Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Hello December Sunbeams.....yes, SUN!! We have blue sky here at the moment, although Mr F has just phoned to ask me something from elsewhere in the county & said it was raining there, so I am enjoying my bright sunlit HQ while it lasts.
I feel I've got off to a good start today. So far, I have got one load of laundry hung out & a 2nd load in. That should be it for this week. I've also got a loaf of granary bread on its 2nd proving, had a tidy up & done my mid-month budget check-in. I always do this as a regular procedure. It's partly because I like the reassurance that the budget I set for the month is on track & that there are no nasty surprises lurking. It's also makes reconciliation quicker on my main budget day at the end of the month (pay-day). Pleased to say no nasty Budget Trolls waiting to jump out on me, but I did find a significant anomaly - that we have about £280 more than I think we should have. OK, I know that is a much better way round than having £280 'missing' but I don't like just to ignore such a big anomaly because there is always the possibility that there is an error somewhere & the 'extra' sum might just disappear. Well, on this occasion, it didn't take me long to find the error. I started going through December's budget, which I set on Nov 27th, line by line & when I got to my credit card, the amount I'd budgeted to pay off bill (our CCs are paid off in full each month) was very close to this amount. I got the bill out & had a look in more detail & every item on it was a present or a household item. So I have transferred that money from the relevant Savings Pots into our current account ready to pay the bill, but omitted a line showing the credit from my budget. So on paper, I look to have paid that bill from our normal account, but in reality, I paid it with the funds transferred for that purpose. Oh.....you know, I'm boring my own pants off just typing this, so feel free to ignore me today.......so the upshot is that we have a bit more money than I thought we had. In the light of that, I am going to give Mr F the greenlight for replacing his Fitbit, as he really enjoys the motivation this provides for fitness walks & his old one well & truly carked it a couple of months ago. 
Other things today - well, a bit of shopping from home this afternoon. I am going to box up the fudge I made yesterday ready for gifting. I already have a nice box in my stash, plus ribbon. I also have a hamper of my home made preserves to make up. I haven't bought a basket. I put aside a cardboard box of the right size & have covered it with that cheap Christmas paper I've been trying to use up. I've put a recycled bow on the front & it looks quite festive. Back in the day, I'd have bought 2 or 3 different designs of festive fabric plus ribbon for making my frilly jam jar covers, but these days I cut these from Christmas paper & I'll be tying them on with ribbon I brought back when we were clearing my Mum's crafting hoard. More shopping from home - I wrote 'Rollerball pen refills' on my shopping list for next town trip, then realised I have two bottles of ink at the back of my desk drawer, so I filled my fountain pen instead. 
No need to cook later apart from jacket potatoes & maybe a bit of veg, as cooked enough yesterday to feed us tonight as well. Oh & did another Pr*lific survey. My aim was £50 by Christmas, but I am up to £61. 
OK, I shall go & make some lunch, then I can listen to my audiobook this afternoon while gussying up those jars for gifting.
Cheers m'dears,
F xx

Baileys_Babe

I didn't find the budget anomaly boring nor the explanation of how it was resolved, but then I did the same thing recently but in my case, it was only £2.49 don't worry I will put proper thought in how to make the most of our bonus 😂

I often gift homemade sweets in jars prettified with ribbon.

foxgloves

Oooh, now steady on, Bailey'sBabe, you don't want to spend it all at once. Seriously though, I think I am just always glad when a budget discrepancy goes in my favour! 
Agree that home made sweets make a lovely gift with a bit of ribbon & a nice label. I am definitely going to start broadening my sweetie-making horizons beyond fudge & truffles, although I do vary these with different flavours. I think my favourite fudge varieties (that I make myself) are coffee & walnut and cranberry & popcorn - the latter is very festive.
F x

foxgloves

Hello diary friends,
I feel I have run out of day today. I haven't wasted any time - I only really had a sit down for my lunch, but I am not bothered about that, as I did do 3 of my key tasks & am about to finish the 3rd one in a minute. One was to have a street meet-up with my sissy-in-law for exchange of Christmas presents, as we can't all get together for a festive cafe brunch as we would normally do. She was on her way for a Covid test (key health worker) but we managed to have a socially distanced chat for about half an hour & just generally have a catch-up. I did wonder if I had stood quite far enough away from her on a couple of occasions & could feel myself keep stepping backwards, but as she was just about to undergo the regular testing implemented by her employer, I thought at least I will soon hopefully hear she was negative! 
Our next present-exchange is tomorrow & we are actually attempting to combine this with a birthday coffee/cake & walk in a reasonably local park, so I have put those bags of presents by the front door ready, so nothing gets forgotten & I just need to find a big bag for the stash of magazines I've been saving for my friend, as she'll love those. Monthly magazines are so expensive now that I always pass mine on, & as we haven't seen each other since the summer when we did actually manage a very distanced BBQ for four people in our garden, I shall also welcome the opportunity to declutter this big pile of mags from the landing.
I've also baked Mr F's birthday cupcakes, & they look suitably jolly. I've packed half of them in a musical cake tin for transporting tomorrow. It plays 'Jingle bells' when you wind it up, & I've popped in some bright red paper napkins with a reindeer pattern. Honestly, I think we are trying to make any little thing a bit special these days, aren't we? It's clear that the scientists are very worried about the effects of festive mingling of families & are hoping the government will row back on this & just make it two households. I hope people will be sensible. It's ONE year. This country has endured longer privations. If there is, as seems to be expected, a third wave, then they keep coming, it might not only be one year. We have chosen to see nobody over Christmas & New Year. We don't have children or grandchildren, so we are in a different position from those who do, but staying well is more important to us. I'd dearly love to see my sister, as I haven't seen her since Dec 27th last year, but we have both said we will wait until we can meet properly & not be so worried about what we might be taking home with us. It just feels like a no-brainer this year. 
Well, I must go & start slicing potatoes - today's meal plan involved using up some rather elderly salmon from the freezer, so I am going to make normandy potatoes to go with it, plus some of our seemingly neverending supply of homegrown french beans!
Stay safe,
F x

Paspatur

It's ONE year. This country has endured longer privations.
Totally agree, people went to war for years or forever if they did not come back. I can imagine my grandparents turning in their grave at such a fuss about 1 Christmas when they had children who went away to war for years or in one case never came back (at 21 years of age). Plus Christmas even when I was a child was 1 day so why the need for so many days relaxation.
 I do have kids (3) and grandkids (6) but the world will not end if we miss 1 Christmas together. Far more important we are all alive at the end of this.
 Love your common sense attitude which seems to be sorely missing throughout the UK where lockdowns are preceded by last minute wild pub nights/dancing in crowds in the streets. Shudder at the thought of even going to a pub until this is over. And even then it will not feature highly in my list of 'normal' things to do.
Thank you for a bit of sanity.

foxgloves

Thanks, Paspatur. I am in complete agreement. My Grandparents would have thought we were of truly feeble mind not to be able to endure one Christmas without meeting up with our relatives. It is easier than ever to communicate with people - my grandparents (& my parents too) didn't even have a telephone until the 1970s - so it was a case of going to queue at the village phone box or write letters to people. Now we can skype, send little videos & films via social media, etc, etc. I don't like to keep on evoking the war, as I do think this country has failed to move on from it in many ways, but we are not waiting in fear of the air raid siren & hoping our street won't get flattened by bombing raids & neither are we worried sick about family members in freezing trenches, dreading that fatal telegram saying they won't be coming home. We just have to stick to a set of rules until the vaccination programme (another thing our forebears didn't have in the great flu pandemic of 1918/19) to keep ourselves & as many people as humanly possible safe. You are right about the 'eve of lockdown' fiestas in city centres. Our local city centre had, at one point this autumn, the highest level of Covid cases per 100,000 in the country.......yet there were idiots out in force in big crushes of people outside pubs, all taking selfies, doubtless to show everyone how rebellious they were being. I just thought they looked like selfish, gormless idiots to be honest. My sympathy is reserved for the people who have been hit hard economically, have lost or are in danger of losing their homes, who live at the wrong end of the UK's very unequal society & struggle to feed their children & heat their homes, not for people whining about not being able to hug relatives at Christmas during a global pandemic. I think my patience is running out with a lot of folk, to be honest.
F

foxgloves

Helllloooooo Frugalistas,
Seems like quite a chilly night, so I think I will light the stove in a minute. I have lit some tealights & the fairy lights but have so far been Mrs Scrooge with the fire.
Very pleasant day today - Our meet-up with friends for Mr F's birthday was lovely. These friends have had a truly terrible year, so I think they really enjoyed a change of scenery & afterwards, we all agreed it had almost felt NORMAL! The cupcakes transported perfectly in Mum's old musical cake tin & we found two benches in a little secluded courtyard where we could enjoy our takeaway coffees & cake at a safe distance. I found a box of raisins in my handbag, so the blackbirds & robins were also able to partake of a birthday treat. We managed a short walk (but better than nothing) before the rain arrived & I have some good money saving to report from the garden shop. We went in to look round & there were some nice cyclamens  - quite big ones for £3.00, so I picked a nice one to treat myself, as I have a nice pot that can go in, & when I got to the till, I was told they were 2 for £5 so I went back for another one. Anyway, we were just leaving, & an assistant asked if we'd like any pansies or violas as it was their last trading day of the season so they would be thrown out at the end of today. Well, we picked two trays each - absolutely nothing wrong with them & FREE! They will refresh a few of my winter pots & containers, anyway.
We all exchanged Christmas presents & did a pantry swap.....I gave our friends some of my marmalade & they gave me some strawberry, plum & blackcurrant jam (they've had a good year for fruit on their allotment). So all in all, a very nice, normal morning. 
A surreal experience on the way home though......we were going round the big roundabout between the edge of town & the by-pass out to our village  - we were in the correct lane, signalling, when a huge lorry drove straight onto the roundabout without even looking, straight at us. If Mr F hadn't swerved into another lane, we would have been crushed. My heart pounded until we got to the other end of the by-pass! Truly shocking driving. Ah well, we're both still here.
Time to light the stove & toast my toes,
Love F x

foxgloves

Morning all!
I think all that fresh air, seeing friends & a change of scenery did me good yesterday, as I awoke feeling lighter of mood. Am enjoying pottering around making myself useful. So far, I've baked a trifle sponge & frozen it, got bread dough proving, marzipanned the Christmas cake & made tomorrow's packed lunch. Just paused for coffee & a leftover cupcake, then I'm off to fetch a bucket of compost & my secateurs ready for a little tidying session round our front courtyard. Skyping my sis at 2pm so my aim is to have finished all my jobs by then. Ok, I can see the bottom of my coffee mug, so on with my coat & let's see what else I can achieve.
F x

marionmgcars

Glad you had a nice day out with your friends, you cheer so many people on here with your posts, so it’s good to hear you enjoyed your day .  Thanks again for all the posts, I love reading Everyone’s comments xx

foxgloves

Thanks, Marionmgcars. I love reading everyone's comments too. 
F x