This Week...Beyond Money 8/22 - 8/28

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:
* The scallions in water got some kind of worm in them. Into the compost they went.
* I harvested peppers, okra and basil from the garden.

Cooking/Groceries:
* We made pulled pork tacos with tomatoes (farm seconds), lettuce (farm seconds), onions (farm seconds), peppers (farm seconds), sour cream (sale), and hot sauce (salvage grocery).
* I found popcorn at the dollar store, $1/20 oz bag. We usually buy when we find it on sale for $1//lb or less. I bought 5 bags.
* I made a quick, easy dinner of pasta and veggies one evening. I sauteed 4 sweet peppers, 3 mini eggplant, 1/2 an onion and 4 cloves of garlic (all free from farm seconds). I made a sauce of beef stock, greek yogurt for creaminess, some peppadew mustard and cheese (sounds weird, but it was nice). Served with pasta from the salvage grocer. It was filling and got lots of veggies in us.
* My water kefir is doing good. We finally got a batch that tastes good (it takes a bit for it to get settled after shipping). I used raspberry lemonade concentrate with the kefir. It was lovely.

Food Preservation:
* I chopped more sweet peppers and froze them, loads and loads of peppers.
* I made a small batch of tomato sauce and froze in meal-sized portions.
* I cooked down 4 bunches of Swiss Chard and froze them.
* I froze more caramelized onions.
* I froze a few bunches of leeks.

Fun:
* We went on a couple coffee dates. Trucker got a free bagel one day using his rewards card.
* We went out to see the movie we skipped last week. Trucker got a BOGO coupon for the local independent theatre for completing the library's summer reading program (I misplaced my sheet until after the deadline). We went in the evening, so we did pay more than a matinee, but it was $10 total and the viewing was in a smaller, nice theatre room with big comfy recliners.
* We had a nice stay-at-home date. We popped popcorn and played Sorry. It was a lovely evening.

Nature:
* We went out on a few hikes. On our day off together (unexpected, but very appreciated!), we went for a longer hike in the foothills. We went to this forest preserve for the first time this past winter. It is so gorgeous! This time in addition to doing the rim loop, we also walked into the hollow to the waterfall. It was so pretty.
* On one hike, Trucker spent most of the time hunting butterflies (shooting only with his camera...hehe).

Frugality:
* I forgot to mention that Trucker got me a chainsaw at auction for $40. Now to tackle that treeline!
* I paid an extra payment and a half on my car.
* I made an extra payment on the last credit card.

Waste Reduction:
* I composted lots of things.

Work:
* I had my first week of a long Tuesday, short Wednesday shift. It was so wonderful to get out of work at noon and have time for a long evening with Trucker.
* I brought home eggplant, tomatoes, leeks, beets, Swiss chard, onions, and peppers from work (free seconds).
* Trucker worked two days at the auction house. His boss sent him home with some drink powder.
* Trucker brings breakfast on Sundays to his job. He had been stopping for Tim Hortons donuts, but since the cost was adding up and 3 of the 4 people were trying to watch their sweets intake, he decided to switch. Now he goes to the grocery store and looks for discount-rack items the night before. He saves about $3 doing this and they all get something a little less sugary.

Preparedness:
* I put up a good amount of food this week.

Future:
* Trucker had his first audition through this agent. We are waiting to hear back!
* Then he got another audition!

Health:
* We have both been taking our multivitamin each day. We are also drinking more water. I've taken to guzzling a half a bottle whenever I go processing area at the farm, or whenever I finish a task. I'm trying to get in the habit of drinking adequate water. A couple of health issues that Trucker is facing can be caused by dehydration (or electrolyte imbalance from being dehydrated), so we are hoping that if we are better on those points he will improve.

Community:
* Someone at the farmers market gave me a free lemonade from his booth since it was so hot.

How was your week?