using Sam's Alaska miles. He's the one most likely to have a disruption in his travel schedule due to work, so this worked out well to be on a separate reservation. It was a huge value to use miles, given the cost of flights right now. It felt especially good to save so much from work travel, because those miles feel especially hard earned. 

Saving on things we buy

• Uploaded all receipts to Fetch & iBotta. iBotta pretty consistently has a $.10 off any receipt, so I try to get those loaded & save myself "a ton" of money that way. ;-) Big bucks!
• I made a change to  our auto insurance, and saved $184, which I immediately transferred to our savings account. I'm trying to be more diligent about moving any saved/earned funds over right away, so it's more visible the progress we are (or, are  not) making. 
• I received a $140 evoucher to use on British Airways for a future flight, for the entertainment system not working for 10 hours. Not sure that's a tradeoff I would take, but here we are. I don't fly British Airways (with the exception of work, when I'm not paying), but it looks like I can book a partner flight & use the voucher as well through their site, which I will do in the future. They are partnered with American Airlines & Alaska Airlines, so I will go that route. 

Earning money

• Sold one of M's old watches for $130 on eBay. 

Avoiding spending

• It's been a week, and was craving a sandwich, so I conned Sam into picking one up for me while I worked by also ordering one for him. I used a BOGO offer, and we got two foot long Subway sandwiches for $11 + tip. I had a gift card, so it was no money out of pocket. 

Eating what we have

• Came home from my work trip & couldn't find anything to eat, so I made popcorn as a meal before I went to the store. 
• Defrosted soup 2x for lunches. Those are on my "use it up" list, so nice to have them out of the freezer.
• Also defrosted two bags of rotisserie chicken + chicken broth & made a chicken/rice dish. This also used up yogurt (in place of sour cream) in the recipe, which was another bonus. 

For others

• Can't really think of anything. 

What about you? How was your week? Any wins to share?

Post jet lag, changes & other miscellany

 I'm slowly recovering from jet lag. It gets harder every year! Yesterday afternoon was the worst it's been, so I rescheduled a later APAC meeting, and did mindless tasks around the house. I'd already worked more than a full day, and will hopefully have more energy for a later meeting on Wednesday. Fingers crossed.

I made the chicken rice skillet, using rotisserie chicken & chicken broth, so more things out of the freezer. I left a plate for Sam, who had to work last night. Everyone liked it, although apparently the salsa I bought at Trader Joe's was "not spicy enough". Fair, I also thought it was a little bland. Lesson for next time. ;-) 

I didn't work out yesterday, but did get in good workouts on Saturday & Sunday, & have a plan for today, so I'm continuing to get back into a routine.

Work plans:

One of my goals for April was to align on next steps for work. When I left my previous job after a layoff, I wasn't sure if I was "done" with a big career/corporate role. I'm coming up on one year in this role, and I think I can definitively say that I'm done with big career jobs. I've been working in corporate America for coming up on 30 years (next year marks 30), and I just don't have the energy I used to have. Factor in the politics, the early mornings, and the travel, and I consider myself in the home stretch.

What does this mean for work? My current goal (barring some sort of major shift in responsibilities/leadership/work/etc) is to give notice in July & offer a few months to help train a new hire, transition projects, etc. I'd like to be done by end of September. What will actually happen when I give notice is up to the company, of course, although given I have zero plans to go to a competitor, I'm reasonably sure they will keep me on for a bit to make the transition smooth. 

Finances:

Why July? I have to pay back my sign on bonus if I quit any time before July, so that's off the table. I also received a pro rated (based on hire date) annual bonus in early July, so both of those financial milestones will be achieved. We will then shift to M's health care plan.

I have a few other financial milestones I can stay for (a small secondary sign on bonus, a stock vest in December, etc), but so far, those don't feel like enough incentive. I'm on the cusp of needing more medical intervention with lupus, and I'd like to avoid that for as long as possible. 

What comes next?:

I'd love to have the flexibility to travel a lot, and be available to my family more. I am also reasonably confident that I will do paid work again, but just not a "career" job in my current industry. I'm in no rush to do so, and don't need the money, although it will pad the travel fund nicely to have something like that lined up when I'm ready.

I have a huge bucket list of places to go and things I'd like to do, so stay tuned for those updates. 

Focusing on my family & my health will be my top two priorities. We've worked really hard to get to this point, so looking forward to taking the time to regroup a bit & reset. We feel really lucky this is an option. M would like to work for another three years or so, barring any other changes at his work. He doesn't "love" it, but likes the company & the challenge of the work.

More to come, as I firm up plans!

Fitness Monday

 I'll just make this a quick summary, as I'm recapping a few weeks.

The scale says my weight is up a few pounds, but I did pretty well on my trip (the best I've ever done by a long shot) & I tend to retain a lot of water after traveling. So, I'll give it a few days & report back a more accurate number next week.

I worked out 1x in London, but also walked 2+ miles a day to get to/from the office, and tried to take the stairs a lot.

I bought much healthier dinners (picked up a salad & chicken skewer from a market one night, and a chicken/brown rice bowl another) & tried to keep things healthy. The big downside was that my schedule was absolutely insane & packed, and the only lunches I even had time for were grabbing a sandwich at the cafe & eating that while walking to another meeting. So, much less than ideal. It was a week where everyone assigned to an office was required to be in person, so the food lines, elevator lines, everything were stacked up. And, there were many required events to attend, hence the crammed schedules. 

I will say that my biggest observation is how much I crave sugar & caffeine when I'm jet lagged. I rarely, rarely crave sugar when on my normal routine (minus a couple of days of hormonal cravings), but when I was tired... the difference was huge. My body is clearly looking for an easy energy source, and I try to avoid any caffeine after my first latte in the morning. 

Goals for the week:

• Hard(er) & consistent workouts
• Lots of fruit, veggies & protein
• Strength training
• Getting in my steps

What about you? How are you doing with your health & fitness goals? 

Menu Plan Sunday

 It's not going to be my best work, but I will make sure everyone is fed this week!

• Friday - I made popcorn when I got home & saw that the fridge was largely empty. I would have treated myself to delivery for dinner, but I fell asleep before that could happen. So, a frugal win? ;-) 
• Saturday - grilled chicken (freezer) over salad
• Sunday - high protein deconstructed beef enchiladas (freezer)
• Monday - One pan chicken fajita rice
• Tuesday - leftover grilled chicken on ravioli
• Wednesday - leftover chicken fajita rice
• Thursday - grilled chicken + edamame
• Friday - TBD, but something easy!

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

Saturday Happenings

 The opposite side of last week's Saturday Happenings, as I'm back from my trip. It was a reasonably good trip from a logistics perspective (all flights on time, hurrah!), which is always nice. The entertainment unit was busted on the way to London, and given I don't sleep on flights, that was a LONG flight to not have any movies or TV to watch. 

The hotel was ... interesting. I'm used to small hotel rooms, from traveling in Europe & Asia, but this was truly tiny. It had a twin bed! There was nowhere really for my suitcase to be, except wedged between the bed & the wall. ;) There were some very interesting design decisions. Oh well, I definitely appreciate being back home now.

I landed in the afternoon, Ubered home, & then unpacked & started a load of laundry. I realized there was basically nothing in the fridge, so I made myself some popcorn while I did that, and then went to the grocery store where I picked up a few things.

I was in bed by 7 pm (my goal for myself) & slept until 6 am. That's how tired I was!

For today, I have more than enough to keep me busy:

• Workout class, hopefully with a friend joining
• Grocery store for a proper stock up
• Make a meal plan for the week
• Prep some sort of healthy food! 
• Virtual call with my sister + BFF, where we need to catch up on our Greece planning! It's coming up really quickly, suddenly
• Complete expense report
• Catch up on home budgeting tasks
• Start cleaning the house. It's pretty gross. Probably split into today & tomorrow
• Laundry

The bed in my hotel room, for visual interest... And, that's the full room size. ;-) 

What are you up to today? 

Saturday Happenings

 My goal is to maximize as much of my day/partial weekend as possible, before I fly to London this evening. For all of those people who think work travel is fun.... nope. Definitely nope! I suppose if you had unlimited PTO & didn't mind traveling alone, or had a spouse who could join you for the personal travel at the end, you could just consider it a way to earn free airfare for yourself somewhere you'd like to go. The answer to all of the above is no for me, and I'm always just trying to get back home to my regular life. Where you inevitably are jet lagged for the following weekend as well.

As for today, the most important thing I like to do before a long travel day is work out. While not possible if I have a really early flight, it's definitely doable today, because I have an evening flight. I'm planning to meet a friend for a workout class, which is a double win, since we will get to catch up as well. It always makes me feel better before 10+ hours of sitting to at least know that I worked out ahead of time. 

I considered doing a virtual happy hour call with my sister + BFF at the lounge (in one of the private phone booths, of course), but I'm flying British Airways vs United, and am unfamiliar with their lounge set up. That would have at least been a fun way to squeeze in our monthly happy hour while I hang out at the lounge. 

Other things I'll get up to today:

• Clean the fridge. M is more than capable of making meals, but he has "fridge blindness" or whatever and I like the fridge to be ready to go & wiped down, any old leftovers tossed, etc.
• Finish last minute packing. I have a "day of travel" checklist I use to gather up all remaining items.
• Go through my work calendar & make a list for each day, schedule in workouts, etc. 
• Catch up on laundry.
• Clean the kitchen

Doing all of that will make me feel moderately better about leaving, knowing the house is in semi-order. I drew the line at flying back next Saturday, because that really does ruin the following weekend as well. Instead, I fly back Friday morning UK time, and will arrive mid-day on Friday, assuming everything goes well. Fingers crossed for easy travels. 

What are you up to today?