I spent last weekend completely off social media, and 95% offline, including archiving my Women’s Personal Finance Facebook group from Friday afternoon to Monday morning (meaning the group was still “there” but frozen to new posts/comments/etc until I reopened it). I’ve been pretty overwhelmed lately, and the weekend felt like a really important reset, and one I plan to do more often.

So often I’m focused on what good I can do in the world externally that I don’t always pay attention to what I need and to recharge. I’ll tell others often enough that “you can’t pour from an empty cup,” but my cup was getting pretty darn empty.

Along those same lines, I decided at last minute not to publish a post this past Monday (some of you probably noticed). I’m a stickler for my schedules and my “obligations” (even if they’re self imposed), but I’ve lost the one to two Monday posts-ahead through this COVID time.

Since I wasn’t on the computer or much on the phone over the weekend, I decided I didn’t want to break that and write a post (or even edit the guest post I had waiting). For me, it was a big mental health positive, and I’m proud of myself for “skipping” a blog day with no advance warning or feeling the need to explain it out that day.

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Friday’s Frugal Five

1. My mother went through and cleaned out her closet again (a popular quarantine activity, it seems) and ended up with some more articles of clothing for me to go through. My favorite pair of black jeans – that are now more like a dark gray – are wearing out, and I was pretty bummed about it, so I was thrilled when the bag from her included a newer pair of very similar black jeans. Continuing my clothes buying ban is pretty easy during COVID/quarantine time, but I still do appreciate new options.

The kiddo also got a pair of hand me down flip flops from the neighbor down the street, which he’s just as excited for. He’s never owned a pair, and they’re his new favorite shoes for sure. 

2. The garden is starting to have more different plants ripen now, and we’ve started harvesting strawberries and the very first of the raspberries. The kiddo and I ended up picking strawberries and more rhubarb and made freezer jam with them, along with local cherries and an apple. He continues to get more and more involved in the kitchen, and I love it.

We’re picking snap peas and garlic scapes as well, and I sauteed some up with butter the other night and they were absolutely delicious. Really, the produce we buy from the grocery store is nothing like the home picked stuff.

3. Another neighbor was thinning some of her plants and sent me home with some of them. They actually aren’t edibles, but ornamentals. While I may not want to take any of the high-value area that gets the most sun for them, I think there are some places in the front yard that will work and bring a little more beauty to the yard for the sake of beauty. Though, to be honest, I find a tomato plant weighed down with ripe fruit pretty darn beautiful as well.

4. I filled up my gas tank for the second time since COVID began here back in February. I am driving a bit more than in April and May, but the reason I needed gas now was thanks to the day trip we took out to Leavenworth a couple weekends ago.

I’m hopeful that transit use becomes more normal again in the future, but I’m loving the transition to more walking. With a slower pace of life, we’ve had the time to take longer walks when we would have previously needed to drive. Two miles each way to certain businesses doesn’t seem as far now, and with bus use in the future, I hope I can keep my driving to a minimum.

5. We shopped at our local bookstore this past week since our county moved into Phase 1.5 and now allows retail stores to be open up to 15% capacity. We bought a present for a neighbor’s son who is now two years old, and we bought The Lorax for the kiddo.

I’m not sure how we had gone five years with a child without that book, but that’s been rectified now. It’s definitely an environmental classic, and buying it from a local bookstore makes it even better. (And I finally signed up as an affiliate for Bookshop, so book links now go to independent bookstores instead of Amazon)

Exercise Update

The kiddo fell asleep on the drive home from my parents’ house on Sunday, so I went back out and got myself on a half hour run right at dusk and got to see a coyote hanging out at the edge of the woods. I stopped at thirty minutes instead of thirty five of the previous week, and that seemed to be a better time frame for my heel. I’d love to get back to hour long runs, but I’m continuing to attempt to take it slow.

Otherwise, I didn’t do a great job in terms of exercise this past week. I walked about 12,000 – 17,000 steps each day, and did low key stretching every day instead of a more focused yoga video (other than Pokemon yoga one day and Minecraft yoga another thanks to the kiddo). Work and other volunteer work took up a ton of time, and my exercise slid compared to where I’d like it to have been. It’s time to pick it back up and do real yoga videos instead of low key poses myself, because it really isn’t the same.

Are you very good at paying attention to when you really need to take some time to yourself? What clues you in to that fact?