Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Ours was busy and went by way too fast.
We spent the weekend celebrating a close friend’s wedding and enjoyed time with good company. Fortunately, it was a relatively inexpensive weekend, which was a nice bonus.
We looked at more houses online, but still haven’t found anything we like. That’s fine for now—we’re not 100% ready to buy yet, so I’m relieved nothing appealed to us.
In case you noticed, I temporarily deactivated my blog’s Pinterest profile a few days ago. I had a small panic when I realized I’d been replying to a friend’s pins using my blog account instead of my personal one. That friend knows I blog, but she doesn’t know the blog’s name. She’s someone very close to me, so I was worried she might discover the blog since the link appears on my blog’s Pinterest profile. I deleted the comments I’d left and plan to reactivate the account this week—I’m just hoping she doesn’t come across it. As you can tell, I’m still not quite ready for my friends to read everything I write. Blogging still feels very personal, and sometimes I wish I weren’t so anonymous.
Spending
We did spend a little this weekend, but not too much. I spent about $70 on clothing at the store, though I plan to return some items I didn’t like after trying them on again at home.
We also bought a curl bar and weight plates for it, which came to $86. Thankfully we had $30 in rewards, otherwise the total would have exceeded $100. Still, fitness equipment is surprisingly expensive.
Extra Income (does not include salary from our jobs)
Last week I received about $1,121 in payments. I expect the final week of the month to be strong as I typically earn payments for several assignments during that time.
Affiliate income is doing well, and I’m glad I started focusing on it. I have bigger plans to grow this stream and hope it continues to increase. A recent change in PageRank for some sites motivated me to work harder on this. How are you doing with affiliate income? Are you actively trying to grow it?
A friend came into town and we discussed a future business plan. We’re doing extensive research first. My current job involves researching companies and industries, so I have access to reliable resources and know where to look, which helps speed up the process. I initially misremembered a site my friend mentioned—I thought it worked like peer-to-peer lending for entrepreneurs, but that was a misunderstanding.
Food
We put together a meal plan for the week and I found several appealing recipes I’m excited to try. I bought enough groceries to last about two weeks; our fridge and pantry are packed. I’m hopeful we’ll use most of it instead of letting things go to waste like we sometimes do.
We’ve been good about eating at home lately. We ate out this past weekend but kept it inexpensive. How is your food budget going? If you shared recipes recently, please leave a link or post in the comments—I’d love to add them to future meal plans.
Wedding
I haven’t made new wedding plans recently. With so many other things happening, I’m not worrying about it right now. I’d rather plan it when I have time to enjoy the process and be fully present. Many people have asked why we’re waiting so long to get married. For us, marriage wouldn’t change much in day-to-day life besides the legal status—we’re already open and committed. Still, I’m excited to plan a fun celebration with the people we love. I’ve felt like part of W’s family from the beginning and I’m grateful to be included in such a wonderful family.
Some of you have asked to see our engagement photos—I will share them. Look for those pictures in May; I think they’ll be lovely.
Being healthy
This is probably my favorite section of these weekly updates. I’ve been doing well with fitness lately. Having a treadmill in the basement helps; I try to squeeze in a mile when I have spare moments—between writing posts, while dinner cooks, and sometimes after work.
We also stocked up on fruits and vegetables and deliberately skipped buying snacks. Our focus right now is on eating cleaner and getting healthier. My goal is to lose about five pounds and build more overall tone. I need to commit to a consistent workout routine and a cleaner eating plan.