April 13 The household products I ordered from Grove arrive. Even though they are just cleaning products, I am excited to open the box. The free handsoap in “sunshower” scent – which one might say was the impetus for the whole purchase – is purfumey and cloying. I am maybe more sensitive to fragrance than average, so it’s a dealbreaker. I so often think that companies that bill themselves as sustainable or advertise natural products will go light on the fragrance – but not the case this time. Into the Goodwill box it goes.
April 14 Nate and I try a new place for breakfast and we are hooked. At The Hazel Room on Hawthorne, ($44.50) we arrive at 9:30 and are seated right away on the porch. The food is delicious and the coffee is rather good (better than our other regular breakfast spots) so we ask about it. It turns out, it is the same coffee now used by Jim & Patty’s on Fremont – one of our favorite old Portland coffee places. They still believe in the pre-barista era super dark roasts over the light and fruity brews so fashionable now. And, I realize with gratitude, it is the same coffee they provide at work. No wonder Work Coffee is so good!
I make Vegan Peanut Soup for dinner and even the 9 year-old eats it. It is really delicious.
April 15 I work at home and have leftover peanut stew for lunch with Nate.
April 16 I pack an extra-nutritious Mediterranean salad in my fancy new bowl, thinking about the 4 worn-out lunch containers I was able to let go. Still justifying the purchase in my head, I nevertheless feel virtuous and healthy.
April 17 Work lunch with Courtney. I drink lots of Work Coffee to try to stay focused on my budget presentations. It works!
April 18 I pack my lunch and drink Work Coffee.
April 19 I work from home – Nate and I go out to a local coffee shop and treat ourselves to lattes ($12). We have lunch at home.
April 20 Despite frequently going over my food budget, we still have much more money in the bank than usual. Now that I am not draining my bank account by regularly buying things, I am starting to notice how different I feel when I make purchases. I feel more confident. I don’t have to wonder if I can really afford things as much. So far this year we have paid over $8,200 to our 7 credit cards, and have paid off 3 of them off completely.
For the first time in ages, I arrange to have a house cleaner come in. I have never been the most fastidious of housekeepers – and I figured out that hiring a cleaner is actually a great motivator to tidy up and put things away. There’s a level of pre-cleaning that has to happen for them to be able to do their work (and so I don’t feel absolutely mortified at how cluttered things are). They clean our kitchen, our bathroom, my bedroom, and they help prep our guest suite for our incoming Airbnb guest. For 4 hours, it’s $300. They have raised their prices since last time and it feels like a lot, but it also feels worth it when my floors are clean, everything is put away in its place, and my back isn’t killing me because a wonderfully energetic 20 year old did it for me.
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