2018 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Join us here for year 11 of the Frugaldom challenge on MSE

The Frugal Living Challenge 2018

It's that time of year again, the time when we all need to start thinking ahead into the new year and how we are going to tackle any debts, generate extra income and squirrel away some savings.

Please take the time to read this post in full and if you have any questions, feel free to message me or ask in the forum.

This is an adaptation of the original NYK/Frugaldom 'Living on £4,000 for a Year' challenge. It has been running here on MSE for several years, although these particular money challenges began back in the 90's, elsewhere. We have seen many changes over the years, so this version is a catalogue of diaries charting the progress of 'debt free wannabe' money savers.

Your budget is personal to you, it should fit with your personal financial situation.

If you would like to use a simple spreadsheet for calculating your annual expenditure, you are welcome to download a free copy of the original one HERE Simply overwrite the initial monthly amounts and the totals will auto-calculate. From then, it is a simple case of deducting (use the minus sign in front of the amounts) all your outgoings as the year progresses. It's worth while playing about with it to alter headings to suit your personal lifestyle. I've included a couple of extra columns for things like rent/mortgage & council tax and misc/debt payments.

Some have already achieved debt freedom and now follow frugal lifestyles in order to stay debt free. Others are still tackling their debts and living a frugal life in an attempt to reach their debt-free and/or mortgage-free day. Whichever stage you are at, feel free to join us and share your journey.

The following links will take you to previous MSE versions of our challenge:

The 2017 Challenge

The 2016 Challenge

The 2015 Challenge

The 2014 Challenge

The 2013 Challenge

The 2012 Challenge

Part 1 - January to March 2011
Part 2 - April to June 2011
Part 3 - July to December 2011
Introduction to the 2010 Challenge
Part 1 - January to March 2010
Part 2 - April to June 2010
Part 3 - July to September 2010
Part 4 - October to December 2010
Part 1 - January to March 2009
Part 2 - April to June 2009
Part 3 - July to September 2009
Part 4 - October to December 2009
Part 1 - January to March 2008
Part 2 - April to June 2008
Part 3 - July to September 2008
Part 4 - October to December 2008

How it all began - Saving to buy a house without a mortgage 2007 Challenge

The original interest beater challenge

The original £1000 in 100 days challenge

The original free hobbies thread

IMPORTANT
Please respect others' lifestyles and beliefs. We are not here to judge, we are here to support. Thank you

This challenge is about living a frugal, sustainable lifestyle - establishing your true cost of living, sticking to your budget, clearing any debts and making savings wherever and however you can to enable you to live the life you really want.

Frugal living isn't for everyone, but everyone is welcome to join us. Methods employed by our merry band of frugalers include batch cooking, stockpiling, preserving, foraging, mending, shopping in charity shops, reducing, reusing, recycling, Local Exchange Trading Schemes (LETS), vegetable and fruit growing, allotments, keeping hens, using cash back sites and earning whatever it takes to become self sufficient in managing the cost of living without incurring debt.

For some it is initially about clearing debt, for others it's about increasing savings, buying property, becoming stay at home mums or paying off the mortgage early. Some choose the lifestyle on ethical grounds. Above all, this is a fun and supportive way to manage your budget so you have control of your own cost of living. It's about NEEDS and not WANTS.

Living on a budget = living within our means.
Frugal = thrifty, living without waste

Ideas to help you achieve and/or maintain debt free living
Recognise the differences between needs from wants

Spend within your means
Set a proper budget
Quit expensive bad habits
Houseshare
Get a lodger
Shop via cash-back sites and always price compare
Buy reduced items in stores only if you need them
Stockpile & bulk buy bargains that you use
Batch cooking
Make the most of charity shops
Join freebie or waste awareness and recycling associations
LETS trading - become active members of trading & exchange groups
Bartering
Grow your own herbs, fruit & veg
Preserving & winemaking
Breadmaking & home baking
Card & gift making
Order splitting/sharng for better discounts & reduced delivery costs
Landsharing, allotments & frugal garden systems
Online trading - auctions, stores, social media pages
etc, etc, etc...

Monitoring and revising the budget is part of a good frugal living plan. Gifts & cards could all to be homemade, livestock needs to pay its own keep, anything else needs to be cash neutral.

The bits we need to include to make this work
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Please read the MSE forum rules and help us to keep this challenge on track, thank you.
If you have any questions about this challenge, feel free to PM me.
The following is taken from the official MSE forum rules section:


KEEPING THREADS ON-TOPIC

Please try not to take threads off-topic. This can be confusing for new users and makes it especially difficult for people ... Where requests from Board Guides for threads to be brought back on track have not been followed off-topic posts may be removed. We encourage community, but not thread derailment.

Please bear in mind the main purpose of the site is to save money. The forum team has therefore been instructed to prioritise its time on the MoneySaving forums.

KEEPING TOPICS RELEVANT TO THE BOARD

There are two boards provided for off-topic chat and discussion. The MoneySavers Arms has been set up for fun, more lighter-hearted chat (although do still remember this is a family forum – keep it clean please). Discussion Time is for discussion of current issues (read Martin’s description).

If you post a topic that does not relate to the board it’s posted on it will be moved to a more relevant MoneySaving board or to Discussion Time/The MoneySavers Arms.

This challenge is about paying for needs so we can afford to live debt free and save for/afford wants. It runs from 1st January to 31st December. The links will give you an idea of how previous challenges have gone and these will be updated accordingly.

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply!

GOOD LUCK IN 2018

Frugaldom

Let's be prepared for 2018... join me for the next big frugal living challenge. My personal budget for the cost of living remains unchanged but please remember that is simply to cover the COST OF LIVING.

Your budget is personal to you - you simply calculate it by deducting ALL your necessary expenditure from your total annual income, then the balance is your frugal living budget. If you end up with a negative number then we're all here to help others turn those numbers around as quickly as possible so your goal of debt freedom becomes achievable.

I focus purely on the needs and not the wants throughout the challenge. I'm self employed, not in receipt of any benefits and run my business as a social enterprise, (Perhaps some of you remember the Frugaleur, frugal entrepreneur, EEK or Cyberdosh challenges... these are still going, but the challenge here is purely about affording to live within our own means and have some fun doing that. )

If you would like your name on this list of challengers, let me know and I can amend the list as we progress. I don't always have internet access at Frugaldom, so be patient - I will get to the list editing as soon as possible.

THE 2018 CHALLENGER LIST

1. *Jellie*
2. 1Saver
3. AdventureofMemories
4. Allie23
5. Angelicious
6. Anniee88
7. Arc2014
8. Aruba
9. Bebelles
10. BroadwayBaby71
11. Buffythedebtslayer
12. Bustiblondilocks
13. Buttonnose
14. CheshireCat
15. CosmicZebra
16. Couldsavemore
17. Cybertortoise
18. CW18
19. Datlex
20. DawnW
21. Debttaghh
22. Elly68
23. EmergencyNurse
24. Evuka
25. FairyPink
26. Fishcake_Random
27. Fizzyisbusy
28. Florence J
29. FoggyFroggy
30. FrankieM
31. Frugaldom
32. Frugalish
33. Frugalsazzle
34. Frugalwannabe
35. Gien
36. GlendaSugarBean
37. HazelIsOK
38. Hugglemonster
39. Igaveupnowimback
40. Jammydodgersandrhl
41. Indigowarrior
42. Jscarlisle
43. KB_soma
44. Kerreh
45. Kerry Woman
46. Mumof3.12kindebt
47. Lessonlearned
48. Lindez
49. LittleGingerFox
50. Littlesimplelivingcottage
51. LynneJK
52. MadamMim2013
53. Merle
54. Milly-Ann-Molly
55. Miss D Meanor
56. Mizmir
57. Moll
58. Moneysavingmadgem
59. Moneysavingmonkey85
60. Mooloo
61. Munchin
62. NannyGladys
63. Need an answer
64. Nonnadiluca
65. Parsniphead
66. Patentgirl
67. Penny2myName
68. PennyGrabber
69. Peony40
70. Pipsmum
71. PlayJay
72. PlaysNicely
73. Poppycat1
74. Robi90
75. RosesandRainbows
76. SarahC74
77. Saver-upper
78. Shish100
79. SimpleLivingIslandLife
80. Sinkorswim2018
81. Smijil
82. Spudsmum
83. Squirrelgirl
84. Stay_at_home_mum
85. Steve1097
86. Supersaver2018
87. SusieG
88. Tanya12345
89. The cross rabbit
90. ThePennyFarthings
91. TreasureQueen
92. TrueBlueMummy
93. Unicorn101
94. Unicorn-ASJSD
95. Welshsaver
96. Wit40iwtwan

Kerry_Woman

Will work out my budget towards the end of the year.

evuka

Happy to join again! :beer:

Already updated my benefits at work - decided to keep only my pension contributions for 2018 (that I need to pay for, all else I go with the standard options that my workplace offers) but reduced it a bit to have a little more in my pocket. Reason being is that 1) I decided to start saving for a home 2) one of my sisters is getting married this August! :T

Started working out a detailed budget, will revisit it and put it down to an excel.

Thinking of opening an ISA or a savings account for the savings - which do you think is better if I want to use the money as a deposit as well? Or shall I save separstely for the deposit?

Thanks Frugaldom for running this challenge year by year, it's been a great help to me! :money:

Fishcake_Random

Count me in please. I will work out my years budget shortly and update you x

[Deleted User]

I'm in again for 2018. Thanks for the new thread x

Poppycat1

Please can I join? Budget not sorted yet because I have an issue with my house move. If it goes ahead my mortgage increases so therefore my budget will be a lot less.

cybertortoise

I'd like to join please. I have been eagerly awaiting the new thread. Thank you.

I'll have my budget ready in the next week.

Frugaldom

Nice to see some old faces already - let's see if we can make 2018 extra special! I know it's a BIG year for us with every extra penny being ploughed into future developments while [STRIKE]trying to maintain[/STRIKE] maintaining debt freedom.

I've just completed my 2018 household budget (for 2 adults), so it goes as follows:

Groceries & toiletries £1,000
Fuel & electricity £1,500
TV, telephone & Internet £520
Clothing & footwear £200
Gifts £400
Insurance £140
Sundries £240

Total £4,000

Council tax is approximately £1,000, which includes water, so my overall target is to manage on £5k including council tax. (We have no rent, no mortgage and no debts to service.) We are both home based, self-employed and not in receipt of benefits of any description, unless you count the benefits of being totally debt free and financially independent. Every other penny gets saved for investing in our Frugaldom project.

I base my grocery shopping on £1 per person per day and have allowed extra for toiletries, visitors and special occasions.

This is essential household expenditure but the budget could, if necessary, be cut further. Things like TV, telephones, Internet and gift buying are all basic luxuries, as is affording new clothing or having a sundries/extras budget. I could also cut down on the energy bill buy living in Scotland means it gets quite cold during winter and we rely on electric heaters, an open fire and a log burner.

lessonlearned

I would like to join this year if I may. I will go back and read some of the 2017 thread to get some ideas.

Frugaldom

lessonlearned wrote: »

I would like to join this year if I may. I will go back and read some of the 2017 thread to get some ideas.

Hi lessonlearned, there are so many pages of past challenges that it could take you a long time to get through them so please feel free to post any questions if you need faster answers. Welcome on board, I hope we can all help you reach your goals.