Friday Fiscal Wellness Check August 7, 2026

                                         

         

     For my Friday posts, I copy a previous week, delete the old and update as I go along the week. This helps me add as the week goes on. Here's my recap of Friday, July 31 to Thursday, August 6. I just sort of list things as they come up.

Use it Up/Avoid Waste 

• My neighbors sadly lost their beloved 17 year old dog last week. He was pups buddy. She gave me the rest of a fairly large bag of FreshPet food, one of pup and grand pups favorites. I miss seeing that little guy across the street. 
• Used up frozen refried beans, deboned chicken thighs, and remnants of salsa, cheese dip, and last of the cheese tray that I hadn't froze to make two quesadillas.
• Made two batches of (vegan) zuchini bread both Friday when it was cooler and again Monday as my daughter was going to bring even more! Gave most to the kids and my sister. As I'm out of granulated sugar, I used all brown sugar with lots of cinnamon- very rich and delicious. 

Avoiding Spending/Saving on needs 

• Minimal groceries as I had a lot of odds and ends to use up. I even avoided temptation of Trader Joe's after my early a.m. PT appointment because I needed to be home by 9 to give pup his meds. 
• Used 37 cents off gas cc reward on a near empty tank.
• I've got a swimsuit, dress, and two shirts, cotton pants, and a dress sitting in an online shopping cart. I do need new swimwear before the cruise and a few extra pieces to stretch my cruise wardrobe would be lovely. But I'm very focused on taking off excess weight so who knows what my size might be in 7 months. Items are going to sit at least until after the first of the year as I  don't have any new summer clothes needs right now.

Opportunities to add Funds/Windfalls 

• Entered receipts in Fetch, played MS Rewards. I did a couple of Saga surveys.
• I'm trying to figure out the max I'd want to substitute teach or do contract work. I guess the decider for this is more personal satisfaction, but could impact taxes, so can't ignore. The schools were desperate last November it seemed. I really like the half day afternoon shifts, so will keep a look for those only because of pups needs.

 Non-Thrifty or Frugal

• I picked more tomatoes, this weeks estimate based on Farmers Market prices,  $4 worth of the roma like tomatos in my two planters, 2xs and one pick if cherry tomatoes-$54 is my garden ROI status. Likely only another three picks worth to ripen. It was a bit of fun to watch them thrive, along with first lettuce, even though other plants ( beans, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins) were busts. I say this but there's little pods coming from a couple of the bean plants...maybe??? The tomato ROI was positive. 

Then, there are often other things that impacted my check book that came up without much planning or notice, an extra optional or necessary expense, or an all-out splurge.

•  $35 copay for PT and they wanted to schedule two more to push a couple stretches farther for improved strength, range, and stability. I'm not pleased with more out of pocket, but also want improvement and correction to what I might not be doing right on my own.

  Daily Dinner Diary (Friday 7/31  to Thursday, 8/6). 

Fri -   I took kitties home for weekend after bringing prepared chicken thighs to son's and he provided sides of veggies and mashed potatoes. 

Sat- Chicken, bean, and cheese quesadille 

Sun- Chicken, bean, and cheese quesadille-reheated from Saturday

Mon- Goulash, sautéed zuchini,  cucumber and tomato salad

Tues-  Leftover goulash and zuchini 

Weds- Chicken strip wrap with tomato and cucumber 

Thur- Beer brats, potato wedges, cucumber and tomato salad

* Are we sensing a theme with cucumber and tomatoes? I can't get enough of the fresh picked combination. 

Leftovers Added to Freezer:

• Nothing, but sent two leftover brats home with my son. He came after a job for dinner. I also made ahead two, but I prefer to cut in half when I fill, stuffed green peppers. Two halves will be my dinner tonight and may freeze the other two if I end up doing something for dinner Saturday.

  

  Snooze time buddies. 

      I'm still cat sitting just because it's easier than them being packed up too often as son will be working a lot where he's not home overnight for days at a time. I sure don't mind- likely they'll just hang through labor day weekend which was the original plan but he missed them. I've grandpup tonight too as daughter has an early Saturday shoot and there's a lot of construction so she's staying over tonight. The kids made plans together to see new Spiderman movie, invited me to join, but I volunteered for pet duty. How was your week?