2022 Frugal Living Challenge

rtandon27

👏👏👏 Well said @Frugaldom - what a lovely & inspiring outlook!

EskarinaWeatherwax

@Frugaldom that is *lovely*. I have long believed we’ve been sold a lie that consumerism = happiness. I know I’m happiest outdoors and that’s free! 

Saying that, I think my budget for the year appears to be huge compared to everyone else’s… 

Everything that’s non negotiable  - mortgage, CT, insurance, a bit of support for a family member, HLP, groceries etc - and a few negotiable bits like overpaying the mortgage comes to £20,729. I then plan to save £4830 into various pots (holidays, house stuff, emergencies, annual bills, Xmas and birthday presents etc)

But my spreadsheets are ready and every penny is laid out. 🤞🏽

nannygladys

Frugaldom that is so true but took me a while to see it though.

Frugaldom

Eska... it's all about perspective, so we can't (and shouldn't) compare our personal budgets with others. The places that you MAY be able to scrape back a little would be things like groceries, insurance, support for others in several ways aside from just financial and I'll need to show my ignorance by admitting I was stumped at HLP - Home Loan Payments? Gifts, holidays and other stuff are all prime candidates for making savings if you are planning to spend on these things so don't be surprised if you start seeing the numbers fluctuating through the year as you get into the swing of frugaling. Good luck with it all.

I'll be back to join you all in here just as soon as the 2021 challenge finishes.   I'll be hoping to see some year end round-ups on the other thread. 

EskarinaWeatherwax

@Frugaldom thank you, I do wonder what may come along in the way of savings I’ve not yet imagined. I’ll know in a year!

And HLP - heat light power 

Danebury

I’m really looking forward to this.  I transferred savings in to the savings account at 12.01am.  The frugal lifestyle starts now as we have been paid. 

My budget for food is £400 pm. There is 4 adults and we eat most things. 2 weekends we have ds from uni.  My plan is if I come under each month, save the excess and use that towards special birthday meals, Christmas food.  

For those of you who have sold on eBay, is January a good month to sell or should I leave it a while? 

balabooberlies

Hello All

my goal for January is to face up to my debts, analyse them (finding out my weak points) and make a plan for this year.  Some people can do this at the drop of a hat, my brain needs time.

On last years thread, in the spring, I set a goal to overcome my fear of tech, so that I could sell on eblay.  It took me the rest of the year (although I was away from home for over 6 months) to accomplish that.

But now, all the things I have saved over the years to sell, will be sold.  To help reduce my debts.

bala

x

Jazee

Morning all.  I'm in again this year and pleased to say that DH is finally on board.
 I worked out our budget for next year, assuming price rises of 5% although I will shop around for best deals.
 I have based the budget on both DH and me working part time still although at the moment DH only has work guaranteed until the end of March.
There are £14000 of spends we can't really control, but £7000 is the rest of our spends and we can reign things back there if we need to.  

If we both have work for the whole year we should be able to save about £2000 having decided against going on holiday.
Of course we may get hit with unexpected huge bills again.  In November we were hit with £4000 of vet and car bills and although we have pots for those, there is always the possibility we have to use some of our savings that we are fortunate enough to have and in the meantime we keep on hoping for that big win on the premium bonds.
Our big win this week was a free top of the range high chair for when we're looking after the grand children.

YORKSHIRELASS

Morning all

Frugaldom thank you as always for your wise words and guidance as we all set our frugal challenges and look forward to a frugal 2022.  Being positive and celebrating small achievements is definitely the way forward.

Balaboo it takes time to see where your debts are, make a plan and deal with the reasons why you got into debt in the first place, rushing this process is more likely to make you slip back into old habits.  There are lots of very complicated reasons why we are in so much debt and we have never put foreign holidays or big purchases on our credit cards.  I still struggle with feeling like I need to keep up with the Joneses but I am getting better.

I will do some work on our finances later.  Today we have to take DS2 back to the big city but first I am going to go for a jog wearing the new running trainers that I bought with Christmas money (I need decent trainers because of my dodgy knee so I am happy with that).

Oh and my current win is burning the old timber play equipment that my Dad and a friend volunteered to dispose of when their village play area was updated.  It has been stored inside for over a year so is bone dry and Dad and his friend cut it up into chunks which burn really well on our fire.  We have loads of it.

ancientmum

Frugaldom said:

@Frugaldom My new years resolution is to be more postive, maybe we could post a positive frugal thing we've done each day or whenever we log on?

I try not to post negative comments as I like to share my love of frugal living. Positivity and eternal optimism helps make most things fun.

Welcome to more newcomers and to long-term lurkers who have managed to step out of lurkdom to join us. If we can help make your journey to debt freedom, or to wherever else financially you are travelling, any easier then we will. Just remember that frugality is about making the most of as little as possible without tipping the balance into meanness. It isn't about self-imposed poverty it's about the freedom to choose not to spend. Frugal living is an achievement, not a punishment. 😊

Wise words Frugaldom.  I admire your vision and tenacity to achieve your dreams. I am lucky to be debt free now, but I need to be as frugal as possible in the areas that I can control, so that I can live the life I want.  I am getting to the age where I feel that I need to live now while I am still active and in good health and it is about experiences more than possessions. 
I have just realised that I sound insufferably smug, but I've had long years of work and unwise spending to get to this point.