October Goals Recap

 Overall, it was a pretty good month, although busy with two fun long weekends in there. 

Financial:

• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items - peppers, rotisserie chicken & chicken broth in a one pan skillet dish. Four cans of beans & more chicken broth in chicken sausage dish. 18 overly ripe bananas in muffins. Shelf stable oatmilk & two more containers of chicken broth all got used up. Knocked it out of the park on this one!
• Continue to track net new savings for 2026 - yes
• Make $100 in side hustle - $88.63, so close
• Find one expense to optimize - this is more of a revenue optimization, but shifted money around to find a better paying savings account
• Push hard to fund 2027 expenses without pulling from savings - overall going *okay*

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life - yes, we've had discussions around majors, work & life, safety & recreational safety (my wild child who backpacks & climbs, etc). 
• Have a great trip to Boulder with M & both boys - it was fabulous
• Have a great trip to Palm Springs with my parents & sister, keep budget in check - yes!
• Have a family dinner with Sam's girlfriend - not this month. She's been super swamped with classes & work
• Continue planning for our next big trip (M's 60th) - this is on hold until we hear back about our hut reservations
• Plan for big international trip with my mom & sister - largely everything is booked. The fun planning part of activities remains
• Look into flights for my dad's trip to Japan - I have a few flights in mind, but need my nephew to confirm dates. 

Fitness:

• Lose 3 lbs - I lost 2.4 lbs
• 10 strength workouts - 12/10 strength workouts
• Track nutrition - yes, 1,351/day average calories
• 13,000 steps/day - nope, 10,202/day
• Sort out medical appointments before EOY - I have a doctor's appointment set up + a DEXA scan

Personal:

• Finish list of what I'd  like to do while part-time - sure, it's as much as I'm going to build on the list
• Create schedule for post December, when I'm not working - I've done a little thinking about this
• Declutter 50 items - 105 items out of the house in October
• Get together with friends - yes, hiking & dinner in Boulder
• Say yes to adventures - went to Rocky Mountain National Park, and Palm Springs with my parents
• Get to know our neighbors - caught up with our neighbor on a Sunday afternoon
• Try a new recipe - I think so, although I can't remember what it was?

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

Frugal Friday

Two weeks worth of Frugal Friday, as I was traveling last weekend. 

I felt like I had enough travel savings to split it out into its own category this week, vs mixing in with the smaller stuff. 

Travel savings

• I need to get my mom & sister to my house the night before our Europe trip in May. I noticed that Alaska Airlines had very low mileage redemption flights that fit the bill, but didn't have enough miles. Luckily, my dad did, and he offered me his miles to book the flights. I spent $55 for the taxes & seat selection, which was a great deal. The cruise itself is by far the biggest portion of cost, so it's been nice to find wins on some of the rest of the spending. 
• I was feeling happy last week that I received a Chase $250 "Edit" credit for one of the rooms that I booked for Venice, but in fact I received both $250 credits (for a total of $500), using up both of my credits for 2026. This is great news for a few reasons. I wasn't sure I'd have another use for this credit in 2026, it was a trip I had already planned, and the guidance made it sound as though you couldn't use two credits at the same hotel. But, maybe the two rooms are what triggered it. Regardless, I'm pleased. This drops the hotel cost for two rooms for two nights to a total of $230.52). We also get free breakfast & a $100 credit to use at the hotel. 
• I booked Nick's flight home for spring break in two chunks. For the outbound flight, I used Southwest points, and paid cash for the return flight. That saved $288 in cash. Let me be the first to say that flights are absolutely insanely expensive at this point! 
• I also booked Nick's flight home in May (one way) using his miles, and saved $215 by doing that. 
• Noticed our Southwest flights for NYE are slightly discounted (this trip is a maybe, if Lake Tahoe doesn't get snow, and/or if Nick decides to go to Park City to ski with his friend), but earned a $66 flight credit by rebooking for the cheaper fare. 

Saving on things we buy

• I uploaded a few receipts to iBotta & Fetch

Earning money

• Had a CD come due, and renegotiated the term for a better rate. This will put me at just the outset of when I need some of the money, but I will juggle a few things, as the rate difference is over 1% for the longer term, and worth it. 
• I also helped the boys sell more of their Magic the Gathering cards, making another $60 or so. 

Avoiding spending

• Opted not to buy our annual Turkey Trot run bibs this year, as last year we had to basically bribe the boys out of bed for the race. M loves it & plans to go, but I'll likely do an Orange Theory workout instead. It will save us about ~$120 to not all participate, which is a nice chunk of change. 

Eating what we have

• Brought home leftovers for our anniversary dinner, which Sam had for his dinner after work. Restaurant leftovers go over very well at our house. 
• Made a sheet pan bake out of chicken sausage (fridge, wanting to use up), orzo (pantry, use it up), chicken broth (freezer, use it up), which turned out great. I did buy a few ingredients to make this, but it was nice to make some progress elsewhere.
• I also asked M to make bacon, with the package we had leftover from the sheet pan salad recipe we made a while back, and folks have been adding that to breakfast, lunches, etc. Bacon is hard to resist. 

For others

• Gave away two Hyatt awards at M's work
• And, gave away a free night award to a friend who is taking her daughter to Disneyland to see the Christmas decorations & characters (her daughter is three). 
• Volunteered at a non-profit that helps food insecure people. Packaged food, loaded cars, etc. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

Menu Plan Sunday

I was out of town with the family, so this is late, but better than never. It also helps me get organized.

• Friday & Saturday - ate out with the family
• Sunday - had a piece of cheese & fruit when I got home late from a delayed flight
• Monday - I didn't make sloppy joes last week, so they shifted to this week. 
• Tuesday - spaghetti & meatballs
• Wednesday - leftovers sloppy joes
• Thursday - grilled shrimp + salad
• Friday - Buffalo chicken sheet pan

What about you? Any good recipes to share?

Cost for the Palm Springs family trip

My dad brought up the idea of coming to my house & having a trip with the four of us (myself, my sister & parents) for a concert. The concert tickets ended up being $800/per person (!!!!), so we skipped that idea. We proposed doing something else as the four of us, which I don't think we've done since everyone got married. I know M could absolutely come if he wanted to, but he has plenty of his own commitments on lately. 

In the end, we spent Thursday-Sunday in Palm Springs, which none of us had ever been to. My mom came down with a 24 hour bug and wasn't feeling well on Friday, but the rest of the trip was fantastic. It's hard to watch your parents age, at that phase where there are noticeable changes in their health between time you see them. Which reinforces & underscores my decision to get together. It was well worth the time, money & effort. We had a great time. For me, aside from the time together, taking the aerial tram to the state park was fantastic, as was Joshua Tree. We also got pretty lucky with the weather (it rained a bit on Saturday & Sunday, but overall it was cool & lovely) & enjoyed some sunshine. 

Flights - I'm counting the parts I paid for only, but you can see full costs below. $632.40

• The flights were an absolute adventure to book, & I'm the designated travel planner of the group. My dad wanted to use his Alaska miles to book the flights for my parents & help my sister. Unfortunately, he had forgotten he'd used the majority of his miles as a gift for my sister's trip to Iceland (family wedding). So, he & my mom both had much smaller amounts of miles in their account, neither with enough to cover a single trip. The outbound flights were much fewer points, however, so I got creative. I booked two one ways out of my mom's account on miles, and one one way out of my dad's account for my sister. I then went back into my dad's account & paid cash for the three one way return flights, as his account gives slightly better seats, that everyone could book for free. 
• In total, the three return flights cost a total of $1150.38. My sister paid $300, I paid $300 (gift for my dad for his birthday & just helping out in general). My parents paid the remaining amount.
• For my flights, I also got creative. I had a $70 Southwest credit with my Chase card, so I booked a one way using that. Out of pocket was $67.40
• On the return flight for me, the best time that matched up with my family's flight to Portland was a United flight into SFO. I booked that out of pocket for $267.70

Transit - $72.20

• My sister covered the car rental, and my dad filled up the car with gas before we dropped it back off at the airport.
• Sam was able to drop me off at the airport on Thursday, saving me the cost of a ride share
• Unfortunately for Sunday, I didn't have a ride home, & was coming from SFO, which is always more expensive - $72.20
• Valet parking at the hotel was covered with my free Hyatt points stay. 

Food - $363.06

• We all paid for various meals, and I covered dinner the first night & the remainder of brunch not covered by my Hyatt Globalist free breakfast for two. - $363.06

Lodging - $0

• In a very strategically timed move (I spent a lot of time lining the dates up to make this work), I was able to book two separate rooms on points for three nights each, and used two Suite Upgrade Awards, all from the Hyatt. These rooms were ~$800/night each, so a huge value to book using points. 

Activities - $139.80

• I used my National Park Pass to get us all into Joshua Tree National Park for free. We brought sandwiches, water & snacks, which worked out well & kept costs to just the food (above). 
• I paid for tickets for the Palm Springs Aerial Tram, which was really cool & brought you up to high above the Coachella Valley. Once you were on top at Mt Jacinto State Park, you could hike around & explore the really lovely park. It was gorgeous. The four tickets were $139.80. 

Total spent for the trip = $1207.46

Fear for your kids

There is nothing worse than fearing for the safety of your kids. There was a shooting in Boulder on Halloween, and a 19 year old was killed at a house party. He was a student at the school with Nick, and the shooting took place a block from where Nick was at the time. It's absolutely horrifying. I spent Sunday morning trying to get a hold of him & it's just so heartbreaking for the parents. This kid was the same age - enjoying his weekend with friends & spending time together on Halloween. Another student is in critical condition. What an absolutely senseless & horrific situation. I have not been able to stop thinking about the parents & family of these kids, as well as the other kids who witnessed this situation. 

There have been a lot of tears. You send your kids out in the world & just hope for their safety. 

Feeling a bit better

I do still have a bit of a runny nose in the morning, but otherwise feel like I've really turned the corner & am feeling much better. Hurrah! This is important, as I leave for Palm Springs tomorrow, to join my sister & parents.

It only rains an average of 1-2 weeks/year in Palm Springs, but it's supposed to rain two of the days we are there. Bummer! One of the reasons we chose this as a location is we hoped for good weather in late October. Oh well, we will still make the most of it.

I don't think we've done a trip with the four of us since my sister got married (which was, quite a long time ago!), and my parents are very excited for a trip with us. They of course also love spending time with the kids & our partners, but as a mom, I can see the fun of it feeling like a throwback trip. 

Things I've been up to:

• Researching flights for my dad's trip Tokyo. As someone who has purchased a lot of business class flights to Japan, the prices right now are staggering. Like, $2500 more than I've ever seen before. We may be looking at Premium Economy, or a combo, and even that is outlandish. 
• I've also been tracking various flight credits, expiration & miles. M has a bunch of old BA points that need to be used before they expire. 
• Booking travel for Nick for spring break. Again, flights are so insane right now. I've been juggling a few miles & rewards programs to find the absolute best deal.
• Working a lot. When you are only working 3 days/week, those days get pretty crazy. I like the dedicated 2 days off/week, but I'm not sure I'm working substantially less over the full week, but I am being paid less. So, that's not a great tradeoff. Sleeping in on Thursdays & Fridays & having more schedule flexibility on those days has been a great gift, however.
• Thinking about what comes in January/after I'm done with work. I'm tossing around a lot of ideas (classes, volunteering, etc) & enjoying the planning process. 

What about you? What are you up to today? And, this might be the day I cave & turn the heat on for the first time this season! Since I work from home, it's much more noticeable how cold it is in the house to me than M. It was 62 inside when I woke up! BRRRRRR.

Not Much Working Out Monday

 Ooof, it's no fun to be sick. M & I got (what I assume was) the same cold coming back from Boulder. He felt great after a couple of days. I'm taking an immunosuppressant, so I'm still on the struggle bus, and also not trying to push myself. I know I need to recover & time, rest, etc. I'll cover two weeks for this update, since I didn't post last Monday.

Here's a recap of workouts for the last two weeks:

• 5 mile walk in Boulder
• 50 minutes of an hour workout class. Kept it dialed way back, and left when I was tired.
• 3 hour hike in Rocky Mountain National Park
• 2 hard workout classes (before I got sick)
• 2 elliptical workouts (45 minutes & 1 hour)

Steps: 10,728/day. I've had some very low days & a few high days, thanks to lots of walking in Boulder + a hiking day

Weight = 144.1, down .1 lbs in two weeks. 

Average calories = 1,338/day

Goals for the week:

• Get in more steps
• Get plenty of rest & recover
• Make nutritious food choices - I've really just been eating a very basic diet (soup, crackers, toast, etc)

What about you? How have you been doing with your health & fitness lately? 

Menu Plan Sunday

 It's another short week for us, as I'll be in Palm Springs with my parents & sister, and M will be hanging out with friends in Las Vegas.

• Friday: sheet pan sausage bake
• Saturday: In an attempt to use up a lot of tomato paste in my pantry, I'm making Sloppy Joes, in a real throwback. 
• Sunday: creamy butternut squash orzo + grilled chicken
• Monday: leftover sheet pan sausage bake
• Tuesday: leftovers Sloppy joes
• Wednesday: you guessed it, leftover orzo + chicken
• Thursday-Sunday: traveling

What about you? What's on your menu for the week ahead? Are you moving to fall recipes? 

Saturday Happenings

 In a massive frugal fail, I signed up for two workout classes & didn't go over the last couple of days, due to being sick. I don't regret not going, and there was a wait list for the classes, so I didn't want to drop out. I was overly confident on how well I'd feel. I also find myself frustrated that I didn't do much of anything on my two days off of work, which is kind of silly, because I wasn't going to feel up to working, either. 

I'm going today & just taking it easy (with a mask, although no fever, of course) & I am feeling better. 

Things I'm up to today:

• Transferring some Hyatt awards to various folks. I'd much rather give them away vs letting them expire.
• Making banana muffins
• Cleaning the house
• Doing some laundry
• Menu planning
• Working on some cash flow planning for 2027
• Starting to think about a March trip, when M has a few days off at the end of the month. We are leaning towards Santa Barbara/Channel Islands, or Florida/Everglades. Florida has a lot more logistics, but the weather at that time of the year in Santa Barbara isn't as predictable.

What about you? What are you up to today? 

Frugal Friday

Going to Boulder was certainly an expensive adventure, but I did use points + free hotel night awards, so our entire hotel stay was free for three nights, including parking. The parking is $25/night, but free with my Hyatt status, which is a great perk. 

Saving on things we buy

• Brought the receipts from Nick's shopping trips (Costco & Target) home with me, and remembered to upload them to Fetch & iBotta. I earned $.40 on iBotta & somehow...3025 points on Fetch! Something he bought at Costco triggered a big bonus. It was a very expensive shopping trip, so that was a tiny win at least. ;-)
• I booked two rooms for two nights in Venice using Chase rewards for the Europe trip with my mom & sister at the end of May. Traveling with three people in a lot of places gets tricky, as the US staple of a room with two queen beds doesn't really exist, so we need two rooms. After the rewards, I spent $480.52, and the room comes with free breakfast for all of us + a $100 hotel credit, which we will probably use on drinks or something. 

Earning money

• I sold a pair of Nick's shoes for $14 on eBay. Junk out of the house. 

Avoiding spending

• It's hard to come back from a long weekend & avoid takeout or an airport meal, but I planned ahead by going to Trader Joes on Thursday & getting a few things. I picked up: veggie fried rice, turkey meatballs & the bagged crispy noodle salad kit. I already had the soyaki sauce at home. As soon as we got home on Sunday night, I made the fried rice while the meatballs were heating in the sauce, and topped the rice/meatballs/sauce with the salad kit, as a bowl style dinner. It came together in less than 10 minutes, and was tasty & not too terrible for us. There was also enough for one serving of leftover rice/meatballs, and about 1/3 of the salad for another meal. I like to consider this meal as "good enough", when the alternative is takeout. 
• I was also able to get our entire car full of people (5 folks) in to Rocky Mountain National Park for free, with my park pass. The pass has more than paid for itself so far this year, and I'm planning to visit Joshua Tree with my sister & parents next weekend, as an added bonus. 

Eating what we have

• We didn't go to the store over the weekend as we normally do (or, we did but stocked up Nick in Boulder vs our own fridge), so I made eggs for lunch, with a side of cheese & apple on Monday. Sam had a yogurt parfait, finishing off one of the yogurts & adding frozen berries & granola. 
• I made chicken teriyaki (again, thanks to Trader Joes freezer section) on Monday for dinner, knowing that it would be a crazy work day. More on that later. M made rice to go with it, and I made a double batch, so Sam could eat the leftovers during a busy work week on his end. 

For others

• Bought meals for college students who didn't have their parents in town for family weekend
• Doled out band-aids & hugs to a couple of girls who fell at the football game & made sure they had friends with them to get them back to their dorms. 

What about you? Any wins to share? 

Family weekend trip roundup

As you probably read in my earlier post, we had an incredible long weekend in Boulder with Nick & Sam. We were very excited that Sam was able to join, as he typically can't get off for a weekend with his work schedule. 

Nick regularly asks us to visit, and Sam had not been to Boulder yet to visit since Nick moved in. It meant a lot to Nick to have us all there. We also know that our time to show up for our kids in ways like this is limited & we enjoy it so much - we love getting to know his friends & seeing him in his college life. It really helps us have the right lens on parenting & feedback we give. That said, it's clearly a splurge trip, and one that we wouldn't take if money were tight. We try really hard to incorporate activities with his friends who have parents who weren't able to attend. It takes a village!

Here are the costs for the trip:

Flights: $485.10

• M & I had separate flights from Sam, because we wanted to be flexible in the event he needed to cancel. Paying cash for the flights was absolutely outlandishly expensive ($1500, given our timing restrictions), so we opted to use miles for this trip. We used 112,800 United miles + $22.40. I then opted to upgrade to first class, as part of M's anniversary gift. - $451.5
• Sam's flight was also booked with miles + $11.20

Hotel - $0

• We knew we wanted to fly in on Thursday vs Friday (last year they were out of rental cars when we arrived on Friday, despite having rented one!), so we took advantage of Hyatt free night awards. Knowing we will be staying Boulder & having access to these free night awards at a lower category hotel (easier to use free night awards) is the key reason we are currently keeping the Hyatt credit card. We stayed three nights at the Hyatt in Boulder, for $0 out of pocket, given the tax & parking are also covered with a free night award. Three nights over family weekend saved us approximately $3000. 

Rental car - $316.29

• It was actually supposed to snow when we were in Boulder, but the weather warmed up quite a bit. We upgraded from a Toyota Tercel to an SUV (we ended up with a Jeep). I'm not sure if that was necessary, but in the moment, we wanted a car with more traction. - $299.22
• Gas - $17.07

Activities: $690.24

• To participate in family weekend activities, you need to buy a package through the school. We chose the cheapest package that still provided discounted football tickets, because the entire reason we bought the package was to have access to discounted tickets. Let's just say that I didn't know it was a thing last year, and by the time I purchased family weekend tickets, the football promo codes were gone & we had to buy tickets on the open market. They were outlandishly expensive. Lesson learned for this year! Family weekend tickets = $185 ($75 for the adult tickets, Nick's ticket is $35).
• Football tickets for three = $441 (Me, M & Nick)
• I then needed to add a fourth ticket for Sam, and used my Stubhub credit (available from my credit card) for the majority of this purchase. Again, tickets were insanely priced. - $64.24
• We went to Rocky Mountain National Park, and my annual park pass covered admittance for all of us

Meals: $731.61

• Dinner on Thursday - included in first class flights for me + M, packed a sandwich for Sam
• Lunch on Friday - my BFF treated 
• Dinner on Friday - it was the four of us + my BFF & her daughter, after hiking - $322.91
• Lunch on Saturday - four of us + two of Nick's friends - $230.13
• Dinner on Saturday - four of us - $74.18
• Brunch on Sunday - four of us - $104.39

Total cost for family weekend = $2223.24

We also restocked Nick on groceries & bought him some additional climbing gear, including a helmet! The additional climbing gear was a bribe, because I most certainly want him to be wearing a helmet while climbing. Not included here, as that comes out of Nick's college budget. 

The limited plan menu

 It's always a bit crazy when we're not home on the weekend to meal prep, plan & get ready for the week ahead. No regrets with our trip out of town. Work is very crazy for me, particularly on Mondays, as not only am I catching up from the London team having worked an entire day before I log on, I'm also catching up from the missed work on Thursday/Friday. I only have 10 Mondays left, and it can't come soon enough! I typically spend most of Monday in "catch up" mode, which is no fun.

• Friday - we went out to eat & my BFF & her daughter joined us, after our hike. Meal was fine, company was great.
• Saturday - we were looking for a quick bite ahead of the game. The food was good, the wait was insane! I had a chicken sandwich
• Sunday - I heated up the Trader Joes veggie fried rice, marinated the turkey meatballs in some soy sauce, and then topped all of that with the crunchy noodle bagged salad kit, bowl style.
• Monday - M made rice, which I topped with Trader Joes teriyaki chicken (from the freezer) 
• Tuesday - I defrosted chicken fajita meat from a week or so ago
• Wednesday - I have an in office day, so I expect things to get a little crazy. I've defrosted grilled chicken (M's) + we will have leftover rice.
• Thursday - it's our anniversary, so TBD!
• Friday - sheet pan sausage bake, similar to this

What about you? What's on your menu for the week? I'm looking forward to the weekend, and doing more meal prep!

Back from a fabulous long weekend

 We had such a wonderful time in Boulder with Nick, and also got to see my BFF & her daughter. It's also a rarity to get the four of us all together in one place, and Sam & Nick hung out a lot as well. Sam stayed in Nick's apartment (way cooler than hanging with mom & dad), & it was just such a great time all around. Not every trip is like that, so soaking it all in. 

We went to two frat parties, the football game, took Nick shopping for his apartment items (no toilet bowl cleaner/brush - which I rectified!), groceries, and some additional climbing gear. We took a couple of his friends to lunch, and heard all about college life. 

We also met up with my BFF & her daughter for an absolutely stunning hike at Rocky Mountain National Park. The photos don't do it justice, but we hiked up to a few alpine lakes, and the water was a gorgeous turquoise color. So beautiful. I definitely need to go back for more time at RMNP, especially as M was back at the hotel working, and missed out on the hike.

Already missing my wild child, but he will be back soon enough for Thanksgiving.

Frugal Friday

It's been a busy week, trying to squeeze things into a very short work week, and now a trip to Boulder. But, we had a few wins along the way. 

Saving on things we buy

• M eats a lot of sardines (not my jam, but whatever) & our Costco is no longer carrying them. I found them on sale at our local store, and bought out the few remaining. I also picked up some avocado for our fajita dinner. I had a $5 off of a $15 purchase, dropping the charge to $12 for 9 packages of sardines + 2 avocados. 
• Pre-booked airport parking, which is the cheapest option for us on most trips. I also created an account, as apparently they are starting to build a loyalty program. 

Earning money

• (Insert caveat that chasing credit card perks never makes sense unless you are paying your bill in full every month & aren't carrying a balance.) Thanks to a variety of factors, mostly including work travel, I hit my spend reward goals on a couple of my other credit cards, and decided to shift the rest of the year spend to United. I earned a $100 travel credit for my efforts, which is basically zero effort at all. Next year will be different, as I won't be charging work travel. One of my goals is to build a credit card strategy, to ensure we are utilizing the best cards for our situation & ditching what doesn't work.

Avoiding spending

Eating what we have

• I'm continuing my fridge, freezer, pantry attempts for lunches, as well as dinners. I prefer berries on my yogurt, but saw we had some grapes that needed to be used up, so had those chopped instead on top, and they were quite good. My preferred yogurt combo is: Trader Joes Greek vanilla yogurt, some sort of fruit on top, with a light sprinkle of the TJs protein granola. Hits the cravings for something a little sweet, but isn't bad for you. 
• For the Korean beef dish I made last weekend, I sliced the pickles that go with it, and added them to the leftovers of a pickled onion jar, and shook them up for a few hours. That added great flavor to the recipe, for free. I did this 2x during the week.
• Used six overly ripe bananas from the freezer to make banana muffins (9 without chocolate chips for M, 3 with for Sam). Everyone was pleased. 
• I noticed that the shelf stable oat milk I keep on hand was going to expire in December. I don't prefer this kind at all, as it doesn't foam up for my morning latte, but I also don't want to waste it. I've started adding a bit to my regular oat milk every morning. Somehow, even a small amount means the milk doesn't foam, but that's a pretty small problem, all things considered. ;-) 
• Ate leftovers during the week, to ensure the fridge was cleaned out before we left for Boulder.

For others

• Shared a Guest of Honor Hyatt award (gives anyone the same status as a Globalist, which means free breakfast, potential for room upgrades, etc) with a friend. 
• Increased a tip on a delivery, when the person was extremely prompt. I'm not a huge fan of the tipping culture (wish everyone was paid a fair wage by their employer), but I also know that's not the current system & how hard some of those delivery people (and, other staff who is tipped) work, and while I tip a standard amount always, I like to remember to reward awesome service as well.
• Reached out to my family + my BFF, and have more folks lined up to contribute encouragement cards to the guardian scholars (students just coming out of the foster system & in college). I'm writing my own cards, as well as adding some gift cards.  

What about you? Any wins to share?

Starting to think about 2027 goals

2027 is going to be a big year for me! I'm officially leaving my job the first week of January. I don't have any plans to accept another job, but I won't rule out doing something very temporary or part time in the future. My goal was to save up enough money where I don't have to work, and that I can take care of my health & have enough to bridge the gap until I can tap into my 401k. I have approximately 10 years (just under) until I can access my retirement account without penalty. M is still currently working, and he will cover our health care, which is a vital step, especially given my health. 

I also expect that the first few years will be more expensive, as we have Nick in college, Sam will likely need additional support after he finishes his conservation training & schooling, and we will likely be traveling more in the earlier years rather than later, particularly with our families. 

I also expect that the pivot to permanent "retirement", for lack of a better term, may be a big adjustment for us. My health is my top priority, but I also want to continue to foster social connections, give back & support my family. 

I'm a planner, and I always like to know what comes next. But, for this particular next step, I think it's important for me to experiment - to try new things, discover what I enjoy, drop things that I don't, and not worry about getting everything right or knowing what comes next. That is a semi uncomfortable space for such a planner, so there will be a lot of growth required to keep experimenting!

I don't expect my goal categories to change, as I find it helpful to approach my goals across those buckets (financial, family, health, & personal). 

These are very initial drafts at this point, but here's where my head is currently at.

Financial

• Continue to pay for Nick's college
• Make $3000 in side hustle money
• Pressure test our budget & categories for the next few years, and make adjustments as needed. Included in that is optimization of our existing budget & plans. 
• Track & optimize travel related perks, savings, etc to best manage our travel budget, which is our largest flexible spending category (quite intentionally). 

Family

• Support both of our young adults
• Spend more time with my parents
• Continue to have regular date nights with M

Health

• Hit my goal weight, go off the micro dose of GLP-1, & maintain my weight
• Continue to manage my lupus
• Add another fitness activity to my days/weeks/months
• Track & manage my health overall

Personal

• Experiment with hobbies, activities, etc
• Host more 
• Volunteer
• Say yes to adventures
• Continue decluttering & organizing our house

Are you thinking about your goals for 2027? If so, what's top of mind for you? 

Fitness Monday

 It was nice to see a drop on the scale, but my steps are not on track. I missed one workout day, and it was a day with a lot of meetings. I need to find a way to more organically get in steps. Walk around the block between meetings? The weather has cooled off & it finally feels like fall, making it much more appealing to get outside here & there. 

Weight: 144.2, down 1.9 lbs from last week. This is an unusually big drop for me, but likely because I didn't have any notable loss for almost a month. 

Calories: 1,281/day

Steps: 9,446/day

Workouts

• 4 hard workout classes (combo of strength & cardio)
• 1 - 30 minute elliptical workout
• 1 - 45 minute elliptical workout
• 1 day without a workout

Goals for the week:

• Again setting the "no days without a workout" goal, since I missed that last week
• Keep the calories in check, while on our trip to Boulder
• Hit an average of 12k/steps, because it's been a while!

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

Menu Plan Sunday

 Another week, and we did well last week with eating a lot of leftovers. M ended up making a second batch of grilled chicken to bring to Boulder, which he then deemed "not good enough for Nick", so I guess we will be eating it. Our preferences are not worth as much as Nick, apparently. ;-) I thought the first batch was incredible & the second batch was still quite good, for the record.

As such, grilled chicken, round 3 is on the menu this week.

• Friday - chicken fajitas. I'd move away from the chicken, but already have the peppers & need to use those up.
• Saturday - Korean beef bowls & rice
• Sunday - grilled chicken, take 3
• Monday - leftover fajitas
• Tuesday - leftover Korean beef bowls
• Wednesday - leftover grilled chicken
• Thursday through Sunday - at Boulder for family weekend. Thursday will likely be an airport meal at the lounge, Friday we are meeting friends for Italian food. Saturday is a real mystery, and Sunday will be whatever we find in the freezer when we get back.

What about you? Has it cooled off at your house? Are you into fall meals yet? 

Saturday Happenings

I'm enjoying the much cooler weather today. It's going to be a high of 69, which feels much more appropriate for August than the very warm high 90s we've been having. Yay for fall! 

Meal prep gets a lot more appealing when the weather cools off! My goals for today in the kitchen are:

• Use up overly ripe bananas to make banana muffins
• Roast the potatoes that are going bad
• Make Korean beef dish for dinner, & quick pickle cucumbers

Other things I need to do today:

• Figure out timing for our Boulder activities. I'm either meeting my BFF for a hike, or another friend for lunch. I'm hoping to do both, but depends on the schedule.
• Sweep out front
• Wash bedding
• Go to my workout class
• Start packing for Boulder trip
• Confirm plans with both Nick & Sam
• Make a post to give some stuff away on Buy Nothing

That should do it! What about you? What are you hoping to get done today? 

Frugal Friday

It's been a good week overall, although pricey as I booked some 2027 travel (covered in a separate post). We also had what I hope to be our last plumbing bill for now. Fingers crossed on that one!

Saving on things we buy

• Used a variety of CVS rewards, coupons, etc to buy four of the largest containers of vitamins I needed for $23.75, saving $25. 
• We spend Christmas with my parents, my sister + her kids, and my BFF & her kids. We think this is likely to be the last year with everyone together, as my BFF's daughters are engaged & in med school, etc. She asked if we could do Christmas pajamas this year, and when Old Navy had a sale over the weekend, we jumped on it, as we needed a bunch of sizing options & then tend to run out of sizes. To reduce the cost, I first started by ordering a $100 gift card for $79.99 at Costco.com, which was delivered shortly after ordering. The pajamas were also half off, and I started my order at Rakuten, saving a bit extra. Then I noticed that there was another code on Old Navy's web site, and I had $2 of rewards to use as well. I bought six sets of pajama pants & the coordinating tops (my family + my parents) for $125.80 total, and will get a small amount back through Rakuten & our Costco rewards. 
• Sam is planning to join for family weekend in Boulder, so I bought a 4th football game ticket. I bought the original three with a discount code no longer available through the school, so I went on StubHub for the 4th, and used my $150 Chase credit (through my card). The ticket was just over $200 (insane for a college football game, but it's also family weekend), so the $150 savings was quite exciting. 
• I don't usually order grocery delivery, but I had two offers to use up (one with my credit card, the second through the app), so I ordered the following items for $11 (includes tip): sourdough bread, turkey meat, two bagged salads, a protein bowl. I saved $26, although wouldn't normally spend that at the store, as Costco is cheaper for some of these items. It was a pretty great deal. 

Earning money

• I am now working part-time, so my paychecks will be reduced by 40%. We've saved & planned for this period of time, so I will enjoy the part-time income & flexibility through EOY, when I'm leaving my job.
• I shifted some money around to earn more interest. I need a rather large cash cushion for the year ahead, and moving the money around to a higher yield account is worth it. 
• Dropped off some coins we had sitting around - I hate clutter of all kinds, so I wait until we have enough to make it worth going to the store, and turned that into $18. 

Avoiding spending

Eating what we have

• For dinner last Friday, I dug out chopped peppers, rotisserie chicken & chicken broth from the freezer for a recipe. I've been wanting to use up the peppers, so it was a good addition. I also used a jalapeno from the garden vs buying chiles, and Greek yogurt vs the sour cream it called for, to avoid needing to go to the store to buy anything. In the end, the recipe was still missing something, so I dug around in the fridge & added some wing sauce that was leftover & that increased the spice level perfectly. M & Sam asked what I'd added, and we were all surprised that it had changed the flavor in such a good way. A clean out the fridge surprise, if you will. ;-) This made 2 dinners, plus 2 lunches. 
• We picked 17 large pomegranates off of our tree. M made pomegranate martinis one night, and will begin the task of removing the arils for snacking. He planted this tree when we moved in, so it's always exciting to get to pick the fruit. We left about half on the tree, as we won't be able to go through all of them right now.
• Used the last of a package of frozen berries in yogurt.
• Made another "use it up" dinner during the week, using up four cans of beans from the pantry, as well as the last three chicken sausages. I doubled the recipe, so used some sausages from a new package as well, but it was good to use the three from the open package before they went bad. Bonus that this recipe called for chicken broth. We've had so much chicken broth in the freezer, and I've been working on getting that down to create more space. This created two dinners for us, a lunch, & I froze another dinner's worth. 
• Picked herbs from the garden (thyme, oregano, rosemary & basil) + lemons from the tree for M's chicken marinade. He's grilling lots of extra chicken for us to freeze & bring to Nick for meal preps. 
• Used strawberries from the garden (we are having a heat wave, so I just picked more) for a yogurt/granola bowl for Sam before a work shift.

For others

• Returned some shopping carts that were blocking a parking spot at the grocery store.

What about you? Any wins to share?

International trip planing with parents

I've mentioned in other places, but to recap, I'm sponsoring a trip to Japan for my dad (my nephew is taking him) & I'm taking my mom & sister on my mom's one & only international trip. The goal is to do traveling with our parents (also still planning to get together with M's mom, when that's possible) while that's still an option. It means front loading some of our travel spend in 2027/2028 vs more spread out over the next 10 years. Travel planning for my dad's trip is a bit on hold as we wait for flights to open up, but we will likely book flights over the next month or so. 

Planning/location:

After quite a bit of discussion & researching options, and hitting the balance of seeing some of the things my mom wants to experience, but doing it in a way that works for her & our group, we landed on a very small cruise in May, that allows us to go to some of the (less) touristy destinations.

We will be flying into Athens, spending a day there before we get on the cruise, mostly to ensure there are no travel delays. Then we will visit three Greek islands, including Paros - which was a huge favorite when I was there this summer, & two islands new to me. We will then go to Croatia & I'm very excited to go to Krka National Park, which looks amazing. 

The cruise finishes in Venice, and we will spend 1.5 days there before flying home, and will do a few Venice tourist activities. 

Cost/optimization:

• I booked the cruise through Chase travel, which means I'll get 8x points for the purchase, and also a $250 excursion booking credit per person. I'll share more details on the cruise as we get further along.
• Because the cruise was quite a significant expense (traveling with three is hard, and requires a second room), I really wanted to keep the flights in check. I also had some complicated travel booking (multi city with Athens & Venice) & then on the way home, my mom & sister will be routing through Portland & I'll be returning to San Francisco. The logistics nearly did me in! But, I found some options to use miles for one of the routes, and then found some less expensive economy flights for the return. There were seat booking fees on Lufthansa that added to the overall cost, but I managed to get all of the flights needed (minus the flight from my sister & mom one way from Portland to SFO the night before) for just under $2400, which felt like quite a feat.
• For the hotel in Athens, I booked a Hyatt hotel on points for two nights, for two rooms, and used a Suite Upgrade Award, which will hopefully secure a nicer room. Total cost on that was $0.
• I'm hoping to use Chase Travel points for the hotel in Venice, as Hyatt has limited options there.

In terms of what else I still need to pay for, and how I'm thinking of the budget, I have planned:

• Transit from Athens hotel to the port
• Transit from Venice port to hotel
• Food & activities in Athens & Venice
• Excursions on the cruise. Drinks & tips are included in the cruise, and there is no additional food up charging. 
• Travel insurance
• A one way flight for my sister & mom from Portland to San Francisco, hoping to use miles for this.

I'm new to cruising, so interested to see what this is like! If you have any tips or suggestions, please share! 

Fitness Monday

 Aside from a nagging back pain (I think I was sore from an exercise in my workout class), it was a pretty good week. Not enough steps, and slightly over my calorie goals, but slow & steady! 

Weight: 146.1, down .2 lbs from last week, and at my previous low

Calories: 1,403/day, with a couple of meals out

Steps: 10,979, even with my long hike. Those in office days with the commute really drag down my average

Workouts:

• A 7.5ish mile hike with a friend
• 3 hard workout classes (1/2 cardio, 1/2 strength training)
• One elliptical workout (30 minutes)
• 2 days without a workout (in office days with long commutes). I won't miss those!

Goals for the week:

• Drop calories back to 1,300/day
• Increase steps
• Daily workout

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

Menu plan Sunday

 It's been a real "fly by the seat of our pants" week, as we got home from our trip on Sunday with no groceries & no plan. As such, this is a bit of an extended edition, so you can see how things look when we have no plan. ;-) 

• Sunday - DoorDash'd Greek food. Which is a pretty rare occurrence for us, luckily.
• Monday - I had leftover Greek food. M had grilled chicken.
• Tuesday - I went out to dinner with coworkers.
• Wednesday - shrimp (M) + leftover pizza (me + Sam)
• Thursday - one pan chicken fajita rice
• Friday -  chicken sausage white bean skillet
• Saturday - Korean beef bowls & rice
• Sunday - grilled chicken & Persian rice
• Monday - leftover chicken fajita rice
• Tuesday - leftover chicken white bean skillet
• Wednesday - leftover grilled chicken
• Thursday - Sheet pan fajitas
• Friday - leftover fajitas

It will be so nice to have days where I can actually cook again during the work week! What about you? What's on your menu for the week? 

October goals

 I'm a big fan of October, with the typically cooler weather & sunshine. I also have two trips this month (Boulder, to see Nick for family weekend + a trip to Palm Springs with my parents & sister). And, I'm officially part time! Woohoo for that!

Here are my goals for the month:

Financial:

• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items
• Continue to track net new savings for 2026
• Make $100 in side hustle
• Find one expense to optimize
• Push hard to fund 2027 expenses (without pulling from savings)

Family:

• Cotnineu to help the boys navigate college & life
• Have a great trip to Boulder with M & both boys
• Have a great trip to Palm Springs with my parents & sister, keep budget in check
• Have a family dinner with Sam's girlfriend
• Continue planning for our next big trip (M's 60th)
• Plan for big international trip with my mom & sister
• Look into flights for my dad's trip to Japan

Fitness:

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

Personal:

• Finish list for part-time schedule
• Rough out schedule for post December, when I'm not working
• Declutter 50 items
• Get together with friends
• Try something new/say yes to adventures
• Get to know our neighbors
• Try a new recipe

What about you? What are your goals for October? 

Frugal Friday

This is a recap of a few weeks.  

Saving on things we buy

• Sam ended up having to work early on Saturday (which is good for his income), but it meant we were without a ride to the airport. Typically, parking at the airport is the cheapest option, as long as you book in advance. We were going to be gone for long enough that wasn't the case. So, I remembered I had Lyft credits from my credit card, which offset the cost by $25. I tipped on the full amount, of course.
• Our annual pass for the national parks was an even better deal than I thought. I knew I would be going at least four times in a year, so the math worked out. I didn't know I could get someone else in for free with me, so M's admission was also free. The pass has already paid for itself!

Earning money

• Received a $37 privacy settlement of some sort, when was sent to me through Venmo.
• Helped the boys sell more of their Magic cards, earning another $100.

Avoiding spending

• I apparently didn't pack enough snacks for our Bryce Canyon day, which included a lot of driving. I think both of us were particularly hungry after a few days of hard hiking. We considered stopping on the way home, but ate the last of the snacks in the bag & waited until we got back to the condo, where we reheated leftovers. 
• Charged my car for free at work, although the following day I didn't pay close enough to the time I arrived & while I did get four hours of free charging, I then paid $14 for the remainder of the charge, which is not a good deal. 

Eating what we have

• For the Utah portion of the trip, we packed lunches, brought snacks from home & kept the restaurant meals to a minimum. We also bought wine at Costco, which was nice to have when we returned to the condo each day after hiking. 
• Using the oat milk my friend left in the fridge (they left  a few things & asked us to use & then toss anything left behind, as they were here just before us), as well as a few other items on hand. 
• We ate all of the pretzel bun sandwiches, the celery/grain salad, the fajita kit, and most of a rotisserie chicken + the sesame chicken. We brought the protein bars home with us, left the coffee & two bottles of wine behind for future guests, and M took the eggs (hard boiled) along for the Las Vegas portion of the trip. We did pretty well minimizing food waste, all things considered.
• I had a work dinner on Tuesday, but brought leftovers home, which was my dinner on Wednesday, and lunch for Sam. 

For others

• I'm planning a big international trip with my mom, and helping to fund a trip to Japan for my dad. I enjoy treating other people to experiences!

What about you? Any wins to share? 

September Goals Recap

 September feels like it went by particularly fast, but here we are! 

Financial:

• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items - used up the last of a bag of potstickers & chicken
• Continue to track net new savings for 2026 - yes, this continues, although it was a rough month with lots of plumbing expenses
• Finalize budget adjustments for part time - done
• Make $100 in side hustle - $131.87
• Find one expense to optimize - nope, although the electric car charging is now on my list for research
• Adjust post work budget & plan, depending on exit date - yes, this is all complete
• Determine whether it makes sense to switch spending to a different credit card through EOY - yes, done
• Determine feasibility of saving 2027 expenses - plan is in motion, but unlikely to save all of it, due to part time status

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life - this is going well
• Plan something fun for Labor Day - we went to Point Reyes for a gorgeous hike & an early dinner
• Monthly date with M - we had the Labor Day hike + the anniversary trip
• Finalize details for Utah & have a fabulous trip - done!
• Have a family dinner with Sam's girlfriend, before she heads back to school - no, although they came over & we caught up. Would still like to arrange a dinner
• Continue planning for our next big trip (M's 60th) - I handed off a requested itinerary to the folks who book lodging & help plan the itinerary for the Dolomites. We aren't expecting to hear back until November

Fitness:

• Lose 3 lbs - I lost 1.6 lbs this month, keeping on the very slow & steady trend
• 10 strength workouts - 8/10, as the end of the month was mostly hiking focused
• Track nutrition - yes, although estimated a few days for our trip. Average - 1,364/day calories. 
• Average 13,000 steps/day - 12,546. I had a bunch of in office days, but also some high steps days, thanks to hiking. 
• Sort out any medical appointments before EOY - no progress made here.

Personal:

• Make list for part-time schedule - I have a mini list for this week, but would like to build this out a bit more
• Declutter 50 items - 140 items out of the house
• Get together with friends - yes, a couple of hikes + a workout class/coffee
• Try something new/say yes to adventures - lots of adventures in Utah, including hiking through a river
• Get to know our neighbors - yes, helped neighbors with a package, and another neighbor with a plumbing issue, M helped our across the street neighbor out with some repairs as well
• Try a new recipe - tried a new sheet pan bake recipe

That's it from my side. How did you do with your September goals? 

Anniversary trip to Utah & Las Vegas Budget Roundup

We flew into Las Vegas on a Saturday, and flew home the following Sunday. We spent Saturday-Thursday in St. George, Utah & the drove back to Las Vegas on Thursday, where we stayed until we flew home on Sunday. 

Flights: $989.52

• These flights were extremely expensive, for no particular reason other than the fuel surge. I had a few small flight credits that I applied to the reservation, saving me about $90. Not that much. I also was able to leverage my A list status (earned through primary travel credit card) to allow for the basic ticket price, while still getting perks of the next ticket class up. After minor credits, total spent for flights = $989.52

Transportation: $392.52

• Sam had to work really early on the day we left, so we didn't have an option to head to the airport early for a ride & avoid paying for a ride share. However, I did use credit card Lyft credits to get the cost down to $14.50, which included a tip on the full value. 
• We booked a car for the Utah portion of the trip, and spent $235.19 on the car rental. 
• I paid $65 for parking (split across 2 days) at Zion. 
• Gas: $18.03 + 20.59
• I paid $12.16 for a taxi in Las Vegas
• On the way home from the airport, we spent $27.05, including the tip. 

Lodging: $100

• In Utah, we stayed at my friend's condo. I loaned her cash in Las Vegas, and she offered up a future condo trip as a fun exchange. We picked up a couple of gift cards to local restaurants as an additional thank you.- $100
• In Las Vegas, we stayed at a hotel using comps.

Food: $1085.69

• We had a splurge lunch in Las Vegas before we left, after picking up the rental car, and spent $258, which included a bottle of wine & a lot of fun people watching. 
• We bought some supplies for the condo at Costco, including: apples, coffee (will leave what's leftover), wine, protein bars, eggs, three prepped meals for dinners & a prepped tray of pretzel sandwiches for packed lunches. We spent $245.27, and it's not lost on me that's cheaper than our entire lunch above!
• We ate lunch in St. George at Viva Chicken (I was still remembering my salad from the girls trip back in March, & it did not disappoint! I also wanted to pick up a gift card for my friend, as a thank you) - food cost only - $36.61
• We made a stop at the local grocery store for additional bottles of water (not recommended to drink the water at the condo, but I'm not sure if that's a taste preference or not.) Given we were going to be hiking during the trip, did not want to chance any stomach issues. We bought gallons of water (they also use it for the coffee maker, etc), sparkling water, handi wipes for hiking, & deodorant for M (forgot his). Deodorant isn't food, but including here anyway. - $22.86
• We stopped for more water, salt, an onion, two bananas & Sour Patch Kids (my hiking treat of choice!) & paid $20.64.
• We went to lunch after our last day in Zion, & spent $102.31 (includes an after hike beer). 
• We spent $400 on food tips in Las Vegas (the rest was comp'd, but tips are not).

Activities: $222.23

• I bought a national park pass for $80. I'm going to get at least 4 days, so I'll divide the cost into $20/day, for easy math. We went to 3 days of national parks, so this cost $60. The great news is that I was also able to bring M in for free each day with my park pass. 
• We also spent $20 on a day pass visit to Snow Canyon State Park in St. George
• I spent $70.23 on the gear for The Narrows (canyoneering boots, large poles, and a dry bag). 
• The two lottery permits for Angels Landing were $12.
• Massage tip - $60 (the rest was comp'd). 

Other: $500

• I lost $500 gambling in Las Vegas (my trip limit), over the course of 4 days. I have about $100 of comps for our next trip. M was in a black jack tournament, so our room, the majority of our food, the hotel stay & a massage for me was all comp'd. Tips are not included, which is why you see them called out above. Reminder if you are new and/or I haven't explained this before, but many years ago, M won a craps tournament & put the winnings in a "Las Vegas" fund. We don't consider the money "real", although of course it is actual money. We use that initial fund to generate comps, which we use for trips to Las Vegas, & he's since won additional tournaments, and the money again stays in the fund, because you also lose, of course & we enjoy the value of the comps. If I do any gambling, I do so with my own fun money. M made it to the finals of the tournament, but didn't win. Please note, in no way do I recommend this as a "money saving" hobby, a way to save on holidays or heaven forbid "make money". This is something M has done to make the cost of a hobby he really enjoys (tournaments - black jack, craps & baccarat) as close to free as possible. 

Total spent = $3289.96 for an absolutely fabulous trip!

It's Monday, we are back

Ooof, we got back yesterday evening & I'm all feeling all of the Monday vibes this week! It was a struggle this morning, particularly because I had to be up even earlier than normal to get to the office by 7:30. What a way to kick off the day!

It's also my official start to part time (I'll be working just Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays until the end of the year, when I'll then be done). No one knows about this yet, but I will be telling my team this week, so things are going to get interesting very quickly! It will be so nice to have everyone aware, and be able to start transitioning work, etc. 

I'm working on a trip recap for our vacation, so stay tuned for that. 

A few frugal wins for today:

• There were plenty of electric charging spots available at the crack of dawn this morning, which means I will get 4 hours of free car charging
• Breakfast is free (if you don't order hot food), so I had a Chobani yogurt + a sprinkle of granola & grabbed a banana for later
• Someone left out a box of Puff protein bars with a "free" sign in the break room. I've wanted to try those, so I now have one to try before I buy my own. 
• We are in that glorious time of the year where we need no heat or A/C. We had a very moderate summer, and only used the A/C maybe 8 days. I'm hoping we can last until the end of October for the heat, but who knows!
• We installed a new water monitor when we had all of our plumbing issues a few weeks ago. Our water is very expensive & our bills are high. We are hoping this helps us really hone in on our usage & conserve & save money. More to come here!

Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Hiking The Narrows at Zion

 Hiking The Narrows is a bucket list hike in Zion, but the details need to line up well. The water flow needs to be reasonable, you absolutely need to be aware of the risk of flash flooding & plan accordingly, and the time of the year matters as well. Our timing was nearly perfect, and the water was warm enough that we didn't need the full waders, & could get away with just canyoneering boots, neoprene socks & the poles (not hiking poles - these are much thicker & better for this particular hike - would not recommend them for a standard hike!).

You hike through the Virgin River, into a slot canyon & the views are absolutely breath taking! It's impossible to do it justice in photos, but the way the light comes up through the canyon walls in the morning... So beautiful!

We move on to the Las Vegas portion of the trip tomorrow, and I'm guessing that will be quite different! ;-) So much love for Utah & the national parks. 

Oh my, Bryce Canyon

 Our entire trip has been fantastic, including surprise lottery permit to Angels Landing (I only did the first section, because I get freaked out when it goes from chain to the non-chained section), amazing place to stay, relaxing hikes, great weather, low crowds... but, Bryce Canyon was perhaps my favorite national park I've ever been to, and that was with really low expectations. Absolutely stunning views around every corner. 10/10, no notes! ;-) 

We are hoping to do The Narrows tomorrow, if the weather & flash flood conditions look good. Super jazzed for that. Definitely want to bring the boys back for Zion & Bryce. So much fun! We are hoping to get there early tomorrow, finish at Wall Street, have lunch at the brewery, and head back to the condo to get everything washed & cleaned for leaving early on Thursday, where we will carry on to the Las Vegas portion of the trip. I'm getting a massage! After the hiking, I"m pretty excited. 

Fitness Monday

It was sort of a mixed week, with the need for at home workouts (elliptical) between pretty chaotic work happenings. I managed to hold things together reasonably well, and still get in some sort of activity most days. My steps helped tremendously by my 20k steps yesterday ;-) 

Weight: 146.3 (up .2 lbs from last week)

Calories: 1,322/day

Steps: 13,360

Workouts:

• One hard workout class (cardio & strength)
• One double strength class (upper & lower body + core)
• 3 elliptical workouts (2 - 45 minutes, 1 - 75 minutes)
• One day without a workout (travel day on Saturday)
• Hiking about 7 miles in Utah

Goals for the week: enjoy the hiking, have fun while keeping the calories in check enough to not go totally off of the rails. 

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

Menu Plan Sunday

 This is a very different type of menu plan, as we are at my friend's condo in Utah for a hiking trip, and then heading to Las Vegas for the end of the trip. We opted to buy some prepped Costco meals to keep costs down for the first half of the trip, as we have access to an oven, but my friend doesn't keep spices, etc in the house. Cheaper than takeout or eating out, but not as cheap as made at home. 

• Friday - wings & spring rolls - a use it up meal before we left!
• Saturday - we had a big lunch before leaving Las Vegas after our flight, so we kept things light M having some fruit, and I had a pretzel sandwich (Costco)
• Sunday - we have a beef/chicken fajita kit that we will make tonight
• Monday - I bought the grain/rotisserie chicken salad
• Tuesday - We will try the sesame chicken with veggies & noodles
• Wednesday - wrap up any leftovers
• Thursday - dinner at a steak house
• Friday - dinner at a seafood restaurant

We spent about $240 at Costco, including wine, coffee for the house (will leave remainder there), apples, three prepped meals, protein bars, eggs & a prepped tray of pretzel sandwiches (for packed lunches). I think we will eat one lunch out until we get to Las Vegas, but the rest of the meals will largely be at the condo. 

I will report in on whether any of the prepped Costco meals are worth picking up in a similar situation! What about you? What's on your menu for the week?

Weekly Spending

 Another expensive week, although the big purchase (aside from the ongoing plumbing projects) is a Christmas gift, and our Christmas budget is planned for in our annual budget. 

September 11th-September 17th

• Friday - bought Nick his ski season pass for his Christmas gift, using the college discount, on the last day of the sale before the prices go up - $899.00
• Saturday - groceries at Costco - $139.70
• Sunday - additional groceries (including some hiking snacks for our upcoming trip) at Trader Joes - $41.02
• Monday - two sump pump monitors, to ensure we know if they go out again, and don't cause damage - $233.71
• Tuesday - no spend day. 
• Wednesday - bought M's anniversary gift, which was car wash supplies/tools - $260. 
• Thursday - no spend day.

Made $12.18 on an eBay sale

Total net spend for the week = $1559.45. Yikes! Another expensive week, but two gifts in there, as well as the ongoing fun of house projects & expenses related to that. 

I don't think I'll keep up the weekly spend tracking forever, but it's certainly eye opening when I do it! 

Frugal Friday

 It's been another week - and, we survived it! Nothing super exciting on the frugal front. 

Saving on things we buy

• Picked up snacks at Trader Joes for our upcoming hiking trip. Light weight, reasonably nutritious & calorie dense are good options when spending all day hiking, as opposed to normal snacks. I uploaded receipts to Fetch & iBotta, and got a $.30 cash back offer from iBotta. The snacks brought from home will be substantially cheaper than anything we could buy in the parks, and it's unlikely we will be near any food locations for the majority of the days. 
• I bought Nick a season's ski pass for the mountain near his college. I took advantage of the Labor Day sale (last day before it went up in price) & he was also able to get a promo code through the college ski club. This is his big Christmas gift, as ski passes are not cheap. 

Earning money

• Today is my last day of full time work! I move to part-time (Monday-Wednesday) when I'm back from vacation!
• I sold a shirt on eBay for $12.You might recall that I purchased some items at Uniqlo in Japan for the boys. There were a handful of items that weren't a perfect fit, so I'm selling what didn't work out. 

Avoiding spending

• Sam is planning to take us to the airport before he has to go to work on Saturday, which will save us the cost of an Uber. 
• Worked hard to fit my very different items (hiking boots, day pack, hiking clothes, plus much nicer clothes for Las Vegas) into one suitcase, to avoid the need to check a bag. 
• I needed to pick up a prescription, and CVS had to send it to multiple pharmacies to get what I needed. In the end, they delivered it for free, which saved me time, gas money & the potential for spending money on other things while I was there. 

Eating what we have

• M froze & then re-used his chicken marinate from the weekend before. It takes quite a bit of time to put it together, so he's started making it one weekend, then freezing it for a second batch. We are also stockpiling chicken for Nick, who has asked M to bring another big bag of frozen grilled chicken (Dad's special marinate) when we go to Boulder for family weekend.
• I've been continuing to eat the occasional potato (microwaved, & then in a pan with eggs) for my brunch, as we have a large bag of potatoes in the pantry. 
• We took the leftovers of the sheet pan with cabbage & sausage, and I added a few extra sausages to round it out & add more protein, which served as an extra diner.
• We also had extra tomatoes & fresh mozzarella, so I made a caprese salad (bonus for basil from the garden) 2x, to round out some leftovers.
• I had a scrappy lunch of an apple, a ciabatta bun that Sam abandoned & the last slice of cheese & made an apple & cheese panini, which is a great combination. 

For others

• Hosted a volunteer event for work. 
• Mentioned last week that I was chasing the process to get a corporate match for the donation we made to Guardian Scholars (a program that helps students existing the foster system & starting college). That got approved, which doubles the amount of my donation & impact to the non-profit. Woohoo! A small amount of work for me that will hopefully have a meaningful impact on the program.

What about you? Any wins to share? 

Saving up for family travel

M & I are working on saving up for some big family trips. 

Turkey with M's mom:

If things ever settle down in Iran (the airports are currently all closed), we would like to meet his mom in Turkey & bring both boys. It's unlikely Sam will be able to go, as he is on the wait list for a year long internship, but we would likely go in May, so Nick could attend. While we aren't able to pay for flights due to sanctions, we would cover all other travel expenses for M's mom + whomever else comes along. This trip is currently just a bookmark for May, as there's no way to know what will be feasible until it gets closer.

My dad's trip to Japan with my nephew:

My nephew would like to take my dad to Japan before the trip becomes untenable due to my dad's health. I've offered to sponsor most of the trip. I don't think my dad's back can hold up in an economy seat for an international flight, so I'm tentatively earmarking flights to be a very big expense. 

An international trip with my mom & sister:

My parents don't have a ton of disposable income, and I know they would both love to do an international trip before they are no longer able to. My dad's big dream is Japan (above), but that's not on my mom's wish list. My sister & I are working on short list of options to share with her, as she's asked us to select something. A lot of things are being discussed, but she's not a big city person, wants something reasonably active, safe & easy logistics from San Francisco. So, more to come on this one.

Travel is already a significant portion of our budget for myself, M & the boys. I'll likely plan to pull forward some of our spending in 2027, and expect that it will level off quite a bit after that. I'm happy to have the flexibility to make these trips happen for our parents. As a result, we are going to work hard to keep other expenses in check & save up extra funds! 

Travel planning, budgeting & optimizing perks, rewards, miles, etc is one of my favorite things to do, so stay tuned for more details on how I try to optimize these trips. Without work travel, I will not have many miles or points to leverage, but I will have the glorious advantage of having a flexible schedule. 

Are you daydreaming of any trips? 

Fitness Monday

Last week was a much more challenging week, as I had to be in the office two days, had a work dinner event, and a bunch of meetings in the evening with our team in Tokyo. As a result, my workout flexibility was quite limited. I also had a bigger weight drop last week, so not surprised to be flat for the week.  

Weight: 146.1 - same as last week

Calories: 1,386/day on average

Steps: 9,873/day. This is quite low for me, and I had a few days with back to back meetings that meant my steps were below 5,000 steps. 

Workouts:

• 7.5 mile hike with a friend on Labor Day
• 2 hard workout classes
• 1 -20 minute elliptical workout between meetings at the office gym
• 3 days without workouts :-( 

Goals for the week: I have more schedule flexibility this week, and would like to go to 3 strength training classes. I also need more steps!We will be traveling on Saturday, but have hikes planned for Sunday as we kick off our week of PTO. 

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

Menu Plan Sunday

 I'm hoping this week is a bit more stable than last week, but who really knows?! 

• Friday - frozen pizza + salad. Dinner of champions, really ;-) 
• Saturday - sausage sheet pan dinner that didn't get made earlier
• Sunday - cheater chicken fajitas (made with rotisserie chicken)
• Monday - leftover sheet pan dinner
• Tuesday - grilled burgers
• Wednesday - shrimp + rice
• Thursday - grilled salmon
• Friday - any leftovers

And, after that we are off on an anniversary trip to Utah & Las Vegas! Looking forward to minimal cooking. ;-) 

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

Weekly Spending

 As opposed to last week, this one was expensive, as it involved house repairs. 

September 4th-September 10th

• Friday - the plumber came, and we paid $1700 for a bunch of repair work we needed to have done.
• Saturday - Trader Joes + Costco, $225.78
• Sunday - Lunch/dinner combo out at after our hike (we had oysters, a burger, a shared salad, wine + a blood Mary) - $186.17
• Monday - I bought a national park pass, in advance of our trip to Utah, and a trip to Joshua Tree with my parents - $80. Also had to order a house wide water softener, which is basically required in our neighborhood - $2429.81. Not having this is causing other plumbing issues, so in the long run, this is the better option. Note that this doesn't include installation, which we haven't paid for yet. The plumbing above is related to our failed sump pump. We also have a leak in our bathroom, so the plumbing fun continues for sure. 
• Tuesday - no spending 
• Wednesday - Bought lunch at the office, in the middle of a crazy day. It's been a work week, so I spent $7.67 on a large salad.
• Thursday - I again bought lunch, but brought home leftovers for dinner for Sam, before he left for work. I spent $10.41 on a sandwich. 

Total eBay sales for the week = $50.29 (summarizing, vs trying to keep track of which days they were on).

Total net spend (spend above minus side hustle) = $4589.55

As you can see, it was an incredibly expensive week! Let's hope next week is very inexpensive, but I've heard the plumber will be back soon to install our water softener system. 

Frugal Friday

Note to add that I wrote most of this earlier in the week & scheduled it, not thinking of the timing of this post falling on the anniversary of 9/11.  

It was exactly the week I expected... in other words, definitely not great thanks to some work stuff going on. But, only two more work weeks until I go part-time! (I have a week of PTO also in there). 

Saving on things we buy

• We had to buy a pricey water softener/purifier (the whole house kind - not just for drinking, as we've been having plumbing problems) & they had a Labor Day sale that we weren't expecting. It was still expensive, but we saved $200, which I suppose is better than a kick to the face. 

Earning  money

• Sold two jackets & a textbook on eBay. I took advantage of a 50% off promo coupon that was offered recently, and it made a difference in sales, so that was nice. 

Avoiding spending

• Not exactly sure which category this falls into, but we recently purchased a Southwest voucher at a discount from one of M's coworkers who needed to sell it. It has an expiration date, so I cancelled Nick's flight for Christmas that I'd booked with United miles & rebooked on Southwest. The miles don't expires, so this gives us more flexibility in the future. 
• My frugal fail is that I bought lunch at work on Wednesday (not avoiding spending), thanks to a very wild work week. However, I did get free snacks & fruit at the office, along with four free hours of car charging + a free team dinner. So, I suppose I still made out okay. 
• Almost identical to the above was Thursday - I bought lunch, but got 4 hours of free car charging + snacks & fruit at the office. 

Eating what we have

• I used up the arugula I purchased for the sheet pan BLTA recipe in salads during the week.
• Sam ate my leftover lunch & dinner from work events.
• We had leftover chicken & rice 3x, because....I was too busy & stressed out to cook.
• For the lunches when I was home, I made my current go to of a potato (heated in the microwave, & then diced), added to a pan & topped with two eggs & cheese. Super easy, fast & pretty healthy. Also, super filling.

For others

• Jumped through more hoops to secure a corporate match for our donor advised fund gift to the program I mentioned last week that helps students coming out of the foster system transition to college. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

Weekly spending

I found it interesting to track my overall spend (not utilities or standard bills) and will try to keep up as I can, for myself if nothing else.  

August 28th-September 3rd

• Friday: M & I went to the outdoor mall to drop off my suitcase for repair. They waived the $25 fee to mail it in because the wait was quite long. We had a glass of wine & a couple of appetizers on our date, and received the happy hour pricing. We spent $40 (including tip) for that. I sold an MP3 player I found in the garage on eBay for $13. Total net spent = $27. 
• Saturday - Picked up two Olay lotions for my face (with sunblock) & paid $13.60 after a bunch of rewards, discounts, etc. Total net spent = $13.60
• Sunday - Picked up groceries - $42.47. Sold two shirts on eBay, for $40.03. Total net spent = $2.44
• Monday - picked up my prescription at CVS - $20. 
• Tuesday - heard back from the repair shop on my suitcase - it is $198.83 to repair, which I approved. The suitcase is 12 years old, so was out of warranty, and has lasted through countless international trips & I love it. A new one is significantly more, so I decided to keep this one in use. - $198.83 in net spend. 
• Wednesday - Swapped Nick's flight home for Christmas to Southwest, to use up some of the credit we bought. You aren't able to pay taxes with a voucher, so $50.68 total net spent. 
• Thursday - no out of pocket spending

Total flexible spend for the week = $312.55. It was a reasonable week - wait until we pay for a plumbing issue in the next spend summary! ;-) 

Fitness Monday + Point Reyes

 First up, we had a fabulous day hiking yesterday, and went to Point Reyes National Seashore where we did the Tomales Point Trail. We got in about 10 miles, and it was absolutely stunning. Right on the water, and the hike winds through an elk preserve. We saw a lot of elk & I can't believe we've never been there before. We wrapped up our day with a late lunch (lots of local oysters for M & a burger for me + a glass of wine). Such a wonderful way to spend a day!

Now onto my regular Fitness Monday updates...

Weight: 146.1, down 1.6 lbs since last week

Calories: 1,250/day

Steps: 12,119/day (helped a lot by yesterday's 24k day!)

Workouts:

• 3 hard workout classes (combo of cardio + strength)
• 1 full body strength workout
• 1 - 45 minute elliptical workout
• 1 - 10 mile hike

Goals for the week:

The previous week had a lot of wins, and I had more schedule flex than usual. This week is going to be a lot crazier, so my goals are to stay the course, try to find ways to sneak in workouts as I can, and continue to focus on eating enough protein & fiber. I'm starting off the week with a hike with my friend this morning, which should be fun.

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