Saturday things

 It was so nice to have yesterday off, as a bonus paid holiday. The company I just started with has a really generous time off plan, particularly compared to where I've previously worked. There is a mid year mini break (time off, where you don't have to use your PTO) of a Wednesday-Friday at the end of July, as well as a longer break over the holidays. I've never worked anywhere with mixed PTO (vacation + sick leave), but when given the option to work from home when sick, it's unusual for me to take more than a few sick days per year. There is also the standard collection of US holidays as well. 

What we were up to yesterday:

DH installed a shelf that I ordered for my treadmill. The treadmill hasn't gotten much use lately, because I typically run outside or at my workout class. However, you can set it at the very lowest setting, and walk while doing other things. I have a lot of training videos to watch, documents to read, etc, and this will be perfect for getting in some steps while I'm busy doing other things. My actual workouts will be shorter in the upcoming weeks, but hopefully I can use the treadmill for an hour a day or so at a very slow pace & pick up some steps. I'd like to keep my 12k steps/day goal for the year, if at all possible.

We had a fun day yesterday. DS18 was feeling very chatty about college, and we were able to understand how he did on his AP tests (scores aren't yet released to the students, but have been released to the colleges, so based on the credits given, we know which scores he got). He is going into college with 20 credits, thanks to his AP tests. He scored really well on everything but stats, where he passed, but got a 3, which means he received a general education credit, vs credit for a stats class. He was a little disappointed by that, but got full credit for: calculus & physics, both of which count towards his major. He is also bringing credits for US government & environmental science. All of these credits will save a lot of money in college tuition (about $20k), which is pretty crazy & also help him graduate on time, while not needing to overburden himself the first few semesters, as he's figuring out college.

I made everyone lunch, so they wouldn't eat out, and we chatted about all things college with DS18 & his girlfriend. She's studying abroad in Paris the first semester, and getting excited about her trip as well.

The adults had margaritas by the pool, which was so lovely, & caught up on the trip to Boulder, job searching, my new job, etc. DH grilled delicious burgers, and we had that with fresh fruit, and tater tots that DH made. He was so proud of himself, coming home with an 8 lb package of tater tots from Costco. I burst out laughing because... that's a lot to find room for in the freezer, but also, who is going to eat 8 lbs of tots?! He was so pleased with himself, when the teens loved them & cleared out the pan he made. ;-)

It's supposed to be pretty much perfect weather (for my taste) today, at 75 degrees. Sunny enough to enjoy, but not too hot to be outside & work in the yard. Yes!

I'm heading to a strength workout class this morning, will also do a walk or some sort of other cardio. Otherwise, I have a few errands to run, and plan to get ahead of some work for next week.

What are you all up to today? 

Frugal Friday

Happy 4th of July, for all of you in the US! I'm thrilled to have today off, to go to a workout class, as well as catch up a bit on life, work & prep for next week. 

I'll start with my frugal fail, although it's really Nick's frugal fail. Nick went golfing, and a friend was coming over on Sunday night for a late dinner & hang. No problem, I made some pasta & left out a bunch of hot dogs M had grilled (maybe, 18?) I asked him to put everything back before he went to bed, and he's typically very good about that. However, something must have happened, because when I woke up in the morning, lo & behold, the first container of hot dogs in grilled buns was empty & the container of 18 hot dogs was still sitting out on the counter. Into the trash they went. I hate waste! 

Saving on things we buy

• Once again, I scored on my credit card cash back rewards. (I save any I think there's even the most remote possibility we will use, and then forget about them, both because of my memory, but also because I don't want to make a purchase just to get the reward.) Nick lost his debit card on his road trip, so we agreed he could use the credit card for all of his purchases, and then reimburse me when he was back & had his card. He made a couple of fast food purchases during the journey, so I earned $1.13 from one, and $.26 from another. Basically getting rich here. ;-) But, it's money that takes almost no effort, and happens pretty seamlessly, as cash back from my credit card. 
• Won another $.75 of grocery store rewards with their current promotion, and redeemed another $2 of rewards won on another shopping trip. 
• Sam is going to visit my parents in August, and catch up with his cousin who wasn't around when we visited in June. His job & summer classes will both be wrapped up before school starts again, and he asked for more time with his grandparents, which I love. I used Alaska miles to book his flight, paying just $25 out of pocket. 

Earning money

• I'm officially back at work, and earning money. And, getting health care benefits! Woohoo!! I signed up for the HSA account, as well as my 401k, which felt nice. 
• I received a $36 settlement for something. They take so long to payout, I can rarely remember what they are for. 
• Sold a couple of things on eBay, earning $15, and further continuing out my stuff. 

Avoiding spending

• Picked up a free package of shredded cheese (I had a game piece from the store with this as the reward), which saved close to $5. Wow! Expensive, and not something I'd purchase unless it was much cheaper. 

Eating what we have

• A friend dropped off a flat of strawberries, so we have been eating our way through those, in addition to our garden strawberries. We are also freezing some for smoothies. 
• We managed to clean out the fridge pretty well, which was needed, as it was getting overly full. 
• Sam & I avoided takeout, despite me having APAC meetings in the early evenings. We ate some delicious samosas from the freezer, and had breakfast for dinner one night. 
• I had salads for lunch, and had prepped a big tray of chicken, and added that to lunches for a quick meal option. 

For others

• Bought my sister's flight for a trip she's making to visit in a couple of weeks. She and my BFF are flying in on a Thursday night. We are all going to work on Friday, and cut out a few hours early. Then we will have Friday late afternoon/evening + all day Saturday together & Sunday morning. It was tricky to find time to get together, with me starting my new job, and BFF is a school administrator, so also has a limited travel window. I wanted to thank my sister for hosting Nick & his posse for his senior trip, as she spoiled them with takeout, lots of snacks & homemade meals while they stayed with her. I used a flight gift card, purchased on a discount at Costco. 

What about you? Any wins to share? 

Reflections a few days into a new job

 I'm at the start of day four, and it's been a lot of fun & full on so far. Any time you are onboarding, meeting a bunch of new people, and just figuring things out, it's intense.

• I'm liking all of the social connections
• I'm going to have to work hard to get in physical activity/steps
• I need to meal prep easy breakfast/lunch options, especially in the beginning
• I have a ton of on-boarding meetings to meet new people. It's a big & very matrixed organization, so I think have about 50+ intro meetings over the next month or so! It's a lot.
• Learning how to use new tech is..not my favorite. ;-) I'm still struggling how to set up my computer so I can easily find everything I need. That's been a bit of a journey.
• I most certainly need to find a new workout schedule. I'm fine with it being ad hoc for a few weeks, as my schedule evens out a bit.
• TONS of early morning calls, although much fewer evening calls! The majority of the folks I'll engage with regularly are split between London & the bay area, which means my day is very front loaded with early morning meetings.  I'd much rather have this schedule than the one my London based manager has - late calls in her time zone. My energy levels drop drastically later in the day, which is part of why I work out first thing after waking up. Calls in the evening are terrible on my energy levels. So, if I had to choose one time zone flex, it would definitely be London vs Tokyo. 
• I'll really have to manage my own schedule, to carve out time to eat, go for a walk, etc, because it is way too easy to do back to back meetings for six hours & not have a moment to grab food. The first few weeks are super tricky with all of the on-boarding meetings, but I'm pretty good at calendar management in general.
• Going from having total schedule flexibility has been an adjustment, and I'm generally really tired at the end of the day! So happy I joined on a four day work week.
• There's lots of time off in this role, which is so awesome! 

I really think I'm going to enjoy the group of people, the team & the culture. The work feels pretty familiar to what I've done before, but with enough new twists & business challenges to keep it interesting. And, I really like my boss & think we will get on great. 

On a funny note, I've mentioned my role is pretty niche, which also applies to some of the roles of the folks on my team. I went into my first meeting with one of my team members, and he had previously worked with my direct report on my old team at my last job. Such a small world! 

If you have easy lunch or breakfast options that can be prepped in advance, please share!

Goals for July

 July is definitely going to be an interesting month, with starting a new job, helping Nick get ready for college, and helping Sam figure out if he's going back to OSU, or prefers to stay local & attend community college. I also have friends visiting (yay!), M & Nick are going to Boulder for orientation, and there's just plenty happening at our house. 

Goals for July:

Financial:

• Spend sign on bonus per the plan, assuming all of this is allowed:
• Max 401k for the year
• Max HSA 
• Max 529 contributions to get the full company match per kid
• $5000 to my nephew for college
• Create a new budget, based on new paycheck amont
• Meal plan, and avoid takeout/eating out unless planned. I want to focus on this, especially as I don't know my work schedule, when/if I'm going to the office, etc. 

Family:

• Get Nick's college prep sorted as much as possible, & finish required orientation tasks.
• Have a fabulous visit with my sister + BFF, who are visiting mid-month
• Help Sam decide on fall plans
• One date night with M

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs
• 15, 15, 15 - strength workouts, No S days, and meditations
• Figure out a new workout routine for my work schedule
• Average 12,500 steps/day

Personal:

• Get together with friends x2 
• Say yes to adventure & try new things
• Figure out new work schedule/transition, & get settled into new job
• Declutter 50 items

What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish in July?

June Goals Recap

June was a ride, but with lots of great things happening! Overall, I'm really happy with my progress for the month, even though the fitness side definitely suffered in the midst of everything else. 

Financial:

• Bank all of M's severance, and open CDs  - done
• Shuffle existing CDs for better rates - done
• Find a job - WOOHOO! Done
• Finish teaching class, and invoice for all sessions - done
• Earn $300 in side hustle - I made $2052 in June, with $2000 coming from my teaching job
• Get rid of 3 pantry items - no

Family:

• Have a fantastic graduation for Nick (including time with my parents & celebrating in Washington) - both his actual graduation & the party in Washington were so fabulous.
• Have an on budget & fabulous trip with M to Las Vegas - yes! It was so much fun
• Work with boys on various life stuff. Help Sam decide on fall plans. - Work in progress on both of these. 

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs - I gained 1.5 lbs, so I need to get back to this for sure
• 15, 15, 15 - strength workouts, No S days, meditations - 14 strength workouts, 6 No S Days, & 3 days of meditation
• Try something new in my workout routine - I did another treadmill class, which is unusual for me, & definitely pushes me to work on my running pace & endurance
• Average 12,500 steps/day - 12,340, which I will take, given the month

Personal:

• Get together with friends x2 - oh yes, lots of friends get togethers. Walks, hikes, brunches, a birthday dinner, and saw my sister + BFF at my parents house
• Say yes to adventure & try new things - a lot going on in June, and starting a new job is definitely something new
• Reduce screen time - yes! I found that once I had a job, I was so infrequently looking at my email & no need to be constantly on LinkedIn
• Declutter 50 items - 60/50

What about you? How did you do with your June goals?

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?

Fitness Tuesday

I'm a bit late getting this together, as I had an interview yesterday & house cleaning & graduation prep! 

Weight: I've been really out of my routine, and haven't been weighing in lately, so no updates to report. 

Calories: 1,642 - up from last week, due to a couple of very snacky days + eating a bunch at a picnic with lots of homemade food on Sunday.

Steps: 14,871 - up quite a bit, thanks to the two hiking days.

Workouts:

• Workout class + unexpected bonus 7 mile hike with a friend (I was exhausted afterward)
• 3 days of workout classes (combo running, rowing & strength training)
• 1 day of a treadmill running class
• 1 7 mile hike with a friend
• 1 no workout day

Overall nutrition:  I felt very snacky all week (hence the higher daily calorie average) & tried a lot of delicious food at the picnic we attended on Sunday. I still want to increase my veggie intake. We have gorgeous garden lettuce that I want to be sure we're using up, and that I'm eating as part of my lunches. 

Goals for the week: We have guests this week, plus graduation & a bunch of stuff happening for Nick, so my goal is to have two full No S days (yesterday - check!, and today). Then keep the snacking & treats to zero, while I can have an adult beverage celebrating graduation. It won't be perfect, but it will be a lot better than a full on indulgence week.

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

May Goals Recap

 I can't believe it's June! 

May was a pretty good month for goals, but as always, progress not perfection is what I'm aiming for.

Here's how we did for the month. 

Financial:

• Bank all of M's severance, and open CDs.  - No severance yet, so this rolls over to next month
• Shuffle existing CDs for better rates - yes, and dates added to the calendar for the next round
• Sign up for COBRA - yes
• Find a job - well, I've invested a ton of time, but nothing so far
• Continue with part-time job, and invoice for the first half of classes - yes, and done
• Earn $300 in side hustle - $107 in side hustle, but also the class. I'll count that when I'm paid. 
• Get rid of 3 pantry items - I've used up a dressing, and barbecue sauce. So, 2/3.

Family:

• Plan Nick's graduation - yes! It's next week
• Date night with M - yes, we went out after photos for Nick's prom
• Work with the boys on various life stuff - Sam got signed up for summer classes, joined a gym, found a job, and found a dojo for his martial arts. Nick took his AP classes, finished out the school year and tennis, and is in the home stretch!

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs - I lost .9 lbs
• 15, 20, 15 -  strength workouts, No S days, meditations - 19 strength workouts, 8 No S days, 6 meditations
• Try a new workout - nothing really jumps to mind, although the day I did a hard workout class, followed by a hike with a friend was definitely...more than I'd bargained for. ;)
• Average 12,500 steps/day - 12,210, so pretty close but not quite

Personal:

• Get together with friends x2 - yes. Met two friends for a hike, got coffee after a workout 3x with friends, introduced two other friends for a group hike
• Say yes to adventure & try new things - I have been working on expanding my social network, and meeting up with new friends, which is going well
• Reduce screen time - I'd say maybe a 5% reduction. Definitely a little improvement, but nothing drastic. 
• Declutter 50 items - 39/50

What about you? How did you do with your May goals? Any wins to share, or goals you will roll over to next month? 

Menu Plan Sunday

 Another wild week, as we have my parents in town + graduation. Having a plan helps us minimize eating out to just planned events. We will still have some splurges, but they will be planned for.

• Friday - grilled chicken + salads
• Saturday - beef and tomato rice bowl
• Sunday - southwest Chicken skillet
• Monday - tacos (freezer)
• Tuesday - leftover southwest chicken skillet
• Wednesday - barbecued chicken & potato salad with my parents
• Thursday - we will likely have pizza delivered to the house, right as we get back from graduation. Nick has his grad night party, so we will be going out to lunch to celebrate
• Friday - steak + caprese salad
• Saturday - leftovers (my parents are heading home)
• Sunday - beef broccoli + noodles (freezer)

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

Goals for June

 We have a lot of exciting stuff happening in June, and several trips + graduation & house guests. I'm looking forward to all of the fun!

Here are our goals for the month. 

Financial:

• Bank all of M's severance, and open CDs
• Shuffle existing CDs for better rates
• Find a job
• Finish teaching class, and invoice for all sessions
• Earn $300 in side hustle
• Get rid of 3 pantry items

Family:

• Have a fantastic graduation for Nick (including time with my parents, and celebration in Washington)
• Have an on budget and fabulous trip with M to Las Vegas 
• Work with the boys on various life stuff. Help Sam decide on fall plans

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs
• 15, 15, 15 - strength workouts, No S Days, meditations
• Try something new in my workout routine
• Average 12,500 steps/day

Personal:

• Get together with friends x2
• Say yes to adventure & try new things
• Reduce screen time
• Declutter 50 items

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

Frugal Friday

 It's been another busy week, with lots of activities & interview prep. 

Saving on things we buy

• Used a $20 grocery store gift card to pick up ice cream and treats when we unexpectedly had some teens over this weekend. Also picked up the Friday Freebie (a sports drink of some kind) & uploaded my receipt to Fetch. 
• I occasionally meet friends for coffee after our workout class. The class is fantastic, but not really conducive to chatting. I buy Starbucks gift cards on sale (or, in exchange for a grocery store reward) & use that when we meet. I also bring my own container, which yields additional rewards (and, is better for the environment). 

Earning money

• Sold a pair of shoes on eBay & two pair of pants, & made $40
• As I mentioned yesterday, Nick won two scholarships & a service award at the Senior Awards ceremony. The scholarships, while not large, will be super helpful for college! One was from the sports boosters, and the other from the PTSA. 

Avoiding spending

• Nothing to report here.

Eating what we have

• I froze an entire batch of fajitas, as we ended up having fewer diners than expected.
• Picked some really delicious strawberries from the garden

For others

• Gave away a few items people requested on Buy Nothing, as well as items I just didn't need any more. 

What about you? Any wins to report?

Thank you

 Thanks so much for all of your lovely comments about upcoming Nick's graduation! We are all very excited.

And, Anne, I really laughed at your remark about me coming in strong with the gene pool for Nick. Sam looks much more like M, but Nick is all my side of the family. In particular, he looks like my father, to the extreme. Their personalities are also very similar & they are very close.

Last night was very fun, as we attended the Senior Awards ceremony. It was so lovely to see all of Nick's friends together, winning awards & being celebrated. Nick won a community service award, along with an athletics booster scholarship, and the school PTSA scholarship. We were very surprised, thrilled, and proud of him for his accomplishments. 

I'm off to go get ready for an interview presentation & Q&A session. When I'm done with this, I'll have completed 10 interviews for one job, and we will have been in discussions about this role since January. The job market is not for the faint of heart at this point. 

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Fitness Monday

 Overall, it was a pretty solid week. As always, plenty of areas for improvement, but generally the week looked like I wanted it to, if a bit light on the steps & heavier on the calories.

Weight: My weight is up 1/2 a lb from the last time I weighed in, which isn't the direction I'm hoping to be going

Calories: 1,565 - I've definitely dropped this from last week, but would still like to be right at or below 1,500/day. 

Steps: 12,528 -  barely snuck this one over the 12,000 steps/day target, but I'll take it!

Workouts:

• 5 workout classes (combination of running, rowing & strength training)
• 1 - 4 mile walk
• 1 - 60 minute elliptical workout

Overall nutrition: I did a MUCH better job on eliminating snacks this week, and am feeling like I made solid progress on that side. However, I had fewer lunch salad & more leftovers, which generally means I ate less fruit & veggies. I'll go back to keeping a closer eye on that this week. I need at least one salad a day to hit my goals, as I'm not good at eating a lot of veggies throughout the day otherwise. 

Goals for the week: we have a lot going on this week, so my goal is to avoid snacking, eat more produce, & not to have any treats at the two senior events we're going to for Nick. 

What about you? How did you do on your health & fitness goals for the week?

Menu Plan Sunday

 It's a chaotic week ahead, with the final full week before Nick graduates!

• Friday - chicken parmesan (freezer) & caprese salad
• Saturday - Philly Cheesesteaks 
• Sunday -  chicken fajitas
• Monday - grilled chicken & Persian rice 
• Tuesday - leftover Cheesesteaks
• Wednesday - leftover grilled chicken & rice ahead of the senior awards night
• Thursday - tennis banquet potluck
• Friday - any remaining leftovers

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

Frugal Friday

 This week has whizzed by! Here are a few things on the financial side to share. 

Saving on things we buy

• I earned a credit card cash back rewards for a few things I picked up at CVS last week. $1.75, so watch out!
• Continued to upload all of my receipts to Fetch 
• Nick is quite crafty & convinced his girlfriend that it would be a fun project to make their own boutonniere and corsage for prom. They turned out really well, and were definitely cheaper than purchasing, if what Sam spent last year is any indication. 
• Collected $.50 of grocery game store credits.
• Bought a Home Depot gift card at the grocery store, and earned a $15 grocery store reward. 

Earning money

• Taught another class this week. I'll have a sub for the following two weeks (Nick has senior awards, and then graduation that conflicts) & then one last week. I'll have taught a total of 8 of the 10 classes. We invoice for any class that we taught. 
• I saw a mention on a financial blog with a credit card offer. Disclaimer: credit card offers are only useful if you can pay them off in full each month, and aren't tempted to spend more than you normally would. Rakuten was offering a $150 cash back for signing up, and Chase offered a $200 sign up offer, if you spent $500 in the first three months. It's a cash back credit card, and not as good as some of the other cards we use for travel points accumulation, but the $350 in combined cash back is a great deal. And, the card is free. So, I'll run $500 of spend through the card in a few months, and then will move my spending back to my higher rewards generating cards. 
• I received a $12 settlement from Clif bar, and completed $6 of surveys that I cashed out. 
• Made $25 selling a hoodie on eBay

Avoiding spending

• M is a pretty handy guy, and does things like change the oil in our car, does quite a few DIY projects, etc, but he's very reluctant to solve plumbing problems. He was able to fix a leak we had outside, thanks to the help of YouTube videos.
• M also repaired our pool cleaner, which is on probably repair #5 since we bought our house. 
• He also washed all of the windows in our house, and it looks sparkling! 

Eating what we have

• M & I had leftovers for dinner (shawarma one night, hot dogs another). The hot dogs were left over from Nick's impromptu pool party, which was repeated with a smaller friend group over the weekend. He's really soaking it in, and has more free time, now that all AP tests are completed, he has almost no assignments (AP classes pretty much wrap when the exams are done), & sports are over. He's usually so busy, that he is very much enjoying all of the free time. 
• We have picked a lot of beautiful strawberries from the garden.
• And, we finally grew a huge cilantro plant that we managed not to kill! Progress. 
• I planted a bunch of the 2lb package of green onions that M bought, and I now have lots of green onion tops that I can cut off & use in recipes. 
• 
  

For others

• M & I helped a neighbor with a tech issue
• Not me, but M taught Nick how to change a tire, and apparently, he's the only one in his friend group that knows how! He met up with a friend to help him change his tire, which I know was appreciated. 

And, a frugal fail. I ordered a few dresses & skirts to try & find something for Nick's graduation and/or potentially our 20th anniversary trip to Hawaii. I was successful & found a dress I really like, and when I went to return the other items, one of the skirts was final sale! I don't know that I've ever made that error before, but I was very annoyed with myself. I listed it immediately on eBay, and managed to sell it in a few days (I'm guessing the value goes down as the store starts to clearance it out, so prioritized speed of sale), but with fees, it wasn't the full cost of what I spent, but at least I got some of my money back? I then had a second eBay sale on Wednesday, and together, they covered the cost of the skirt. But, still annoyed with myself for not paying attention, and will definitely make it a priority next time!

What about you? Any wins to share?

Fitness Monday

 It was not the best fitness week for me. Too much snacking, not enough focus on healthy eating. And, I've fallen off of the wagon of focusing on my 12k/day steps. That will be a renewed focus for the week.

Weight - haven't weighed in this week.

Calories - 1,620/day on average. 

Steps - 11,878/day. Need to make sure i'm getting in a short afternoon walk most days, in addition to my workouts. 

Workouts:

• 5 hard workout classes
• 1 4 mile walk
• 1 3 mile walk

Overall nutrition - I was too snacky this week, and only had one No S day. I need to really clean this up, in order to make progress. 

Goals for the week - increase steps, decrease calories & reduce snacks.

What about you? How did you do with your health & fitness goals this week?

Menu Plan Sunday

 Another week of trying to plan meals & stay organized! 

Here's what's on the menu at our house this week:

• Friday - leftover hot dogs from impromptu pool party
• Saturday - Nick has prom, so the adults had baked fish (not a teen favorite) This was the plan, but the adults were all dressed up (prom pictures with Nick, so we had an impromptu date night & it was fabulous!)
• Sunday - grilled burgers & watermelon
• Monday - Dijon chicken
• Tuesday - Garlic noodles with beef & broccoli
• Wednesday - leftover burgers
• Thursday - leftover Dijon chicken

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

Frugal Friday

We are deep into senior season for Nick, and getting everything ready for all of the events ahead!

Saving on things we buy

• One of the traditions at Nick's school is to make a graduation poster that hangs in the cafeteria. The students walk through the cafeteria on their way to the ceremony, and can then pick up their posters afterward. When I made Sam's poster last year, I accidentally double ordered a bunch of photos. I set them aside, knowing I could use some of them for Nick's poster this year. I have about 15 that will be able to be re-used. 
• On a related note, I planned to order my remaining photos at Walmart, as it's the cheapest place around. However, their photo area is temporarily closed, and the closest available was 14 miles away. No thank you! I searched & found that CVS has a photo shop, and they were having a sale for graduation, so the price was only about $5 more. Well worth it to not drive to Walmart. I also used some CVS rewards, saving another couple of bucks. 
• I've mentioned before that I go through & save any credit card offers for places we go to, even if I have no current plans for a purchase. I saved a Michael's offer, and Nick needed to pick up poster making supplies for several senior nights he was attending for friends, as well as his "prom-posal" for his girlfriend. He was able to buy his poster board & supplies & I saved $1.05. Nothing very exciting, but it was almost zero effort on my side. 
• I wanted to pick up gift cards & snacks for the boys going on the senior road trip with Nick. The gift cards generated $20 in store rewards, which was an awesome win. 

Earning money

• I was able to invoice for the first half of my class, & it felt good to get that submitted.
• Had enough to withdraw $21.86 from iBotta (converted to cash)

Avoiding spending

• We discussed a family dinner out for Mother's Day, but Nick was working all weekend (because, Mother's Day) & M offered to cook whatever I wanted. Sold! He made barbecued chicken, picked up a delicious potato salad (and offered to make that next time) & some cupcakes. We had a really lovely dinner. 
• Disputed an erroneous gym charge for Sam's old gym membership. I've worked with the gym for multiple weeks, and they also encouraged me to dispute the charge, which I did. The $14.99 is a small amount, but given it's for a service we're not using & cancelled, glad to have it back. 

Eating what we have

• We've been staying on top of the leftovers, and ensuring we are prepping enough for meals to get at least two dinners out of everything. However, our beef tomato rice bowls was enough for one dinner for three, and a couple of lunches. I will double the recipe next time! It was delicious. 
• We continue to use lots from our garden: strawberries, basil, lemons, & lettuce. 
• I bought fresh mozzarella at Costco, and we've been eating our fill of caprese. We often have it in salad form (chopped tomatoes, mozzarella & basil - seasoned with olive oil, salt & pepper & a splash of balsamic.) The basil from the garden is delicious. 

For others

• Donated soccer gear back to our soccer club, so a family on scholarship can get the gear for free. It's very expensive, and this is also a double win of avoiding waste.
• Also donated a bunch of more general soccer gear to a mom on Buy Nothing who has multiple boys on teams. 
• Passed on both boys uniform shirts & hoodies to a friend who is working out the summer camp they have previously worked at. This saves on laundry & time, because you have to wear the one shirt they give you every day! 

What about you? Share your wins for the week!

Priorities and spending for graduation & senior year

 A lot of families go *all out* for graduation. We chatted with both Sam (last year) & Nick about what was important to them, and what they didn't care about. 

Here's our list. 

Things they didn't care about:

• Neither of them cared at all about announcements, so those were easy to skip. Apparently, sending them out is much less common in our area. 
• Sam wanted senior pictures, Nick did not. Nick did get photos through the year book session, as well as for both of the sports he played, which was fine with him. 
• Neither of them wanted an open house, although my parents hosted a party at their house for Sam, and will host one for Nick as well. All of our family lives in the area near my parents, and as a bonus, Nick's friends will also attend, as they are road tripping & staying with my parents for a few days. I will give my parents money to cover all of the food & drinks for the party, as well as additional food money for when the boys stay with them. As we know, feeding teens is pricey! 

Things Nick is prioritizing:

• Nick has a very large circle of friends, and several different "groups" that he hangs out with, partially because he plays two different sports, and also because he is just quite a social butterfly. ;-) Nick is really interested in doing two senior trips - the road trip, and also a trip to Hawaii with a second set of friends. He is in charge of paying for both trips, and is using money earned by his job (he works at a restaurant) to save up. He also has to have saved a certain amount for college. We helped him use his airline miles to book his flight to Hawaii, as part of his 18th birthday gift. He will pay for the shared condo, food & activities with friends. 
• The road trip should be reasonably priced, as they are mostly camping, and staying with family & friends along the way. Nick also asked for a national park pass for his 18th birthday, which my parents bought for him. That will allow them free admission to the parks. When I asked about their food plans, the boys were all planning to raid their parents pantries. Oh, to be 18. I will likely treat Nick to a "stock up" shop, where he can pick out easy to make & consume road trip food, as they won't have access to a kitchen while camping. He also requested camping & backpacking equipment for Christmas, so he's pretty set on those items, and I found a few other things he needs through Buy Nothing.
• There's nothing cheap about a trip to Hawaii, but the boys have decided to stay in a condo, to save money on meals. That should help with costs, and the condo is slightly cheaper than a similar hotel room/suite, given that there are five of them. One fearless soul is a great cook, so he is menu planning, and creating a grocery list of items they need at Costco, and will prep all of the meals. He's getting a slight discount on the cost of the condo, which is well deserved. 
• Nick is also big on all of the senior milestones. We had a big group for his soccer senior night, and while tennis senior night was quieter, M & I had posters, and all of his friends came as well. He definitely cares about: attending the grad night party (almost $200), having an ad in the yearbook with his elementary picture, and the senior poster, which hangs up during graduation & is a collage I'll put together. The collage will be about $20, so nothing too crazy. I paid for the grad night party tickets back in September, when they were a lot cheaper. 
• He is also, of course, going to prom. Because he's bringing an outside guest (vs going with friends), we also paid for her prom ticket. He will fund the dinner & flowers. He has a suit from last year that he can wear again. 
• My parents are flying in for graduation, using repurposed flights from when they were planning on coming to visit in April (to watch Nick while we were in Spain). We are planning a graduation lunch for the day of graduation for the six of us. If last year is any indication, it will be a whirlwind, with graduation practice, lunch, the ceremony, and then Nick will get on the bus for his grad night party. As a bonus, I'll be taking my mom to a winery for a belated Mother's Day event. She always appreciates time together & activities vs gifts, so the timing works well. 
• We used United flight credits to get flights for the three of us (myself, M & Sam) to fly to my parents for Nick's graduation celebration. Nick will be road tripping there & back, so doesn't need flights.

Since I wrote the initial draft of this post, we've hosted two more impromptu parties, including the end of season tennis swim party, when they got eliminated during league finals. Being able to throw together snacks, drinks & dinner for the tennis team for their last hurrah? Priceless, and what we always want to prioritize. Some of this other stuff, just not anything anyone will remember. 

My (moderately) frugal impromptu hosting trick for teens? I keep a bunch of unopened Trader Joes snacks in my bedroom closet. If I leave them in the pantry, they will all get opened & consumed unnecessarily, when people should be eating meals. When we have unexpected guests, I always turn to the bedroom closet "pantry". That's where I also stop if we are taking people skiing, etc. 

Fitness Monday

It was a week with not a lot of working out, and too many meetings. But, it's done & I'm ready for a more successful week ahead. 

Weight: On the positive side, my weight is the lowest it's been in 2025, down .7 lbs from last week & down 5.7 lbs from my first weigh in of January.

Calories: My calories were higher this week, thanks to Mother's Day splurges yesterday, and treats that M picked up on Saturday. Average daily calories = 1,587. 

Steps: I think this is the only time this year that I didn't hit my target of 12,000 steps/day average? I was at 11,018 average/day last week, thanks to lots & lots of meetings & not enough fitness.

Workouts: 

• 4 workout classes
• 1 3 mile walk
• 2 non-workout days

Overall nutrition: I did "okay" on my nutrition until Saturday. M brought home cupcakes & a lemon tart, for an early Mother's Day treat. We also had potato salad yesterday, which I adore, and is a huge calorie bomb. Oh, and mimosas. Anyway, this week can definitely be an improvement on last week's indulgences!

Goals for the week: my goals for the week are 4 No S days, 7 workouts, and getting my steps back up and my calories back down.

What about you? How did you do with your health & fitness goals last week?

A collection of our favorite meals & recipes

This is mostly for myself, as it will be useful to have a list of favorites to look back on, particularly on those meal plan days when I'm uninspired. I also thought a list might help others get some inspiration.

We don't do a lot of pasta, as M can't have much, and it requires more separate meal prep than I'm usually willing to do. And, not everything has a recipe, because... well, some things are just done by memory by myself or M.

Anyway, with that, here is a list of our favorite dinners!

• Spaghetti & meatballs with garlic bread. We use the cheater Italian frozen meatballs from Costco, which are fabulous.
• Ground beef tacos. Simple, with the taco seasoning. Serve with tortillas, cheese, tomatoes, salsa & sour cream.
• Beef kebabs & Persian rice, with grilled tomatoes & tzatziki sauce (M makes his own).
• Grilled chicken & Persian rice. M makes his own marinade.
• Sheet pan fajitas
• Chicken shawarma
• Chicken parmesan
• Chicken stir fry
• Slow cooker chicken and dumplings
• Slow cooker chicken satay
• Easy lemon pepper chicken
• One pot lemon pepper chicken and orzo
• Garlic noodles with beef and broccoli
• Creamy Dijon chicken
• Chicken marsala
• Peanut noodles with chicken
• Easy sesame chicken
• Easy chicken vegetable curry
• One pot chicken and rice
• Chicken sausage white bean skillet
• Creamy garlic chicken
• Egg roll in a bowl
• One pan chicken fajita rice
• Korean beef rice bowls
• Warm taco slaw
• Garlic butter chicken
• Southwest chicken skillet
• Beef & tomato rice bowl

Apparently, we eat a lot of chicken! ;-) We do eat fish, steak & other things, but rarely use a recipe. I'm also a big fan of the BudgetBytes website, clearly.

Please chime in with your favorite recipes! I love new options. 

Saturday Things

 It has been a week! Sorry if this gets lengthy - this is a stream of consciousness, as I recap what's top of mind. Skip, if not of interest!

Job stuff:

Most of my time has been spent on the job front. As I mentioned in another post, I had 8 interviews this week, four each for two jobs. I feel really good about one of the jobs after the interviews, and kind of "meh" after the second round. I've done at least 200+ interviews in my time as a people manager, and I think people really underestimate what an impact they can have on a candidate, both in a negative & a positive way. 

I had one interview that was probably my most enjoyable interview I've ever done. Part of it was the natural rapport that the interviewer built, the conversational style, but also the feedback she gave along the way. It felt like a really great discussion, where both of us had the opportunity to assess mutual fit, and get a clearer background on the job & the company. Perfect! That aside, this role has been available & then unavailable due to financial constraints, so I won't get excited about anything unless I get a formal offer. I've been in discussion for this role for four months. 

On the flip side, I had a couple interviews for the second job that were... not great. (As background, I worked for the company that the second job is at for 15 years, so I'm very familiar with the interview process.) The first interviewer was so unprepared. It was a 45 minute interview block, and he had 10 minutes of questions. He was then visibly nervous & just handed the time over to me to ask questions. The second interviewer asked me 25 questions in 45 minutes, which is also... non-ideal. There was no discussion or follow up or dialogue. She had a list of pre-canned questions, and just ran through them, rapid fire, one by one. She also began the interview without introducing herself, what she does, or asking for an intro from me. It was... really an experience! ;-) 

I also heard back from another job that I'd interviewed for, and they went with an internal candidate. Another friend is in the organization, and provided the background that they are trimming back a lot of headcount, so going with an internal candidate means they won't backfill the person who is moving and therefore won't need to use a net new headcount for this role. I completely understand, and in the current job market, it's a decision I would absolutely make as well. But, can I just say that I did 9 interviews/meetings for this job? I prepped for 30+ hours? Totally relatable why they went that direction, but it was pretty crushing after the time investment. I also really liked the team and the role. I'll also add that the recruiter I worked with on this job was the best recruiter I've ever interacted with me in my 20+ years of hiring people. I sent a nice note back that she could forward to everyone I spoke to, and then sent her a separate email, letting her know how incredible she was, what specifically she did to make the experience great, and thanking her. She replied back immediately, and said it made her day & made her tear up. I'm so glad I took the time to do that. 

Class:

The class I'm teaching has been such an experience. Both in a positive & a less positive way. My goals in teaching the class: 1) determine if teaching is something I'd want to do part-time, after I'm done with career work. 2) try something new. 3) round out my resume, as teaching this particular class is great for my own skills. Well, I've definitely accomplished all three. 

The timing of teaching this class & prepping all of the content, has just come at a difficult time, given how much work the job prep is right now. 

I've also learned that I really, really don't enjoy teaching a class from 6-8 pm. The class is a combination of adult learners looking for additional job related certifications/skills, and college students that are offered this class as part of a university degree (with a deeper dive on a specialty their university doesn't provide in house.) It's unfortunate, because parts of teaching are really enjoyable, but the evening is not great. With lupus, my energy level drops as the day goes on, & I'm usually reallllllly tired by the end of the day.

Observations so far: 

• I do think I would like teaching in the future
• I'd much prefer in person vs online
• I'd only do it if were doing the day, vs evening
• I'd prefer content in a different area of my expertise (more general - some of these topics are very niche, and require a lot of prep)
• The time spent on the first round of classes you teach is eye watering. I can imagine this scaling very well if I taught this class 2, 3, 5, 10+ times, as you are paid a fixed fee for the full set of classes.

Family:

• Nick is so deep into senior year, and things are winding down. I have a bunch of stuff to prep for graduation (cleaning our house, working with my mom on his party, getting a clear understanding of his two trips - one specifically because he's staying with family & then need to know the plan, making a huge photo poster for graduation, filling out a ton of forms, etc). He took 2 AP exams this week (government & stats). Fingers crossed those went well.
• Nick is also working a lot, particularly this weekend, as he works as a host at a fancy-ish restaurant, and it's Mother's Day tomorrow.
• Sam has a summer job (full time, at that), full of manual labor, which I think is excellent for him. It helps him understand how hard a job like that is. He's also getting a fabulous refresher on his Spanish language skills as part of that. He is planning to take a class at the community college over the summer, so he can get a feel for if he'd like it and prefer to transfer for the fall. 
• M is also job searching. He's just getting his job search going really, as he spent quite a bit of time doing some upskilling on the tech side, as the company we worked for had a lot of internal tools that aren't transferrable. 

On to Saturday! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and all of the mothers are spoiled by their family!

Menu Plan Monday,or Friday

*I'm so tired that I published this on Friday, so I'll just leave it up.* ;-) 

 Hello, lovely frugal friends. Here's what's on the menu for the week, as I try to slowly ease back into cooking more regular meals. 

• Friday - leftovers
• Saturday - beef & tomato rice bowl & homemade naan
• Sunday - barbecued chicken & potato salad, for Mother's Day. 
• Monday - leftover beef & tomato rice bowl
• Tuesday - easy lemon pepper chicken + caprese salad
• Wednesday - leftover barbecued chicken
• Thursday - leftover lemon pepper chicken

What about you? Any good recipes to share? I always need inspiration for new meals to try!

Frugal Friday

 It was a crazy week, so apologies for my silence. But, I finished all of the interviews, & wrapped up by teaching my class last night. It was a very long day, kicking off an interview with London at 8 am, and closing with the class finish at 8 pm. I was fried by the time it was done, and looking forward to a much more relaxing day today! I actually do have a bunch of stuff I want to get done, but they are a lot lower pressure than an interview. ;-) 

Saving on things we buy

• I planned our menu this week to take advantage of Cinco de Mayo sales, so stocked up accordingly. I was able to get shredded cheese for cheaper than the blocks, picked up salsa, avocados, tortillas, and beans on good mark downs. I also picked up another 2lb package of pasta for $.99 and bought 3 more packages of orzo, which were on sale. I saved another $1.90 through iBotta, & uploaded my receipt to Fetch. In a "win some/lose some" scenario, I saw that M had purchased black beans a while back & they were in a part of the pantry I wouldn't have checked. While we will certainly eat them, we could have avoided the purchase today for the additional beans. 
• I also uploaded our Costco receipt to iBotta & Fetch. iBotta had a $.50 back on any receipt. 

Earning money

• Listed a few new things on eBay, and continued to teach the class, which I'll invoice the first half for next week. 
• Nick got paid for his first two weeks of work. He's been working for about a month, so he was thrilled to finally see a check. 

Avoiding spending

• A lot of families go *all out* for graduation. We chatted with both Sam (last year) & Nick about what was important to them, and what they didn't care about. I'll do a separate post with more details soon on this. Even with all of the budget saving, it's still a very expensive time, so best to focus on the things your kids care about most. 
• M previously paid for YouTube premium, but we added him to our Google Fi plan, which comes with free YouTube premium. M & the boys each get a 6 month subscription, and for whatever reason, I get a free year. Given it's a subscription we've paid for in the past, this saves $23/month (we had the family plan, so it covered all four of us.) 

Eating what we have

• Hosted Nick's friends on Saturday night for dinner, as they were coming over to work on Nick's "prom-posal" for his girlfriend. M made delicious Philly cheese steaks. I knew it would be just enough steak, so we grilled up a lot of extra veggies, and I put together a large fruit salad, including strawberries from the garden. I also made a large veggie salad, with lettuce & basil from the garden. 
• I made a double batch of the southwest chicken skillet, which we loved. I was able to use up the last of a jar of salsa. I also made guacamole to go with it, as avocados were $2/1 at the store for Cinco de Mayo. I used a jalapeno & cilantro from the garden for the guacamole. This recipe was easy, pretty healthy & balanced, & delicious. It will definitely go into our rotation. Bonus: I used a rotisserie chicken from Costco for the chicken in the recipe, and then turned the bones into 8 cups of chicken broth. Some of which I used for the recipe, and the rest went into the freezer for another day. It also used up more of the green onions. (In case you missed it, M bought a 2lb bag of green onions at Costco, because they were very inexpensive. We've planted quite a few of them, and have been eating a lot as well. So many green onions!) I estimate that the double recipe cost around $15, and made at least four full dinners (serving four people). It will probably also end up yielding some lunches. I bought canned black beans, but you can save more if you are willing to use dry & prep them ahead. The guacamole was optional, but cost another $2.25 or so. 

For others

• Worked with two of the college students I volunteer with. 

What about you? Any wins to share? 

Fitness Monday

 It was another busy week, but less ups & downs to manage. Now, this week is going to be a wild ride. I have 8 interviews (4 interviews for each company that I'm going through a full panel with). Plus, my class. I originally had a consulting call as well, but luckily that was cancelled. We also have a lot going on for Nick's last month of school, with AP testing, & lots of activities. But, I'm trying to make time to enjoy it!

Weight: My weight is stable since the last time I've weighed in. While no progress, I suppose it's better than going up? It would be nice to see small, incremental drops. 

Calories: Overall, pretty pleased with my calories, at an average of 1,380/day. 

Steps: My steps were 13,355/day, benefited greatly by the hiking day. 

Workouts:

• 5 challenging HIIT workout classes
• A 7.5 mile hike
• 60 minutes on the elliptical (I use this as a rest day, and also to watch a class I need to prep for my teaching gig)

Overall nutrition: Honestly, it was a pretty good week. I had a chocolate chip cookie that Nick's friend made (and was fantastic), and I had wine 4x. I'd like to get this down to just Friday-Sunday, but Wednesday night was a mini date, where we sat by the pool & had a glass of wine. I will set that goal for this week. Otherwise, I'm pleased with my nutrition last week.

Goals for the week: I have a very intense week ahead. My goal is to manage my stress level, not resort to snacking, and to work out consistently. The working out is mostly because it helps me manage my stress level. 

What about you? How did you do with your health & nutrition goals this week?

Menu Plan Sunday

 I've really fallen out of my cooking groove, and am trying to get myself back into it. Let's see how I do. ;-) 

• Friday - orange chicken (freezer) + leftover rice
• Saturday - Philly cheese steaks (M made)
• Sunday - chicken fajitas (my preferred recipe)
• Monday - southwest chicken skillet (new recipe for us)
• Tuesday - leftover fajitas
• Wednesday - leftover chicken skillet
• Thursday - M will probably make spaghetti & meatballs, depending on who is around. I have a light dinner (cheese & crackers?) ahead of teaching my class

What about you? Any fun recipes you are trying this week?

May Goals

 Welcome to May, everyone! Hope you have some great intentions or goals for the month.

Here's what I have on my list:

Financial:

• Bank all of M's severance, and open CDs
• Shuffle existing CDs for better rates
• Sign up for COBRA
• Find a job
• Continue with part-time job, and invoice for the first half of classes
• Earn $300 in side hustle
• Get rid of 3 pantry items

Family:

• Plan DS18's graduation
• Date night with DH
• Work with teens on various life stuff

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs
• 15, 20, 15 - strength workouts, No S days, meditations
• Try a new workout
• Average 12,500 steps/day

Personal:

• Get together with friends 2x
• Say yes to adventure & try new things
• Reduce screen time
• Declutter 50 items

What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish in May?

Frugal Friday

 There were a few frugal wins for the week, and we are definitely in belt tightening mode. 

Saving on things we buy

• Used Door Dash credits (from our credit card) to order delivery on a date night. 
• Bought a 2 lb package of pasta at the grocery store for $.99, which is practically unheard of. Pasta is Nick's favorite food, so we go through quite a bit. 
• M found an enormous package of green onions (2 lbs) at Costco for $4.49. We will freeze a bunch, as well as potentially plant some. It's a HUGE amount of green onions. He loves them on his salads, so he was very pleased with his purchase. 

Earning money

• Cashed in more survey money ($6) & listed a few items on eBay, that I've found in various clean outs around the house. 
• Sam landed a summer job, which is cool for him & will help him save money for upcoming fall college expenses. It's full time, which is semi-rare for the typical summer job, so he's pretty excited about that.

Avoiding spending

• They offered free snacks after my "dry Tri", so I picked up a banana, protein bar, & a Gatorade. I ate the first two, & Nick brought the Gatorade to soccer practice. 
• Picked up the Friday Freebie at the grocery store, which was a fruit juice. We don't use juice much, but the boys like to have it for smoothies. 
• DH & Nick (and the helpful videos on YouTube) were able to troubleshoot & fix a "check engine" light. 
• While digging around under a bathroom sink for a cleaning product, I found that I had stashed a bunch of toiletries in the very back back. I've been keeping our toiletries under a different bathroom sink for years, so not sure what the "vintage" is on these toiletries, but everything is fine to use (shaving cream, an unopened razor & blades, body wash, etc). I've set a bunch aside & put everything else in the correct spot. The set aside ones will make a nice start on what Nick will bring to college in a few months. 
• We have been super lucky, and have never needed to pay for car charging in the time that we've had two electric cars. Now that M & I aren't working at a place with free car charging, he was able to get the car charged up one last time, when I reminded him that his access was expiring. We'll need another solution. We're lucky in that our car goes ~300 miles on a charge. On a related note, we've been having Nick take the electric car to work, as he's job is two towns over & otherwise, he's putting quite a few miles on his car. This helps save on gas. 
• Met two friends for hikes, which is always nice (and, free!) I can walk to the hiking trail from our house. 

Eating what we have

• Made a very eclectic bowl out of: leftover Persian rice, carnitas, sharp cheddar cheese & some salsa. It was delicious. 
• Found a single serve container of chicken shawarma in the freezer, and made that for M one night for dinner.
• I've continued having "snacky" meals, when I can't find other options, or nothing else really sounds right. For me, that's typically cheese & crackers, with an apple & a handful of cashews.
• We had plenty of leftover Indian delivery for several additional lunches.
• Defrosted both tacos & Korean beef from the freezer, which officially means... we're out of prepped freezer meals! Time to get back into the swing of prepping meals. (That's my own motivational talk.)
• Nick stopped by with a couple of friends unexpectedly for lunch. I put out plates of fruit, cheese & crackers, & veggies & homemade hummus. They couldn't have anything too heavy, as they were about to plan in a big tennis match. I also sent pizza rolls to eat after the match, for a more filling option. And gave everyone electrolyte water, as it was close to 80, and some of those matches go on for 2 hours. 
• Made the lemon chicken orzo dish, which fed four of us on Sunday, two of us on Tuesday, and two additional lunches for me. (I doubled it, in case you are wondering if we are all really light eaters.) That also meant I used up the entire box of orzo, so no extra lingering in the pantry. 

For others

• Had a call with one of the students I'm mentoring
• Made some networking introductions to a friend. In this market, having a referral for a role is critical!
• Went through my bathroom shelves & gave away a bunch of items on Buy Nothing. 

What about you? Any wins to share?