This Week...Beyond Money 12/21 - 12/27

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 have cilantro, lettuce and kale growing indoors. Nothing is harvest-size or even close to it yet, but it's growing. The kale in particular is looking good.

Cooking/Groceries:
* I made homemade mac n cheese. So much better than anything from a box.
* Trucker brought home a couple of small pizzas from his job. Since they would be closed on Christmas, at the end of the day on Christmas Eve, they told everyone to make some pizzas to take home. He brought home the raw pizzas. We used them for lunch on two different days.
* I roasted and ground all of the dandelion root "coffee". It's amazing how little a year's harvest ends up being. So labor intensive, but so good that I never stop doing it.

Fun:
* Since I'm on break from work, a lot of the week revolved around having fun with friends since I rarely get to hang out when working 13 hour days.
My friend took me out for lunch one day. It was perfect getting to spend a couple hours catching up with one of my closest friends.
* Another good friend and I went out for coffee and crocheting one evening.
* I went thrifting with a couple of friends on Christmas Eve. One of my favorite stores was having a half off sale. I ruthlessly "unshopped" while we waited in line, so I didn't spend too much. We had a lot of fun.
* Trucker and I did our regular coffee date, $3.18.
* We went to a discount theater to watch a movie with our favorite actor. It was $4.50 total. We didn't buy snacks or drinks.

Nature:
* We went for a walk at a local metro park. We went for a 1.8 mile loop.
* Another day we did a 2 mile hike at a different park.

Preparation:
* Trucker put plastic up to some of the windows to keep our drafts this winter. We are still having 60+ degree days, but soon it will get cold.

Waste Reduction:
* I used the last little bit of a bottle of shower gel as bubble bath.

Work:
* The first half of the week was optional, and work is closed through the end of the year. I worked 1 1/2 days this week.
* Trucker ate for free at his job. I packed lunch one day I worked; I did buy a lunch one day for $2.50.

Future:
* We cleared out all of the Christmas items from the booth. We are planning on redoing the entire booth next week.
* Trucker got a few more articles published. So proud.

Health:
* I ran three days.
* We went for a 1.8 mile hike one day and a 1.9 mile hike another.


 How was your week?