This Week...Beyond Money 2/1 - 2/7

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 harvested 1 1/2 cups of greens from the garden.

Cooking/Groceries:
* We made chicken tortellini one evening for dinner. We used up a bag of tortellini from the salvage grocer, some cheddar cheese powder, onions, garlic, and leftover chicken.
* I found eggs on sale for $.99/dozen. I bought 6 dozen.
* I made quiche one day. I used a container of leftover ham from the freezer, caramelized onions, some leftover mixed greens, and the last of a bag of cheddar cheese.
* I tried something different for our snack. I made chocolate chip cookie dough pop tarts based on the recipe for cookie dough hand pies from the Magpie cookbook. They were fantastic. Trucker loves cookie dough ice cream, so I was excited to surprise him with these. I'll definitely put them into the rotation.

Fun:
* Dad took me out for dinner one evening. We went to a pizza buffet and ordered water. He used a BOGO coupon from the coupon book they buy every year for their county. Total cost: $7.
* We went on a couple coffee dates using our travel mugs, $3.18.
* I went to my grandpa's house one evening to catch up.
* We took a long walk in a fancy neighborhood one nice afternoon.

Nature:
* We went on a lovely hike at a state nature preserve. It was a gorgeous day for February, in the mid 60s and there had been no rain for awhile, so it wasn't soggy. This was one of the nicest places I've hiked in the state. I've shared some of my favorite photos, but it was hard to narrow it down!


Frugality:
* I took a box of books, magazines, DVDs and CDs to Half Price Books. While they don't pay a lot, it was good to clear out some space. The money will go into savings for
travelling to visit family.
* I spent an evening cleaning out the spare room. We will be using it for something else.

Waste Reduction:
* I had a towel that had torn. Rather than throw it away after I bought new towels a couple months ago, I put it in the scrap bag.This week I pulled it out of the bag and cut it into 12 squares. I sewed the raw edges on three of them. These will be used for rags. We use a lot of rags for cleaning items to sell at the booth and around the house/garden/cars. I don't use paper towels at all. When they start to get really rough, I'll use them for cleaning a really gross mess and just throw them away without guilt since they've been used scores of times already.


Work:
* I worked 2 days at my regular part time job.
* Trucker ate for free each day he worked. I brought food from home each day I worked.

Health:
* We went on a really good hike one day. It was 3 miles, but steep so we got a good workout in.
* We went on a few walks around the neighborhood.
* I've been better about eating less lately. I also drink mostly calorie-free or almost calorie-free beverages: water, coffee, hot tea.

Community:
* More exciting things on the horizon. It's a delicate situation right now, but I'm excited to share it with you all just as soon as I can!

How was your week?