Get a grip woman!

Karmacat

Brilliant rate, SL!  A big ta-da

And good luck with grumpy bees!

Suffolk_lass

@rtandon27 the Spring was a very modest 19 small jars from four frames. The summer is all from one super on one have and is 13 larger jars and 12 small ones. Not enough to sell but a lovely clear toffee colour. We need to give some away (landowner, grumpy neighbours, family and friends) but would like to be able to keep 3-4 jars for ourselves.

In other news I found two envelopes of unopened post, one of which was addressed to me and contained £15 of John Lewis vouchers (JL credit card loyalty scheme). The other contained some missing sim cards for DH's mobile phone that were sent in July. Neither of us knew about them so guessing this was DS when he was staying, cat-sitting while we were away! Good job the vouchers don't time expire!

Suffolk_lass

Start of the month and I thought it would be good to do a bit of a tally up for the year so far. 

I have spent 60.81% of my self-imposed grocery budget. With all the home-grown produce this is improving and I may not need the contingency I had allowed for. No plans to shop before Monday as we can raid the freezer for anything we need.

I have Tilly tidied £7.30 this morning from the bills account. Just taking it down to the nearest £10 and the odd bit was there because four bills go out on the first and I paid for the eggs (doorstep delivery) and my gardener (next week will be his last - he is giving up the three Tuesday jobs which includes us).

Savings so far is 85% of my £7,500 target for the year.

My credit card spending (including all the extra beekeeping equipment we have acquired) has been astronomical this year. Going to try and get that back down to sensible, sustainable level

Karmacat

But in spite of what seems astronomical spending, you're well on track with saving and grocery budgets, good for you  

Suffolk_lass

DH's pension has hit the running costs account. A small TT of £14.75 this morning, just to take it down to the next hundred as that is the start of our month in that account

Suffolk_lass

My occupational pension hit the account this morning - that needed a TT of £10.15 and a move to the Co-op to make sure the minimum amount is there for the rewards conditions.

Both DH and DS's cars passed their MOT yesterday - they both go into the regular garage on Monday and Tuesday for a service but they could not do the MOT as fully booked. Fortunately the guys that do the van were able to accommodate us. DS was very grumbly yesterday (his car, his house, his housemates, the mysterious disappearance of all his house stuff - tools, kitchen pans). I think he was just grumpy but I need to keep an eye on that In the meantime we treated him to a one drink, one course meal at our local pub and we were the only people indoors. I like it that way.

Suffolk_lass

Groans, calls DH, both pore over the screen, try all the options... and fail.

Online Banking with HSBC
Trying to set up a Standing Order of £250 per month to Skipton BS new 3.5% regular saver. The online interface says you can do it from Make a New payment. I have set one up for September as a one-off. The help screens say you can do this when you choose the date. The date drop down offers no such thing. The secure message option takes you into the FAQ screens and never actually gives you a message screen. Just endless answers to questions you do not have. The new message never appears, it greys out and the only toggle choice is cancel from that particular death spiral of banking-we-know-best.

Everything is increasingly set up for mobile banking (you can pause and resume your chat with someone) - my experience of using their chat bot has been miserable and almost caused me to close and move the account. It falls into the "I would rather die than do this again" or spend hours of my life trying to get someone to understand that this does not work on my (mac) machine. No I do not want to set up an app to work on a small screen that is not as secure as my desktop. No I don't want to use it on the move. I am retired, I like to sit at my desk and reconcile what I do in the long-standing system records I keep. No, it was not helpful. No, that misses the point I am trying to make.

So I have set a reminder in my calendar instead. Having succeeded in setting one up last November for DH's HSBC RS it is even more frustrating. I can only assume they have updated something (I'm sure they know best).

So my very MSE attempt to be organised has failed!

Suffolk_lass

We looked at the forecast and we have a few days of warm weather coming, so I booked a small camping location for three nights and we will go tomorrow, as soon as DH's car is retrieved from its service. Up to North Norfolk and I will get back on my bike! On the back of that I need to go shopping. I last shopped a fortnight ago but there is almost no cheese or butter so def dairy and a bit of meat for the BBQ I think. And I must get carrots! (note to self)

themadvix

Oooh, enjoy your camping in North Norfolk - it's lovely at this time of year

Karmacat

Wonderful stuff, have a great time SL!