September Goals

 M & I are going to be in Utah & Las Vegas for a week for our anniversary, & it's my last month of full time employment!

Financial:

• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items
• Continue to track net new savings for 2026
• Final budget adjustments for part time
• Make $100 in side hustle
• Find one expense to optimize
• Adjust post work budget & plan, based on bonus payback
• Determine whether it makes sense to switch depending to a different credit card through EOY
• Determine feasibility of saving 2027 expenses (without pulling from CDs, etc)

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life
• Plan something fun for Labor Day weekend
• Monthly date with M
• Finalize details for Utah trip & have a fabulous trip
• Have a family dinner with Sam's GF before she heads back to school
• Continue planning for our next big trip

Fitness:

• Lose 3 lbs
• 10 strength workouts
• Track nutrition
• Average 13,000 steps/day
• Sort out any medical appointments before EOY

Personal:

• Make list for part time schedule (to dos, fun, etc)
• Declutter 50 items
• Get together with friends
• Try something new/say yes to adventures
• Get to know our neighbors
• Try a new recipe

What about you? What are you hoping to get done in September? Let us know, so we can cheer you on. 

August Goals

I was home for almost all of August, minus the a couple of days in Oregon with my parents, and moving Nick in mid-month. That led to more time at home, more schedule predictability & a bit more productivity towards my goals. 

Financial:

• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items - I used up chicken broth, black beans & Costco frozen veggies for roasting
• Continue to track net new savings for 2026 - yes
• Finalize part time adjustment & exit date - yes! I'm going part time in October, and I'll be done working at the end of the year.
• Make $100 in side hustle - I had a great month & made $275
• Find one expense to optimize - we are still working on some options here, including Nick's transportation costs
• Adjust post work budget & plan, depending on exit date & benefits - I'm pretty much done with this, minus understanding how much of my sign on bonus I need to pay back. I haven't gotten confirmation on this yet from HR
• Determine whether it makes sense to switch spending to a different credit card through EOY - not done yet

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life - yes, all going well here
• Get Nick moved in & have fun with my mom. Minimize cost - yes to both. It was a really great, although super busy weekend. It was expensive, but well worth it & we made smart tradeoffs to keep the costs in check.
• Monthly date with M - yes, we went to happy hour after running an errand
• Reschedule family dinner - serendipitously, M's cousins (the ones we were trying to schedule) were in our area over the weekend, & we got some of the group together. Nick is not available of course, and Sam was working, but the rest of us met up.
• Continue planning for our next big trip (M's 60th) - yes, I've made some inroads here. 

Fitness:

• Lose 3 lbs - I lost 3.9 lbs
• Research & finalize medication - Yes, done. 
• 10 strength workouts - yes, 11!
• Track nutrition - yes, done daily
• Average 13,000 steps/day - 11,620/day, so just shy of my yearly goal of 12,000. I need to boost this up to hit my yearly goal!
• Sort out any medical appointments before EOY - Sam scheduled his checkup & I scheduled an eye doctor appointment, which I need to do for a medicine I take. 

Personal:

• Make list for part-time schedule (to dos, fun, etc) - I have a few ideas brewing
• Declutter 50 items - I absolutely crushed this, with 222 items gone in August
• Get together with friends - met friends for dinner, another friend for a hike, and a third friend for a workout + coffee & another friend for lunch
• Try something new/say yes to adventures - planned an impromptu trip with my parents for October
• Get to know our neighbors - yes, went for a walk with my neighbors
• Try a new recipe - egg bites & the baked chicken Chile tacos

Overall, I'm pleased with the month & my progress. How did you do with your August goals? 

Fitness Monday

 It was a relatively good health & fitness week. Any time I can get in three hard workout classes & have enough energy, it's a great week, honestly. I'm still taking my weekly injection, but noticing less of an impact on my energy level, which is awesome & as expected for this medicine. Over time, I should notice an overall decrease of my lupus symptoms, which would be amazing. I'm not quite there yet. 

Weight: 147.7, down .4 lbs since last week

Calories: 1,221/day

Steps: 12,196/day

Workouts:

• 3 elliptical workouts: 45 minutes, 60 minutes & 75 minutes
• 3 hard workout classes
• One day without a workout

Goals for the week:

• I feel like my progress is finally starting to be noticeable with my clothes & I'm slowly getting back into the shape I was in before I went back to work, so my goal is to stay the course!
• Continue to track calories, get a lot of protein & work out consistently.

How are you doing with your health & fitness goals?

Menu Plan Sunday

 This really isn't a plan - more like a loose collection of ideas at this point. ;-) 

• Friday - we went out for appetizers & a drink, and then came home & I made a salad for M, to round things out. 
• Saturday - we went out for Persian food with M's cousins, in a very unexpected last minute plan. Otherwise, we would have skipped Friday night. 
• Sunday - M is grilling burgers tonight
• Monday - I'm going to try these baked chicken Chile tacos we saw in a video
• Tuesday - baked salmon + salad
• Wednesday - leftover burgers
• Thursday - chicken fajitas
• Friday - leftovers

I'll report in if the baked chicken tacos are any good! What about you? What's on your menu for the week?

Frugal Friday

 It was a pretty standard week for us. Here's what happened at our house. 

Saving on things we buy

• Uploaded a receipt to Fetch & iBotta ($.05 offer) & found $.02 in my shopping cart at Trader Joes. Big money wins here!
• I was really craving a sandwich with the fresh garden tomatoes from my coworker, so I picked up sandwich fixings during my Trader Joes stop. While groceries aren't particularly cheap these days, I got what I needed for $12, and enough to make multiple sandwiches. We don't keep bread on hand, so it's a nice treat when we do get it. 
• I was "in charge" of the Costco shopping this week, and found a few iBotta offers for things we were buying (grapes, Advil) & saved $2.40. I also uploaded the receipt to Fetch. 
• We weren't exactly seeking this out, but M's coworker offered to sell him a Southwest voucher for $150 off of the value. We can fly Southwest for a variety of places we go, including Nick to/from Boulder. We have a year to use it, so we will ensure it gets used up ahead of expiration. Given flight prices, saving any amount is valuable. 

Earning money

• Not really earning "money", but as part of Nick's room cleanout (this is sanctioned by him - he wants to get rid of stuff to make room for a bigger bed), I found a few gift cards that had slipped to the bottom of his desk. He will be thrilled to have them back - particularly the Chipotle gift card. 
• Sam took the boys highest value Magic the Gathering cards (Nick hasn't played since middle school, Sam for 3ish years) & sold most of them. The boys split the money. We have a plan for the rest of the cards - they just need to get packed up & sent off. 

Avoiding spending

• Nothing special to report here. I suppose that I didn't spend a bunch of money on decorations for Nick's college apartment? Seeing all of those Instagram videos really makes me wonder how much money folks have! ;-) 

Eating what we have

• My stomach was a little sketchy from the new medicine I'm taking, so meals have been pretty light. Dinner was popcorn one night, which is frugal if not completely nutritionally sound as a dinner. 
• Used up a zucchini I got from a coworker, and the remaining half of a bag of frozen Costco vegetables intended for roasting in our dinner on Sunday. We didn't love the Costco veggies the first time we tried roasting them, but they were better with this preparation. Now that the bag is gone, we will likely just buy fresh in the future, as it changes the texture of most of the veggies for roasting, and makes them a bit mushy. Overall very pleased with getting that bag out of the freezer, and ensuring we used up the garden zucchini, which was delicious.
• Made lots of sandwiches & breakfast burritos, featuring the fresh tomatoes from my coworker. They were so delicious, we didn't want to waste any!
• Sam asked for suggestions to make for lunch, so I pointed him to the leftover rotisserie chicken, tortillas & cheese, and he made himself a chicken quesadilla that he thought was great. 

For others

• Offered to help out a friend with a resume review & intro for a potential new role. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

Weekly Spending

Inspired by Sam, I thought I'd do a daily spending tally, to see what we spent over the past week. Disclaimer, I don't track any of the boys spending, unless I bought them something, as they have their own money for spending. I used to do this semi regularly, but stopped along the way. Who knows if this will be a regular recurrence. I'm actually looking for ways to automate my spending tracking (a retirement project for sure), as it's a time commitment to track every purchase & categorize it. 

Friday: No money spent. I went to a workout class, but it was covered by a class pack I bought in December. I also walked in the neighborhood with a neighbor. - $0 spent

Saturday: I went to a workout class, although same as above on spending. I returned a pair of jeans to TJ Maxx & received a refund of $16. I went to Costco & spent $281.57, which was largely groceries, but also includes: Advil & cold medicine. Net spent = $265.57

Sunday: I met a friend for a hike (free) & picked up M from the airport. M just drives around until the traveler is ready, but I find that annoying, so I paid $4 to park & wait for him to come out. Net spent = $4. 

Monday: I worked, worked out at home & didn't spend any money. - $0 spent. 

Tuesday: Costco was out of a few things when I went on Saturday. M went back on Tuesday & picked up the missing stuff. Net spent = $92.45

Wednesday: this was an unexpected spend, but M's coworker offered him a $1k Southwest voucher for $850. Southwest flies almost all of the routes we travel (to visit my family, Nick's flights to/from Boulder, etc), so we should have no problem using this. And, we have money in our travel budget, but just wasn't planning on making the purchase right now. Regardless, a good deal. - Net spent = $850

Thursday: No spending for today, as I'm hoping to go to a workout class (included in a class pack paid for last year). 

Total spent = $1212.02 - that's quite a banger of a way to kick off a week of tracking. I expected it to be much less, as the travel voucher spending was unplanned. 

What was your last unexpected purchase?

Fitness Monday

It was a pretty good week for me, in the health & fitness results space, even though I didn't feel great for a few days of the week. I made the most of the days where I did feel okay.

Weight: 148.1, down 1.4 lbs from my last check in, which was 2 weeks ago. 

Calories: 1,294/day

Steps: 12,193/ day

Workouts:

• One 45 minute elliptical workout
• Two very hard workout classes
• One 2.5 mile walk with a friend
• A 7 mile hike with another friend

Other health related things:

• I'm back on the injectible medicine that I took for a few weeks before I went to Japan. I had to stop taking it when I went on antibiotics for the foot infection. Unfortunately, the first 3+ weeks you take it, you are exhausted. Like, need 11 hours of sleep exhausted. However, the long term benefit is that it makes the overall lupus symptoms better for most people - you just have to stick it out. I've been really tired over the past two weeks, and start my third injection on Thursday. I'm hopeful that I can stick it out & see the longer term benefits. It takes a while for them to kick in, sometimes as much as six months. So, it's definitely a long term investment. Fingers crossed!
• My back has been really bothering me (more than usual), so I'm getting a massage today & I'm very happy about it!

Goals for the week:

• Consistent workouts, even if I have to dial it back to accommodate for the days I don't feel well
• Balanced eating. I find that I'm so tired lately, I'm skipping dinner, which is not ideal from a nutritional perspective.

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

Menu Plan Sunday

I didn't end up making some of the dinners I posted earlier in the week (it was just me, so I tend to skip meal prep as a result). So, you'll see some duplication & carryovers.

• Friday - breakfast burritos (tortillas, eggs, cheese, garden tomatoes from coworker)
• Saturday - grilled burgers
• Sunday - fall sheet pan dinner
• Monday - carnitas 
• Tuesday - leftover fall sheet pan dinner
• Wednesday - one pan chicken fajita rice
• Thursday - leftover carnitas
• Friday - leftover chicken fajita rice

What about you? Any fall recipes starting to creep into your menu plan? I'm still adjusting our menu to continue to use up what we have, but also adjust for fewer diners at the table.

Frugal Friday

 Move in with Nick was expensive, as expected. A few wins, against all of the spending the weekend entailed. Also, zero regrets, because one of the reasons we try to make other financially advantageous choices is so we can help our kids & their friends during times of transition. 

Saving on things we buy

• We had a huge cart at Target, stocking up on kitchen supplies, plus some apartment furniture, towels, etc. The cashier offered us a 20% off college student coupon, but you had to jump through a bunch of hoops to verify identity. We had to pull our cart off to the side (after checkout, but before we paid) & spent another 10 minutes getting it to work, but we saved $120 on that coupon + some others I'd clipped in the app. I also earned a $15 Target gift card, but I rarely go there, and there's no one close to Nick, so I gave it to my mom to pass on to my special needs aunt. 
• Uploaded all of my many receipts for the weekend, and one of them triggered a 2800 Fetch bonus, which is unheard of for me. 
• Boulder has a "resale" shop that the university operates. They had tons of used dorm move in & apartment move in items. They were pretty cleaned out by the time we went on Sunday, but he did get: a headboard, multiple extension cord & power strips, some cups, an organizing container, and a shelving unit for $11. 
• I've gone back onto a new medicine that makes me exhausted, so offered to buy lunch for Sam if he would pick up my lunch as well. I was craving chicken & wild rice soup when I got back from Boulder. Used a $15 gift card for Panera & paid out of pocket for the rest. 

Earning money

• Just the usual stuff around here. Sam is working two jobs, Nick is going to test out going to a nearby company (the same one he worked with this summer) to help them out. He's hoping it is feasible without a car (he'll need to take the bus.) 
• Nick had a yearly physical (it had been a couple of years) & didn't really want to go, but he's had a lot of ear problems when flying. I remembered that I get a $100 (taxable) bonus from my insurance 1x/year for each person on our health plan who has a physical or from a list of other screenings. I offered him $50, and he somehow got in on the last day before we flew to Boulder. He was very happy to go to the doctor for $50. ;-) 
• Sold a shirt on eBay & made $12. 
• I'm actually home for a few weeks in a row now, so I listed a few new items on eBay. 

Avoiding spending

• I got three free checked bags on United, thanks to my status. I also offered the other three free checked bags to Nick's old roommate, who was flying with us, but he didn't make it to the airport in time, unfortunately. He had to pay out of pocket, and two of his bags were over weight. Poor guy. 
• We skipped our standard grocery store run last weekend, as I was in Boulder with Nick, and we knew M would be gone mid week for a trip of his own. Which, is good, because we certainly spent a lot outfitting Nick's apartment with food & supplies!
• Serendipitously given the above, I had to go to the office on Wednesday, and a coworker brought in tons of garden tomatoes, a few cucumber & squash. No one was taking it, so she encouraged me to take as much as I wanted. I left a bunch for others, but ended up with a very generous amount of grape & beefsteak tomatoes, a cucumber & a squash. I am so excited to have garden fresh tomatoes, and expect them to go quickly. 

Eating what we have

• Nick & I went to the lounge before our flight on Friday. I filled up my water bottle, and he had a bagel. He reports it wasn't very good, but it was free, so...? 
• Made Sam a freezer dinner of spring rolls & meatballs, and paired that with pineapple slices. 

For others

• Provided lots of transportation, took kids shopping with us, fed kids meals & generally tried to provide as much support as possible last weekend.

What about you? Any wins to share?

Thursday things

 It's very quiet around the house this week, so I'm using that time in between meetings & work to try & clean & organize Nick's room. He has asked to upgrade to a bigger bed, and to remove his desk. Once you start moving furniture, the dust bunnies (dogs, really) come out in full force. Lots of cleaning happening & hopefully we will be able to find a reasonably priced second hand bed frame for him & give him a bit more space.

We also leveraged the college dorm room trick of moving his dresser into his closet, which does free up a lot of additional space. I have some feelings about all of these changes, because the bed frame is so lovely, matches all of the furniture, & I bought them for both boys as they moved out of cribs. I suppose at 19 & 20, they are ready to have something a bit bigger. ;-) 

I'm also going through & gifting things on Buy Nothing, listing things on eBay & FB, and trying to remove stuff from our house. I've found a renewed incentive to do so, as this is the first stretch where I'm home for multiple weeks, since the beginning of June. 

As always, there is way too much to do on any given day! What are you up to today? Are you focused on any organization projects at the moment?

Mini menu plan

 We are down to two diners this week, and are getting a late start on menu planning, so this is just mostly for myself & to organize my own mind on meals.

• Sunday - DH grilled burgers
• Monday - DH grilled salmon
• Tuesday - chicken caesar salad
• Wednesday - carnitas burritos
• Thursday - dinner out with friends
• Friday - leftover carnitas burritos
• Saturday - chicken Caesar salad
• Sunday - Fall sheet pan dinner

That's it from my side. I'm definitely going to have to adjust my cooking to plan for fewer people, with Nick back in school.

What's on your menu this week? Any fun new recipes you are trying? 

Move in weekend trip recap

We've gone back & forth on letting Nick have his car in Boulder this year, but we agreed to have him wait until second semester. As a result, we needed to arrange flights & a car rental for move in weekend. This is what I consider a "logistics" trip, and definitely not a vacation, so here's how we optimized to keep costs in check. 

A few weeks before the trip, my mom asked if she could join, so that's also reflected here. 

Note that this doesn't include the actual costs of moving Nick in (grocery runs, etc) as that's included in his college budget. 

Flights: $637.18

• One way flights for me + Nick: $279.36. The rest was offset by various travel credits on United. I booked the flights this way so Nick could have access to my checked bag allowance I get with airline status. The United flights were about $10 more per person than Southwest, but the free bags I get make all the difference & more than offset that cost. 
• One way flight home for me - $280
• Flight for my mom from Portland to Denver: This was largely covered by my United miles, but I got her a better seat & the rest is taxes on the miles -  $77.82

Transit: $319.08

• Car rental: $228.04. Pretty steep, but it's move in weekend, so cars are in high demand. I also will be moving a bunch of stuff, so couldn't rent a compact car. I actually got upgraded to an even bigger car, which was incredibly helpful for moving things around, but also quite hard to park!
• Gas: $56.04
• Tolls: $35 (estimate). Not completely sure, as this will get billed through the rental car company.

Lodging: $0

• Staying with a friend one night, so we can hang out & I can also get Nick's stuff out of her garage
• Using a Hyatt free night award for the second night. The location make this easier for the second night, as her house is a drive from Boulder, and the hotel is down town. 

Food: $295.80

• Chipotle on Friday for lunch for myself, my mom, Nick & his friend - $33.05
• BFF provided dinner & appetizers for dinner on Friday & breakfast on Saturday - $0
• Shared an order of fries & a water with my mom on Saturday as "lunch", because we had absolutely zero time to do anything else, bought Nick lunch -  $18.98
• Took Nick, my mom & two of his friends to dinner on Saturday night - $166.97
• Had a coffee & a piece of toast for breakfast (included) at the hotel with my mom - $0
• Planned to have lunch with my mom & Nick before the airport, but ran out of time, so my mom & I got food & a glass of wine at the airport. - $76.80

Total spent = $1252.06

Price aside, I have absolutely zero regrets of flying in & helping Nick set up for his next year of college. We were able to drive him around, get what he needed for his apartment, spend time with his friends, & ensure he was ready for the year. Because we had a car, we also took his friends to various shops with us, and helped them with their move ins as well, and we are so happy we can help them out.

I'm exhausted - lesson learned for next year! Definitely need an extra day, plus also need M! 

Frugal Friday

Nick & I are heading to Boulder for move in weekend, which I anticipate to be very pricey! Getting someone set up in a new apartment tends to be that way, even though we've gotten really lucky on a few fronts. His apartment is mostly furnished & my BFF has a few items she's giving him that her daughters don't need. Those will both make a nice dent in our spending needs. I'm also just grateful we don't need to carve out time to try & cobble together furnishings in an apartment, and then figure out what to do with them at the end of the year. 

Saving on things we buy

• Picked up a few things we needed at Trader Joes (my favorite yogurt, mini cucumbers for Nick, and the peanut slaw mentioned below), as well as mini cones for Nick's last week before he heads back to college. I uploaded the receipt to Fetch & iBotta, for the $.25 cash back offer. That's pretty much the only offer I use with iBotta, as we don't buy many brand name items. 

Earning money

• I have a count down on of how many full-time paychecks I have, as well as how many part-time checks I'll be receiving before my employment ends. I'll be very excited to "retire" (I may pick up future part-time work), and have a clear plan for how we will handle our finances until I can tap into my 401k. 
• On a related note, my employer matches the first $1k you put into a college account per year, up to two dependents. Based on my understanding, that match doesn't happen until late January, and I thought I would be ineligible because of the timing of my departure. But, I jumped through a bunch of hoops & filled out the paper work. It turns out that if you are already at $1k by June 30th, they match at that time, and then if not, they match at the end of the year. So, my early planning & saving resulted in a $2k match from my employer for college - which I'm absolutely thrilled about!
• I went to the bank to deal with a CD that was up for renewal. My banker pointed out that if I added a bit from savings to the CD, I would qualify for a higher tiered interest rate. The current CD rates that are paying the highest at my bank are 4 months, so still ample time until I need my savings after my last paycheck. I'll earn another $400 in interest, which is great for no work on my side. 

Avoiding spending

• I attempted to get free car charging at work, but in a frugal fail, my charging app wouldn't log me in & I couldn't reset my password. So, frugal fail on that front. 
• Arranged for M to drop us off at the airport on his way to work today, as Nick & I are headed to Boulder - let the second year of college commence! 
• I was finally successful in getting Nick's health insurance waiver approved for school, saving us close to $3k. This was a multi week journey, and a huge time investment, thanks to some technical hurdles. DONE!
• Took advantage of my 3 free checked bags on United (thanks to status), for all of Nick's stuff. 

Eating what we have

• With the cost of food, we have amped up our attempts to reduce food waste even further. It's not exactly the season in our lives for a lot of elaborate meals, or complicated recipes. But, we have been attempting to stretch our meals further, get creative about incorporating leftovers, etc. On Friday for example, I paired leftover rice with chicken meatballs (TJs) & then topped with a peanut slaw, which really makes the dish. The original "recipe" calls for TJs fried rice, but I preferred M's leftover rice. 
• I found a few small tomatoes that the squirrels somehow missed! So, that makes 4 for the season. ;-)
• I also picked a bunch of fresh herbs for the chicken M made on Saturday (so delicious), and lemons for the chicken. M marinates it for hours before grilling. It's a family favorite. 
• I had leftovers of the rice/meatball/peanut slaw dish above for lunch after my Saturday workout, ensuring no waste. 
• We had eggs that no one was eating, so I made a double batch of egg bites (inspired by Kristen at The Frugal Girl). I included: spinach (had to buy this), cottage cheese (needed to be used), shredded cheddar (purchased for another recipe), diced red peppers (found in the pantry, no idea why it was purchased), green onions (garden) & some salt & pepper. I made a double batch & they were fantastic. Need to work on the cooking time a bit, as they were a PITA to get out of the pan. Sam had some in the late afternoon when they came out of the oven, as he was headed to work. I froze a bunch, and now easy breakfast is in the fridge. They are also really high in protein, and largely used up things we already had on hand. 

For others

• Nick's friend is joining us on our flight to Denver, and then are giving him a ride to where he parked his truck for the summer, to save on transit flights. I will also feed him of course on Friday, as we will be together in transit all day. 
• Hosted one of Nick's friends who doesn't have anywhere to stay for a few days. 
• Offered to check some bags for Nick's friend, who was joining us on our flight, as we still had additional bags we could check for free. 

What about you? Any wins to share?