2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Welcome to the all new 2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Join us here for year 14 of the Frugaldom challenge on MSE

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 organise our frugal lifestyles, be it to tackle debts, generate extra income or 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 1990's, elsewhere. We have seen many changes over the years, none so much as affected us all throughout 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic so there could be many more people now finding themselves needing to learn more traditional methods of moneysaving - a penny saved is a penny earned and each is as important as the other.

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 worthwhile 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 for the love of it. Others are still tackling debts and frugal living 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 progress.

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

The 2020 Challenge
The 2019 Challenge
The 2018 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 the true cost of living, sticking to a budget, clearing debts and making savings wherever and however possible 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 parents or paying off the mortgage early. Some choose the lifestyle on ethical grounds. Above all, this is a fun, fairly traditional 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 and 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 only those 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/sharing for better discounts & reduced delivery costs
Landsharing, allotments & frugal garden systems
Food sharing
Online trading - auctions, stores, social media pages etc, etc, etc...

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

If you haven’t already done so, join the MSE forums and share your frugal lifestyle hints, tips and achievements here, where you are among like-minded friends and supporters

GOOD LUCK IN 2021

Frugaldom

Here we go, all the rules and 'about' stuff that you need to know before setting off on your frugal journey through 2021

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 ask.

The following was taken from official MSE forum rules:

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

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

This challenge is about good old-fashioned moneysaving and frugal living - it's about paying for needs so we can afford some 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.

ANYONE IS FREE TO JOIN US AT ANY TIME

cw18

Checking in, but not sorted out any sort of budget yet !!    Could be a job for Boxing Day

DiligentPanic

Can I join too please 😁

ldee2111

Looking forward to joining in. 

threepenny_bit

looking forward to doing better this year - might be towards the end of 2020 before I can do a final budget though

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the new thread @Frugaldom ! 😊 
I'm in (although my budget was set from 1st November 😉) 

peony40

I am able to join you this coming year, the last couple of years I meant to, but I was too involved  with caring duties to concentrate.  There have been a number of changes to our income so I have a reduced amount to work with, so I will be working on our budget over the Christmas holiday.

One_day_at_a_time_after_abuse

I would like to join too please 
I've already set up my budgets for 2021 and I am trying to finally become debt free after a traumatic few years. I want to take control again. Already got my bills down to under £700pm including my mortgage so that's a start.

One Day xx

KatyLovesCats

Hi, I’ve been a member here for many years under various names but very much a lurker and love reading everyone’s tips and what’s going on in their lives. I really, really need to re-haul my financial life next year. I’m currently on ESA and my daughter is 18 in May so I’ll lose a lot of the money I get for her and I honestly don’t know how I’m going to survive to be honest. I really want to get a job but I’m worried about whether I can cope with one with my health condition. Anyway, sorry for the long story, I’d really like to join this group and will work out a budget in the next couple of weeks for up to June. Will reassess month to month though as I simply won’t know what’s going on. Thank you all 

stellata

Can I join please? Lifelong frugaleer by necessity but anticipating an even tighter 2021, and need to save a bit of a cushion for rocky times ahead.