2019 Frugal Living Challenge

System

Definitely joining this year. Need to claw back our emergency fund that we managed to save up to £1000 but is now back at £300.
My plans for next year are.....


Buy less food and cook more things to freeze.
Use home made gifts and charity shops more often.
Try and pay more off debts as well as mortgage
Use less electricity
Sell more on Ebay, FB groups etc
Buy more second hand stuff and not always new.
Set up more savings accounts for different things
don't throw anything away until I have decided if I can actually do anything with it....re-use, up-cycle, re-gift etc

DawnW

I'd like to join again please. OH and I are both retired (though also have small self employed incomes), live in our house which we now own outright, and have a small dog. I grow as many vegetables and fruits as I can in our small garden, keep a reasonable store cupboard and cook from scratch almost always. We like holidays too, though they take the form of trips in our elderly camper van... not expensive as such as we self cater and take lots of home made and home grown food with us, but if I factor in repair and running costs :eek:
We don't have any debt, but don't have a big income to service it, so just as well! Health issues and having to help out a relative both financially and practically blew our budget last year, but having said that there are definitely things that can be cut down on!

We have plans for a couple of small home / garden improvement projects over the next couple of months, but these will be paid from savings and not frightfully expensive anyway. In the meantime, I need to study the 2018 spreadsheet that I kept meticulously, in order to set realistic budgets

RebeccaAnn

Hello, could I join you all please? We have a big savings year and we are trying to attack it from all sides.
I am currently filling the freezer with the time I have off work. I made bean stew the other day and it worked out at under 20p a portion. I have bought quite a lot of the veg that is on sale at the moment and will be making mash and soups to freeze. One of our biggest expenses is convience foods as we both work long hours.

Kerry_Woman wrote: »

I have done my budget for 2019. I am planning to move to Norwich next year(hopefully after my holiday in April), so I am paying the property maintenance monthly for the flat. I really have to cut down on my spending. I did end an very toxic friendship this year which affected me emotional and financially. I have started a new journey in 2018 since my Mum sadly died in December 2017. Still on a learning curve.

Norwich is an amazing city and the vegan/frugal movement here is huge . Sorry to hear about your mum, hopefully 2019 will be everything you want it to be.

Shrewbie

I'd love to join please!
Paid off all my debt this year and aiming to save a total of €10K in 2019 - made up from €2K for emergency fund, €2k for travel fund and €6k for future house deposit. It is ambitious but definitely do-able, as long as I can be frugal, and this is why I need this challenge!

I have decided 2019 will be a shopping ban apart from second hand items. The only thing I would potentially buy new is pants and tights from Pr1mark. Any gifts I will aim to hand make with minimal cost.

Looking forward to getting started!

chocolatelover93

Can I join please?

I live with my 2 year old son and decided that I want to start reducing our waste and living more frugally.

In spring I am going to buy lots of seeds and plant them so we can grow our own fruit and veg - that way he can learn where his food comes from and will hopefully reduce our shopping spend.

I already shop mainly in charity shops for clothes and things I am going to try and do this for all clothes and toys this year unless they are in the sale. So I won't be paying full price for clothes, toys, presents etc.

I am trying to declutter the house so am trying to put at least 1 thing on FB marketplace a day to earn a bit of extra money to get my £3k debt down.

I worked out my total earnings/spendings for 2018 and was shocked by how much I overspend and on silly things! So I have set budgets for the year and I am going to stick to them.

I am also a memeber of SW which is £4.95 a week but will be free once I get to target so that is something else I am aiming for. Me and my friend have both said that if we stick to it 100% we could be at target by July/August 2019.

C xx

Frugaldom

A huge WELCOME to all our newbies and welcome back to our returning frugalers. Good luck to everyone with their plans and I hope you have all set realistic targets that are easily achievable. If your challenge looks too huge or daunting, break it into mini challenges on a month by month basis so you can see you are achieving many smaller goals, then the end result is most definitely worthwhile.

Aaleigha

I have managed 2 NSD
And only cooked from food stocks since Christmas Day
We won't shop until 2nd Jan

If I stay in and tie my hands my back I might have NSD until then

Savvy_sewing

I always start off well and life then gets in the way.
I am currently away on a break with my Mum, so I will look at things on my return, but I have amassed a lot of credit cards debt helping my son and it has backfired on me as he is not paying me back anything at all never mind what was promised.
It is leaving me starting the new year in a hell of a mess.

Aaleigha

Mooloo wrote: »

I always start off well and life then gets in the way.

I think this happens to many of us
I too am hoping to stay on track

frugal things today
Made Pork ragout (enough for two days)
made 2 cakes - one to take for sister in law tomorrow one to use as dessert for tonight (its cheaper than the casserole)
Cheese scones to go with casserole (only a few spuds left)
shortbread to take to sister in laws tomorrow

and its a NSD

all food stuffs have come from cupboard

[Deleted User]

Hi there, I'd like to join again for 2019 and pledge to be more active on the thread this year.

OH and I have agreed to have no holidays this year so we can focus on maximising our savings this year. We have been debt and mortgage free for a few years now (thanks to MSE and the forums) and are focussed on savings for retirement in an attempt to plug the gap in our pensions and have some savings to retire slightly earlier.

Thanks to Frugaldom for running this challenge again.