Hi everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend. It was a pretty slow weekend for me. Just cleaning up around the house and trying to relax.
I wanted to give all of you an update on my Reconnecting with Family post that I made back in January. I CALLED MY AUNT ON SATURDAY! I’ve been debating about this forever and would call and then hang up just because I was nervous. She told me that she’s been doing the same and that she was really glad that I called.
We played phone tag a couple more times after the first time I called because she couldn’t talk for much the first time. But on Sunday we talked for nearly an hour. It was great. It was nice talking to her. We didn’t really talk about my dad at all. She would chime in every now and then and would say that he would be proud of me, but then every couple of minutes she would say that she wished she could talk about my dad but that she didn’t want to turn it into a depressing phone call. I’m still not really ready to talk about him without getting upset, so I am fine with that. Anyway, it was nice talking to her and I’m glad that I finally called.
I did ask about my grandfather and was about to ask for his phone number so that I could call him, but she said he had passed away. They weren’t close so she didn’t say much about it, and I didn’t really want to ask. I wish I would have reconnected earlier of course, and will just have to live with this regret. I spent every summer with my grandfather when I was younger, and we visited all the time, so I am sad… I wish I could say more, but it’s hard to type this so I’m just going to completely switch the subject.
So, I recalculated everything with my student loans and expected payoff, and I decided to wait until May (next month) to pay off my student loans. I really don’t want to empty everything out of our emergency fund just to pay off my student loans early, so I decided to wait until next month. I know, I know, PF FAIL especially since it seems like we have been spending a crazy amount on everything. Oh well oh well I failed you all 😛
Spending
We didn’t really do too much shopping this past week. We did go to Lowes and buy some things for the house (spent $300 on plants and a fire pit, AH!) but luckily we have a gift card that covered all of it and still have a lot more left on the gift card thankfully!. There are still a lot of other things for the house that we need to buy, and we will get to all of that eventually.
Extra Income (does not include income from our main jobs)
Extra income went back up last week and it was a good week. I’m still working on increasing affiliate income, and I’m currently try to think of new ways to increase it. I’m also looking to diversify my income even more. What to you do to diversify? What about passive income? I want to get more into passive income. HELP!
Also, Lance is looking for a potential staff writer for his blog. I know that a ton of you are always seeing if I know of any opportunities, so here you go. Email him!
Food – Clean Eating!
We are doing AWESOME with our food spending this past week. We hardly ate out (I honestly can’t think of anything major), and we made really good meals every night. I started following a lot of “healthy eating” and “clean eating” people on Instagram and have been using their recipes for our meals every night. One of my favorite healthy Instagramers is FITalacious. She makes super cheap meals that actually taste pretty good. Have you ever heard of her? Who do you love on Instagram?
Our menu plan for next week includes a lot of grilled salmon, grilled chicken, brown rice, vegetables, peppers and so on. Usually we eat pretty unhealthy every night. Everything would be doused in dressing, cheese, sugar, butter or something else. Surprisingly, we have been eating everything more “clean,” which means that we’re not really adding anything to our food besides lemon. We’re both really working on eating more healthy and “clean” foods. We’ve also been enjoying the food more this way, I guess that’s just what happens when you eat extremely unhealthy for so long – you just start craving more healthy food! What’s on your meal plan? Share any links, recipes, pictures and so on in the comments below.
Being healthy
I’m doing AWESOME with this. Look above 🙂 I’ve also been doing a lot better with running. Haven’t used the treadmill too much lately. I feel bad running inside the house because my dog just sits at the end of the treadmill and makes me feel guilty for not running with her… So instead I’ve just been running outside with her.
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Thank you Jake.
Congrats on the extra income and reconnecting with your aunt. That must be really hard, but sounds like it was a good thing. Thanks so much for including me this week.
Thanks Kim! And yes it was wooooooonderful talking to her 🙂
Sorry about your grandfather, try not to live with regrets, I know it is easier said than done but it will only weight on you and there is nothing you can change. Now you reconnected with your aunt so you can make up for the past years and enjoy that relationship!
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Thanks Pauline. 🙂
We spent way more than you this week! We're doing substantial remodeling, so my Lowe's costs are up to $400. Plus, I have a baby coming in the next few weeks, so I had to actually get baby supplies–diapers and wipes ($15), a car seat ($100), and clothes ($130). We've got everything else, thankfully.
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We need to do a lot more remodeling as well, booo!
Thanks Anna. And yes there were divorced. They were VERY different people.
You are still rocking it, awesome! I haven't been doing as well on my healthy eating lately, but I think it is time to get back on the horse!
Thanks!
Thanks Justin! I am definitely working hard on my extra income 🙂
My recent post Clean Eating and $1,910 in Extra Income
Good for you sounds like you are well on track to reaching all your life's goals! Eating healthy and saving money from not eating is a great achievement. Well done.
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Thanks! I want to say that you are a big inspiration! I love all the recipes that are posted on your blog and on your Facebook 🙂
My recent post Clean Eating and $1,910 in Extra Income
I am glad you were able to talk to your aunt. That must have been something. Looks like you are still killing it on the ad income. Good show!
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Thanks!
My recent post Clean Eating and $1,910 in Extra Income
Reconnecting with family can be really hard. Glad to hear that you put yourself "out there". Clean eating sounds so interesting. I'd be interested in giving it a try to health's sake.
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