Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves · 26 October 2023 at 4:01PM

Today's jobs pretty much done, just the rolls to bake & pizza topping to add. Kitchen beautifully redolent of the smell of autumn as my hedgerow jelly mixture is dripping from on high through the jellybag, ready for jamming tomorrow. There were, as I expected sufficient leftover blackberries to cook up with a few more windfall pears & a leftover bramley to make a bowl of purple loveliness to go in the fridge for very low cost desserts.
A couple of surveys have boosted my PA October earnings to over £50 with a few days still to go, as I intend to cash out on 31st. Oh, another little thing....remember I said I was having to hold my nose & order a present from a big online company I usually avoid? Well, the only postage available (as I refused to sign up to other services) was premium delivery rate of £4.99 for delivery within the next 2 days. I didn't need fast delivery, a standard option for the more usual 3 -5 days would have been perfectly fine, but only the premium £4.99 available. So I waited in for the delivery & although the info was showing as 'arrival by 10pm', it was very clear from the tracking that the parcel was not in fact out for delivery. I tracked all its stages & soon spotted the issue.....instead of being sent up to the South Yorkshire distribution centre usually used, it had been dispatched off to Kent......not a county known for its general proximity to the North Midlands. It did arrive the next day, but I had decided to put in a complaint because having had no option other than a penny under £5 premium delivery, I hadn't received it in time. I'm an effective complainant, but didn't get the chance! I received an email today saying I've been credited with the delivery fee to use against my next order. Of course this means I have to hold my nose for a 2nd time, but I expect it will come in useful for one of the rare occasions when we are unable to source some kind of oddment from anywhere else.

Re this strange extra money in our account, @Suffolk_lass & @CRANKY40, yes, I have had that happen to me with interest being credited, but it can't be that on this occasion, as our current account is not an interest bearing account. I've been watching the ITV drama 'Payback' this week, which features forensic accountants. I shall feel like a mini-one of those myself tomorrow, going through everything, trying to find out what has happened to create a £50 surplus, then what would appear to be a further £60 one a week later. I will be going through our current account with a fine-tooth comb looking for any unexpected or overlooked credits, but I am thinking it is probably going to come down to some kind of human error - i.e mine, as I am in sole charge of the Exchequer at Foxgloves Manor. I intend to get the jamming done first thing tomorrow, then it will be coffee & toast, followed by ensconcement up in my HQ, as I'd like to solve the mystery as part of signing off October's budget, before setting November's. I wonder if it will be such a simple thing, that I just find myself saying out loud, 'Foxgloves, you absolute plum!!'
Time will tell.
Oooh, the sun has just emerged after such a grey wet day. I'm going to pop out with my bowl of scraps for the wigglers, & to cut some rocket.
Peace,
F x

milann · 26 October 2023 at 6:59PM

Hope you get to the bottom of the extra money. It must be driving you mad since you’re such a stickler.

I’m betting the jelly smells amazing. Enjoy 👍

Blackcats · 26 October 2023 at 7:53PM

Cats and candles are a bad combination.

My daft cat climbs into the coffee table at about 9pm each evening to remind us that it's officially time for Dreamies (well the downshifted
Lid-lee variety). There are numerous other times during his waking hours that polite and not so polite requests are made for a handful of treats but 9pm is the right time. He is so busy swirling and twirling his tail in anticipation that he quite often singes it in a candle. There is usually a nasty burning smell followed by a quick wash of the tail but he never seems to learn the lesson or perhaps dreamies are worth the discomfort? So we often replace whatever candle scent we have with the pungent smell of burned fur.

foxgloves · 27 October 2023 at 3:49PM

@Blackcats, it's funny to hear that about your cat. We have an old wooden chest in our living room which serves as a coffee table. In the evening, Soot sits on it & tries to anticipate the exact moment Mr F reaches for the remote control to turn off the TV ready for bedtime. This is his signal to race into the kitchen & start meowing for bedtime biscuits, which is about 1/3 of their daily biscuit allowance we keep back for this purpose - we discovered early on when they came to live with us that we were far less disturbed by night-time door clawing & loud pretending-to-be-starving meows if they had some bedtime biscuits.
Ash uses the coffee table at dinner time, if we are having a meal on our laps instead of at the dining table. He eats all his own dinner, then uses the coffee table as a dinner viewing platform, so that he can see what is on our plates & whether it is something worth extending a trial paw for.
Agree cats & candles are not a good mix. We also have to be careful about what we leave in bags, as Soot just can't seem to resist going into them. When my friend was here last month, he tipped her bag over, then proceeded to drag everything out to investigate. It was quite embarrassing - luckily she found it amusing. There was a cardigan right at the bottom of her bag & even that was dragged out. Once he'd strewn all the contents over the conservatory floor, he lost interest & just strolled off!
F

foxgloves · 27 October 2023 at 4:11PM

Hello Friday Frugalistas,
Well, today has been my Big Budget Day, & before anyone asks me, no I didn't solve the mystery of the extra money. I decided to take stock of that situation first thing before I did anything else, but it was clear that the extra £110 was still there. Nothing come to light while I was reconciling October's budget & signing it off, despite the fact that I do this pretty thoroughly, marking off receipts against bank & CC statements, as well as payments I've made throughout the month to the latter.....all of which are logged on a payment sheet to make reconciliation easier at the end of the month. I also checked Spreadsheet 1, which is our regular monthly bills/DDs just to see if any inadvertent error had cropped up there, but all looked as it should be. There were no unexplained current account credits, either.....just the usual ones & money transferred from Savings Pots as & when, which I could track, so really, I still have not the faintest clue how this unexpected money has occurred.......
.....but as it HAD occurred, I decided the best thing to do would be to use it for something useful to help the budget further down the line, so I used it to pay off 5 Christmas presents purchased on my credit card. That money would have come from the Presents Pot, so it was helpful to have it, even if I still don't know how!
Other Budget Day stuff.....not a lot, really. I allocated all the different budget strands - groceries plus milkman bill, Personal Spends, settling credit cards (planned purchases/usage), Car Fund, then two savings pots - Holidays & Presents. I kept our buffer zone very slightly higher again, as this can be useful to absorb small present or household purchases without needing to faff with pots transfers for such small sums. Then I had a big filing session & my desk is now looking very different. I can see a large expanse of wood. I could be tempted to get the beeswax polish out!
I took the jellybag down first thing & jammed my hedgerow jelly. I'm glad I put a couple of extra jars in the oven to sterilise as there was sufficient extract to make 10 jars, once I'd added the sugar. It is a really nice fruity jelly (blackberries, apples, rosehips & haws) with a dash of lemon juice to give it that little bit of sharpness for eating with meat/savoury foods, as well as on toast/crumpets, etc.
Not money saving (but lovely), was answering a knock at the door this afternoon & being presented with a beautiful autumnal-coloured bouquet from Mr F for our wedding anniversary. We have booked tickets for a piano recital this weekend, so are keeping it casual tonight. I've budgeted for pizza tonight from our nice little indie place in town & I'm thinking we might watch the next episode of 'Bodies' & maybe open a bottle, I'll see.
No surveys today, although tbf, I haven't had much time for them.
Well, I can hear some feline rumpus downstairs, so I will sign out & see what's going on.
Love to all,
F x