Fitness Monday

 Finally back & attempting to get back on track with my health & fitness. It was a pretty good week, particularly in comparison to the rest of June. ;-) 

Weight: up 1.5 lbs since my last weigh in! This is why it's so helpful for me to record my food & fitness. When I'm not doing that, the train is off the track. 

Calories: 1502, a little higher than I'd like

Steps: 11,673. I had one day where I was supposed to do a gym class, but instead did the elliptical, after I discovered my tire was super low & didn't want to drive. M fixed me up, but I'd missed my class. I absolutely should have gone for a walk at some point that day, but it's been too warm for me, and I bailed. Otherwise, my steps each day were pretty good. 

Workouts:

• 3 60 minute workout classes (combination of running, rowing & strength)
• Two hikes + one more casual walk with a friend
• Treadmill class (lots of running)
• 30 minutes on the elliptical 

Overall nutrition: I ate pretty well, and had a lot of salads & more produce. I had two mini Trader Joes ice cream cones & a couple of days with higher calories than I'd like, but overall pretty decent on the nutrition front. 

Goals for the week:

• Figure out a workout schedule, at least for the next couple of weeks
• Eat well & clean out the fridge/freezer while M & Nick are in Boulder
• Get 12k steps/day, which will be definitely more challenging with work & meetings

What about you? How did you do with your health & fitness goals over the past week?

Menu Plan Sunday

 

We were lazy & ordered Greek takeout on Friday (also celebrating that M had a great interview day), and with me starting a new job, we definitely need a menu plan so this doesn't turn into a trend.

• Friday - delicious Greek takeout. I had a gyro bowl
• Saturday - leftover Korean beef & rice
• Sunday - Philly cheesesteaks
• Monday - chicken fajitas
• Tuesday - M & Nick will be in Boulder, so Sam & I will probably have a frozen pizza, like the party animals we are
• Wednesday - chicken fajitas over salad
• Thursday  - leftovers 
• Friday - likely grilled hot dogs or burgers, for the 4th of July

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

Frugal Friday

 It's been a reasonably quiet week on the frugal front, as I tried to wrap up all of my projects ahead of work next week, as well as meet up with friends. 

Saving on things we buy

• Forgot about a Southwest credit card offer I'd saved to my account, and earned $1.46 (big money) o our recent flights.
• Used a 40% promo code at CVS to order a few more graduation pictures for Nick.
• Nick & Sam took their girlfriends on a date night, using Nick's discounted meal that he gets for the place he works. Apparently, it was a lot of fun, and I love that they double dated. 

Earning money

• Sold some hand cream on eBay & made $6.50. I accepted a pretty low offer, as I'm trying to clean out my eBay shelf. Hopefully I can get rid of more in the next few weeks!

Avoiding spending

• M, Nick & I were originally all going to go to his college orientation 7/1-7/3 in Boulder. However, my new manager requested I start on 6/30, ahead of her taking off on vacation. M offered to take Nick on his own. We had the hotel booked with free night awards in my name, and our flight reservations included all three of us. United doesn't make it easy to split a flight reservation, unlike some airlines, but I spent time on the phone & got that sorted. I'll get a future flight credit. I was also able to cancel my free night awards, then transfer the awards to M, and rebook them under his name. Done & done, but saving a lot of money. And, ultimately all of this allows me to start work a week earlier, get a "free" vacation day on July 4th, and get an earlier month of health insurance (July), which is a huge savings. 
• We ate at the airport lounge (for free last weekend while we were traveling), & filled out water bottles for free at the airport both ways.

Eating what we have

• Our garden is really producing, so we have tons of tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, & herbs. Some sort of wildlife is eating my cucumbers & squash, which is irritating me to know end. I want M to set up a critter camera, so we can see how they are getting into our heavily fortified garden boxes. Ate lots of strawberries for snacks. 
• I made quite a few meals out of freezer items (taco meat, broccoli beef, chicken salads for lunch, etc), which has been nice & avoided a trip to the store. We didn't have quite enough of the broccoli beef, so I added a lot more fresh broccoli (steaming right before serving) & served it over pasta, as the recipe calls for. The pasta really adds bulk. Nick had his with meatballs, which meant we had just enough for the three of us eating the beef & broccoli.
• Shredded my one lonely zucchini I've grown this year. I picked it & then didn't have a chance to make it right away, so I figured that shredding was my best option. 

For others

• Let my sister know about the money we plan to gift my nephew for his fall college tuition, so she can plan accordingly for her contributions & overall finances. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

How I'm feeling about going back to work

 It's going to be a big change, after a glorious 16 months off of work! I worked full time for 25 years in a "career" job, worked three jobs in college, and started working when I was 15. (My sister & I waitressed at the same restaurant, so she could give me a ride.) Taking the time off has been so incredibly good for me, and our family. I got to spend so much time with Sam before he left for college, and enjoyed Nick's senior year. We said yes to all of the impromptu hosting, ski trips, swim parties, last minute lunches & generally just enjoying all of his friends & their shenanigans. That's time I would never have had with either of them. 

I also got time with other amazing people in my life. Two hiking trips, with two different girlfriends. Took my nephew to Las Vegas. Visited my mom. Ran a 10k with my sister & BFF. Went on another hiking trip with my sister & BFF. Took both boys to admitted students days at college, plus orientation, plus college drop offs (still ahead for Nick). I've had so much fun, and been so lucky. 

I've worked out 5-6 days a week, met friends for an endless amount of hikes at the local nature preserve, and read by the pool every day there was a little sun. I did a moderate job of keeping the house clean. I truly relaxed and got rid of years of work stress. 

When M was laid off, it was a real turning point for both of us. I'd said in October (when we were in Costa Rica), that I thought I was ready to start looking for something to keep me busy. Once he was laid off, I decided that I would also look for an actual career job with benefits, so he could have the option of finding another career job, or starting his own business, which he's wanted to do for years. I'm not sure if he will actually do it, or take another career job (he's got lots of interviews going), but this gives him the flexibility to choose, and having options in life is so valuable. 

I feel really lucky to have found something that's very well compensated, because I looked at jobs that paid 1/2 to even 1/3 of what this job paid. It's just a crazy market, and the compensation in tech is really all over the place. If I tried to do a career pivot, I was basically looking at starting out in a very junior role, earning 1/3 of what I was before. It just didn't seem worth it, when I only see myself working for another 3-5 years. Why not earn the bigger salary, staying in the same area I was in before, and pad the accounts before I officially retire? 

I'm very excited about the people in this new role. One of the reasons I said "yes", was because I loved everyone I interviewed with. This job is a very natural extension of what I was doing before, so I also feel really confident about the subject area, and my ability to add value. 

On the financial side, we could have afforded for both of us not to work for at least another year, but then the cost of health care really started to eat into our retirement savings, which no one wanted. By going back to work now, we preserve both our retirement, as well as what I'll call our "flexible" savings, which allows us to splurge more. Help my nephew with college. Save money for my special needs aunt, should she reach a point that she needs it. Travel overseas to visit M's family. Update our house (I would LOVE to have a bathtub at some point.) Cover some out of pocket medical expenses that are likely looming for me. Treat my parents to some fun trips. Go to Italy. Donate to causes we care about. Set aside money for the boys, as they enter adulthood. 

I will absolutely miss the flexibility I have in my current schedule, but I've also worried that becoming an empty nester at the same time I'm not working might be too much "freedom" for me, and I might enjoy a bit more structure. This job is coming at pretty much the perfect time, as we drop Nick off at college in mid-August. We'll see how I feel in a few months, after I've gotten a chance to get a feel for my schedule & my coworkers!

Wow, that got long. Apparently, I had a lot to say about my return to work! Happy to answer questions! I'm in a *very* niche field (there are probably 15 people who have the exact experience I had that qualified me for this role), so won't give a ton of specifics about job, but any other questions are fair game. 

Plans for my upcoming income

Once I see how much my paychecks net out to, I'll have a more clear plan of how much we can save, where we will spend, etc. I'm excited to work on a new budget that includes my income! As background, my new job comes with the following compensation elements:

• Salary
• Annual bonus (30% of my salary)
• Stock 
• A sign on bonus - $60k paid out in year one, $20k paid out in year two)

How will we spend the sign on bonus? Our plans are as follows:

• $5k to my nephew for college
• Max my 401k - $23,500
• If allowed, put $1k/per kid in the 529 match account, to earn the match - $2,000
• Save the rest for taxes 

I need to research the rest of our benefits, but I'm hoping that maxing my 401k & the 529 contributions are allowed through the sign on bonus. 

As for the rest of my income, I'm planning to largely keep our spending the same, with a few small tweaks:

• Increase our travel budget/savings for 2026+. It's my 50th birthday, and our 20th anniversary, and if things ever settle down in the middle east, we know we want to see M's mom at least one more time before she's unable to travel. And, she can't come here with the current travel bans. So, we're likely looking at another trip to Dubai, and we will bring both boys, if we can work it around their schedules. We will also have additional travel to/from Boulder, and if possible, would like to do a family trip (if schedules don't align for Dubai) & maybe take my parents to Las Vegas. All of this is still TBD, as we figure out availability, budget, time off, etc.
• Pay for a cleaning service. One of my mental tradeoffs with going back to work. ;-) 

Our larger financial goals are as follows:

• Max out 401ks, HSAs, and any 529 contributions with company match
• Save $5k/month for investments
• Potentially considering remodeling our bedroom/bathroom area of our house. Very much TBD
• Pay for both boys college degrees. (They will use their saved money from jobs to cover their "fun" money, eating out, etc.)
• We'd love to continue to help my nephew with some of his college expenses, and will try that out this year. He is going into his junior year in the fall. 

Any big financial goals on your side, or planned changes to your budget & income?

Menu Plan Tuesday

We were out of town for the weekend, and didn't get any meals prepped, so we're definitely playing catch up this week. Here's what we've eaten so far, and what's our menu for the days ahead.

• Friday - M, Sam & I ate at the airport lounge before our flight. Sam followed that up with some pizza at my parents house
• Saturday - M grilled burgers at the graduation party, and there were also all kinds of salads, treats & sides. My mom made an incredible chocolate cake, per Nick's request
• Sunday - we were all tired after our flights and not hungry, so no dinner was consumed. I guess my free airplane pretzels? ;-) 
• Monday - I found taco meat in the freezer, so M, Sam & I had tacos, while Mr. Social Nick was at a birthday party for a friend
• Tuesday - beef & broccoli (freezer) over noodles
• Wednesday - Korean beef & rice
• Thursday - wings & pot stickers 
• Friday - Philly cheese steaks (M will make them)

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

Fitness Monday

 I have been so far off track with my fitness! I haven't been tracking my calories consistently, focusing on my 12k/day steps, and I haven't been following the No S diet. Things went sideways around Nick's graduation a few weeks ago, continued during our Las Vegas trip, and definitely kept going during our wonderful weekend with my family. 

Time to get back on track! I also need to figure out a new routine with my work schedule, although that will be a bit of a work in progress. It sounds like I might be working from home for the first few weeks due to construction, which frees up time in the mornings to potentially attend a workout class or go for a run. If I am going to the office, I need to see if they have showers, as I could attend an early workout class close to the office, and then shower & get ready there, which is something I used to do at my old company. And, I don't think this company provides free lunches, so I'll go back to my old lunch packing ways! But, everything is a bit TBD until I figure out if I'm going into the office 3x/week, or working from home. More to come on this, as I build a new routine for myself.

It was a busy week, but I did get in some workouts:

• Four no workout days, which is pretty rare for me - two while I was at my parents house, and one on Monday when we came back from Las Vegas. I skipped class on Thursday, as I tweaked a muscle the day before.
• I did get in three workout classes.

All in all, it's time to get back on track for sure. Goals for the week:

• Four No S days
• Work out every day
• 12k steps
• A salad every day
• Track calories again
• Get on the scale (yikes)

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

Frugal Friday

 I have almost nothing this week, as we were in Las Vegas last weekend, and it's been a pricey week this week as well (dinner out for a friend's birthday, brunch with another friend, etc). But, here goes! I'm combining the list this week, as we don't have too many wins.

• Invoiced for my last three classes
• DH received his severance! We will be able to save almost all of it, and will be giving my sweet nephew some money for college, using a bit of it for travel, and a few house projects. 
• I start my new job on June 30th, saving us from having to pay for health insurance via COBRA in July! Hurrah.
• We opted to swap our flights for this weekend, in order to leave earlier on both sides, and I used Southwest credits or gift cards for almost everything, minus $120 or so. Given there are 3 of us flying, the $120 out of pocket was a great savings, and is largely offset by the transportation cost difference getting to the closer airport vs San Francisco. 
• We received credits back from the cancelled flights, and can use those for future travel for Nick, as it's United, and Denver is a United hub, making that the best option for him when traveling to & from college.
• We got home late from the airport on Monday, but I found some freezer options & whipped up dinner.
• We priced out transportation options for our flights this weekend, and pre-booking parking was by far the best deal. 
• I'm researching benefits for my new job, and am excited to look into best ways to maximize my income.
• I've picked & eaten so many strawberries. They are incredible right now!

What about you? Any wins to share?

I got a job!

 I officially start on 6/30. I'm very, very excited, relieved, happy & thrilled not to have to continue the job search. I did a call with the recruiter at 7:30 am yesterday (from our Las Vegas hotel room, do not recommend, as I was *very* tired from the night before), & got it done. 

The compensation was much better than I expected. My previous employer is the highest paid in the industry, so I had set my expectations much more realistically. But, they came pretty close to my previous compensation, which is very exciting & unexpected. The salary was great, bonus was good, I'll be getting some stock (this is the biggest difference between new & former company), & they also added a generous first year sign on bonus, as well as a second year sign on bonus. 

I'm excited to not pay for COBRA again! I was planning to deep clean the house before I went back to work, but they asked for an accelerated start date (they are actually trying to make 6/23 work on their end), which means I don't need to pay for COBRA for July. I'm going to use a very small amount of that COBRA savings to pay for a deep cleaning for the house, allowing me to tackle a bunch of other stuff I need/want to get done before I head back. 

I will be maxing my 401k & HSA accounts, so I'm guessing my first few paychecks will be pretty small. The company offers a small 529 match ($1k/year per kid), so I need to look into that as well, and see if there are any other benefits worth exploring.

And, on to what I need/want to tackle before I head back:

• Friend get togethers! I have a couple of friends that I've been trying to get together with for months, and need to lock in these dates.
• Help Sam open up an investment account, so he can save some of his summer earnings. (My dad has generously agreed to do a match for him.)
• Send off Nick's tshirts for the Tshirt quilt I'm having made
• Sort out whether I'm going to Boulder with M & Nick, or, more likely, it will just be the boys. Adjust travel plans, particularly as I booked the hotel using my Hyatt free night awards, which M won't be able to use without me.
• Remove myself from a bunch of survey & focus group sites, which I won't have time to do while I'm working, and they clutter up my inbox.
• Get a good start on helping Nick with his college set up (gear he needs, move in sign ups, health care, class placement exams, etc). 
• Some additional decluttering, particularly paperwork
• Decide what to do with my workout studio membership. I'll definitely still be attending, but may drop down the package size
• Come up with a new budget
  
  

What has everyone else been up to lately? Any good news to share?

Frugal Friday

It's definitely not been the most frugal week, but a few wins to share.  

Saving on things we buy

• Turned in some grocery store reward pieces when I picked up a few items.
• Used $14 in CVS rewards to print out graduation pictures for Nick, and get a few other items Nick needed for his senior trip. Also submitted the receipts to Fetch & iBotta. 
• Remember how I always go through my credit card offers & save any that I *may* use, and then just forget about them, to avoid spending money I don't need? I forgot that I'd saved a pizza coupon (that one is a regular in my credit card offers, & I always save it on the off chance we buy impromptu pizza) & saved $6 off of the pizza we bought for graduation. 

Earning money

• Provided references to a company I've spent months interviewing with, so fingers crossed there. 
• Called Nick's college to sort out what to do with the two scholarship checks he received. 

Avoiding spending

• The school photographer is also Nick's tennis coach, and he took some fantastic photos of Nick at graduation. This means we can skip buying the official photos that come out, which saves $30 or so. 

Eating what we have

• We have plenty of leftovers from my parents visit. One of the boys polished off the last few slices of pizza.
• I've been eating lots of strawberries from the garden (SO delicious) & M & I have been eating a ton of lettuce as well. Garden lettuce is so much fresher than what you can buy at the grocery store. 
• We've also been making caprese, to use up the large amount of basil we have. 
• Even though we didn't have power on Tuesday night, I made dinner using a rotisserie chicken, and a stove top, one skillet recipe.We have a gas stove, so we were able to power it using a lighter. We had a generator for the fridge. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out why the fridge wasn't cooling (M came home & sorted that), so I didn't want to open the fridge for lunch & bought a takeout salad. I had a gift card, so it was free, and it generated enough for two lunches, so not all was lost, I suppose. 
• We had fajitas from the freezer one night, and paired that with guacamole, which also went with our stovetop chicken recipe as well. 

For others

• My sister is very naughty, and wouldn't allow me to give her money for hosting Nick & his friends on part of the trip. I gave the money to my nephew instead, who is working super hard in college & will definitely be able to use the money for college expenses. 
• Gave away graduation gowns to local parents, who won't have to buy one next year. The waste of each student needing to buy a new gown is nuts.
• We had lots of leftover macaroni & potato salad after my parents visit, so we dropped off containers of each to my neighbor. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

A quick update

It's been super busy around here! 

Nick is on his senior trip, and by all accounts, having a fabulous time. I'm teaching my last class tonight, and then M & I head to Las Vegas tomorrow. It's his birthday & Father's Day, and he's also playing in a tournament of some sort - blackjack, I think? 

Things are progressing nicely on the job hunt front, but I don't want to jinx anything until offers have been signed, given how long & bumpy the process has been to date. 

Things to do today:

• Work out
• Drop off stadium chairs I borrowed for graduation
• Pick up Tshirt for Nick's Tshirt quilt. Send all of the shirts off to the quilt company.
• Clean the house
• Finish packing
• Review content for class
• Teach my last class tonight!

What about you? How has your week been going? 

Menu Plan Sunday

 We have leftovers in the fridge & need to ensure we use everything up before M & I head out on a weekend getaway!

• Friday - we had fantastic grilled steak, caprese salad & roasted brussel sprouts
• Saturday - leftover barbecued chicken + macaroni & potato salad
• Sunday - chicken fajitas (freezer)
• Monday - we didn't end up making the Southwest chicken skillet last week, so it's on the menu again
• Tuesday - leftover fajitas
• Wednesday - leftover Southwest Chicken skillet
• Thursday - finish up any remaining leftovers
• Friday - on vacation/not home

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

Frugal Friday

Another busy week, and Nick graduated yesterday! So fun to see my baby graduate, and we celebrated with my parents.  

Saving on things we buy

• M always buys champagne for my mom when she visits, and I noticed that iBotta had a $6 offer, which was a nice surprise. 
• Continued to upload receipts to Fetch, and iBotta when they have offers. 
• Nick asked if friends could come over after graduation to quickly eat food ahead of needing to get on the bus for the grad night party. We ordered a bunch of pizzas, threw together a snack tray & enjoyed the company of very excited teens. I used a $10 off coupon for the pizzas. 

Earning money

• Sold an unused makeup item on eBay, making $10 & getting it out of the house before it expired
• Received $7.25 of free grocery rewards through their current promotion, plus a free package of shredded cheese. 
• I got paid $2000 for the first half of classes I've taught. I can invoice the second half (although, I missed two due to graduation events, and can't invoice those of course) when the course is complete. My hourly rate was abysmal, as there was a huge learning curve involved. But, I'm very proud of myself for trying something new. 

Avoiding spending

• It's been a very spendy week, as we prep for house guests & graduation, so nothing much here. 

Eating what we have

• I've continued to eat sandwich fixings (purchased for another event, and not used), which is not my top lunch choice. I'm 2/3 of the way done! I make a little fun lunch platter with crackers, deli meat, cheese, fruit & veggies. I prefer salad, but it's using it up for now. 
• Using tons of garden lettuce, herbs, strawberries & lemons + green onions from the garden. My first zucchini is almost ready to be picked as well. 
• Made an easy ground beef tomato rice bowl dish & had enough for: one full additional dinner for four for the freezer, the initial dinner for four, and two lunches. 
• Had hot dogs on hand that M picked up at Costco when they were on sale, and hosted an impromptu dinner for Nick's friends on Sunday night. I served those with watermelon & chips. The chips showed up at our house after a friend gathering, so it was nice to use those up.

For others

• Had Nick do a round of reviewing his clothes, to determine what he's outgrown, won't bring to college, and/or school related items. Gave away a bunch on Buy Nothing. He's at that hard to buy size (or, you have to buy from more of a pricey "teen" store), so parents really appreciate receiving items. He also enjoys shopping at thrift stores, which is how he typically now sources his clothing.

What about you? Any wins to share?