2023 Frugal Living Challenge

Kitchenbunny

Well, after sort of attempting this last year I’m in for 2023. I’ve worked out a decent annual food budget for the year, as well as loan payments (finish in August!), contracts and saving for necessities for the car and I’ll aim for under £6K for the year. I’ve not included gas and electricity in this as DH takes care of those. 

This is purely for my costs and to save a decent emergency fund as there’s a possibility the office I work in will close and we’d have to commute over an hour out of the way. I can’t justify that. It’d be sad to find another job but I have to be prepared for any eventuality. 

My main areas of concern are meat - not that we eat masses - and fizzy drinks. Cutting those down will help get further under the grocery budget for the year. My aim is to do gifts either from crafting, loyalty points or surveys. First craft project is some crocheted bats and pumpkins for a friend that loves Halloween. I already have the wool and I’ll use a no longer needed pillow for the stuffing.

I’m hoping posting regularly will help keep me on the right track. Being held accountable by writing it up seems like the best approach for me. So, today’s wins: found a couple of scratchcards with £1 each on and last night’s final whim lotto ticket yielded £5 and a lucky dip ticket. That’s my luck for the year! Toad in the Hole for tea with beans, and Masked Singer. 

Come on 2023, I’m ready 😊

Glittering_M

Thanks @joedenise and @maryb. I hadn't considered that, that's a great suggestion!

skint_chick

I'll be in again for 2023 - I read along although didn't really comment last year, but am trying harder to focus on frugal goals at the moment. Planning a frugal January with only free activities and eating from the cupboards and freezer to try and save a bit. 
Our annual budget is:
Mobile and broadband and TV stuff = £800
Insurances (home, car, life, travel etc) = £1,000
Utilities = £1,200
Food, toiletries and pet = £1,600
Car tax, maintenance and petrol = £900
Dentist = £45 (hoping for no fillings again this year!)
Clothes and haircuts = £150 (already have plenty and only need 2 x cuts a year)
Presents = £150 (2 nephews and a niece, OH and dad)

Total of £5,845 so I'm allowing another £155 for social activities during the year to take me to £6,000 maximum. This doesn't include mortgage and council tax and a holiday, and trips to visit family. We have some home improvements to do this year in the garden and at the front of the house, so spare money is going towards this and overpaying the mortgage.

zcrat41

Well hello there 2023. I woke up with the saying in my head this morning (plus a raging hangover, thank you Mr Port) "worry free 2023". Hopefully it's a sign! 

I'm a long time lurker on the OS thread and would like to be a part of this challenge. We have busy lives and I want to make sure we take some things slow and a bit more OS. Also becoming very aware of how consumerist we have become. I have a slightly different budget as we're farmers and am very lucky that the farm covers the house & electric etc. doesn't mean I won't try to reduce the latter though - have become far too reliant on the tumbler. 

So my budgets are:
Food: £100 per week £5200 per year. I'm aware this is as much as some of you budget for everything but it would be a huge achievement for me. This is to feed 2 tweens and 2 adults. I'd really really like to eat more from our own veg patch. 

Clothes: £1200 per year for all of us. Started well today. DS needed some Astro boots for hockey. £4 virtually unused from Vinted rather than £40 Decathlon 

Social - £1200. This covers takeaway, wine, days out etc. 

hipe to get to know some of you Bette Ron here

Frugaldom

@patentgirl Not sure how far you are from SW Scotland but we have campervan & motorhome stopover space at Frugaldom :  You could come visit! . You will be very welcome anytime. (As will anyone else who is into off-grid vanlife adventures)

Beshki

Feeling motivated to continue and hopefully better my intentional spending in 2023. 

Determined to make the most of my veggie patch this year. We have given up our allotment and need to concentrate on the less readily available/more expensive veg this year (£2 for a tiny packet of tender stem broccoli in the shops nowadays? I think not!) 

Back to work on Tues & planning to make a big batch of cheap and wholesome healthy minestrone soup tomorrow. Delicious, cheap & healthy. 

Planning to spend more time reading, walking etc this year and also learning to crochet. Feel really geared up to save what I can, I have a goal in mind and it’s only just achievable but means going without. We’ll see how we go!

Beshki

Oh, I too ordered my Christmas cards for next year in the sales the other day. I’ve cut down on ‘sister/daughter’ named ones and just bought ‘to you all’ - which saved money and waste.

Frugaldom

Welcome to our latest arrivals to the challenge,bi hope you all have frugal fun and great success in 2023. It started as a fine day here, even getting a little bit of sunshine to boost the solar.

Several of you have mentioned a no spend month, which is something I always hope for, but never achieve. . However, I do keep things to a minimum and make the most of whatever freebies, swaps and trades I can find.

Good luck to everyone this year. The past 3 have been rather challenging but still managed to be productive, despite some lengthy delays. I'm hoping 2023 will be even more productive. 😁

RateTartExtraordinaire

Count me in! 

A bit about me: My budget is set at £8260 this year, which should be within my means as long as my earnings are the same as last year. My income fluctuates from month to month as I'm now self-employed with occasional PAYE contracts, but my self-employed income has been more consistent over the last 9 months.
Any excess I plan to use for business expenses, savings and investments. I'm debt free / mortgage free due to many years of budgeting, living frugally and over-paying the mortgage.

Last year, things didn't go exactly as planned as I overspent in all categories apart from bills. Thinking only about the things within my control, my strength was reducing bills by using less energy and making the most of cashback; my greatest weakness was travel / short breaks. This year I am resolved to making no impulsive travel decisions. Last month I said no to two Christmas market trips and have handed over the reins for our main holiday spend for 2023 to my partner, for my own good!  

I plan to continue to do batch cooking, use Olio, mend, repair and upcycle, use cashback sites for planned purchases, walk instead of driving whenever I can. 

My frugal living challenge aim is threefold: to live within my means, top up my emergency fund and keep up regular investment towards retirement. 

Here to share the ups and downs of the next 12 months...Good luck all!

Bluegreen143

I’ve been getting really inspired by reading the Frugalwoods blog (they bought a huge homestead at 31 and the wife quit corporate work/became a freelance writer to stay home with her children; now 7 years later the husband has just early retired. They had a high income of course, but we’re frugal with it and a lot of their early articles in particular on groceries, entertainment, DIY are really inspiring. 

I’m planning on making big cutbacks this year. We are really fortunate that we both have decent incomes, no childcare costs anymore (I work during school hours and my youngest goes to preschool nursery during school hours using her free 30 hours) and a mortgage that isn’t high for our income. So we do OK but the last couple years I’ve let go of being very frugal and as a result we’ve not saved all that much. 

i haven’t got an annual budget worked out but I have thought about areas I want to cut back on this year:

GROCERIES 
Last year we averaged £500 a month for two adults, a 6yo and 3yo which seems outrageous… we do waste far too much and could cut back a bit on meat. I need to make sure I’m making as much as possible myself too though my time is more limited since I stopped being a SAHM.

PETROL
I’d like to walk or cycle more this year, and drive less. 

FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT 
We are already good at doing cheap stuff with our kids (either getting out in nature or staying home to do crafty projects) but I want to almost eliminate paid for expensive entertainment this year. So lots of time using our National trust membership we got for Christmas, going to free museums, parks, swimming or libraries. 

I do ring fence the child benefit and any larger sums of birthday money the kids get (I let them keep small amounts like £5 for spending). The child benefit gets split between kids clothing and pocket money/activities pots and gift money goes into an “enriching experience” pot - we’ve used this to go to the zoo for example, and to take my eldest climbing. So there will be some paid for activities but only within this pot set aside for the purpose. I do want to build it rather than spend it all so there’s a sum ready for school trips when they get bigger. 

SOCIALISING 
I will allocate money for seeing friends as it’s important to me. But I’ll continue prioritising cheap or free ways to see friends - hosting them here or visiting their houses, going for walks/picnics and our weeknight pub visits (cheap as I drive so only get a soft drink). I don’t drink loads of alcohol but aiming to cut down further in 2023. 

HOME & GARDEN
We are already good at insourcing most things but will continue with that! So we’ll incur some expenses eg compost and seeds, paint for doing the hall, but don’t plan any expensive work except a wood burning stove which we are currently saving for. I don’t want to spend much on “stuff” for the house and will be looking for second hand if we need to replace anything.

MY SPENDING
I’ve cancelled my gym membership (which was ultra pricey). I’m also imposing a “stuff” buying ban. I will allow myself supplies for one craft project at a time but must finish it before buying for the next. And I got £100 in Amazon vouchers at Christmas so plan to have these in my account and when I struggle with it all I can order a book or notebook using it to cheer myself up. But I’d like it to last at least til my birthday in late summer. I plan to not buy any clothes unless something wears out and is essential to replace. 

GIFTS
These are a very expensive area for us but DH won’t cut back - must see what I can do here. Maybe need to take up surveys etc and use funds from that for our gift budget. 

We do have a couple of holidays booked (self catering and staying within Scotland) but am saving for these.