Friday Fiscal Wellness Check, March 20 2026
I'm trying to get back into the blogging habit. For som reason, I've still been dragging (plus hip still raging) so a bit out of rythm. I owe you all a better recap, but honestly, might be a while so the snippets might have to do. For this post, as a reminder in case you feel repetitiveness to my Friday posts, I copy the previous week, delete the old and update as I go along the week. This will help me add as the week goes on. Here's my recap of Friday, March 13 to Thursday, March 19 . I just sort of list things as they come up, then edit before publishing.
- Used leftovers for last night's supper.
- Made muffin bread with old bananas.
- Consolidated travel clothes with home worn clothes to maximize laundry loads.
- Son picked up a few needed but minimal grocery basics ahead of major storm starting overnight Saturday to Sunday like milk and fruit, but otherwise just ate from pantry and freezer
Opportunities to add Funds/Windfalls
- ( Limited but...) Uploaded Fetch receipts and added to my MS Rewards points.
Non-Thrifty or Frugal
Then, there are often other things that impacted my check book that came up without much planning or notice, an extra optional expense, or an all-out splurge.
- Plumbing issue while I was gone. No bill yet, but it won't be cheap.
- I had a long layover and ate in airport bar/restaurant/ gate area. It was an odd setup in the F gates. I also bought an overpriced, but needed Diet Coke.
- A nephew had a fundraiser text for his Lacrosse team, so donated to that.
- Paid for snow plowing. It would gave taken my son hours as it was so much, thick, wet heavy snow. He kept things afloat while I was gone and was not going to ask him to do that.
- Impromptu get together with my sisters and a few women we played volleyball with in the past. We're all "retired" from playing now.
Daily Dinner Diary (Friday 3/13 to Thursday, 3/19). I planned a menu but didn't stick to it completely.
Fri - Airport Quesadille and beer
Sat- Stuffed shells from freezer with salad and garlic bread
Sun- Chicken, rice, and bean burritos
Mon- Meatballs in mushroom sauce with brown rice, steamed carrots
Tues- Pasta fagiole soup, chicken drumsticks for son, garlic toast
Weds- Goulash
Thurs- leftovers
I'm picking my MIL up soon and were going to breakfast. I brought her a tin of a loukoumi candy that was in many places in Athens. We may be meeting up for a fish fry tonight, but I'd just as happily stay home as restaurants are packed on Fridays during lent. How was your week?
Good luck with your MIL meetup. My week was alright, work is bonkers and my anxiety has been winning even with my coping methods in place. I did manage to get salmon on sale (cheap salmon, good enough for me) so my meal prep for lunch can continue into April, easy peasy. I see you are squeamish about massages, I get you. My mom used a Registered Massage Therapist for her hip - so it was less spa, and more focused on treatment if that helps/makes sense- but you're also doing exercises which is great. I wonder if one of those massage guns might be useful too? I have seen them at Marshall's in the US.
ReplyDeleteI'll take a look and see if a massage tool might work.
DeleteI beg to differ: You don’t “owe” us blogging, but I know I speak for us all when I say we are happy to get updates.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who used to travel frequently, I can say even when it’s for pleasure, it’s exhausting. And there is *always* a surprise, like plumbing, waiting when you get home.
I have a 3 day delegate obligation in June, and honestly, I am already dreading returning! I think I would rather have an empty house to return to than my beloved, but sometimes boneheaded offspring.
I am still trying to get Daughter to join as a guest, as she likes the presentations/caucus meetings, but it’s on the other side of the mountains so she would have to take her own vehicle unless she wanted to wait all day Sunday while we got through our general session. Also, we are returning Monday morning because none of us want to drive over the mountain pass at night.
-Meg B.
I hear you
DeleteThere's nothing on the market even remotely workable for my son so the looking g fir a place of hus own us slow. Now, as the weather improves he'll semi live at the lake more often giving me space
Love the kids, love my privacy and space to myself.
Week was decent. Nothing too exciting, but a few frugal wins here & there. Mostly optimizing food to ensure we have no waste & keep the spring break college boy happy with requested meals. - Hawaii Planner
ReplyDeleteNurturing their home time is a reward for mom's. I hope he's having a good spring break.
DeleteI'm echoing the comment above from Meg: you don't "owe" us blogging! I really enjoy reading your blog and hearing about your life, but I look at it as a gift from you, and not a duty!
ReplyDeleteI'm just finding I'm not much or a travel writer. It feels a bit overwhelming to share a places after the fact.
DeleteI don't try to recap it all - it's not something I enjoy, nor am I terribly good at. I don't mind sharing a few things, and am happy to answer questions, but I'm not doing a play by play recap. You would all be bored anyway. ;-) Hawaii Planner
DeleteYou are smart to hire out the snow removal. We used to do it when we were much, much younger, but I don't see myself doing that these days, It would be one of those tasks worth every penny to me. We had a pretty good week here, I added to my Microsoft Reward points too. I'm working towards a Kroger gift card, but it is taking a while.
ReplyDeleteI've done fine until this wet thick, heavy stuff. I generally enjoy a bit of quiet time, but this was insanely heavy. People were breaking snow blowers.
DeleteBlog as you please, that's the joy of blogging. I do it part as a diary and partly to help keep me on track!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a well-balanced week. I do hope the plumbing bill isn't too much.
The diet coke at the airport - I'm not sure how US airports are able to price gouge such as they do! It's disgusting. I think one of the reasons they haven't gone back to liquids through the gate would be the loss of income US airports would suffer. Thankfully, a lot of airports now offer free water if you take your own bottle so a lot of the time I try to just get water and then pop on the planes.
This was Canada and slightly less than US airports but still high. I did have a water bottle but needed that lock me up from caffeine. I too blog more as hobby but recapping trips is hard to put in words.
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