March Goal Recap

 March was a month where I crushed it, mostly because I had much more schedule flexibility & time than I expected to have. And, what a difference that makes! I also didn't have an international work trip, a four day conference in the city, and a typical work schedule. Lots of resulting wins.

Financial: (March is the month M & I received our annual bonuses. This will be our last big income surge, minus my severance pay out, as we will then move to a much leaner budget, with just M's salary.)

• Max Nick's 529 = done, although we opted for a CD instead. 
• Max our 401Ks (standard + catch up for M) = done, using bonuses
• Save the remainder of Sam's college expenses = done, using bonuses
• Put aside money for taxes = done. Yay for taxes. ;-) 

Family:

• Earn $300 in side hustle = $120/300
• Complete pantry challenge: = crushed it
• 2 cans of green beans
• 2 cans of coconut milk
• one bag of shrimp scampi
• corn dogs
• cauliflower rice
• pureed bananas
• lasagna noodles
• Top Ramen
• Help Sam finalize his decision = 15/17 acceptances, and last tour next weekend. Almost there!
• Get Nick started on the application process + SATs & AP tests for both boys = Nick finalized his list of schools, took the SATs, and both boys are beginning AP test prep
• Optimize points, perks, miles to keep travel costs in check while enjoying travel = crushed it
• Used Alaska credits/miles for Sam's graduation trip to my parents = saved $872 for miles + $565 of flight credit
• Used three free hotel nights for Sedona hiking trip = saved $977
• Used a gift card for my very cheap flight = saved $118
• Used Southwest points to book my mom's flight = saved $359
• Used points to book a two night stay for M's birthday & redeemed a room upgrade. Room cost = $1850 for two nights (although, we wouldn't pay that out of pocket!)
• Plan one fun activity per month with the boys = Easter egg hunt!

Fitness:

• Run a half marathon = Napa Half was very rainy & cold, but we did it!
• 8 stretching workouts = 10/8
• Lose 3 lbs = I lost 5 lbs!
• 10 strength training workouts = 19/10
• Follow the No S diet = doing really well with this

Personal:

• Get together with friends = so many get togethers! Hikes, walks, coffee, & lunches galore!
• Practice Farsi 10 times = 26/10
• Declutter 50 items from the house = 163/50
• Start pickle ball lessons = yes, 2 lessons so far

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

Menu Plan Monday

 Can't believe we're into April! Wow. Let's hope it eventually stops raining here, and I can get M to grill again. It's no fun to grill in the rain. ;-) 

• Friday - baked shrimp (f) + mystery Trader Joes appetizer (f) (leftover from the Super Bowl)
• Saturday - tacos
• Sunday - steak & mashed potatoes
• Monday - leftover tacos
• Tuesday - lasagna (f)
• Wednesday - any leftovers, or pizza
• Thursday - cauliflower taco rice (f)
• Friday - out of town for college tour

That's it from our side. What about you? What are you planning to eat this week? 

Grocery receipt & other Saturday stuff

 I got up this morning & went to my workout class, and came home & am making lunch for the teens. I have a bunch of stuff to do today, so M went to Costco while I was working out. 

Here's what we spent this week/what we bought:

• Milk - $6.19
• Grapes - $7.99
• Tomatoes - $7.99
• Pineapple - $3.99
• Bagels - $7.99
• Cauliflower - $6.49
• Bananas - $2.49
• Pears - $5.99
• Steak - $44.42 (Easter splurge dinner)
• Edamame - $5.39
• Broccoli - $4.99
• Apples - $5.99
• Strawberries - $4.99
• Cucumber - $5.99
• Ground beef - $31.59

Total = $152.57 - Slightly less than last week, but we needed fewer staples, and bought more expensive meat for Easter.

Remainder of the day:

• Run to the store for tortillas
• Make tacos (dinner)
• Pickle ball lessons with M (although, it's supposed to be rainy this afternoon, so we'll see)
• Vacuum
• Help boys with scholarship essays
• List a few things on eBay
• Arrange additional tutoring sessions
• Trim our hedge
• Create new Buy Nothing listing
• Sort out our phone plan

What about you? What are you up to today? Any fun dinner plans for tomorrow?

Frugal Friday

 Can't believe we're almost to April! Here are a few wins for the week, frugal & otherwise.  

Saving on things we buy

• I combined a Safeway coupon for grapes with a $1 off produce coupon, and bought 2+ lbs of grapes for $2, which was a reasonable deal. I used a gift card for that + on sale pretzels (snack of the week), spending $0 out of pocket. However, my Safeway gift card is down to $.93, so almost out!
• I converted some spare change that was rattling around in my bags to a $9 Starbucks voucher. Given I've been doing coffee meet ups & networking, happy to have the extra coffee money on hand. 
• Redeemed the last $20 of my grocery store rewards to pick up 5 cases of sparkling water (it was on sale) + a few other things we needed. All told, I spent $9.60 after my reward.

Earning money

• M & I received our annual bonuses. I tucked most of the money into a couple of CDs, each ear marked for the boys college expenses. Because we need the money over a short time horizon, investments don't make sense. Luckily, CDs are paying very good rates at the moment. We also maxed out our 401Ks, which is great news for me, as I was able to secure the full company 2024 match ahead of my layoff. 
• Sold a heart rate monitor on eBay, and made $20, and also sold a poster I received in Japan, earning $16.

Avoiding spending

• One of my neighbors had free tangerines from their tree out & available for taking, so I picked up four.

Eating what we have

• Met a coworker for lunch, and she bought me lunch as a "goodbye". There were enough leftovers that I also had a large salad for dinner. 
• Had a "use it up" smorgasbord lunch on Saturday, mixing several small portions of leftovers for myself, and the boys. It was nice to empty the fridge of lots of little options.
• Made the boys the last of the corn dogs! One more item checked off of my freezer/pantry clean out.
• Picked fresh thyme, rosemary & oregano for M's grilled chicken recipe. 
• Our very lovely neighbor brought over a gift for us, as a thank you to M for all of his work on her car. Totally unnecessary, but she always wants to make sure she thanks us. She purchased a Hickory Farms pack. I've put aside some of the shelf stable meat & cheese, and will take it to Sedona for my hiking trip with my mom. It will make a nice treat to have in the room. 
• On Monday, I saw we had leftover rice from Sunday's dinner, so I changed up our plan a bit. I took out the Korean beef (freezer) & we had that over rice. For M, I sauteed cabbage & onions in sesame oil, and he had his beef over that.
• I made Nick pizza rolls for a quick meal before a tennis match, and now am down to just one bag of pizza rolls. Hurrah. 
• Met another friend for lunch, and took half of my sandwich home. Sam ate that as a quick bite ahead of leaving for a school event.
• And, I used the last two cans of green beans! This have been on my pantry target list forever. 
• Had the remainder of the Korean beef over salad greens for lunch one day.

For others

• Put grocery carts back, picked up trash at the school tennis match, & started on my volunteer project for Nick's soccer club

What about you? Any wins to share? 

New routine

It's been four weeks since I've been "funemployed", and I've been trying out a new routine. I'm a big fan of structure & I knew that the sudden change from an overly structured day (way too much to do) to my new normal would be a big adjustment. I've had a list of things I want to do daily, some of which I've been doing for a long time, others I added in during COVID WFH, and still others that I've always wanted to consistently practice, but have come & gone based on my schedule.

My current daily routine is as follows:

• Coffee + catching up on blogs, bills, etc
• Journaling + 3 things I'm grateful for
• Farsi lesson (I use an app for this)
• Meditation
• Working out (I prefer a class, as it's at a set time & a harder workout than I'd normally do on my own.) 
• At least one house "chore"
• Yard work, if it's not raining
• Career type stuff (working on resume or LinkedIn, sending follow up notes to people who have reached out, researching potential future jobs)
• Meal prep

Aside from that, other days have other tasks (decluttering, listing things on eBay, etc). 

I find that the journaling is helpful for two reasons. 1) it helps me remember how I felt at any given point. My journal from the first few weeks of COVID lock downs is fascinating! 2) it's a reminder to write down three things I'm grateful for, every day. I'm pretty consistent with it, and feel like it's a good time to remember that there are always things to be happy about, even when things are not going how you'd hoped or anticipated. 

I'm taking Farsi lessons so I can better communicate with M's family. It was really hard to find a good app for learning (many of the more common apps don't offer it as an option), but now that I've found one, I'm in a good groove and feel like I really am picking up more words, which is rewarding. M does still chuckle at my pronunciation. ;-) 

As for the meditation, I attended a class way back through work (maybe 7 years ago) & they shared a lot of the benefits of meditation. I gave it a try & it does help me manage stress. I've been pretty sporadic with it until recently. I've also been taking a free online class via Yale (The Science of Well Being), which I highly recommend, and the class talks about how helpful meditation is, both in the moment, and in the longer term. I've added it consistently back to my routine. I'm currently doing a five minute guided meditation via Headspace (an app), because it's such a low barrier to entry. But, I do want to do longer meditations, as you get additional benefits for a slightly longer time period. But, five minutes is still great, and I'm trying to build the habit. There is plenty of research out there about what happens to your brain when you meditate, but for me personally, it gives me more patience, and helps me live more in the moment. Both of which are things I'm working on. 

Working out has been a sanity saver for me at many points in my life, but particularly now. It really helps me manage my stress level, and I also really like the structure & the routine of a class schedule, a commitment, & getting out to see other people. It's good for your health, of course, but for me, it's really good for my mental health. As with everything, people have to experiment to see what works for them (physically), and what they enjoy the most, because sticking with a workout routine isn't going to happen unless you like the activity. 

I both love & hate yard work. Our yard has many, many types of plants from the former owners. Because there are so many varieties, it's a never ending task of weeding, picking up leaves, trimming, etc. It's much more high maintenance than I would ever choose in a million years. But, I do enjoy being outside & getting into the flow, so to speak. M & I have discussed many times, and we could each spend an hour outside working in the yard every day, and it would never be "done". Always too much to do!

Hope that was helpful, and I'd love to hear more about your daily habits!

Planning an inexpensive bucket list trip

I'm working on planning a bucket list trip to Costa Rica for me + M (our anniversary, this fall), while trying to keep it as inexpensive as possible. 

We have a lot of "assets/perks" available in 2024 that will be expiring, so we want to maximize the travel perks before they disappear or expire in 2025. 

Here's what we're thinking so far:

• Flights for 2 to Costa Rica - use travel credits (no out of pocket)
• Use Hyatt points for a week at an all inclusive, adult only hotel, and use a guaranteed suite upgrade - no out of pocket. Given hotel status & the upgrade, we would get a bunch of other perks included. 
• We will need to pay for transportation to/from the hotel & the airport locally, as well as any activities not included in the all inclusive. 
• We will fly my parents in to take care of (just!) Nick, as we typically do
• We will also leave cash for my parents for the week, when they are at our house

All told, we'd love to do the trip for $1500 or so, which seems quite realistic given our options. If I can pull this out, it would be a big frugal win! We need to wait to see where Sam will be going to college before we can book, as many colleges have parents weekend around our anniversary, and will need to adjust the timing accordingly.

What about you? Any bucket list trips you've done/are planning, and tips for how you kept the cost down? Any major travel wins scored with points, miles, perks, etc? Please share! 

As for today, I finally made progress on my resume, & handed it off to the resume service. Hurrah for progress!

Here's what else I'm up to today:

• Workout class (this one is a running only class, which will gives my arms a bit of a break, after a lot of strength training)
• Stretching
• Lunch catch up with a friend
• Start on my volunteer project for the soccer club
• Attend Nick's tennis match
• Journal
• Meditate
• Farsi lesson
• Find 5 items to declutter
• List 2 items on eBay
• Spot clean one area of the house

Menu Plan Monday

I'm working on building at longer range meal plans, that take into account what's in our freezer & needs to be used up. So far, it's helping me remember to mix in freezer prepped meals with other dinners, so let's hope I can keep it up. The (f)s are something from the freezer

Here's what's on the menu this week:

• Friday - appetizer style meal, including the Trader Joes appetizer purchased for the Super Bowl (f). Likely with chicken wings (f)
• Saturday - Philly cheese steaks (f)
• Sunday - grilled chicken & rice
• Monday - pulled pork (f) on buns
• Tuesday - spaghetti & meatballs (f) + garlic bread (f)
• Wednesday - leftover chicken & rice
• Thursday - leftover spaghetti & meatballs + garlic bread (f)
• Friday - breaded shrimp (f) + salad

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

A grocery stop & Sunday happenings

I've been keeping a close eye on our grocery spending lately. M prefers doing the Costco run, & I go to every other store we might need (typically one of either the store down the block, or Trader Joes, occasionally Safeway on my way back from the gym). 

We are well under our grocery budget for the year, which makes me happy. I thought I'd share what we bought on a recent Costco trip & their prices, as I always enjoy a peek into what others purchase:

• Milk - $6.19
• Sparkling water - $8.99 + $1.20 state tax (this is a splurge for sure)
• Garbanzo beans (canned) for hummus - $8.79
• Salmon - $15.88
• Chicken wings - $15.99
• 3 pack of cucumber - $5.99
• Plums - $5.99
• Bananas - $2.49
• Two bags of salad - $8.99
• Cauliflower - $6.49
• Strawberries - $4.99
• Feta - $5.99
• 4 lbs of apples - $5.99
• Pears - $5.99
• Butter - $13.99
• Olive oil - $14.49
• 3 lbs of limes - $6.99
• Shishito peppers - $5.99
• Peanuts - $7.99

Total = $159.40

We have a few things that will last for longer than a week (garbanzo beans, butter, wings, olive oil, peanuts & limes) but the rest will be largely eaten in a week. Our grocery stops are typically like this: majority of items we will consume in a week, but always a few things that will last much longer. As you can see, we buy a lot of produce. We don't keep treats in the house, and the teens eat a bowl of fruit every evening after dinner. We also have a salad with dinner, and I tend to have a salad for lunch. The chicken wings will make several Friday "appetizer style" dinners. M loves salmon, and will likely have that for 3+ dinners. On a week when he buys salmon, I tend to serve more carb focused meals, which the teens enjoy, but M can't eat. 

What else am I up to today? M is in charge of dinner again (woohoo!), grilled chicken & rice. Hopefully it stops raining. 

• Clean the kitchen
• Work on my resume
• Farsi lesson
• Journal
• Meditate
• Workout class
• Stretch
• Pay calculus tutor
• Help Sam with essay
• Corral teens into their bathroom chores
• Package & mail eBay sale
• Make schedule for next week

What about you? What are you up to today? 

Saturday Happenings

I was up bright & early this morning, and got a few things done before I went to my gym class (Farsi practice, journal, meditation), worked a bit on my resume, & also kicked started a toiletry clean out project. Yikes. There's stuff all over the counters! I guess I've been collecting things on all of my travels, and definitely don't need it all. Time to get organized & pass things on to folks who will use them, and declutter what I have.

Here's what's on the to do list for today:

• Attend Nick's first soccer game
• Wash Nick's soccer uniform
• Declutter/organize toiletries
• Clean out bathroom cabinet
• Work on resume (drat. I have such writer's block on this at the moment)
• Create a big Buy Nothing listing
• Pickle ball lessons (assuming it stops raining)

That's pretty much it on my side. M is making Philly Cheese steaks for dinner tonight. Yum! What are you up to today?

Frugal Friday

 It's been another good week for making smart money decisions, reducing waste & generally trying to be good stewards of our resources. Having more time to think about these things certainly helps. 

Saving on things we buy

• As I mentioned in my travel post, I'm working hard to plan a few trips, and keep costs down as much as possible. I have a few nice wins, using miles/points/credits/etc, which also aligns well with my 2024 goal of spending down all of these credits, and not letting things go to waste. Here's how we saved on travel planning:
• Used three free hotel nights for the Sedona hiking trip with my mom, saving $977
• Used a gift card for my very cheap flight - saving $118
• Used Southwest points to book my mom's flight, saving $359
• Used points to book a two night stay for M's birthday, saving $1500. I also redeemed a free room upgrade, resulting in a suite. We wouldn't pay out of pocket for that cost, but that room runs closer to $1850 for two nights (nuts!)
• Used grocery store rewards to pick up things we need for dinners this week, as well as a few birthday treats for Nick. 

Earning money

• Listed a couple of items on eBay. One of my items sold, yielding $8. 
• My coworker mentioned that our work reimbursement site still works (there was conflicting guidance on this) until our employment actually ends. It happens that I have three items for reimbursement (we have a small stipend for personal development). I've submitted two of them, and will add receipts once the classes are over (a requirement). I'll earn ~$100 or so after taxes, thanks to this. 

Avoiding spending

• Picked up a couple of dinner items at Safeway, and used my gift card, spending $0 out of pocket.
• I'm doing a lot of networking/casual meet ups with people, and I always offer coffee or a walk for our meet up option. About half choose the walk, which I always prefer, which definitely keeps the cost down. Coffee is an inexpensive option compared to lunch or dinner, however. 

Eating what we have

• Packed a sandwich & fruit to eat at Nick's soccer game, on a very busy Saturday. 
• *Finally* used a package of Top Ramen that has been in the pantry for almost forever, in chicken yakisoba
• Made homemade hummus out of the two lonely cans of chickpeas that had been in the pantry forever, and the just expired jar of tahini sauce. It's always a hit in our family, so I need to make it more often. 
• Used the second half of a box of lasagna noodles (left over from whenever my parents were last visiting) to make ...you guessed it, lasagna for dinner. Bonus, I served it with garlic bread, and the baguette for that came from the freezer. 
• Made progress on the shrimp scampi that was in the freezer, by adding it to the cheater pad thai dish we picked up at Costco. It was a delicious add on, and bulked out the meal quite a bit more. 

For others

• Picked up trash on the soccer field, on my way to & from Nick's game (and, found a dime next to the trash)
• Our neighbor had somehow gotten her car wedged against the wall of her garage (damaging the side panel of her car.) She came and asked M to help her get it out with the least amount of additional damage. I assisted, but he did most of the work & did an amazing job getting it out with no additional scrapes. He also spent a few hours on Sunday buffing the car out, getting basically all of the paint transfer off. He saved her at least $1500 of body work, and I worked in the yard & we chatted while he was working. I admire his patience, because it was very, very tedious work. 
• Found myself volunteering for yet another senior night event - this one for club soccer's senior night. My friend promises me that this one is much less work. We shall see ;-) 

What about you? Any wins to share?

How do you menu plan?

 I menu plan weekly, and have tried a variety of options. I'm considering building out more of a monthly view, so I can plug in prepped dinners (from the freezer - leftovers I've frozen) & other "need to use them up" items. I'm hoping it also helps give me a better view of weeks where we need easier options (e.g. returning from travel), or weeks where we will be gone (spring break, etc). Do you do anything like this? If so, please share tips & your planning process!

In the next couple of months, we have a few things going on: 1) final college tour + bonus visit to see my family (they are close by) 2) spring break road trip 3) Sedona with my mom. Looking forward to all three, and it's nice not to worry about taking time off, catching up with work after time off, working on a coverage plan, and catching up on "life" when I get back. Discounting our race weekend in Napa, this will be the first time I've ever traveled without worrying about all of those things, & I'm looking forward to it.

Things that I'm up to today:

• Going to a workout class
• Meeting up with a friend of a friend who is a professor, and chatting with her about what that's like
• Helping both boys with scholarship applications
• Work on Nick's college application work back schedule
• Clean the bathrooms
• Work on my resume
• Add a few things to the calendar
• We receive our annual bonuses tomorrow, & I now know how much they will be exactly for, so doing some financial planning
• Watch Nick's tennis match
• Leftovers for dinner

Things that I try to do every day:

• Journal
• Farsi lessons
• Meditate
• 20 minutes of yard work (or, more). Usually more

Would love to hear more about how you meal plan & what works for you. Or, what you're up to today!

Decluttering

Tess asked a question in my last post about how I declutter. I thought it might be helpful to share the process I used, and would love to hear from anyone else how they approach this.

I don't have a formal "process", but here's how I generally approach it.

How to find things to get rid of:

1) For "hot" areas of the house, I go through them regularly. An example of this would be a three tiered tray where we keep paperwork, checks, to do items, etc. Because that tray is constantly in flux, it needs a regular review, where I pull out things that I've dealt with, reminds me of any tasks that still need to be handled, and I shred/recycle everything else.

2) I go through my closet after a season. If I didn't wear something after the appropriate season, I ask myself why I'm hanging on to the item. Sometimes there's a reasonable answer, but most of the time, it means I can let the item go. I try to stick to a one in one out rule, if I'm replacing something. But, I also have more than enough, so try to go beyond that as well.

3) The boys stuff is trickier. They are growing, so their clothes needs a different approach. I "force" them to sit with me every six months or so, they try on any items that they aren't wearing regularly, and we cull what doesn't fit. Similarly, they have hobbies that they don't participate in, or old mementos, and I do pull things aside & talk to them about whether they still want/need the items. But, this is their choice, of course. I don't get rid of stuff without their permission, but try to help them along.

4) I also look for areas of the house that aren't frequently touched (ski bags get reviewed at the end of each season - do we have enough ski socks? Is anything missing? Can anything be removed?) Same with closets, drawers, etc. 

5) I try to go through every area of the house, but in phases. Some things need infrequent intervention (the kitchen doesn't change much, for example), but the hall closet... that place just collects random things & I feel like every time I look in there, it's ready for another decluttering & organizing session.

Now, moving on to what I do with all of the items I find:

1) If it's new, worth more than $15 or so, I try to sell it. I prefer Facebook Marketplace, as there are no fees, and it's just generally easier.

2) I use eBay if Facebook Marketplace isn't an option (too niche, light weight/easy to ship, more valuable) & I need a broader group of buyers.

3) 90% of things that are used, I give away, unless they are very niche. I choose to try & sell niche items, because they are much more likely to get purchased vs the smaller group of BN people I have available to review my items. My first place I offer things is Buy Nothing. I probably post 10 items per week, & have great success giving things away. I have a good sense of what people are interested in. Teen clothes are very, very popular, as are kitchen items, anything ski/winter related, etc. 

4) If the item doesn't move on BN, I move on to a more traditional donation - Goodwill. I try to start with BN, because it's much more likely the item won't be tossed if it goes to someone who intentionally sought it out. But, Goodwill works in a pinch. I try to really ask myself if the item still holds value. If it does, great, I will donate it.

5) For paper work or anything that can be recycled, I do that. We have a local sports store that recycles old sneakers, so I always have a collection of those going as well, waiting to be dropped off.

6) Finally, there are some things that need to be tossed. I try to keep this to the smallest amount possible, as putting things in the landfill makes me sad and is the opposite of my goal to reduce, reuse, pass things on, etc. 

Hope that was helpful! I love decluttering, and am happy to share other thoughts, if you have questions! What about you? How do you declutter your house?

Mid month goal check in

 March is whizzing by! It's been a very different month for me, as I'm not working. I have been spending quite a bit of time "browsing" jobs, having meetings with various folks, doing some networking, etc. But, still lots of time for productivity and goals. 

Financial:

• Set new goals & come up with revised budget, post layoff - I've made good progress on this, and have decided to buy CDs for the remaining college expenses, so the money is tucked away. 
• Max Nick's 529 - haven't received our bonuses yet
• Max our 401Ks - haven't received our bonuses yet
• Put aside money for taxes - same as above, waiting on bonuses
• Save any remaining bonus money for Sam's college expenses - ditto above
• Earn $300 in side hustle - made $75.50
• Pantry/freezer challenge (green beans, coconut milk, shrimp scampi, corn dogs, fish sticks). - I've made progress on some of this (used up 4 more corn dogs & 1/2 a bag of shrimp scampi), but I've also used up a lot of other items: a very old bag of cauliflower rice, the end of a bag of corn, a bag of frozen pureed bananas, gave away a can of peaches, tossed pantry expired food, made yakisoba out of an ancient package of Top Ramen, made hummus out of soon to expire garbanzo beans/tahini, & made lasagna out of a package of noodles that had been in the pantry forever. So, feeling really good about progress on this one. 

Family:

• Help Sam finalize college decisions - final college tour in April
• Get Nick started on the college process - a little progress, but SATs are scheduled
• Optimize points, perks, miles - lots of progress here:
• Used points to cover two nights at a fancy hotel in Napa
• Used Southwest miles to cover my mom's flight to Sedona
• Used Hyatt free night awards to cover 3 of 4 nights in Sedona
• My Sedona flight was very inexpensive ($118), but used a gift card to cover that
• Used Hyatt points to cover two nights at a hotel in Carmel for M's birthday. Bonus, used a suite upgrade award to upgrade the room for free. 
• Found an old Safeway gift card, and have been picking up meal planning items with that.
• Used a CVS gift card to buy Easter items
• Plan one fun activity with the boys - we are planning a spring break trip

Fitness:

• Run a half marathon - done!
• 8 stretching workouts - 5/10 so far
• Lose 3 lbs - yes, I've lost 3 lbs!
• 10 strength training workouts - 9/10 so far
• Follow the No S diet - really doing well with this. My new schedule works so that I fast in the morning, and I have much fewer snack temptations at home. Bonus that I'm not stressed out about work & mindlessly stress eating. 

Personal: 

• Get together with friends. - I suddenly have much more free time. Met a friend for a workout + coffee, another friend for a wine + chat, and had the long weekend with my mom & sister in Napa. Also, met two coworkers for a walk, one friend for an early morning hike, and another coworker for a lunch. 
• Practice Farsi 10 times - 11/10 so far
• Declutter 50 items from the house - 54/50
• Start pickle ball lessons with M - yes, we started last weekend & we had a great time!

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