Friday Fiscal Wellness Check, November 13, 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, November 6 to Thursday, November 12. I list things as they come up. 

Use it Up/Avoid Waste
  • Sent Leftover pizza home with my kids.
  • I had a cooking day on Tuesday and pretty much made  meals to last the rest of the week. 
Avoiding Spending/Saving on needs 
  • Grabbed two turkey, one for Thanksgiving and one to roast in the future when on special at Aldi this past week as part of their $39 Thanksgiving dinner at 99 cents a pound. They're rolling different items out different weeks, but the turkey is what I was most looking for a good price. I know they could go lower, but now it's done. 
  • Last year I overpaid and pickings were slim because I shopped late for the Christmas eve ham (sliced for sandwiches), so bought a spiral cut boneless at $2.99 a pound. Probably not the best price, but it's one more big item done.

Opportunities to add Funds/ Windfalls 

  • Entered receipts in Fetch and got back on MS Rewards. Here's a link if you'd like to check it out. MS Rewards I get points and you'd get Welcome bonus points. 
  • I did a survey worth $13, one of the better returns I've had in a long time.

 Non-Thrifty or Frugal Expenses

  •  Not yet but scheduled the winter maintenance and oil change on my car for later this morning. I budget car maintenance but still, I'm expecting to be shaking my head. I'll update next week on the damage. 

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.

  • My sisters day put cost a whopping $252, some shopping purchases due to positive peer pressure. As much as it was more expensive than planned, a couple things were gifts so would have spent that anyway, and a couple purchases I'll use for the holidays. The two big indulgences were a flannel jacket/coat length for myself and a $40 bottle of cranberry -pear balsamic vinegar. Trust me though, I've bought vinegars in this shop before and the taste on salads, chicken, and other recipes is worth the splurge. If you find yourself in Northfield or Red Wing Minnesota,  stop by  the Northfield Oil and Vinegar store.  
  • A lunch outing ate a lot of gas driving to Minneapolis and was at a pricey Cafe. The company of three former dear colleagues was worth every penny and minute.

      I've a quiet and probably no spend weekend ahead, after the car bill of course. I'll be recapping meals in a Sunday wrap up kind of post going forward, but suffice it to say, no eating out or other shopping is needed. How did you save or splurge this week?     

Comments

Post a Comment

If you comment anonymously, it'd be nice to have a name to go with the comment. It helps me string other people's comments and therefore their experiences together.

Popular posts from this blog

It's Worse Than I Imagined

      The shit show since January 20th has been a big reason for my reclusiveness the last few weeks. Let the comments fly. Create a crisis. Lie that you resolved it. Get your sycophants to suck it all up. Rinse. Repeat...for four F' ing years.  Oh, and let's shout, "but her emails" while a foreign oligarch is raiding our private personal data with his hoard of teenagers. Let's pardon January 6th criminals, several of which immediately committed additional crimes.  I said it was going to be my only political post election post but man, it's even worse than I could have imagined.
Read more

Home Found

Image
      N ow a big life update and another explanation for my blog absence. I toured a few homes with my son in mid April. He wanted me with as he's not really lived in Minnesota (before coming back) since he was 19 and he's never owned a home. After a winter of snow, a spring so far of cold, and rain, and employment opportunities that require flexibility, he shifted his search to low maintenance living.       He almost put an offer on a beautiful condo with all his buttons checked just across the main road from my neighborhood. He paused though, realizing he doesn't want to settle down in our town but rather move to one of the twin cities. I'm much less familiar with Minneapolis but aware areas he'd probably like were a tad out of his pric e point. I know St Paul pretty well so was of more help. We proceeded to tour a few condos in St. Paul. A great two bedroom, two bath, while needing updates, was a top contender. Still, something was missing though lo...
Read more

Testing the Waters

Image
        I've missed blogging. I blogged for nearly nine years in a previous iteration. It was a daily ritual during the long hiatus from regular life that the Covid pandemic created. Even as the world, my world, opened up again, the clicking away on my phone or computer keyboard, reading comments if something I said had any resonance, and reading and commenting on other blogs in return became my morning norm. Life sure is unpredictable. A year ago, just after Christmas, I had read of the tragic loss of my blogger friend's husband who passed away on Christmas morning, then read one of her readers lost her husband the same week. Never would I imagine just a few weeks later would I be joining that unasked for club, faced with my own widow story. But there it is. I've had to try and figure out life in this unplanned and foreign place. I'm not a young widow, having raised and launched three children, but at now 58, feel too young to be thought of in the same space as my 8...
Read more