Away From The Madding Crowd

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

This week’s motivational quote.

Every day is a fresh start – Unknown.

Money saving.

Our monthly grocery budget for me and my DH is £300 (an increase of £50 per month due to rising costs). Week 1 spend was £64.29 and week 2 spend was £43.24. Total spend to date for April is £107.53.

Bought a large Tw!rl Easter Egg reduced from over £6 to £1.95 from S@insbury’s.

I bought 2 x 2kg of red lentils (bbf Feb 28) in Ald! for £1.99 each.

I took full advantage of this week’s 2 hours free electric via our energy provider.

Today only, Bo0t’s have a half price offer on vitamins & supplements. I saved £10.50 and paid for the total order using my accrued adv@ntage card points. These points had been gained via their recycling app (recycle 5 items, spend £10 in store, and gain £5 worth of adv@tage points).

This week’s main menu.

Monday – Fajitas with a side salad. Made using chicken leftover from our Sunday roast. Peppers are left over from last week and the salad was reduced in price. S@insbury’s medium chickens are currently £3.58 (Nect@r Price).

Tuesday – Greek-style chicken & orzo (W@itrose recipe). Using leftover chicken and feta. I find that Ald! Spanish pitted black olives are ok for cooking, only 89p a jar. Extra large garlic was only 8p (Ald! Easter offer). Orzo was reduced in price and bought sometime ago (still in date).

Wednesday - Fish, chips, peas & sweetcorn. 4 x B!rds Eye frozen fish fillets are currently £2 in S@insbury (Nect@r Price). Peas and chips are from the freezer. I will use the air fryer to save on energy costs.

Thursday – Cottage pie (H@iry D!eter’s recipe), swede/carrot mash, spiced red cabbage and spinach. I will use a small pack of 5% fat beef mince and add a tin of green lentils to not only reduce costs, but to also add more nutrition. Swede, onions, and carrots were 4p (Ald! Easter offers). Homemade spiced red cabbage from the freezer. Spinach is left over from last week. Celery is homegrown.

Friday – Ping meal (as above). Cook once, eat twice – saves on time and energy cost.

Saturday – Salmon in chilli ginger sauce (H@iry Dieter’s recipe), vegetable stir fry, and wholewheat noodles. Salmon was reduced in price and frozen until required. Chilli was homegrown and from the freezer.

Sunday – Homemade wild garlic pesto and goats cheese pizza. Pesto is homemade (G0odFo0d recipe). When making the pesto, I swap the pine nuts for walnuts. I portion the pesto and freeze it.

Our breakfasts continue to be mainly oat based for health reasons. If it is of any interest, you can check out the health benefits of oats on the Br!tish He@rt F0undation website. Our oats of choice are from Ald!. K@vanaghs Organic Jumbo Porridge Oats 1kg for £2.25. Over the past few weeks, I have been adding Ald! wonky blueberries to our breakfasts. They have been delicious and cost just £1.19 a punnet. Lunches tend to be homemade soups from the freezer, tinned fish, salads, etc.

Healthier lifestyle.

Completed 2 free online workouts.

Step count last week was 43,795.

Completed 4 free meditations.

Simple pleasures.

The scent of grape hyacinths on the breeze as I hung the washing on the line in the garden.

Sunshine.

DH and I attended another presentation at our local museum. So important to support such events and at just £5 each, an inexpensive evening out.

Whilst ironing, I listened to an episode of The R0sebud Podcast with Gyles Brandreth dated 3 April 2026 – Monty Don: Losing Everything, Prozac & 43 Years of Marriage. An interesting and at times emotional podcast.

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

louby40

I love the Rosebud podcasts and wait for the new releases every Tuesday and Friday. The Pam Ayres and Mel Giedroyc interviews I found particularly interesting.

Willow1983

So happy to see you back Humboldt 🙂 like you I retired at end of 2025 and it does take a bit of getting used to! However, I have no regrets. I love your diary it is one of the first ones I check 🥰

Humboldt

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81961961#Comment_81961961

Hi @louby40 the Rosebud podcasts are new to me, so I will checkout your recommendations.

Humboldt

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81961968#Comment_81961968

Hi @Willow1983, it's good to be back. Congratulations on your retirement, great that that you have no regrets. Thank you lots for your kind words, they are so appreciated.

louby40

Humboldt there are 39 main Rosebud episodes and a further 38 I think of him talking about his pat and reading his diaries.

Some of the people he interviews are people I wouldn't normally be interested in (Boris Johnson, Kier Starmer etc) but they are actually really interesting interviews, well maybe not Starmer 😂.

Humboldt

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81962912#Comment_81962912

Morning @louby40 just popping by to say that I listened to another episode of The Rosebud Podcasts: Amol Rajan. Very interesting and one that I would happily recommend.

Today's simple pleasure - sunshine and breezy here. Bath towels washed and now hung outside to dry on the line.

KajiKita

Hi Humboldt 😊

I have finally found your thread! I plan to wander along with you, if that’s okay? 😊

KK

Humboldt

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81969519#Comment_81969519

Hello and welcome @KajiKita, it would lovely to have you wander along with me. I note that you also have your own thread, so I will pop over to your place too if that's ok?

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Motivational quote of the week.

It is of the small joys and little pleasures that the greatest of our days are built – Mary Anne Radmacher.

Money saving.

Our monthly grocery budget for me and my DH is £300. Week 3 spend was £62.44. Total spend to date for April is £169.97.

Vinted sales – taking on board the advice kindly shared by @louby40 and gaining inspiration from @jwil ’s thread, during my absence I began to sell on Vinted. February sales total was £13.50 and March’s was £135.50. Initially it took a little time to familiarise myself with the process, but now I make a conscious effort to upload several items each week and it takes no time at all. My own personal view is that it is a sustainable way to recycle items that we no longer want/need, it costs us nothing to post, there are no selling fees, and the money earned helps us top up our birthday/Christmas account. I have only had one issue to date and it was quickly resolved by the Vinted customer service team - parcel tracked to the pickup point, but the parcel could not be found when the buyer went to collect it. Both the buyer and myself were fully refunded within a week or so.

Renewed a rail card for a longer period, saving £6.

When visiting a D0bbies garden centre I found a W@itrose Dvchy Organic Balsamic Vinegar in the clearance section, reduced from £5.99 to £2.99 (bbe 03/28). When out and about it is always worth taking a look at any reduced/clearance section 😉

We have booked an overnight stay in a lovely country pub, taking advantage of an amazing offer. £138 in total for a Sunday roast x2, double room, and a full English breakfast x 2. As I have mentioned previously, we find that Sunday and Monday stays are often lower in price than other days of the week and the destinations/staff are generally a little less busy too.

Made full use of this week’s free electric from our utilities provider.

Freebie – a N0M0 Caramel chocolate bar via my mobile network provider. Not tried it yet, and not something that I would buy, but hey it was free.

This week’s main menu.

Monday – Roast chicken wings with lemon and cracked pepper (N!gel Sl@ter recipe), Cajun spiced sweet potato wedges, and a side salad. M+S 750g chicken wings are currently £1.65. To fully utilise the oven, I will cook a homemade whole-wheat seeded sourdough.

Tuesday – Slow cooker smoky fish soup (P!nch of N0m recipe), with homemade sourdough. Smoked basa was reduced in price and frozen until required. I will also add half a packet of frozen prawns from the freezer. I will swap the kale for spinach and use the remainder in tomorrow’s, and Thursday’s meal.

Wednesday – Pasta alla Norma (W@itrose recipe).

Thursday – Spinach and chickpea curry (G0od Fo0d recipe), with naam bread.

Friday – Beef Enchiladas (M+S recipe), with a side salad. I will adapt this slightly by swapping the chipotle chilli paste with chilli powder mixed with smoked paprika, the seeded tortilla wraps for whole-wheat wraps, and replacing the chunky Mexican-style chilli and bean soup for a tin of red kidney beans.

Saturday – Bean and vegetable chilli (from one of my recipe scrap books), with rice.

Sunday – Away overnight.

Healthier lifestyle.

Completed 0 free online workouts.

This week’s step count was 46,458.

Completed 5 free meditations.

Simple pleasures.

April showers and rainbows.

DH and I met friends for a walk, followed by a drink in one of the local pubs.

Another bag of decluttered items taken to Oxf@m.

In autumn I treated myself to 2 packs of tulip bulbs. For weeks I have been checking on their progress. They are now in bud and I can see just a hint of colour, so not long to wait now…

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