2022 Frugal Living Challenge

willow_loulou

Oh I should add I have not included electricity in the above, basically because all bets are off regarding how much it will cost these days, we’re careful but 🤷‍♀️ I’m not going cold if I run out of wood that’s for sure! 

cw18

willow_loulou said:

I was shocked to find out my income is £12000 under the minimum expected for a single person!

Can I ask where you found a 'minimum expected' figure from?

I'd love to see how mine stacks up - although I'd expect to be above it due to being in receipt of a widows pension as well as my earning (which means I really do need to start looking after my pennies much better!)

I did consider trying to manage on what I'd have to live on if my job goes (currently a distinct possibility), but having run a benefits calculation I nearly had a melt down!  Apparently the pension is the equivalent to almost two-thirds of what the state says I need, so I'd only get half as much again in benefits (including help with CT).   There's no way I could keep my house on so little, but also no way I could move as that requires capital which I don't have.

Bluegreen143

@cw18 it’s from the Joseph Rowntree foundation, check here for a calculator you can put different figures in: https://www.jrf.org.uk/minimum-income-calculator-do-you-earn-enough-decent-standard-living

On the site you can also access the full report: https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/minimum-income-standard-uk-2022

They aren’t setting out what a bare bones subsistence income ought to be, rather a minimum standard to live a lifestyle that’s socially accepted as normal if that makes sense. That’s why it includes things like paying for a smartphone. While you can live without it, for most people/families, this would disadvantage you living in our current society. 

Using the calculator you can adjust to your own circumstances eg the default suggests a family like mine (one 2-4yo and a primary school child) would spend £240 a week on childcare, but we actually spend nothing because I work school hours, so don’t use after school care, we’ve never used holiday childcare and my littlest only uses her 30 free nursery hours in term time, nothing extra. So that means we need a bit less income. But our council tax and energy bills are more than they estimate.

London_1

I roughly budget for £720 per year for food only,but any cash left at the end of the month is squirrelled away for 6 months to get a 'big ' shop which is dried basics plus washing liquid etc and cleaning stuff ,although I am a great believer in vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.I cook from sctratch and can streetch meals out with extra veg.I bake quite a bit and swap cakes etc for fruit from friends trees, bushes etc and I forage for blackberrie in the late summer.I have zero waste when it comes to food. A lot of shampoo, conditioner for my hair my granddaughter buys to try and if it doesn't suit her she donates it to me . I'm extremely careful when it comes to shopping and at the moment my freezer is full and also my cupboards and upstairs store cupboard of dried goods. I rarely eat sweets, and never eat crisps. I mainly make my own biscuits and cakes and even cake that getting a bit passed it best can be used in a trifle.I'm an old fashioned cook and will bulk out the maain meat or fish with veg, what ever is in season. I'm not really into 'luxury' stuff at all and as long as I have enough to eat I'm quite happy.
Tomoorow I will sort out my november 'spends' and see what I've spent. nothing spent so far this month as I am trying to make some wriggle room in my freezer for post-Christmas supermarket bargains. I think there is about £102 tucked away towards my January 'big shop' Then I will be abstaining from shopping whilst the weather is at its chilliest.

JackieO xx

gill5blue

Frugaldom said:

Grocery challenge in the Frugaldom household has, for several years, been based on the £1 per person per day for all meals, plus toiletries, laundry and cleaning products. With 2 of us to feed plus whoever comes along to visit (or volunteer), I tended to round up to a maximum of £1,000, of which £800 is supposed to be food.  I took my eye off the ball, let stores run down, failed to grow sufficient fruit & vegetables and as for the batch cooking, well... that kept going out the window through lack of time and energy. However, I've just done my final shop of the year so the cupboards, fridge and freezer are all full and the total annual spend amounted to £1,095.81  I'll try harder in 2023 to keep tabs on everything and see if it is at all possible to drive costs back down to get closer to my target. For now. the average per person including toiletries, laundry and cleaning products worked out at £1.50 per person per day for everything.  As well as the spends, I made great use of the Olio app to take advantage of some rather luxury items that I wouldn't normally have bought. This week has netted us milk, fruit, veg and cakes. The other thing about the gross overspend on grocery shopping is tha it includes many luxury items, such as cakes, crisps, chocolate and sweets. There doesn't look to be any real problem in getting spending back to £1 per person per day other than the fact that I would need to cut out all the luxuries.

WOW, that has made me stop and think. I don't think I can go that low on spending but it is nice to know it is achievable.
Gill5blue

Bluegreen143

£1 per person a day would be about £120 a month for us (four person family). We actually spend about £500 a month on groceries 😨 We would never be able to get it down to £120 but I feel sure I *should* be able to knock it down by at least £100! 

Soontobeoap

@Frugaldom that is amazing. I thought i had wiggle room to cut more off next year but was doubting myself because of cost of living rises. I will never get it down to £1.00 a head though. That is amazing. I have missed some info about your lifestyle I think. Do you have a small market garden? Why do you have volunteers. Ignore me if i am being to nosey but you are an inspiration. 

London_1

Probably different for me as I live alone, and only have to feed myself so my food budget costs are far less than those with a family to feed. My Sunday dinner, the main meal of the week is at my youngest DDs . But I can usually get by on around £60 odd a month, but I'm not a big eater anyway.

This morning I had a bowl of porridge for breakfast which filled me up all morning. I make it as my late Mother did with water and salt and a splash of milk when served up in the bowl The porridge is around 70p a kilo so a serving is  possibly less than 10p. but say 10p including the milk

Mid morning cuppa and a couple of home made biscuits 5p

Lunch will be a bowl of carrot and coriander soup HM from three large carrots from the veg box that cost me 15p, this has made me a litre of soup so lunch costs roughly about 5p if you include a veggie stock cube from my stash and some coriander  from my herbs and spices jars. 

 Cup of coffee, and a biscuit or two 5p

Leaving around 70p for dinner.I have a couple of sausages from the freezer that I have defrosted They were reduced about a month ago and frozen  I always divide the packet of 8 into two sausage portions so they cost arond 20p and some mashed potatoes also from the freezer I made to freeze and they cost also arond 15p as they too were from a reduced bag I bought and brought home ,peeld,boiled and mashed and divided into balls with my ice cream scoop. along with some steamed veg ,tonight it will be some sweetheart cabbage bought from M & S for 60p

I will steam about a quarter of it so around 15p's worth.
Pudding will be some left over sponge cake my granddaughter brought me on Thursday when she visited.I made a litre of custard which costs about 50p so a dollop of that around 10p so dinner tonight will cost around 60p

Breakfast 10p
Mid morning 5p
Lunch 5p
Afternoon cuppa 5p
Dinner 60p
 total today roughly costing around 85p. plus  about 15p for a couple of satsumas from a speciaal offer packet

So today I managed on a £1, but it varies from day to day depending on whats in the cupboards, and what veg I have in store. Its enough for me as I'm not a big eater and rarely feel the need or inclination to eat between meals anyway.

I think I would struggle to eat a large meal as I have grown older I seem to need less. But I am never hungry and have more than enough for my needs. Both my DDs think I eat like a sparrow  

When you have a family to feed its different as children have hollow legs and as a rule chaps when they come home from work like to tuck in  

JackieO xx

Frugaldom

Soontobeoap said:

@Frugaldom that is amazing. I thought i had wiggle room to cut more off next year but was doubting myself because of cost of living rises. I will never get it down to £1.00 a head though. That is amazing. I have missed some info about your lifestyle I think. Do you have a small market garden? Why do you have volunteers. Ignore me if i am being to nosey but you are an inspiration. 

FRUGALDOM - THE STORY SO FAR

Right, here goes... I began publishing my frugal living challenge in 1999 as NYKMedia, under the heading 'The Scottish Pound'. Since that time, I've divorced, moved at least a dozen times, gained 5 grand children, bought a house without a mortgage,saved and bought land to create what's now known as the Frugaldom project, continued with the extreme frugal living and bought holiday caravans to offer frugal breaks, then bought a second cottage (now tenanted), a gypsy wagon (visitors use it like a retreat), built some shelters, hay store and our first recreational, residential hut. Friends and family can come and stay to experience the whole off-grid, frugal living thing while helping look after the land, animals and wildlife.The project is run voluntarily, welcomes anyone to visit or volunteer. it's registered as an animal welfare establishment so we run a sanctuary there, and the barn yard is open to overnight stops for campervans and motothomes as a licensed 'aire'. It's completely off grid and everything is by donation. These things have always been part of my frugal living challenge and like my motto says,the less I spend, the more I can afford.There are 2 of us in our household - we live on less than half the national minimum wage and everything else gets saved for developing the project further, plus feeding the 9 ponies, 2 goats, numerous hens & ducks, wildlife and whoever / whatever else happens to come along. We have weekends with campfires, crafting, art, tree planting, goat-walking, pony-pampering, batch cooked soup, curry or similar and share whatever produce we can from foraging, gifts and Olio. My plan originally included buying a woodland but that never materialised so every winter, we plant (mostly free) trees.This is now year 9 of planting and our future woodland is beginning to grow, as are the patches of orchard, edible hedging and herb gardens. From 2023, the plan is to find a few more like-minded others who can come along and help make a food forest so we have more fruit & veg. If all goes well, we will have another couple of huts built by/for friends and family. (You can search for Scotland's Thousand Huts Project to find out what huts are.) And that is where we are now at... debt free and lstill oving frugal living while spreading theword to help others discover it for themselves.

Soontobeoap

Wow! I take my hat off to you. I am not ready to take frugality to those levels but I really admire what you are doing and I know I will watch out for your posts as I am sure that I can learn an awful lot from you. Thank you @Frugaldom