Away From The Madding Crowd

jwil

Enjoy your diary break.  Hope you have a lovely Christmas and New Year

Willow1983

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you Humboldt.  Enjoy your diary break but don’t stay away too long your posts will be missed. Willow x

uralmaid

@Humboldt - wishing you all the best for 2026. Enjoy everything you have planned.x P.S. Chocolat is one of my favourite re-reads too.

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Hope that everyone is well and that you enjoyed the Easter holidays.

After a three-month break from my weekly diary, I thought I would provide a bit of background information for those who maybe new here.

Having taken the decision to leave my ‘career role’ due to work related stress, I found myself mortgage free, debt free and semi-retired. Aged 60, I took the decision to share a weekly diary here on the Over 50’s MoneySaving thread. I hoped that it would motivate me to make the most of what my DH and I have, and maybe help others in some small way. Aged 61, I was made redundant, and so here I am unexpectedly retired and loving it.

In terms of money, my DH works part-time and we both now receive a work pension. As stated, when I began this diary, I will not be providing detailed information regarding our finances. I just share my humble efforts to stretch our hard-earned cash a little further, until we receive our state pensions. My diary details our expenditure and I accept that some may not agree with our choices, or sadly may not even have such choices. However, this wonderful MSE community enables us to take what we want from it and disregard the rest without judgement. Suffice to say that some have more than us and others have less. We have enough for our needs.

Having never had an online presence prior to my weekly diary, I had (and still have) some trepidation about sharing information and how others may perceive my posts. To be honest, because my health and wellbeing was steadily improving (and continues to do so), I did not want to ‘rock the boat.’ However, I concluded that this forum was a safe place, with like minded people, so I began sharing my weekly diary. When deciding on the format of my diary, I took the decision to use a list format. I hoped that this would keep me focused on my own goals and lessen the anxiety of what will I say. To not put pressure on myself, I chose to update my list on a weekly basis. I am sure for some it may appear too formal or repetitive, but hopefully this little overview will provide some context. I intend to continue posting in the same format.

For those who may find it of interest, my post dated 22 February 2024 expands on why we choose to allocate a specific amount to our grocery budget, despite being able to allocate more. My post dated 06 January 2025 provides a bit more information regarding our grocery budget.

My post dated 3 June 2024 provides more information regarding the ‘Healthier Lifestyle’ element of my weekly diary. This remains work in progress. Those interested in meditation may wish to read my post dated 5 February 2025.

I think that about covers most things, but should anyone have any queries, please ask.

Just wanted to add that the transition from work to retirement is not always easy, and we all do it in our own unique way. So, it would be wonderful if others decided to document their own journey here on the ‘Over 50’s’, and maybe our joint efforts will not only motive ourselves, but will in some modest way, support and inspire others in this next chapter of our lives.

Apart from the normal stuff, what have I been doing during my break…

We hosted a family Christmas, which was busy, fun, and memorable (in a good way). That said, it was lovely to have our own space again when they all left. Our Christmas is predominantly funded by credit card points converted into shopping vouchers (credit card paid off each month so no interest incurred), Nect@r points saved throughout the year, and any monies obtained via my crafting, Vinted sales, etc.

We very much enjoyed our winter sun holiday which was relatively inexpensive. We were able to visit new to us places and enjoy some much needed respite from what felt like a long, wet, grey winter here in the UK. Forgive me for not revealing the actual location, but by not providing any personal identifying information on this thread, I hope to retain my anonymity. Life can be a little challenging and I take solace in this private space.

DH and I are in the process of redecorating our entire house. During my absence we redecorated the living room, rearranged the furniture, and bought some new soft furnishings. It is now a warm, welcoming space, with a new vibe that we love. We ordered the main wall paint from F@rrow & B@ll, but upon arrival there had been a small amount of leakage. As instructed by the delivery person, I advised the customer service department, who insisted on giving me a full refund, despite me informing them that I could still use the paint. So, the paint for the main walls was free, I used a £6 voucher via my B+Q members club (free to join) to purchase the ceiling paint, and I used leftover paint to repaint the feature wall.

Where relevant, I will include further updates within my weekly diary posts.

For those of you who have read this post to the end and are still awake - thank you for dropping by, hopefully see you again on Monday…

louby40

Ahhh Humboldt I'm so glad to read your update and even happier to know that you are back to posting.

tiddles

I always find your diary interesting, Humboldt, so thank you for your update 🙂

jwil

Welcome back! It's good to hear from you again 😊

uralmaid

Welcome back @Humboldt. Glad to see you have been making a good use of your time whilst away. lol. The paint was a win too.

Nebulous2

It's good to see you back @Humboldt

As you know I'm always fascinated by your budgeting and menu-prep.

I've had a lot of simple pleasures recently, birds are doing what birds do at this time of year, dressing in their finest, and trying to impress with lots of song and calls. Some we haven't seen for ages are coming back, although we have about a month to go to get our swifts.

Our woods have been good, plenty of wild garlic, a riot of snowdrops and lots of daffodils.

We also had a winter holiday - decent weather, some local festivals and a bit different from the usual suspects that everyone goes to for winter sun. As a result the price was better than following the herd - quite MSE!

Smudgeismydog

lovely to hear from you, I very much enjoy reading your posts