Menu Plan Monday

I'm feeling uninspired for menu planning this week, so I dug through my recipe list & found one that we've had before & enjoyed (the curry dish) & two we haven't tried (the Greek dish & sesame beef). Let's hope we find some winners! 

• Friday - I made baked chicken. M & I had ours with salad. The teens had their chicken with quesadillas. 
• Saturday - one pan coconut chicken curry & rice
• Sunday - sheet pan Greek chicken dish
• Monday - slow cooker sesame beef
• Tuesday - leftover curry
• Wednesday - leftover Greek chicken dish
• Thursday - leftover sesame beef
• Friday - any remaining leftovers, or wings & gyozas

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

Goals for the month - week 4

Last week really felt like it got away from me, with traveling & being sick. I made some solid progress on my list yesterday, and will continue today. 

Here's how I'm doing with my January goals, with just a few days left. 

Financial:

• Achieve savings goals (401K, Nick's 529 - $1,000, Sam's college - save monthly stock vest) - yes, totally on track here. 
• Earn $200 in side hustle - I've made $65
• Use up 2 pantry items, & 2 bags of smoothie fruit (freezer) - Yes. I used up two cans of green beans, two bags of smoothie fruit, & a bonus frozen container of applesauce. 

Family:

• Review college spreadsheet with Sam, and have him work through virtual tours, majors, etc.  - We heard back from the last school, and have narrowed the list to two. We can't do a tour of one of the two schools until March, so the final decision will be made after that. 
• Plan one fun activity with the boys - we skied, & went to a ranch & went on a horse back ride together
• Sign Nick up for local SAT test - done
• Optimize perks, points, miles to keep travel costs down - used a free hotel night + earned free parking/drinks & snacks, thanks to hotel status

Fitness:

• Stretch 2x/week - I've done 4/8
• Lose 2 lbs - yes
• Follow training plan for half marathon - Oof, I'm so far behind, with being sick, traveling, etc
• Strength train 8 times - I'm at 4/8, but if I finish the classes I'm currently signed up for, I'll finish with 6/8
• Follow the No S diet - I give myself a low score of this for January

Personal:

• Get together with a friend - we went to a soccer game 
• Practice Farsi 10 items - I've practiced 4/10 times
• Declutter 50 items from the house - yes, I'm at 55/50
• Find a pickle ball class or lesson - I found one, but didn't sign up, as we would miss so many lessons. I'm planning to sign up for the next session
• Late add on: take the class "The Science of Well-Being" - I'm a bit behind thanks to being sick & work travel, but I've finished two units. 

What about you? How are you doing with your January goals? 

Saturday Happenings

Oh my, there is ever so much to do today! I got home from my work trip to New York around noon yesterday, Ubered home, & was very low energy. I did not sleep much on the trip, due to a combination of jet lag, work anxiety (we, like many companies, are doing a lot of layoffs) & the hotel I was sleeping at having a night club in it (?!) There was loud music most of the night. What a *treat*. 

I slept for close to 11 hours yesterday, so I hope that resets my body clock. I was also wait listed for my workout class, but got in, which is good news. I haven't had too many of those lately, and miss my classes.

Here's what I'm planning to get done today (some will inevitably bleed into tomorrow):

• Work out class
• Senior night prep work (emails, spreadsheet, text announcer, etc). I have a long list of related activities for this.
• Menu plan, including dinner for tonight
• Build weekly shopping list
• Work schedule for the week
• Workout schedule for the week
• College spreadsheet with Sam
• Review grades with boys
• Laundry
• Work on my puzzle! This has to be completed by next weekend (we need the table back) & I'm not very far along
• Buy Nothing
• List a few things on eBay or FB Marketplace
• Taxes
• FAFSA

What about you? What are you up to this weekend?

Frugal Friday

 I'm a bit late, as I've just gotten back from New York this afternoon (work trip). Here's how the rest of the week went. 

Saving on things we buy

• Uploaded receipts to Fetch & iBotta, and saved $.25 via iBotta. & $4 via Fetch. I bought 4 packages of Bubly water (treat for the teens), as they were buy 2/get 2 free. That dropped the price to $12 for 4, and then the $4 off of dropped the price to $8 ($2/each), which is a great deal.
• I used a discount code for Michaels (picking up items for school soccer senior night). 

Earning money

• I sold two hoodies that didn't fit the boys, and made $20 on FB Marketplace
• I converted my Fetch rewards to a $25 CVS gift card 
• Sold a back massager that didn't work for me (I like much deeper pressure than it can provide) for $25 on FB. 

Avoiding spending

• After I got back from the airport today, with a terrible headache from not enough sleep during the week, I was tempted to order takeout. Instead, I made myself a sandwich. 

Eating what we have

• I've been meaning to use up various "fancy" cheese we bought for NYE & didn't end up eating. I put together a snack tray on Saturday night, while everyone was watching the game, and used up one package. 
• I also made myself a light lunch of apples, cheese & crackers, using up more of the NYE cheese. 
• Nick had a friend over after his game on Saturday, & we used up some pasta & sauce in the fridge, I made a large bowl of fruit, and then I made grilled cheese sandwiches. Because, teen boys eat a lot! I didn't have any sliced or brick cheddar cheese, so I used up those small snack cheeses (individually wrapped) & those worked great for sandwiches.
• We finished off the Korean chicken we bought at Costco & didn't particularly enjoy. I found the sauce overpowering. But, gone & out of the freezer!
• I used the rest of the Korean chicken sauce in the Korean beef rice bowls I was making. It had lots of other flavors, and worked out well, and avoided me needing to toss it. 
• Used the last of a package of pepper jack cheese on a sandwich I made today. 

For others

• I've been spending a lot of time volunteering to host the senior soccer night, and have also donated quite a bit of supplies & some money to help make the event a success for the boys!

What about you? Any wins to share?

Menu Plan Monday

 I'll be out of town for work for part of the week, but put together a menu for the rest of the crew.

• Friday - tacos
• Saturday -  orange chicken
• Sunday - Korean beef rice bowls
• Monday - I'll be in NYC, but the boys will have leftover orange chicken
• Tuesday - I'll be in NYC, but the boys will have leftover Korean beef rice bowls
• Wednesday - Still in NYC, but the boys will have spaghetti & meatballs + garlic bread
• Thursday - I'm guessing M will make pizza for everyone
  
• Friday - TBD, but something easy

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

Goals for the month - week 3

 January is absolutely whizzing by. I feel like I missed an entire week due to being sick, but I'm trying to get my groove back. 

To stay on track in 2024, I'm going to try & do weekly updates on my goals, for extra motivation. 

Financial:

• Achieve savings goals (401K, Nick's 529 - $1000, Sam's college - save monthly stock vest) - yes, totally on track here. We had a bumpy first week or so of cash flow, but thanks to changing our ski week plans and some other optimizations, we are back on track & saving as expected. 
• Earn $200 in side hustle - I've made $20
• Use up 2 pantry items, & 2 bags of smoothie fruit (freezer) - Yes! I used up two cans of green beans & 2 bags of smoothie fruit. As a bonus, I also used up a container of frozen applesauce. 

Family:

• Review college spreadsheet with Sam, have him work through virtual tours, majors, etc. - It's an ongoing project, but we did a college tour (in person) as well as a virtual tour. 
• Plan one fun activity with the boys - we skied, & went to a ranch & went on a horse back ride together
• Sign Nick up for local SAT test - done
• Optimize perks, points, miles to keep travel costs down - used a free hotel night + earned free parking/drinks & snacks thanks to hotel status. 

Fitness:

• Stretch 2x/week - I've only stretched 2x total, so behind here
• Lose 2 lbs - yes, thanks to being sick
• Follow training plan for half marathon - I was doing okay until I got sick. I need to get back to my plan
• Strength train 8 times - I'm at 3/8
• Follow the No S diet - I need to get back to this a bit more seriously

Personal:

• Get together with a friend - I went to a soccer game with a friend
• Practice Farsi 10 times - I've practiced 3/10 times
• Declutter 50 items from the house - I'm at 27/50
• Find a pickle ball class or lesson - I found one, but didn't sign up, as we would be gone so much. I'm going to sign up for the following lesson
• Late add on: take the class The Science of Wellbeing - I've added this to the list. I'm a bit behind thanks to being sick, and need to catch up. 

What about you? How are you doing on your January goals? 

Saturday Happenings

 M & I are both 90% recovered, which feels so nice after being sick for most of the week. I'm flying out on Monday, so I'm grateful I feel well enough to travel for my work trip. 

It's a rainy day at our house, so my planned yard work will have to wait. Here's what's on the agenda for today:

• Workout class. I haven't been able to attend in a while, & I'm looking forward to it. I'll plan to take it easy, if I'm not feeling great.
• Nick has a soccer game, which I'll head over to, after my class.
• I need to figure out how to get an updated copy of Sam's transcript, for one of his college applications.
• I need to work on the senior night program I'm hosting, and build the spreadsheet of players from the opposing team. Who knew this project would be such an adventure when I agreed? ;-) Luckily, another mom is helping me out with printing posters.
• Menu
• Shopping list
• Schedule for the week
• Laundry
• Practice Farsi
• Stretch
• List 5 things on BN
• List at least 2 things on eBay

What about you? What are you up to today? Hope everyone has a wonderful day & is staying warm & healthy!

Frugal Friday

 It's actually been a pretty frugal week around here, despite (or maybe because?) being sick. 

Saving on things we buy

• I picked up a really terrible cold last weekend, and felt abysmal on Monday. I used a Door Dash offer, combined with a gift card & credit card perks (comes with $5/month for Door Dash, which I rarely use, so they can stack up) to have lunch delivered. 

Earning money

• Nothing yet, but I did finally list a few items on FB market place. 

Avoiding spending

• I used a free night certificate for the night we spent near a college on our tour last weekend. Additionally, because I have hotel status, I got free parking ($15) + free water + some snacks from the little shop ($15). It was very sweet of the front desk agent, & she let Sam pick out a few things he wanted. 
• When I cancelled our Whistler flights, I was surprised to get any of the money back as a refund (I got a partial refund, and a partial future ticket credit).

Eating what we have

• I made spaghetti & meatballs & garlic bread, entirely out of freezer/pantry staples, which was a nice win. 
• I used up two cans of green beans, which were on my "use it up" list for the month.
• I've been slowly working my way through the breakfast sandwiches we bought, for easy meals.
• Made the last of some waffles for the teens.
• I tried a blondie mix from Trader Joes, but none of us enjoyed it, so I tossed it after we'd each had a piece. 

For others

• Volunteered to help someone at work with a project they are overwhelmed by. 

That's it from my side. Any wins to share on your end? 

Menu Plan Tuesday

We had a fabulous time in Arizona, but M & I came home sick. I had a high fever yesterday, and a terrible cough, and spent the majority of the day in bed. I accomplished absolutely nothing on my to do list. I need to join one call this morning, and then I'm planning to take a sick day. 

Gorgeous horse back riding trip on Sunday. Neither of the boys had ever been on a horse before, & I hadn't been on one in decades, so it was a fun experience. Sickness aside, we had a lovely trip & it was so fabulous to see my nephew. The boys would definitely love to come back & spend a week at the ranch he works at.

We didn't even bother making dinner last night (I believe Sam made himself some taquitos from the freezer), but I do need to sort a menu plan for the next few days. 

Tuesday - grilled chicken (freezer) + mac & cheese (boys). M & I will have salad with ours

Wednesday - spaghetti & meatballs + garlic bread

Thursday - tacos (freezer) 

Friday - leftovers or pizza

I hope everyone is staying warm (and healthy)! What's on the menu at your house?

Frugal Friday

 It was our first week back, with plenty to keep us busy!

Saving on things we buy:

• We stayed at a hotel with a Starbucks, while skiing. I redeemed all of my awards (and, took advantage of a few challenges, to earn extra rewards) to offset some of the cost of our breakfasts. We often stay at a place with a kitchen, but for a short trip, opted to just do a hotel. We kept breakfast simple, with bagels for the kids, and protein bars (from home) & coffee for the adults. 
• Used the Amex gift card to pick up a few groceries this week.
• We decided to swap our ski week trip from Whistler to Lake Tahoe, to keep costs in check, and also because we've been traveling so much & have a bunch of upcoming trips. This saves quite a bit. 

Earning money

• Nothing to report here. Just working our standard jobs. 

Avoiding spending

• We had to change our travel plans for the weekend (college tour), so I remembered to adjust our pre-paid airport parking as well, which saves us about $15. 

Eating what we have

• We've been in & out so much, that I'm trying to really stay on top of the food & avoid waste. I've had a lot of soup (picked up some at Costco that I don't love, but it's A LOT of soup), & have been eating that for meals.
• One of my January goals is to use up frozen fruit in smoothies, so I made a triple batch one day & Sam, Nick & I all had smoothies. That used up 1.5 bags of fruit. Woohoo for progress!
• M & I had no dinner plans, after we got home from skiing. We stopped at Costco and picked up a salad & a rotisserie chicken, and had that for dinner. I removed all of the meat from the chicken, froze what we wouldn't use, and saved the bones to make chicken broth. 
• On the same vein of the freezer goals, I used up some applesauce that had been lingering forever in the freezer, and turned it into muffins. The muffins (most of them, anyway) went back into the freezer, but will be consumed daily, so they are in a different bucket for me than just an ingredient that needs to be used. 

For others

• Went through the boys ski clothes ahead of our trip, and pulled out everything they've outgrown, and gave that away on Buy Nothing. Ski clothes can be expensive, and the cost of skiing is already crazy, so it's nice to pass along gear. 
• Collected up a bunch of items to pass along on Buy Nothing (kitchen stuff we don't need, cold weather clothes, our bread maker, etc.) Always great to match up items you don't want with someone who needs them. 

What about you? Any wins to share? 

January check in - 10 days in

 January is whizzing by, and we have a busy month ahead. We leave on Friday for a college tour, and to see my nephew in Tucson. Looking forward to that, as this is likely our only chance this year to see him. I also have a business trip to New York coming up, so I need to take full advantage of every day where I'm home & have any flexibility. 

I'm going to try checking in more frequently on my monthly goals, to give myself more regular updates & motivation, and in case it's interesting to anyone else. I always enjoy Mavis's goal updates. I've even added two goals for the month, which is unusual for me. 

Financial:

• Achieve savings goals (401K, Nick's 529 - $1,000, Sam's college - monthly stock vest) - I feel like we're going backward on this one! I forgot that our paychecks through March are much smaller than the rest of the year, due to the way we have our 401K deductions set up. I've saved $300 towards Nick's college, $300 for Sam, and have put a lot towards the 401K. On the flip side, we've had a lot of expenses, and may need to pull from savings to cover some of that, which would offset any progress we've made. Anyway, mostly a bumpy cash flow problem, but I'm planning to tighten up spending a bit so we can see more improvements in our overall numbers. 
• Earn $200 in side hustle - no progress here, but I've added working on eBay listings to my Monday goal. 
• Use up 2 pantry items & 2 bags of smoothie fruit (freezer) - I used up 1.5 bags of smoothie fruit, and bonus: a container of applesauce to make muffins. 

Family:

• Review college spreadsheet with Sam, have him work through virtual tours, etc - we have a college tour this weekend, which will help inform this process. 
• Plan one fun activity with the boys - we skied twice, had three fun dinners while skiing, and have plans to do a few things while in Arizona
• Sign Nick up for local SAT test - done!
• Optimize points, perks, miles to keep travel costs down - we are using a free hotel night when staying in Arizona
• Plan soccer senior night - this is a last minute add on, as I forgot to include it, but it's actually quite a bit of work. So far, I've signed up another parent to take head shots of the players, arranged for the school photographer to come to the event, reached out to the coach of our opponents for a copy of their roster, and I'm almost done finding the emails for all senior parents. Still plenty to do. 

Fitness:

• Stretch 2x/week - I've stretched 2x so far. 
• Lose 2 lbs - I feel like I've stabilized my weight & am heading in the right direction, post holidays. But, not progress yet. 
• Follow training plan for half marathon - I'm barely scraping by with this one, but getting in runs as I can. 
• Strength train 8 times - so far, I've done 2 strength training workouts. 
• Follow the No S diet - I've had 3 days on track, so starting to get there. 

Personal:

• Get together with a friend - not yet. 
• Practice Farsi 10 tiems - I've practiced 2x. 
• Declutter 50 items from the house - I've gotten rid of 10 items, which feels like solid progress. 
• Find a pickle ball class/lesson - found the class I want to take, but we are in & out in January, so planning to wait until the next session. 
• Take the class - The Science of Happiness via Coursera - this is an add on to my goals, but I noticed this class was being offered (it's one of the most popular courses ever offered at Yale) & all virtual & free, so I signed up. I've been wanting to take this class forever. I'm one module in. 

What about you? How are you doing with your goals for January?

Menu Plan Monday

 It's a very chicken heavy week, because I didn't plan well. I'll have more variety next week. ;-) 

• Friday - we had dinner out, while skiing. We all had steak & various delicious sides. 
• Saturday - M picked up a rotisserie chicken at Costco, and we had that over a caesar salad.
• Sunday - grilled chicken & rice
• Monday - chicken shawarma + all of the fixings
• Tuesday - chicken tacos
• Wednesday - leftover grilled chicken & rice
• Thursday - leftover chicken shawarma
• Friday - we are heading out on a college tour, so something on the road

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

Sunday things + a vacation recap and a NYE gown

We all head back to work & school tomorrow, after a lovely break. We did so much in a pretty short period of time! 

M & I had a mini weekend while the boys hung out with my parents, we celebrated Christmas with my parents/family/friends. M & I flew home & originally planned to get some house projects done, but very, very last minute (6 pm the night before) opted to go to Las Vegas for NYE. We had a fantastic time together, while the boys hung out with my parents + sister & cousin who was home from college. Everyone regrouped at home, and then we went skiing. 

We had a great time skiing, but I'm definitely tuckered out after all of the excitement. We are heading out on a college tour on Friday (taking advantage of one of the only long weekends of the school year) in Arizona, and we will also see my other nephew, who we missed over the holidays. After that, I'm heading to NYC for work, so the travel continues.

There is so much to get done, & I most certainly do not feel ready to go back to work tomorrow, but plenty of fun was had. There was also lots of overindulgence, and it's time to get back into a consistent workout routine & healthier eating again!

Here's what I'm up to today:

• Laundry
• Get all of the ski clothes back into various bags
• Adjust Arizona hotels (the college tour had to be scheduled for Saturday vs Monday, and impacts our hotel options)
• Go for a long run
• Return two items I bought & didn't need (to go with the below). On a related note, when we got to Las Vegas, M shared the dress code for the event we were attending, and I most certainly hadn't packed anything formal enough. I used a gift card to buy this dress, which I ended up absolutely loving. I found it in an hour, which I was pretty impressed with. ;-) Luckily, I could wear the shoes I brought. I've never received as many compliments on anything I own as I did this dress, so it was a hit!

• Get ready for the week ahead: menu plan, workout plan, work schedule
• Prep/marinate chicken for tomorrow's dinner
• Start working on senior night (I'm hosting, for the soccer team)
• Make reservations/plans for Arizona trip
• Replace missing/broken ski items (gloves for Nick, a helmet for Sam, goggles for me)
• Find 10 items to give away on BN (already have one ready & on the porch)
• List 3 items on Ebay

What about you? Have you ever needed to quickly find an item to wear, while on vacation? And, what's on the to do list for today? 

January Goals

 January is well under way, so here are my goals for the month!

Financial:

• Achieve savings goals (401K, Nick's 529 - $1000, Sam's college - save monthly stock vest)
• Earn $200 in side hustle
• Use up 2 pantry items, & 2 bags of smoothie fruit (freezer)

Family:

• Review college spreadsheet with Sam, have him work through virtual tours, majors, etc.
• Plan one fun activity with the boys
• Sign Nick up for local SAT test
• Optimize points, perks, miles to keep travel costs down.

Fitness:

• Stretch 2x/week
• Lose 2 lbs
• Follow training plan for half marathon
• Strength train 8 times
• Follow the No S diet

Personal:

• Get together with a friend
• Practice Farsi 10 times
• Declutter 50 items from the house
• Find a pickle ball class or lesson

What about you? Do you have goals set for January? Let us know, so we can cheer you on!

Happy New Year and 2024 Goals

 I hope everyone had a fabulous & safe New Year! Our gang is reunited again & we are going to potentially attempt a ski trip tomorrow. Although, still very minimal snow in Lake Tahoe. We shall see!

I tweaked my goals slightly, so here's the revised list for 2024:

Financial:

• Max Nick's 529 account
• Max our 401ks (standard contribution for me + M's catch up contribution) 
• Save the remainder of Sam's college expenses
• Save another $100k in after tax investments
• Earn $3,000 in side hustle
• Set monthly pantry or freezer challenges

Family:

• Help Sam finalize his decision & transition to college
• Get Nick through the college application process + SATs & AP tests for both boys
• Optimize our points, perks, miles, to keep travel costs in check while enjoying travel
• Plan one fun activity per month with the boys

Fitness:

• Stretch 2x/week
• Lose weight
• Run 2 half marathons + Hood to Coast
• Continue to strength train regularly
• Follow the No S Diet

Personal:

• Get together with friends 1x/month
• Practice Farsi 100 times
• Declutter 500 items from the house
• Learn to play pickle ball

What about you? What's on your goal list for 2024?