It’s been a good month now since I’ve been fully vaccinated, and it’s starting to really sink in. Until the kiddo is able to get his shots, I won’t totally relax, but it’s such a different place to be these days.

Honestly, I have a hard time wrapping my brain around anti-vaxxers and the vaccine hesitant. Because for real, the COVID vaccine feels like a miracle.

Friday’s Frugal Five

1. Speaking of being fully vaccinated, so is our whole extended family (except for the kiddo as he’s the only one locally under the age of 21). It is such a relief to know the people close to me are protected.

And with those vaccinations, we were able to all meet up for an afternoon garden party over the weekend. It was definitely weird gathering after needing to be so careful for so long, but it was lovely. And hugs. How I’ve missed hugs.

For those of you outside of the United States still waiting on vaccines, I am so, so sorry. We are squandering it here, in a big way, and it’s unfair.

2. My husband got a small raise at work! Thanks to working in an industry impacted by Covid, we’ve been on hold when it comes to raises while we wait out the storm, so a little uptick feels like a lot.

We don’t need the money though, even with us both working reduced hours, so that money will go toward long term savings goals. We live comfortably now, so any raises go toward growing the gap between our savings and our expenses. (With a little bit occasionally used for fun, of course)

3. Now that we’re almost to June and warmer almost-summer weather (ignoring the hailstorm I got caught in last week), I’ve turned my attention to my summer garden crops.

Tomatoes and peppers and eggplants are pretty much the only things I buy as starts these days instead of from seed, and two trips to Sky Nursery saw me full up on plants.

I was able to find the time to plant them all in the garden, even if I had to clearly plan out where I had space. I now have cucumbers, squash, beans, carrots, etc either sprouted or prepped for planting as well. I may forever want to expand my garden, but we have a pretty decent one these days, especially for a suburban-sized quarter acre lot.

4. My weekday off, thanks to my reduced schedule, tends to only be about 80-90% off of work, with a meeting or two most days. This Thursday though, I actually had a FULL day free of commitments and it was awesome.

An IRL friend who is also on the FIRE path, is currently on a three month sabbatical, so he had the day free as well (and is also fully vaccinated). After breakfast and school work, the kiddo and I went over to their place for lunch and to hang out for a while. It was totally lovely to have a weekday without obligations to do what I pleased (though it still included work on WPF). I don’t want to quit my day job, but not working it five days a week sure makes for a better deal.

5. On Monday, I recorded an hour long class on Zoom on IRAs (what they are, how to set one up with Vanguard, and details on what investment options might be a good plan). We recorded the event, so those who couldn’t make it live could download and watch it later. (If you’re interested, sign up for the Women’s Personal Finance email list and you’ll get the recording emailed to you next week)

Women’s Personal Finance, expanded to a business in the last three months and beyond simply a Facebook group, has been so much fun. Now that we’re doing more intentional work, we’re able to do so much more than simply what can happen on social media I am so dang lucky to have such a wonderful partner in Regina. Just the other day, we had another long virtual chat going through details, and I looked up and realized an hour had gone by.

The work we’re doing does my heart good – so many women have opened retirement accounts just this week thanks to my class! Clearly, this money nerd loves a passion project all about finances. But also: in the first three months since we launched WPF, we are now a five figure business. Getting to help women and pay women feels pretty dang awesome.

PS – if you were interested in joining the WPF Insiders Club, we are opening up our next cohort within the week! The email list will let you know when it’s open – only until filled!

Exercise Update

Friday was a half hour on the elliptical. I was just going to do twenty minutes because of the mom guilt driving me to head home, but I convinced myself that taking the extra time for me was worth doing. Saturday I took the kiddo to the gym with me, and I did a full workout (elliptical, weights, stretching).

Monday was a short time on the elliptical and a long walk. Tuesday was two hours of walking while on work phone calls. Wednesday was more long walks and a twenty minute run.

Thursday I actually got to meet up with my fellow planning commissioners for a happy hour / hang out in person, and I walked from our house down to the restaurant we met up at in downtown Kirkland (~2 hours).

Have your days changed with vaccination status?