Away From The Madding Crowd

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Motivational quote of the week.

Dance like no one is watching – part of a quote by Mark Twain.

Money saving.

Our monthly grocery budget for me and my DH is £250.  Week 3 spend for February was £61.11.  February’s total to date is £188.88.

Took advantage on some offers in Bo0ts on L!z E@rle skincare products.  I saved £10 on a moisturiser, bought a cleanser, and received an extra £3 worth of Adv@ntage points, plus a free cleanse and polish starter kit.  I also had a double points offer via my app.  Postage is free for orders over £25. 

£9 made via my side hustle (crafting) which has been added to the Christmas/Birthday account.

I have a loyalty card for the hairdressers and had enough ‘stamps’ for a £10 discount.

This week’s main menu.

Monday – Eating out whilst visiting family.

Tuesday – Homemade wild garlic pesto and goats cheese pizza.  Pesto is homemade and from the freezer (only 1 left now...thank goodness it is almost wild garlic season).

Wednesday – Beef and vegetable stew with horseradish dumplings (slow cooker recipe book).  Aberdeen angus shin beef was reduced in price and frozen until required.  A great way to use us seasonal root veg.

Thursday – Leek and potato soup (N!gel Sl@ter recipe) with a hunk of homemade sourdough.  I will use homemade chicken stock from the freezer and the leeks are from the garden (not the best this year, but still tasty).  Soup will be cooked in the slow cooker.

Friday – Macaroni cheese surprise (Brit!sh He@rt F0undation recipe).  To utilise the oven, I will bake a sourdough loaf.

Saturday –  Pork and pineapple curry with a small portion of brown rice (slow cooker recipe book).  The pork was reduced in price and frozen until required.

Sunday  - Breaded haddock, a small portion of oven chips, peas, sweetcorn, and homemade tartare sauce.  Haddock was reduced in price and frozen until required. 

Healthier lifestyle.

Last weeks step count was 58,213.

Completed 5 free meditations last week.

Completed 1 free online workout last week.

An interesting article in the news recently that stated dancing in your kitchen for 20 minutes each day could be enough to give you your recommended weekly exercise. This was the conclusion of a recent study that investigated the cardiovascular benefits of what scientists termed ‘solo freeform dancing.’  Apparently, all the adults that participated were able to reach a health-enhancing level of activity without being told what intensity to dance at.  They just put on their own music and danced in five-minute bursts.

With guidelines recommending 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a week, the findings published in the PL0S One, suggest that four of those five-minute bursts were enough to constitute a good day’s exercise.

Simple pleasures.

A winter picnic, a flask of hot chocolate and a long walk with DH. Despite the cold weather, it was lovely to be outside and to see signs of Spring.

I saw another barn owl hunting, but in a different area to the one I saw last week. Equally as magical.

Saw my first new-born lambs of the year. 

Whilst decluttering the DVD’s this week, I found one that we had not watched and forgotten that we had.  Whilst watching the film at the weekend, DH and I also managed to declutter a bottle of mulled wine that was left over from Christmas. 

Thank you for dropping by and taking the time to read my diary.

mark55man

Great update -  I am decluttering my drinks cabinet too - some through onward gifting  and some one sip at a time

Willow1983

Just to confirm eBay do pay into bank accounts and also no selling fees for cloths anymore so you keep all the proceeds £££

Humboldt

@mark55man I thought for a moment that you were going to tell us how much you enjoy dancing around your kitchen (see my latest post,  'Healthy lifestyle' section lol).

Hi @Willow1983 thanks for taking the time to comment.  Having not sold on Eb@y for a long time, I think that I now need to do a bit more research into recent changes, in particular the new policy regarding the buyer protection fee.  There is a lot of negativity about the new fee, but as highlighted by yourself, it is now free to sell, so maybe this balances things out.  It looks like V!nted have been a bit more savvy by showing costs upfront, perhaps Eb@y may recognise this and in time make the necessary adjustments.  When Eb@y stopped paying into P@y Pal I opened a bank account specifically for this purpose, so that's done.  Conclusion - I need to stop overthinking this and just try either and see how I get on.

Today's simple pleasure - a few phone calls made this morning will result in a reduction on some outgoings.  

mark55man

Dancing sometimes happens after a particularly strenuous decluttering of the cabinet - but generally I try and avoid it on account of having 2 left feet. even when they are not tipsy they are topsy

louby40

Willow1983 said:

Just to confirm eBay do pay into bank accounts and also no selling fees for cloths anymore so you keep all the proceeds £££

Thanks for this. I don't use eBay much anymore so I'll need to change my settings.

Humboldt

mark55man said:

Dancing sometimes happens after a particularly strenuous decluttering of the cabinet - but generally I try and avoid it on account of having 2 left feet. even when they are not tipsy they are topsy

Hi @mark55man your response did make me smile :0)

Humboldt

louby40 said:

Willow1983 said:

Just to confirm eBay do pay into bank accounts and also no selling fees for cloths anymore so you keep all the proceeds £££

Thanks for this. I don't use eBay much anymore so I'll need to change my settings.

Hi @louby40 if you only use your PayP@l account for Eb@y, I think that they charge an inactivity fee to maintain inactive accounts.  I closed my PayP@l account when I stopped using it for Eb@y.  

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Motivational quote of the week.

Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving – Warren Buffett.

Money saving.

Our monthly grocery budget for me and my DH is £250.  Week 4 spend for February was £73.44.  February’s total was £262.32 (£12.32 over budget).

The £13.85 gained from selling a few CDs to W0rld of B0oks has now been paid into our Birthday/Christmas account.  I had no issues and it took 9 days for the whole process to be completed. 

Interest on savings accounts for February was £166.46.

Took the decision to fix our energy plan, resulting in an estimated monthly payment of £88.53 (based on current usage), but more importantly it avoids any increases.  Should energy prices decrease and a lower priced plan become available with the same provider, we can transfer with no exit costs.

After much haggling, I was able to reduce the renewal cost of an insurance by £65.19.

This week’s main menu.

Monday – Slow cooker Moroccan lamb stew (Go0d Fo0d Healthy slow cooker recipe) with whole-wheat couscous.  Lamb was reduced in price and frozen until required. Mint was also reduced in price. I will add a large handful of fresh spinach, some diced sweet potato and carrot, plus some chopped dried apricots.

Tuesday – Spicy Autumn chicken (from one of my recipe scrap books) with naan bread. An easy, economical, tasty recipe that I will share below:

Cut 2 onions into wedges, 450g butternut squash peeled and cut into chunks.  Skin 4 chicken thighs (you can bone and cut into chunks if you prefer). Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large pan and fry the chicken for 2-3 minutes until browned. Remove and set aside, drain off any excess liquid. Add 1 tbsp oil to the pan and fry the onion for 4-5 minutes until golden.  Return the chicken to the pan, stir in 3 tbsp curry paste (you could use relevant spices if you prefer) and cook briefly.  Tip in 400g chopped tomatoes, then half fill the can with water.  Pour into the pan and add the butternut squash.  Cover the pan and leave to simmer over a gentle heat for 20 minutes until the squash is tender.  Add 400g can chickpeas and heat through for 2-3 minutes, season to taste with salt.  Serve with warmed naan bread.  Makes enough for 3-4 persons.  If we are going out for the day, I will cook this in the slow cooker (just reduce the liquid a little).

Wednesday – Summer paella (from one of my recipe scrap books).  I will use the half bag of prawns and 2 chicken thighs that I have in the freezer. The leftover chorizo will be used in another recipe. I will also add a large handful of fresh spinach. Shame it does not come with sunshine, a view of the sea and a glass of sangria.

Thursday – Pasta e Fagioli (from one of my recipe scrap books).  I will use homemade chicken stock from the freezer to make this simple Italian soup. Celery was reduced in price.

Friday – Cottage pie (H@iry D!eters recipe), with lightly steamed cabbage.  Beef mince was reduced in priced and frozen until required. I will add a tin of green lentils to the minced beef and top with mashed swede and carrots from the freezer.  To utilise the oven, I will bake a sourdough loaf.

Saturday – Ping meal – cook once, eat twice (saves on time and energy costs).

Sunday – Slow cooker smoky fish soup (P0N recipe). Smoked haddock was reduced in price and frozen until required.  Rather than add kale, I will use the last of the fresh spinach (it lasts longer if you do not buy it pre-washed, and put a sheet of kitchen roll in the packet with it).

Healthier lifestyle.

Last week’s step count was 42,854.

Completed 4 free meditations last week.

Completed 0 free online workouts last week.

Simple pleasures.

Decluttered our DVD collection, but were not offered enough to trade.  W0rld of Bo0ks loss was Oxf@m’s gain.  

At long last, I have made a start on redecorating.  The smallest room in the house has now been painted.

DH cut the lawns for the first time this year and the garden looks better as a result. 

Thank you for dropping by and taking the time to read my diary.

Savvy_Sue

Humboldt said:

This week’s main menu.

I've been meaning to ask for some time Humboldt, do you ENJOY all this prepping and cooking? And how long does it take you? 

Only I do NOT enjoy cooking, and TBH I read so many recipes and think "well I wouldn't want THAT ingredient in, and it would take me forever to prep all those other things, so let's head back to the jacket potatoes / a chicken casserole / crustless quiche / tuna pasta". All of which are quick and easy to prep, and variable depending on what veg I have on hand. 

Not to mention that I am not at home most mornings, and DH needs to eat his main meal at lunchtime or his digestion plays up. 

I get a veg box delivered every other week to make me cook at least some days, and I'm feeling semi-virtuous because I roasted a whole load on Saturday and we've got about half of it left still. Today it was a variant on Spanish omelette - some chopped breast of chicken from the freezer, a potato on the point of leaving home, fresh (!) onions, and pre-cooked aubergine, carrot and parsnip. But we won't be home for lunch tomorrow (fortunately the local community cafe does an excellent line in jacket potatoes and paninis), and I won't be in on Wednesday, so it will be Thursday before we actually NEED food here.