Frugal Saturday

This was a mix of shelter in place, and pre-shelter in place. Here are our frugal wins for the week, a bit delayed.

Saving on things we buy

• Sam has outgrown everything he owns. He's very thin, and now taller than me! It happened overnight, it feels like. I used Rakuten to earn a small amount back on a clothing purchase. 

Earning money

• I found $.06 at the gym, and $.31 +.$01 at the grocery store. Raking it in!
• I also sold an item on eBay (for my sister), but the person hasn't paid or responded, so I'm not sure this will come through.

Avoiding spending:

• I cancelled a flight I was taking in a month, earning $248 back in my airline account, for future purchase
• I also cancelled my parents flights for spring break (they were visiting, & going to entertain the kids). I used miles, so I received all of the miles back, plus $23 in taxes/fees. 
• We are menu planning, & eating what we have available, reducing our grocery list as much as possible.

As for today, here's what I'm hoping to do:

• Organize one side of our garage rack. (The other side contains M's stuff, and he'll need to be involved for that).
• Pick up the house
• Clean the kitchen
• Make yeast rolls for the kiddos
• Meditate
• Journal
• Yoga
• A long walk (alone) if the weather cooperates
• Work on the new puzzle
• Laundry
• Play a game with the kiddos

What about you? Did you have any frugal wins this week? How are you spending your shelter in place time? 

It's Friday

It feels like day 1012 of shelter in place, but it's really just the end of the first week. We are doing our best, as everyone is, but it's definitely an adjustment on all sides.

Here are a few happenings around our house

• I organized my pantry, because I was thinking of Kim's challenge! Or, at least I did three shelves. There is certainly more to do, but I'll take progress where I can
• I've been on one walk with the kiddos this morning
• M ate one of the sardine cans we've been trying to get rid of! Happy dance. Only two to go. 
• On said walk, the boys football got stuck in a tree, and Sam climbed the tree to retrieve it. In hindsight, this was a terrible decision, because a fall could have resulted in the hospital, and no one needs that right now. 
• I meditated. And journaled
• I ordered groceries online. Next available delivery is a week away! 
• M was able to get to Costco last night right before closing, and got about 1/2 of the items on our list. They were out of ground beef, so he opted for steak. A very similar replacement. ;-) I'm so grateful to have groceries that I can't drum up any energy to care about the cost.
• We've agreed to have a planning meeting this weekend (or, maybe the majority of the weekend is for planning), so we can build schedules to support the kids remote learning kickoff next week. 
• I chatted to a neighbor, from across the street
• I sat out in the sunshine for a few minutes, and made a video for friends. (We use Marco Polo, which is a video chat app that you can use for a private group.) No Tik Tok dances involved.
• I weeded, and filled up the yard waste bin. I may see if I can get Sam to step on what's there, so we can squeeze more in.  

It will certainly be a quiet weekend. I'm hoping to bake rolls, perhaps cookies, work on a puzzle with the kiddos, have some family games, and get exercise. What about you? What are you planning on doing this weekend? 

A lighter meeting day

I'm grateful for having only three meetings today (a normal day is 8+). I'm going to take advantage & actually lower my bar. I've been working 10-12 hour days to catch up on some Coronavirus action items for the team, and I desperately need a lighter day to work through some schedule & planning stuff with the kids. Our current work guidance is "best effort", with no minimum number of hours required, so I need to lower the bar for myself.

Goals for the day:

1. 3 work calls
2. Meditate
3. Journal
4. Cardio workout
5. 3 walks with the kids around the block
6. Yard work (weather permitting) or house chore
7. Start a grocery list. We will likely try an online delivery this week. It will be more expensive than usual, so I want to limit what we need as much as possible.
8. Menu plan
9. Play a game with the kids
10. Laundry
11. Call & check in on my mom

And, here's my progress from a few days ago on my house chore. Apologies for the rotation. In photos, it actually is rotated properly. Blogger just doesn't seem to want to maintain the orientation. It's now so much easier to find what we need. And, many things put aside for the donation pile!

It's hump day

I'm in an awkward place where my work demands have increased drastically (we are responsible for some Coronavirus response, but not in a medical sense.) I think many companies are having to think through how they are responding, due to staffing challenges, communication with partners, etc. It's really hard to juggle that with the kids. I'm hoping after I get through this week, which was particularly complicated as we roll out additional guidance to all of our remote teams, things will settle down. A girl has to dream, right?

Things that are helping:

• FitBit says I was 70k under my previous week's steps, so while I'm going for walks as possible, it's clearly not enough. I need to "step it up". ;-)
• Supporting others. Toilet paper donations to the neighbors, lots of video chats with friends & family. Helping my disabled aunt who was recently laid off. Remembering that a lot of people are in challenging positions. We're all in this together.
• Meditation
• Journaling
• Hugging my kids/husband more than ever.
• Meal planning. Always a priority, but more of one when I'm totally wiped out after a day of remote meetings. 
• The six pack of herbal tea I ordered on Amazon. This was the highlight of my day yesterday.
• YOGA

Anything else that's really working for you or your families right now? 

Freezer/pantry progress

Here's an update on my progress from my post on Things I Want to Use Up. Some good progress, with still some opportunities for sure.

• Sushi rice (Sam bought for a school cooking project, so this is the remainder) Used for chicken stir fry
• Multiple packs of sardines. These are M's, and he bought them when he first started doing Keto, but hasn't eaten many. No one else will eat them for sure, so I need to gently motivate
• Several packages of Liptons onion seasoning. My parents bought it when they were here. I don't have any recipes that use this, so will need to come up with something
• A huge jar of tahini. I need to make hummus, but will need other ideas, because there's no way we will eat that much hummus
• A few jars of homemade pesto. I have a chicken recipe that uses pesto, so just need to make it - one down. 
• Pine nuts. Not sure what I'll do with these
• 1/2 a bag of frozen spring rolls. No one really loved them, but they need to be eaten - Done. Served with egg roll in a bowl, which provided a nice dipping sauce for the actual spring rolls.  
• So, so, so many bags of frozen bananas. I've encouraged M to buy fewer each week, but that has gone unheeded. - I've used at least 3/4 of the bananas. I've made several batches of muffins, baked oatmeal, and the kids have used a bunch for smoothies. 
• Mini pizzas. I'll make these for the kids for an upcoming lunch or dinner. - Woohoo! All 12+ of them have been consumed by small people, including when we needed to unexpectedly feed friends. 
• Mini naan breads. About 1/3 gone. 
• A package of gnocchi (meal kit). - gone. 
• A package of salami & sopressata  - 1/2 of one gone. Used for homemade pizzas
• 1 package of chicken noodle soup - Used up for lunch on Friday. 
• 1 box of tomato pepper soup - Used last weekend, when no one was feeling very good. 

Other things I didn't even know we had at the time I made this list:

• 1/2 of a leftover delivery pizza. Discovered in the freezer & quickly turned into a post soccer meal for the kids. 
• A handful of dried cherries, that had been pushed to the back of the pantry. Used up in pineapple banana muffins. 
• A huge bag of wings. Used at the boys birthday party
• Brussel sprouts (freezer). I think my parents bought them & put them in the freezer. I just discovered them. I wasn't impressed with the way I prepared them, but the are out of the freezer!
• 1/2 a bag of cubed butternut squash - I didn't love the texture, after freezing. But, I roasted it and served it as the base under the chicken pesto dish we had. 
• the remainder a chicken pesto dish - we liked the flavor, but it had too much liquid during the original making. So, I roasted butternut squash to serve under it & absorb some of the liquid. It worked well. 

I'll put the mini naan & pizza on my list this week. We will likely also finish off the frozen bananas in smoothies. What about you? Anything you want to use up this week?

The pandemic birthday

Today is Nick's 13th birthday. And, while it is most certainly nothing like the birthday he envisioned (school, a soccer game with friends followed by Mom bringing cupcakes), we will all get through. We gave him his gift early, so he could practice his new guitar this weekend. He was thrilled.

We'd scaled down our plans to go out to eat. Now that's not possible as well, so we will do takeout from the same restaurant. Helps to support our local small business, and is in accordance with our new "shelter in place" rules.

Yesterday's "schedule" was a modest success. I made it through most of my early EMEA call before I got a call from Sam that Nick had fallen during "P.E." at the park, and needed a ride home. I left the call & found Nick at the park, bleeding and having ripped his only pants without a hole. Because, of course. ;-) He's fine, just a scraped knee, but didn't want to bike home bleeding, which is reasonable.

It was a very long work day, and one I don't plan to repeat. I've been pretty aggressive with my calendar management, but this week is a week where we have quite a few performance prep meetings, which need to continue, as they are arranged around 20+ peoples' schedules. Additionally, we are doing check ins with each of our regional teams, which are both not time zone friendly, as well as something we have to kick off this week.

My employer continues to be amazing, and trying to be as flexible as possible.

Also, thanks to Kim, I got myself off of the sofa after a long day, and cleaned out one of our cupboards. (The tea cup in the picture is one I was using during the clean out. It doesn't normally stay in the cupboard.) Before & after!

It could still use some work, but I give it a reasonable pass. 

Here's what we're doing today:

• Juggling meetings & family stuff
• I have a doctor's appointment with my rheumatologist, which will now be a phone call check in
• Celebrating Nick's birthday
• Going for walks outside (still allowed)
• Getting dinner delivery
• Meditating
• Journaling
• Doing at home work out DVD
• Organizing one drawer in my kitchen
• Making a video for my team (a fun, personal one)

What about you? How are you doing?

We have an elaborate plan for today

I start my day with EMEA calls at 7:30, and end with an APAC call at 5:30. I've combed through my calendar & removed all unnecessary meetings. Many of my coworkers are in similar situations, and we are all proactively accommodating schedule changes.

Here's how I'm handling today.

• Created a huge wipe board with our meetings, so the kids can easily tell when a good time to interrupt would be. (M & I can already see that, as we have access to each other's work calendars.)
• Created a schedule for the kids for today. It includes:
• Soccer drills in the yard (their club sent a workout schedule & log, which I'm grateful for)
• Reading blocks
• Chore time
• Math worksheets
• Spanish practice
• A running workout
• Making Nick's birthday cake

Working from home for a single day with the kids is possible. . . doing it for an extended period of time will present many challenges. Nothing will get enough of our attention. But, we will make it happen. 

M is also signing up to volunteer for a huge effort at work with the virus. I've signed up for our neighborhood alias to help with delivery, donations, and supporting a gift certificate purchase effort for our local shops that will fail quickly without support (all are required to close). Helping our neighbors is really important right now.

And, for my mental health, I'm accepting less meetings than usual, and will somehow try to find time today for:

• a five minute journal exercise
• Meditation
• Walks around the block (it's pouring buckets, so jackets & umbrellas required)
• an actual lunch break (no eating on calls)
• Hugs with the kids

I've been blessed that the kids have been really close for the past 12 years. Minimal bickering. Over the last couple of months, all of that has changed, and the boys are in a growing pains phase of Sam thinking he's too cool for Nick, and Nick being devastated. Really wish this phase could have held off for a few more months. :-(

We will get there! Meals are prepped for this evening, easy lunch options are available. I purchased my favorite sparkling water as a lunch time treat! 

What about you? How are you prepping for the week ahead?

What to do, what to do?

We are trying to stay home as much as possible, based on the latest guidance. The weather is terrible here, so I'm looking for good at home options, and treating this as an opportunity to get things done around the house. There are rumors that the schools may be closed for 8+ weeks. Trying not to panic about that possibility.

Here's what I got done yesterday:

• Made pico de gallo & taco slaw
• Organized one of our tables, that is constantly overrun with homework & my stuff. Everything is now sorted, filed, and things are put back to their rightful locations. This has created a nice area for schedule organizing, which is more important now that we are all home together.
• Organized our "junk pantry" (paper supplies, pencils, etc). Tossed a bunch of junk, organized everything else.
• Did yoga at home
• I also went through the closet where we keep our water bottles, and pulled out all of the plastic ones for donation.

Plans for today:

• A work out (90 minute yoga)
• Make a schedule for Monday
• Review the soccer training plan for the boys (their club sent at home workouts to follow, along with a training log)
• Make a double batch of chicken curry
• Print out math worksheets
• Wash all sheets & bedding
• Stay in touch with friends (we use a video chat app)

What type of good at home projects do you have lined up?

In the time of the pandemic

What a week. First, M & I are now both required to work remotely. Sounds fun, but we have no office/desk space. No office furniture, and have an open floor plan. No problem, we ordered some furniture & had planned to convert a formal dining room into an office. We can just accelerate that. Then schools were cancelled. Keeping the kids occupied for four weeks (maybe with online learning?) means that we all need home set ups. Our house is definitely not designed for this.

We are so very lucky. We have an amazing employer. When the school closures began, they offered everyone two weeks of additional leave. And, if you can work flexed hours, no problem/no questions. We also have the funds to buy some extra furniture to make our space more comfortable for indefinite work from home, and to buy extra groceries here and there, so we don't have to go out. I also can afford to pay more for a few things, so I can avoid most of the madness. I know many, many people don't have this good fortune. They may be already laid off, because their jobs are in the service sector. Or, they may need to stay home to take care of young kids. We made a large donation today that's totally not in the budget, because it's so important to us right now to help other people who are struggling.

We are also working in our neighborhood to provide support to the elderly, who may not want to make a trip to the grocery store.

We are most likely going to head to our vacation house next week, and work remotely from there. My parents are close by, and can take the boys here and there, breaking up the long break from routine & providing a change of pace & support.

We went to the stores today, and M waited several hours to even get into Costco. At the local stores, the shelves were cleared out of: bread, milk, rice, pasta, Top Ramen, frozen fruit, veggies, and meat. It was really crazy.  But, we have plenty to feed our family, & we will be fine.

I'm focused on what I can do around the house today, as we're encouraged to avoid crowded places. Here's my plan:

• Make pico de gallo
• And guacamole
• For dinner - taco slaw
• Work on our "family schedule" for next week, which is shaping up to be super crazy with all of the balls we're going to need to juggle
• Yoga!
• Meditate
• Journal

We are working on being flexible & adaptive, focusing on the positives, and supporting others. WE know this is the beginning of a long phase of time where we need to all work together. What's it like around your neighborhood? 

Two weeks of Frugal Friday

It's been wild & crazy times here. In the chaos of last week, I forgot to post a Frugal Friday, so here are two weeks worth:


Saving money on things we buy

• I bought the kids sandwiches at Subway, using a BOGO deal. Subway is a rare treat for them, and they were thrilled
• We purchased our planned travel for the rest of the year, thanks to sales & flexible travel (e.g. no fees for cancellation or changes). We often have to make changes due to work conflicts, so this has a potential for quite a bit of savings.
• Sent multiple more rounds of emails to Lowes due to the door fiasco, and the promised "discount" never coming through. After including corporate (yet again), we received the discount - about $800.

Earning money

• I've sold nothing as of late, so no earnings to report.
• We did have a few people ask for dates for our vacation house, so that will likely end in earnings. 

Avoiding spending:

• Brought wine to dinner for our date night. It was offset by the fact that we brought Sam with us & he ate a lot of food ;-)
• Because we bought plenty of food the week before, last week we were able to keep our grocery shopping to around 1/3 of the normal amount. 
• Made serious progress on our freezer cleaning (incorporating things into our meals). We used: a pesto chicken dish, brussel sprouts, butternut squash & plenty of frozen fruit. 

On the non-frugal side, we have no office setups at our house, and are both going to be working from home for a minimum of a month (likely longer). We invested in some office furniture, because we could not make our existing furniture work. 

Any frugal wins on your side?

How to make working remotely work for me

Both M & I are now required to work from home until mid-April. This will be a big shift for both of us. I currently work from home on Fridays, as my schedule allows. But, not being in the office at all with the teams will be quite a change. I'm concerned about logistics & productivity, plus the isolation, but I'm focusing on how to use this to my advantage. Here's what I have in mind so far.

• I'm going to build a schedule every day, and maximize my time. 
• I won't have a commute (typically about an hour or so, every day.) I flex my hours currently to avoid commuting, so I can actually work a bit less and still be more productive. 
• I can go to the gyms most mornings, as I won't have the work commute
• I can save time on the "getting ready" aspect of the morning. I will still be presentable, as we do video meetings, but it will be less work than fully getting ready for work.
• I can toss in a load of laundry or unload the dishwasher between meetings
• I can meditate when I have a break. (Right now, not having a room to meditate in at work blocks me from doing this between meetings.)
• I'll see if I can meet local friends for lunch or a walk

I also suspect that many meetings will be cancelled (I spend about 30+ hours a week in meetings & would LOVE if this were reduced to give me time to ... actually work!) Fingers crossed. 

The ongoing stress/angst that's been an undercurrent here is real. People are very worried about childcare, schools closing, offices closing, etc. I am doing what I can to control my own stress level, as it really impacts my lupus flares. I'm currently not feeling great, and have an appointment with my rheumatologist next week.

Here are the things I'm doing to manage my stress:

• Journaling
• Off my laptop by 7:30. I'm doing much better about this lately, as reading the news ahead of bed is causing stress
• Meditating
• Working out
• Going for walks with Nick
• Focusing on the positives

Knowing that I'm going to be home for breakfast & lunch (which, I typically eat at work for free), I'll be doing some additional meal prep. I'm hoping to make granola bars & baked oatmeal this week, and also pick up more salad options.

Any other good ideas you'd recommend? 

Meal plan Monday

I'll confess & say that I didn't do a great job with meal planning this week, due to a variety of schedule changes. But, we'll make it work. Here's what's happening on the table this week:

Saturday - we took Sam out to dinner with us, while Nick was at a party
Sunday - homemade pizzas
Monday - carnitas + salad
Tuesday - spaghetti & meatballs (cauliflower rice for adults)
Wednesday - soup & kebabs (freezer)
Thursday - any leftovers, or baked chicken & salad
Friday - Indian food from the freezer section at Trader Joes

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

March Goals

Let's hope March is a month full of positive traction & progress, vs the slow slog of February. Here's what I have on my list to accomplish:

1) Financial

• Stick to our budget
• Pay down our mortgage to the next milestone
• No clothing, shoes or jewelry purchases for me

2) Family 

• Do one fun activity with the kids
• Off the computer by 7:30 each evening
• Have two dates with M
• Schedule monthly calls with M's family
• Practice Farsi flashcards 4x

3) Fitness

• Lose 3 lbs
• Run 10 times
• Average 1400 calories/day with 5 servings of produce
• Complete 1,000 minutes of cardio, 10 strength & 5 stretching workouts
• Meditate 10 times

4) Personal/creative

•  Make time for friends, something social at least 1x/month
• Volunteer
• Journal 15x
• Adapt a more positive mindset (judge less)
• Listen more often vs talking, & work on not interrupting
• Greatly reduce swearing
• Try 3 disruptive experiments
• Compliment M ever day
• Have 10% of my work time focused on development of myself & other people
• Keep trying to "be the change" & get involved in solving hard problems, vs sitting on the sidelines complaining. Accept & acknowledge that this is hard work & budget time for it. 

That's it for me. What are your goals for March?