Saturday happenings & a menu plan

I went to bed at 7:00 last night, because I've finally caught the plague that everyone else in the house has had. Yippee. ;-)

We signed the papers for the house yesterday. All that's left now is to get the money wired. My money (i.e. from my brokerage accounts) was finalized today (just showed today as "cleared" in my account). So happy. It's ready to go! M's money is still one day behind mine (different brokers), so we'll need to wire his separately.

I'm not feeling great, so I'll set a realistic set of goals for today:

1. Call all utilities, and add our name to the account for billing purposes. We can't have the fumigation done with power/water.
2. Build a move timeline with the fumigation, the flooring, packing & moving out.
3. Take Nick to two futsal games
4. Do some sort of light exercise, if I feel up to it. Unfortunately, weekends are always my dedicated workout day, so it's no good if I'm sick.
5. Finalize meal plan (below)
6. Make a Costco list based on menu
7. Costco (likely M will go)
8. Go to the produce stand
9. Talk with M in more detail about our car plans. We own an Audi that is impacted by the lawsuit, and are trying to determine next steps. We may turn in our other car for a Nissan Leaf. The pricing on the Leaf is unbelievably good, &  we have free charging stations at work. We know a few coworkers who have one, and they only charge at work, so no increased power bill. More details to come on this one. I'd love to invest in an electric car, especially if the price is right. Right now, it's looking like we could trade in our other car & not pay anything on a Leaf for at least 2-3 years. The lease is around $100/month. The gas savings alone from those first few years would pay for the remainder of the lease. Anyway, if we proceed, I'll share the full financial model on this. 
10. Finalize cash flow model & budget, post move
11. Make rolls or bread for tomorrow's "big game". (Anyone but the Patriots, so Go Falcons!!)
12. Make pizza/dough
13. Email our accountant for a new time/date appointment. 
14. Go through my closet/boys closets & continue to get rid of things we don't need, in advance of the packing. 

I have a few late meetings during the upcoming week, and want to work down our freezer stash before we move. Our new house is only a mile or so away, but it's still easier to move less.

Here's what's on the menu for the week. I've been having to adjust our menu plan each week, as we've typically gotten away with cooking just on weekends. However, Sam is a rapidly growing 11 year old, and I find that we're left with one missing meal by the end of the week. I'll start filling in with the one off single serving freezer dinners as needed.

• Saturday - homemade pizza/calzones
• Sunday - it's the Super Bowl, so there will be some snacky foods & soup/homemade rolls for anyone looking for more. For snacks, I'm thinking homemade hummus, artichoke dip/pretzel chips, & maybe goat cheese crostini
• Monday - tortilla soup from the freezer + guacamole for on top/with chips
• Tuesday - Leftover pizza
• Wednesday - chicken pastina (freezer)
• Thursday - spaghetti & meatballs (sauce & meatballs from the freezer)
• Friday - it's my birthday, so something easy! Plus champagne & cupcakes, which are my only birthday gift request this year. :-)

What about you? What's on your to do list this week? Any good menu suggestions? 

Frugal Friday

Here's a recap of our frugal things for the week

• Walked to the grocery store & produce stand over the weekend. Good for my sanity & for saving gas.
• Continued to sell things on my local Facebook site. I made $20 by selling two jackets.
• Sold two yoga blocks for $4
• Made two batches of dinner rolls, to reduce our consumption of Costco ciabatta rolls. We apparently really like bread at our house. (I blame the kids, primarily). :-)
• Submitted all of my expenses through work
• No eating out
• Used newspaper to clean our mirrors instead of paper towels
• Used Plenti points (Rite Aid) to buy cold medicine for the kids
• Waited for a sale on flights to buy my ticket for my girls trip at the beach in Portland. Also, planned the girls trip around the vacation house, vs meeting somewhere else. We'll likely get in lots of exercise, drink wine, and play games. We are party animals. ;)
• Picked up free boxes from a neighbor for our move
• A sick nanny means one less day of after school care. I juggled with a friend so I could still get work done. Savings of $30.
• We have *just* enough for our down payment. And by that, I truly mean, *just enough*. We had another account we could have liquidated in an absolute emergency, but we were really hoping not to tap it. We weren't able to have a better prediction of our actual funds until this week, as we weren't able to trade stock for most of the month due to employer trading restrictions. At the last minute, I also realized that a $10,000 CD wouldn't be available for closing in time (two days too late!) It's left a lot of stress for the last minute, suffice it to say. To put it into context, our down payment is over $650,000, and we have an extra $90 left after we send the wire. Of course, we get paid the next day, have monthly upcoming stock, & have a plan for all of the rest of the bills. :-) 
• Bought two summer camps at the school auction for a small discount. The camps are donated, so all of the money goes to the boys school programs. Given the state of funding in California, the money raised by the school auction goes to hiring an additional two teachers to keep class sizes down. Happy to donate & help the school

What about you? Any big frugal wins for the week? 

February Goals

February is a big month, because we are buying a house! I can't believe it. Lots of fun changes ahead. 

1) Financial - Figure out our housing situation, and get it all resolved (i.e. moved, job changes as needed) before school starts. 

• Set a move date.
• Get our San Francisco house rented (we are limited on what we can do, other than keeping the house clean & ready, and making it available for showings.)
• Build a brand new budget for our lives, with our new costs & expenses
• Find one alternative cost cutting option (last month it was cleaning the windows with free newspaper vs paper towels). 
• Determine if we're doing any work in the house, and sources of funding
• Build new cash flow model
• Sell another $100 of items on the Facebook swap site. 
• Continue to declutter so we can pack less!
• Pack

2) Family - Spend more time together as a family!

• Do a minimum of one fun activity/month with the kids. This can be family puzzle night, cooking dinner together, board games, going out somewhere, etc. 
• Be more present with the kids & M - play games, minimize computer time, exercise together, etc.
• Have two dates with M per month (one lunch, one evening) 
• Figure out adjusted travel plans for 2017

3) Fitness/health - Lose 20 pounds, bringing my weight to 133. This may sound familiar, as it's also a carryover goal from last year!

• Run 12 miles in February
• Eat five servings of fruit & vegetables (combined) per day
• Complete 800 minutes of cardio
• Complete 6 strength workouts.
• Complete 6 stretching workouts. 

4) Work/career - Improve my work life balance.

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress 
• Work from home 2x this month.

5) Personal/creative - Spend more time on myself/creative pursuits.

• Bake bread, and try a new recipe.
• Do something social at least once per month.
• Volunteer a minimum of 1x/month.

That's it for February. It will really be all about moving & preparing to move. What about you? What's on your agenda for February? Any big goals to accomplish? 

January budget recap - how did we do?

Overall, I would say that January was a very intentionally frugal month for us. We had two large, unplanned expenses that went with the house buying. 1) paying for a year's worth of homeowner's insurance. 2) paying for the appraisal. That's, of course, in addition to pulling together the down payment for the house.

However, within the budgets that we can control, I saw great results.

Categories where we were under or right at budget:

• Childcare - under by $545 (our nanny wasn't available for much of the month)
• Cleaning - we cancelled the service, and saved $25
• Dining out - we didn't eat out as a family in January, but there were a few random individual item purchases. Under by $104
• Entertainment - under by $16

Categories where we were over budget:

• Gas - we had lots of soccer tournaments, and were over by $33
• Groceries - over by $81. I guess offset by the reduction in dining out? :-(
• Insurance, over by $1515. Our homeowner's policy for the year.
• Alcohol - over by $8. We bought champagne to celebrate our closing
• Utilities - over by $382. We paid our yearly handyman service, Next year, I should make a yearly line item for this, & pull it out of our standard monthly expenses. 

All told, including the insurance, we were only over our January budget by $343. Great news, considering the insurance was $1500. Woohoo!! February needs to continue to be an extremely frugal month, despite the two birthdays we have coming up.

What about you? How did you do with your January budget? Any big wins? Did you stay on track? I'd describe the dining out budget as our lowest on record!! We spent a total of $21 on dining out in January. Awesome!!!

January Goals Recap

It's been quite a month. I really wasn't expecting that we'd buy a house in January!

1) Financial - Figure out our housing situation, and get it all resolved (i.e. moved, job changes as needed) before school starts. 

• Build our pricing range (it's not fixed, as there are a variety of contingencies, depending upon the sale of our Seattle house).  - Well, we obviously sorted this! 
• Inventory & track various stockpiles, to reduce waste & minimize what we need to move. - Have made a ton of progress on this one! There is always more to do, but I've been consistently focused on this in January.
• Come up with one new way to reduce what we need on an ongoing basis. Examples I've kicked around: find an alternative to all of the ziplock bags/plastic wraps we use for kid lunches. Put a container in the shower to save water for the yard. Collect rain in buckets. Create a compost bucket for the kitchen, so it's easy to compost food scraps. All of these are meant to be permanent changes, so not focused on one time savings. - Yes! We have been cleaning the windows with newspaper instead of paper towels. Had no idea you could do that. I've also done a better job of minimizing ziplock bags (M still uses them for the parts of the lunch that he preps). And, I'm going to try & get groceries via walking at least 1x/month vs driving. I already managed that in January.

2) Family - Spend more time together as a family!

• Do a minimum of one fun activity/month with the kids. This can be family puzzle night, cooking dinner together, board games, going out somewhere, etc. - Yes, we've made dinner together & tried to all attend sporting events (for the kids) together, etc.
• Be more present with the kids & M - play games, minimize computer time, exercise together, etc. - The last week hasn't been great for this, as I've been caught up in the news cycle. Otherwise, I've done well. 
• Have two dates with M per month (one lunch, one evening) - We have spent more time together than in a long time, with all of the planning & plotting for the house purchase. But, no dates. We have a free date night planned in February. 
• Figure out what to do with our February trip. We were originally going to spend 10 days in Seattle/Portland, getting the boys familiar with the area & skiing. Given our change in plans/unknown status, we may stay here instead. - Cancelled our trip, enrolled the boys in camp, & buying a house instead. :-) 

 

3) Fitness/health - Lose 20 pounds, bringing my weight to 133. This may sound familiar, as it's also a carryover goal from last year!

• No alcohol in January! - I've reduced (and, I only have wine on weekends), but I broke my ban after a particularly challenging week. 
• Run 16 miles in January. - I ran 4 miles in January, so still some work to do here. ;-) 
• Eat five servings of fruit & vegetables (combined) per day - Yes (when averaged out)!
• Complete 1,000 minutes of cardio - 705 minutes, which I'm happy with, given our crazy house buying stress & paperwork.
• Complete 6 strength workouts. - Yes! 8 strength workouts were completed.
• Complete 6 stretching workouts. - But, only 3 stretching workouts. 

4) Work/career - Improve my work life balance.

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress (until I leave) - I've done okay with this.
• Work from home 2x this month. - Yes! I worked from home 4 times this month.

5) Personal/creative - Spend more time on myself/creative pursuits.

• Bake bread, and try a new recipe. - Yes! I made dinner rolls & orange bread, plus tried a complex Persian dish. All turned out well.
• Do something social at least once per month. - Yes - I met up with a friend from Seattle for dinner, and carpooled with a friend to a soccer tournament, so we got in lots of chatting time.
• Volunteer a minimum of 1x/month. - Yes, I got in at least one volunteering time (maybe 2?) at the school. 

All told, I'm really impressed with what I accomplished this month, in addition to getting all of the housing stuff sorted. We also gave our tenants notice that we weren't renewing their lease in our Seattle house, which is a huge weight off of our chest. Now we just need our landlord to find new renters for our current San Francisco house. Fingers crossed!

On to February. I'm excited about all of the big changes this month. What about you? How did you do with your January goals?

Staying focused & positive - Saturday

Yesterday was a rough day (no details, because the impact to my family, & my perspective on this topic is sure to bring out the trolls). I read lots of the news at arms length because it doesn't directly impact your day-to-day life. And then, it does. . . I found it really hard to focus on positive things, & not get caught up in a swirl of frustration, anger, & depression. So, no more of that today.

M is with Sam at a soccer tournament (ha, I know - so many trips, so many brackets, so much tournament), so Nick & I are on our own. If they lose their first game, they will be home by lunch. If they win, it will be a long day with a second game.

Nick & I are going to sweep the floors (we really know how to party), make dinner rolls - back by special request because they were such a huge hit last week, get some exercise, work on a book report, and go to the produce stand. I'll also carve out some time for reading.

I've also been working on the menu plan for the week, so here's what I'm planning:

• Saturday - kebabs (from the freezer) + au gratin potatoes, to use up the last of a bag of potatoes. And, salad, of course. 
• Sunday - Either homemade pizza/calzone, or oven baked chicken risotto
• Monday - chicken tortilla soup with the last of the homemade guacamole, and tortilla chips
• Tuesday - ham & potato soup with homemade rolls
• Wednesday - leftover risotto or calzone
• Thursday - leftover soup
• Friday - Asian cuisine night (from the freezer). We have pot stickers, buns, edamame, & orange chicken

And, gratuitous cute puppy picture to lighten the mood today.

Tell me one thing you are looking forward to this weekend!

Frugal Friday

Things are looking good for our house closing. We won't have all of the final details until Monday, when we are able to sell our company stock, but generally, things look promising.

 It's a longish list of frugality this go round! A collection of basics & a few other "keeping my eye on things & making sure charges are expected" wins.

• Using a lipstick brush to get out the last of my favorite lip stick/sunblock
• Used our yard tree lemons & oranges for salad dressing & smoothies, respectively
• Made granola bars using a bunch of leftover nuts/trail mix/& other various freebies lurking in the cupboards. 
• We got a late start on running our errands on Saturday, and the boys were starving as a result. (Poor planning for the win.) I bought them lunch at Costco ($5.40), but M & I waited patiently until we got home to eat. This is not quite true. I wasn't at all patient - I was starving, but still held out. 
• While not intentional (and, it caused quite a challenge juggling my work), my nanny is out of town, so I'll pay nothing in child care this week.
• Speaking of childcare, I registered the boys for a camp today (school is out for a teacher learning day). The camp didn't have enough enrollment, so they had to cancel. I saved around $60 & will take a comp day that I earned over the holidays. I still need to do one meeting, but will use the rest of the day getting things done (cleaning the house) & hanging out with the boys.
• I also had to register the boys for camp over the February break. Camp is really expensive ($325/kid). The web site said it was $300 if I registered before February 1, but I noticed that I was charged the full $325/each. I emailed & promptly received a credit & a thanks for pointing out the error. Savings of $50, just for paying attention.
• We still haven't eaten out as a family this month. It was so tempting last night when we had to be out of the house for a showing. I prepped everything in advance, then left the house to walk/run on the track with Nick. As soon as the prospective tenants left, we hustled back in for dinner. Tacos & homemade guacamole. Yum. :-) 
• I've arranged a carpool for soccer practices (which, will hopefully end this week). Not only does it save over an hour of drive time for both parties, it also means Nick gets more homework time. Sam is the only one still practicing right now, as his team is still in a state cup tournament.

Michael & Sam have more soccer this weekend, so I will pack them snacks, lunch & drinks, as well as a couple of gift cards that we have. If the team does a lunch, I'm sure Sam will want to go to Panera for the lunch with everyone. Luckily, I still have about half of a $50 gift card. 

That's all for me. What frugal things have you been up to this week?

Weekly spending recap (1/16-1/22/17)

We've been trying to keep the optional expenses as low as possible, as we have some big upcoming bills with the new house. Here's what we spent this week. Monday was a work holiday, so a bit of our weekend spending bled into Monday.

We did end up making two purchases for the new house. I can imagine that this is only the beginning of that spending. . .

• Monday - 1/16
• $11.57 - tomatoes, lavash bread, lettuce & mini cucumbers at the produce stand
• $2.98 - the boys rented a movie on Amazon
• $30 - the boys got hair cuts
• Tuesday - 1/17
• Wednesday - 1/18
• Thursday - 1/19
• $280 - Nanny 
• Friday - 1/20
• Saturday - 1/21
• $5.40 - the kids had lunch at Costco. M & I waited until we got home. 
• $124.67 - groceries for the week. Included a three pack of deli meat (sandwiches), a brick of cheddar cheese, 2 packages of rolls as we keep running out through the week, a 6 pack of avocado, and all of our normal produce & dairy.
• -$70.50 - since it seems unlikely we will ski this season with the move, I returned one of the ski helmets we purchased, as well as a top that I bought right before Christmas & didn't need. 
• Sunday - 1/22
• $2.49 - breadcrumbs. I thought I had some in the freezer from odds & ends of bread, but nope.
• $9.26 - produce stand: radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, mini cucumber.
• $44.97 - three fruit trees for the new house (pear, pomegranate, & plum). Can't wait to plant them! Now is the right time of the year. I know it will be quite some time before we see fruit, so I want to get them in as soon as possible.
• $216.99 - bar stools for the house (found ones that matched what we needed at Costco)

We also had an appraisal on the house ($1185), a credit report fee ($22.60) & a year's homeowners insurance policy ($1515). I won't count that in the above, as I only count non home/auto spending. I don't count fixed bills like utilities, mortgage payments, etc. However, those big outlays were why we are so focused on keeping our expenses in check!

Total spent = $657.83

What about you? Did you track your spending for the week? How did you do? 

This is what you can get for under $10

at the produce stand, in winter, in California.

• 8 giant roma tomatoes (.79/lb) - $2.50
• 2 bunches of radishes (.59/each) - $1.58
• 1 enormous head of Romaine lettuce - $1.29
• Just under 3 pounds of Persian cucumber ($1.49/lb) - $4.29

Grand total = $9.26. The place we go is jammed with people, boxes, fruit, flies, & the prices are fabulous. You can find some great deals in there, but have to keep your eye on the freshness of each item. It's a primarily local shop, but does have more exotic fruit from other places (papaya, mango, pineapple, etc from Hawaii).

Do you have a year round produce stand year you? What's currently available? At our house, the cucumber will be gone in a few days. They are Nick's favorite snack. The radishes, tomatoes & lettuce will supplement existing salad ingredients (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower & English cucumber). 

Sports Sunday

Today is crammed with sporting events for the kids. We have: two futsal practices, a futsal game, two flag football practices, & two flag football games. Chaos, but at least everyone will be tired by the time they come home. :-)

The rain continues here, although it's supposed to clear up by the end of the week. Hurrah! The kids definitely get squirrely when they miss recess & outdoor PE.

I had a big cooking session yesterday afternoon. I knew that it would be my only chance to prep food for the week. I made:

•  homemade rolls - amazing - the kids were drooling when they came out of the oven
• Granola bars - the taste was good, but they were crumbly, regardless of how long I chilled them, so I had to turn most of it into granola
• Peanut butter cookies - I have an (almost) 11 year old who is going through a major growth spurt. I can barely keep him fed. The majority of his snacks are healthy, but he has room for treats. Unlike me. ;-) I don't think I've ever made peanut butter cookies before (too tempting), but these were easy & fabulous.
• A double batch of chicken pastina - one was for dinner last night, and one went into the freezer for another meal. This is an old favorite & is delicious.

We also made huge progress on one of the kid's rooms. We probably tossed 50 things (recycled, as lots of school paperwork - he's a clutter bug) & donated another 25 items. I love feeling like we're making progress & reducing things we need to move!

Here's what else I'd like to get done today:

1. Yoga
2. A run or walk (may replace with a cardio workout DVD if the rain doesn't let up)
3. Wash all bedding
4. Laundry
5. Build schedule for the week
6. Arrange soccer carpool
7. Pick up moving boxes
8. Go to the produce stand
9. Return books to the library
10. Finish going through both kids rooms.
11. Try a new Persian recipe (cutlet) for dinner. M's mom bakes these vs fry, which is what I'll try. Fingers crossed!

What about you? Have you made any good new recipes? What's one thing you'd like to accomplish today?

One goal marked off, and a menu plan

I posted at the end of December that I wanted to tackle a few smaller goals (in addition to my larger yearly goals).

One of the goals was to sell $100 on my Facebook group (or eBay), & I've already passed that. I'm at $111, and am expecting a few more sales over the weekend. There's decluttering, and then . . there's decluttering before you pack. One is much more intense than the other, for me at least. :-)

So far, I've sold the following:

• A pair of flats on eBay
• A kids ski jacket 
• A model volcano set
• An electric circuit set
• My shampoo stockpile
• Two of M's old jackets
• And an electric keyboard

I'm hoping to clear out the rest of the stuff this weekend. Today is a chore day. The boys have sports & activities tomorrow, so I really need to focus on getting things done. Here's my to do list:

• Work out
• Help the boys start organizing their rooms into: trash, donate, keep
• Sell the rest of my Facebook stuff
• Make muffins (and, maybe granola bars)
• Go to Costco
• And the produce stand
• Go to the library
• Pay an in person bill

I made homemade pizzas last night, using a few freezer ingredients: naan bread, a cheese foccacia splurge thing Michael bought at Costco a while back & I've been trying to determine how to use it, and homemade tomato sauce. Combined with salami, cheese & fresh tomatoes, it was fabulous. Here's what we'll be eating the rest of the week:

Saturday - chicken & pastina bake

Sunday - oven baked chicken risotto

Monday - leftover pastina bake 

Tuesday - Soup from the freezer. And, maybe homemade bread. I have to work from home in the afternoon, so if I have time, I'll put this in the bread maker between conference calls.

Wednesday - leftover risotto

Thursday - lubia polo (freezer) & the rest of the cucumber yogurt sauce lurking in the fridge

Friday - Tacos, with chips & guacamole

Saturday - kale chicken salad + tomato soup

Sunday - homemade calzones

What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish today? What's on the menu plan for the week? Any new recipes to recommend? 

Frugal Friday

This is a tale of two very different paths this week: extremely world class non-frugal, and very frugal. The non-frugal relates to buying a house in the bay area. I'll just leave that, because when you are paying $1000/sq foot, frugality doesn't really come into play.

But, knowing that we are buying said house has driven us to lots of new frugality! :-) Silver lining, people! Here's what we've been up to:

• We've bought nothing during the week. Nada. Too busy documenting every place we've ever lived in the last 15 years for our lender. ;-) 
• I sold a bunch of stuff on my local Facebook site:
• two coats for $20
• An electric keyboard/stand for $30
• Part of my shampoo stash for $5 (I had to switch to a specific shampoo due to some dry scalp complications from lupus). So, I'm never going to use the other shampoo & have a few extra bottles for guests. I don't want to move things we don't need.
• Sold two gift cards we don't need for $60
• Ate dinner at home every day, re-using leftovers from the weekend.
• I'm working from home today, so I made a fruit smoothie with free oranges from our tree, and leftover fruit. I'll have leftover soup for lunch.
• Cancelled a music service that M has had forever & rarely uses. I just noticed it on a bill recently.
• Called to track down 85,000 missing hotel points that got lost in a transfer between two accounts
• Maxed out my 401K for the year. And, in hindsight, really really wish I hadn't done that with my bonus, as we could use the cash now. But, it was too late to change it once it went through. Life lessons. ;-) 

What about you? What were your frugal wins for the week?

Ahhh, the chaos

I'm still here, but in the midst of the mad house closing scramble. It's been a very stressful few days - lots of paperwork & number crunching, and document signing. We are making good progress, but I haven't even thought about the actual move. My first goal is to prepare for signing & get all of our assets liquidated in time for closing. No small feat given the number of accounts & multitude of investments we are talking about.

But, I'm focusing on the positives. We close on the 8th, and my birthday is on the 10th. I've decided to take the 10th off, and have a glass of champagne while packing. Baby steps. :-)

I'll provide more of a financial update, but it's safe to say that things will be tighter than I'd prefer for at least a few months, until more of my stock vests. And, then we will sell our Seattle house & have a cushion again. Woohoo!

I'm also mentally creating a list of things we don't want to move & will either donate or sell in advance. The boys & I are going through their rooms this weekend for the sorting process: toss, donate, sell, keep/move. Should be a hoot!

In other news, we've spent no money of any kind, because, well, when you are plunking down a big bunch of money for a down payment, it makes you feel really uninterested in spending anything else. :-)

The to do list! As you can see, it's a mix of big & small tasks, but they all need to be completed.

1. Sort out a nanny for next week. Mine had a family emergency (her grandmother passed away), so I need to either plan to work from home in the afternoons, or trade off a few days with M.
2. Liquidate remaining assets before next week (x3). Have a call out to my broker on one that's particularly tricky.
3. Provide paper trail of all money to the bank.
4. Figure out moving date. (This is dependent on our landlord getting our house rented).
5. Start packing
6. Book exterminator for new house. (This is a thing before people move in, apparently. Wasn't required in Washington, so a new process for me). 
7. Sort out work travel plans based on move date.
8. Finish new cash flow model based on expenses. After 11+ years of marriage, M & I have finally come to terms with needing a combined cash flow, vs each covering specific expenses and managing independently. Should be a fun exercise to put it all together. Random trivia - my cash flow spreadsheet is 20+ years old. Why fix what's not broken. 
9. Provide notice to tenants that we will not renew their rental contract.
10. Book a camp for the kids in February, when we were supposed to be skiing. 

And, that's it for me! What's the #1 item on your to do list today?