2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Tanya12345

Feeling excited... Finishing off the last of the wine stores.... Until I make my own, wine is a luxury - as well as being not particularly good for me !! Making lists and looking forward to jumping into the next decade. Here's to being in control, in charge and enjoying freedom in our lives. Xx

FrankieM

My focus for this coming year 2020 is...ME

I've put budgets in place that allow me to pay my general bills, live a little and save a little.

And, I'm determined to get the weight off and get physically fitter.

So, everything that I do this year has to work towards achieving those things.

FrankieM

My 'New Year' started yesterday, having got back from being away for Christmas and it being my normal payday date.

I've been shopping today and as I'm not back at work until Thursday, I'm using the next few days for batch cooking, a bit of decluttering and sorting and some deeper cleaning than normal.

I've also looked through all my cook books and made lists of meals from each one that I like the look of for future reference.

All notebooks for the new year have been set up and lists updated.

Here we go

Tanya12345

Hi FrankieM, so happy to meet up again. Here's to 2020 xx

A_Random_Man

Could I join please I am currently saving to get a mortgage and would like to get to my savings target as quickly as possible. The only debts I have are my car loan and a credit card which is paid in full each month, I tend to overspend on food more than anything else so would like to cut this by as much as possible, my only big area's of overspend is my phone which is £40 per month the deal ends in July should would look to halve this when it comes time to renew.

Also I don't use office so could anyone recommend a good spreadsheet which I could use in google docs. I know I could easily do a search but I am interested if anyone has any ones they use.

Herbyme

Frugaldom wrote: »

:
I'd just like to add a bit in here about developing new social skills that involve facing up to the reality

... I learnt today, this applies to social skills around asking the price of things - felt a bit conspicuous (?) asking the cost of a packet of crisps in the pub today - £1.45 for a tiny bag!! So I was glad I did ask, but aware my OH wished I hadn't.

So, having stumbled across this thread, and feeling really in tune with the ideas I've read so far, I'd like to join for 2020. One challenge will be getting OH to buy in, I may be asking advice about that... no point me saving it if he's still spending it without thinking. He refuses to do quite a few things on the list at the start eg taking his own lunch to work, so that's a work in progress...

The other snag I find is that being frugal can take more time than being profligate, and I seem to be really time-poor. I'm self employed and I'm planning to cut my hours in 2020 to give me more time for (free) exercise and for cooking in advance/batch cooking. And feeling less like a headless chicken!

Looking forward to finding out how this thread works, and getting lots of tips and inspiration, TYIA all!

thrifty-hayley

I'd like to join please I haven't got any debts but live on a low income so it can become a struggle by the end of the month! Hoping to do better this year and fill my emergency fund before focusing on building a house deposit.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi folks, sorry I've not posted much recently. I have been squirrelling away in the background working out my budgets for personal spending for next year. The main household spending is already set and runs well each year. I am currently doing an inventory of what I have currently and looking to set budgets depending on the gaps.

Toiletries and skincare - I already have lots of stuff. There are a few things I will need but not until later on in the year. Budget set here at £200 for the year.


Books - I have recently started using the local library a lot more in a bid to get out of my Amazon habit. It's worked pretty well and I am enjoying the catch up with the ladies who work there when I go in. I have also set up apps to access free emagazines, free audiobooks and free ebooks all from the local library. Books budget for 2020 = £zero
.

Love your lists, allie:T, and am trying to do something similar myself. Let's hope we both manage to keep to our budgets:beer:

When I was in major debt I had to curtail my book-buying addiction:o. I too learned to love my local library and, as this is a rural area, found the mobile library an absolute lifesaver. I could order anything online from the county's catalogue and they'd put it on the mobile library van when it was available. As I visited it every time it parked in my nearest village I always had a good supply of what I wanted, not just what I could spot on the shelves that fortnight. I must have saved a fortune over about 3 years:j.


I also cheated a bit, well, a lot actually:o, by still buying books from charity shops occasionally. I thought paying the odd 50p or £1 every now and then for a book in 'as new' condition was brilliant but really all those spends added up and I eventually went 'cold turkey' and stopped even that:j. My promise to myself, and one of the things that kept me going during the long, bleak debt-filled days, was that once I was debt-free again I'd treat myself to some brand new books from a proper bookshop or Amazon. Well, I'm happy to say I've been debt free for about 18 months now but I'm sorry to say it's all so easy to get back into the book-buying habit. My aim this year is BUY NO BOOKS from anywhere whatsoever!


I'm not going to spend any actual money on toiletries etc as I have £66.35 in Boots Advantage points. If I really can't manage without something (and I don't think that will happen as I must have already stockpiled plenty of stuff from there for all those points to have mounted up:eek:)I'll 'buy' it for free using the points:j


Good luck to you and everyone else during 2020:beer:

[Deleted User]

Frugaldom wrote: »

Food shopping is one of the greatest and easiest ways to cut costs while frugal living. The first rule is to aim for zero waste and the second is to get creative so there is zero waste. Do a £10 shop of absolute essentials and then work back from that at making enough meals to last a full week. I always find that pasta, rice, cous couse, soup, homemade puddings and cheap veg are the best buys while maintaining a stock of things like herbs, spices, tinned tomatoes and dry goods with long shelflife are great.

I successfully completed the Ration Challenge in 2019 (sponsored for charity) and the cost for a full week's meals amounted to less than £4 per person. I don't recommend this diet, mind you, but I used to aim for as close to £1 per person per day for all our meals. It is hard work juggling cooking and being out all day but for anyone with a bit of time to spare, it is still easily achievable if you don't buy into luxuries. Nowadays, I'm happy if I can keep to about £10 per person per week balanced out over the full year.

Being frugal while on a strict budget dictated by debts does not allow for being fussy so I do recommend to anyone interested that they learn to love porridge, homemade soup, food sharing and foraging. Help support and promote zero food waste.

Frugaldom, I'm very interested in the Ration Challenge that you did. Is it some sort of 'official' challenge or just something you did with people you know? It sounds too stringent for us (DH could eat for Britain:rotfl:) but there might be something I could take from it without actually committing to it 100%

I've always been good at not wasting food or even massively overspending on it, even when I was accruing my debts by flashing the plastic at every opportunity:o. I've always been a batch-cooker, mainly because I had a very onerous professional life and keeping on top of our meal situation was a lifesaver for someone so time-poor. I gave up a Saturday once a month/fortnight for the purpose. DH did lots of other household chores but never any actual cooking:( although 'reheating' something I'd already made wasn't beyond even him;). He did grow all our own veg though so that was a big help. With 4 children, now all grown up and flown the coop, I had my work cut out putting a nutritious meal on the table every evening after work. My freezers and slow cookers were my best friends:rotfl:


I love your idea of a £10 shop. Might try that:). Even though I've been debt-free for a while now I want to build up a savings pot and, being relatively recently retired , need to make sure I don't waste a penny on unnecessary things such as tempting and invariably expensive food items.

Jazee

I absolutely need to join this challenge. Have just worked out income and projected expenditure for next year based on what we've spent this year. I'm now only working part time and if we continue to spend as we have been they'll be a £5k deficit. Obviously that can't happen. I've managed to look at where we can make savings, mostly on food and entertainment but still £1k short so I really need to get DH on board with this.