Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Makingabobor2

Think the BH throws everything out. But on the bright side our BH Monday was a NSD. 

rtandon27

Happy budgeting!  I'm joining you in solidarity, doing my daily budget fiddling on an amazingly empty train on the way to the office.  I'm guessing that half term has something to do with the luxury of a double seat to myself!

Baileys_Babe

Tuesdays are my usual budget day, despite reading about you bumping yours today as yesterday was BH Monday, I was still thinking mine would be tomorrow.
Some how I had squashed an extra day BH Monday and Tuesday 🤣

I wish you well with all your calculations today and I hope it all runs smoothly.

EssexHebridean

Amazing how things like can throw you off the usual routine of things isn't it - well done for remembering that it was budget day! 

foxgloves

Hello Frugalistas, & thanks for all your comments. I had a different day from the one I'd planned, but that was my own numpty fault for completely forgetting it is Big Budget Day. As it's been raining on & off all day, I don't think I'd have got much done in the garden anyway. So I've had a desk day & very useful it's been too.
*Reconciled May's budget & solved the mystery of a surplus £43 I didn't think I should have. The answer reared its head when I was ticking receipts off Mr F's CC statement - a birthday expense which I'd budgeted for, but had forgotten to pay the money across. 
*Set June's budget. Nothing peculiar. The Grimsby fish people phoned midway through, so I was able to place our order & get it into the budget right away. Paid into our general savings & sent £255 to the Savings Pots (because Project Surbiton may have received a significant unexpected boost, but has not been forgotten), divided between 5 Pots this time, favouring those from which I know we have some expenses looming on the horizon.
*Examined recently received bill from the Cephalopods. Numbers heading in the right direction. We didn't use up all our accumulated credit over Winter & we currently have a little morw credit than we did at this time last year. So it remains an utter mystery why I had that email requesting such a large monthly dd increase (which I declined). I think their AI predictor tool must have had a lalah.
*Did a couple of surveys.
*Last of the rubber chicken tonight. Am cooking it with cannellini beans, veg & tandoori spice & using it to fill leftover tortilla wraps.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
Annoying to have waited in this afternoon for a parcel which hasn't arrived in its delivery window. I can't go down the garden while I'm waiting as it's long & I can't hear the door. Despite this & a day mostly at my desk, I've still scraped in just slightly above my daily minimum steps by putting Planet Rock on & having a bit of a boogie-come-aerobic step moves session. I'm going for a 60-day streak of not being sedentary (classed as below 5000 steps a day) & having got to Day 33, I didn't want to lose it because of a tardy parcel van!
Looking forward to Springwatch, knitting & some more of my ghosty book.
Not a No-spend day because of the fish, but that's all & tbf they won't take the payment till next week anyway.
Love F x

KajiKita

Loving the boogieing to pass the time and get the steps in whilst waiting for a delivery, that’s made me smile. 

Well done for balancing the books and extending foods so well 😊👏

KK 

foxgloves

@KajiKita - Thanks! It may have been a slightly unorthodox method of step-boosting, but it did the trick as I had easily surpassed my target by bedtime.
F

foxgloves

Afternoon Sunbeams,
Well, the delivery.......it didn't come within its scheduled 3 - 4pm time slot & by 6pm, I'd given up. Then at 8.30pm, suddenly a knock on the door & there was the delivery driver with an extremely damaged box. Mr F went to the door & was reluctant to take delivery of it. It had been badly water damaged. The driver said it was raining & the box had got rained on while loading the van, which was rubbish, as it was so wet it could only have got that bad by being left outside for a good while or in a puddle. He said we'd have to take up the issue of any damage with the Watery-sounding kitchen company! Well, by the time Mr F had carried it 10 steps to the living room coffee table, the box had disintegrated into papier-mache. Thankfully, the electrical item we ordered was ok, although the water had just started to soak into the packaging. However, the annual supply of coffee filter papers I ordered were mostly soggy & some boxes were open because they'd disintegrated. I do understand that parcels can get rained on, but this was way beyond that & was a lack of care. Anyway, have complained this morning & received an apology & the damaged items are being replaced. So I suppose that was today's first task which helped the budget.....simply getting what we've blimming well paid for! Other stuff:
*Baked a wholemeal loaf.
*Defrosted the last 2 portions of pinto bean chilli which we will eat tonight with a sprinkle of cheese & a buttered roll each.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Did next week's meal plans. Will start the grocery shopping list later this afternoon.
*Made good use of a discount code to stock up on my favourite footless tights plus some standard ones for the Autumn (black ones, plus another pair of suffragette purple as I was sorry when my last ones wore into holes....though I'd had them a long time). The offer was spend £40+ & get £20 off, plus delivery was only £1, so I thought it was just daft not to stock up when it's stuff I would be buying later in the year anyway. The footless will be useful as I like those in summer with dresses & have put my thumb through an older pair this morning, grrr.
*Did a couple of surveys.
*Sorted clean laundry & ironed a very few items. Had intended to iron the pattern pieces from the dress I took to pieces plus the old duvet cover I intend to use for a practice run, but I knew if I did this, I'd be tempted to spend the next week fannying around with sewing stuff when I really must progress the veggie garden atm. 
*Have made a small start on cutting & hanging bunches of herbs to dry so took down the previous batch (oregano, sage & thyme) & crumbled them into jars. Also filled my empty bay leaf jar.
I am off outside to get some fresh air now. I need to reach today's daily steps minimum so I will finish the last 1000 by marching up & down the garden. Today was one of those mornings where I awoke with a muzzy head, thought it wasn't bad enough for a painkiller, but then by breakfast time, it's a headache. Paracetamol taken later, but haven't really worked. I think sometimes, we all get this annoying niggly headache which just seems to have to go away on its own when it's ready. I'm sure fresh air will assist with that. As I sit in the conservatory chatting to you, there is a mouse running about on the courtyard. I think Ash flushed it out from under a hedge, then got bored of it. Soot is fast asleep & snoring, although this will change very soon when I rattle the treat bag because he'll be off like a rocket, so he might be up for a bit of rodent repelling.
Bye for now,
F x

PennysIntoPounds

Hope niggly headache has been fresh-aired and garden-marched off.

What a pain about the drenched delivery. At least they're not being ars*y about replacing the items.
There's always something isn't there!

Can the filter papers be used in the wormery or are they too thick/treated/getting the worms accustomed to a lifestyle in which they demand to be kept?

KajiKita

Positive, assertive behaviour on the drowned parcel 👏

Talk to me about drying herbs please. I tried drying sage before but when I came to use it it had no flavour and I notice the shop bought dried sage is softer, so probably moister? How do you dry it and when do you know it is ready to store? Similar for thyme please 😊

KK