Away From The Madding Crowd

Humboldt

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82160961#Comment_82160961

Not so much the week after! Doggy sitting this week for a family member will ensure a decent amount of activity. Loving your thread which is always a smorgasbord of interesting and useful information.

Humboldt

Hello and welcome.

Motivational quote of the week.

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts – Eleanor Roosevelt.

Money Saving.

Our monthly grocery budget for me and my DH is £300. Week 1 spend for October was £74.37.

Some good savings to be had via my weekly Nect@r personalised offers, including a pack of leeks for 68p (instore price £1.37) and 6 x Royal Gala apples 90p (instore price £1.80). Don’t forget to unlock the offers and bonus points in your app each week. That said, I did find 6 x Royal Gala apples at Ald! for just 79p (Super 6 offer), so bought those!

Our utilities provider set participating customers the goal to shift their electric usage out of peak times. Those that did so were entered into a prize draw. We won £2 in September, which will be credited to our energy bill. Always worth checking what incentives your utility provider is offering in order to potentially save a little.

DH used wood from a pallet to fix a planter in the garden. At some point this week, I will fill the planter with the free strawberry plants that have grown from this year’s runners.

Freebies.

2 x Reese’s peanut butter cups via my mobile network provider.

This week’s main menu.

Monday – Breaded cod, oven chips and mushy peas. Meal will be cooked in the air fryer to save on energy costs. Ald!’s 4 x frozen breaded cod are currently £4.89 and, in my view, decent quality for that price.

Tuesday – Lentil and bean chilli (C0op recipe), with a small portion of rice.

Wednesday – Shepherd’s pie (H@iry D!eter’s recipe), kale, broccoli, and gravy. A meal swap from last week. I will replace the potato topping for swede and carrot mash. I will use a small pack of beef mince and add a tin of green lentils to not only reduce costs, but to also increase nutrients. I will use the remainder of the kale in the soup on Friday.

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

Friday – Moroccan-spiced soup (C0-0p slow cooker recipe), with a hunk of homemade sourdough bread. To fully utilise the oven, I will pre-cook the baked potatoes for tomorrow’s meal when baking the sourdough.

Saturday – BBQ chicken (slow cooker recipe), baked potatoes, and sweetcorn. Baked potatoes will be reheated in the microwave and the sweetcorn will be added to the slow cooker near the end of the cooking time.

Sunday – Macaroni cheese (Go0d H0usekeeping recipe), with added vegetables. To fully utilise the oven, I will think of a sweet treat to bake.

Healthier lifestyle.

Last week’s step count was 35,783.

Completed 0 free online workouts.

Completed 4 free online meditations.

Simple pleasures.

A perfectly ripe conference pear. S@insbury’s pears currently just 99p per bag.

This week I gave my houseplants some much needed tlc. Some were potted into bigger pots; others have had their soil refreshed. Probably not the correct time of year to do this, but they look better for it.

DH and I are doggy sitting this week for a family member. It is lovely to start and end the day walking the dog.

Another bag of decluttered items dropped off at Oxf@m.

Well, I didn’t know that…Koromogae is a twice-yearly occasion in Japan. On 1 October (and 1 June), it’s the switchover between the seasons: a change to get out the clothes and furnishing you’ve had in storage, and carefully stash away the things you’ll no longer need for the coming months. Similar events exist elsewhere – such as Norway’s ‘Mitten Day’ on 14 October, the date to aim for when getting your mittens and other knitwear ready for winter.

Thank you for dropping by and reading my diary.