This Week...Beyond Money 6/15 - 6/21

For me, a life beyond money is making choices so that you can live the best possible life, regardless of your income level. Obviously, you have to make a living, but there are many ways to improve your quality of life without increasing your income levels and correspondingly your expenses. This regular post will be some of the ways that we improve our quality of life beyond just trying to make more money.

Gardening:
* I weeded the garden bed in the rain one day. Why have I not been doing this all along? All I had to do was grab the entire above-ground part of the plant and give a gentle tug and the entire root system came up. I got two whole beds weeded in about 15 minutes (these were pretty bad too).
* Fed the bunnies weeds.
* Harvested about 8 cups of greens from various beds in the garden.
* Harvested another ten garlic scapes.
* Harvested 10 small, but worthwhile radishes. This is the first year that they have reliably bulbed up. They are small, but I'm thrilled. I think it's all the ash and coffee grounds we've been working in.
* Planted more radishes in the empty spaces in the garden.

Trucker's first time having Bojangles. Yes, I'm aware of how
bad this is. It is also very good. And rare.

Cooking/Groceries:
* My grocery spending was $24 for the week; $10 at Kroger, $14 at Aldi. Milk was on clearance for $.99. I got a bag of 10 clementines for $.99 at Kroger's manager's special cart. I bought two bags of tortilla chips ($1.19 each) in prep for making taco dip later this week. $.99/8 oz container of grape tomatoes. $.99/celery. I spent $2 on a dozen eggs which I found outrageous. As egg prices increase, I may just plan ahead and buy them for $2.50-3.00/dozen from backyard chicken keepers out by my parents' house. The one splurge was two packages of cinnamon rolls from the bakery. My uncle drove out to fix our car for us when we couldn't get it to him. We wanted to say "Thank you" with a little something sweet. Cinnamon roll 4-packs were BOGO from the bakery, so I grabbed Trucker a little treat as well.
* Took out the 2 lb pork shoulder from the freezer and made BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. I seared the shoulder on the stovetop until nice and brown, then tossed into the slow cooker on high for 4 hours. The meat was easily shredded and I added BBQ sauce, jalapenos, onions and garlic. I saved some of the shredded meat for other meals.
* I made grown-up slushies one evening. Packet of Kool-aid, some sugar and a cup of hot water. Dissolve sugar and kool-aid and then let cool. Blend with ice cubes and vodka until slushy.
* For snacks, we had popcorn. I made plain popcorn for Trucker and caramel corn for me.
* We made layered taco dip. We used two cans of refried beans, the last little bit of homemade sour cream, the rest of the pulled pork (unseasoned), the last bit of some jalapeno sour cream dip, loads of lettuce from the garden, pickled peppers, grape tomatoes, black olives, a little cheddar cheese, garlic scapes (since I had a surplus of those, but didn't have any bulb onions to add). We nibble on it for a few days, then the leftovers get mixed

Food Preservation:
* I frozen another pound of mulberries for winter. I freeze them loose on a cookie sheet, then dump them into a large freezer bag. This way, I'll be able to remove just what I need instead of having a huge clump of berries.

Fun:

David Ramirez

* We went on one cheap coffee date.
* We took a spur of the moment, wild adventure. We found out that a musician we both love was going to be playing two states away (6 hours each way). We decided to go for it. We packed snacks, thermos and travel mugs of coffee, and lots of CDs. We headed out at 6 in the morning. We took lots of photos along the way, talked and sang with the radio. We stopped in an adorable little town and checked out a thrift store (I bought a pair of really nice shorts for $4 from the clearance rack. I only have one pair of shorts that still fits) and a book store (the bargain basement had $.50 hardcovers and $.25 paperbacks; I bought 2 cookbooks and 2 science books, one of which was on my wishlist). We got to the city and visited a couple thrift stores. We didn't get much, as the prices were much higher than any in our city. We walked around a fun neighborhood and talked then went to the concert. It was a free concert at a cute little bar. I found out that they had happy hour specials leading up to the concert so we made sure we got there at the end of Happy Hour so we could save a bit. I got a $4 whisky sour and Trucker got the BOGO craft beers (they let him have his second later in the evening), so it was $9+ tip. We did make sure to get some good, regional food ($13; by good, I mean Bojangles). All told, the entire trip, minus purchases for resale, cost $75. We had a blast. I love to travel, and day-trips are a great way to satisfy my wanderlust without huge cost.

Nature:
* I've been running in the rain a lot. Nothing feels better than rainy day runs.

Frugality:
* My uncle fixed our car (details below) instead of taking it to a shop: $45 instead of hundreds.

Waste Reduction:
* Made stock from pork bones and corn cobs I'd had in the freezer.
* When I was on a walk one day, I found a wood pile where someone had throw a disassembled porch swing away. I found several pieces that I liked, so I carried them home. I'll use them to make jewelry boards for the bedroom. They were all chipped up with red and yellow paint which will work perfectly with the muted olive color in the bedroom.

Work:
* I worked overtime each day I worked, for a total of 1.25 hours.
* I packed my lunch each day.
* Trucker brought home day-old baked goods.

Future:
* Went picking a few days. Slow pickings lately.
* Listed more items on the store. Getting traffic, but slower this week.

Health:
* Continue to focus on getting enough water every day.
* I run most days. Every day I go for a walk, at least a short one, but usually a few a day. One day I walked 3.5 miles to go to the library. I carried a load of wood home halfway.

Setbacks:
* My water kefir died. Family concerns kept me occupied for a couple of weeks and I completely forgot about it. I tried to revive it to no avail.

Community:
* My uncle came out to fix the car since we couldn't get it to him. When we told him what was wrong with it, he knew we couldn't get it out to him so he immediately decided to come out to us. He said he had to take care of family. He and his girlfriend came out and we had a few beers while he worked on the car. It only took him a little while to fix. He charged us $30, but we gave him $40. I also sent him home with a 4-pack of cinnamon rolls and a big jar of apple chips.
* While I was out in the front garden, a neighbor and her son stopped by to introduce themselves and ask about my garden. We sat and talked for awhile. They were lovely. She used to garden, but doesn't anymore. She invited me over for coffee. I'll make sure to bring her some salad fixins from the garden. There are several people on the block I want to share produce with, so I may need to plant some more lettuce!

How was your week?