During the reviews we conduct with out clients we always talk about the power of understanding where your money comes from (income) and, more importantly, how your money is spent (expenditure).  The easiest way to do this is by consistently looking at your budget, ensuring that you keep control of your expenditure which then allows you to save and invest for the future well being.

I’m also a firm believer in practising what I preach.  However, I’m not perfect and sometimes the disciplines I set myself drift.  Whilst ordinarily I’d review my household and personal expenditure at least monthly, I haven’t completed this exercise on my personal accounts for about 3 months.  A couple of weeks ago I realised I hadn’t done this for a while and decided I needed to get back on track.

So I sat down with a copy of my bank statements, a cup of coffee, some biscuits, a biro and a highlighter pen just to ensure that nothing had hugely changed since the last time I conducted this exercise.  I then reached 2 entries on my statements which concerned me.

Two of my monthly direct debits, my Gas and Electricity seemed really high.  I looked at the spreadsheet which held my last review and the costs for both had doubled in the past 3 months.

So I jumped on the phone to my power supplier to try to understand what had happened.  Apparently a meter reading had been taken with a visit to my home back in May and it had been significantly higher than expected.  This was the reason for the increase in my
monthly direct debit.

I was still confused….unless Charlotte had set up a large hadron collider in the spare bedroom and hadn’t told me there was no good reason for this change! last few months!  and as we approach the summer months!  I mean, I know summer hasn’t been a particularly nice one….but I still couldn’t understand why my June and July bills were twice as much than it was March and April!

The representative from my gas and electricity supplier gave me the meter readings and I decided to check on my meter to see how much they had increased.  When I checked the meter I realised that the last meter reading conducted by my supplier had been incorrect.  How do I know?  The numbers on my meter were still less than they were quoted to me by the representative when it was checked 3 months ago!

I called my utilities supplier back who told me that they could either refund the overpaid amount or use it for future bills, so luckily I’m not in a position where I’ve suffered any financial loss.  However it highlighted to me the importance of ensuring that I’m on top of my monthly budget consistently and the benefits of taking the time more regularly to ensure that everything is how it should be.

After all, imagine if I hadn’t had noticed.  I could have assumed that the readings were correct and continued to overpay for months or even years.  I know that I’d prefer that this money was either in my account, or being invested for my families future financial security than held with my utilities supplier!

So, when was the last time you sat down with your hot beverage of choice, a biro and a highlighter and spent the time ensuring that everything is as it should be?  If it’s been a while (or you’ve never done this)….try it!  What you find might pleasantly surprise you….