2024 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

How many challengers do we still have pursuing or maintaining debt freedom through frugal living? It would be interesting to hear how much impact the frugal living challenge has on various lifestyles. After 17 years of being on here doing this, it would be fabulous to know how many achieved their debt free day and have maintained that, building up a nest egg as things improve or struggling to maintain it as the economic climate worsens. (Or has it improved?)

mandy47

Frugaldom said:

How many challengers do we still have pursuing or maintaining debt freedom through frugal living? It would be interesting to hear how much impact the frugal living challenge has on various lifestyles. After 17 years of being on here doing this, it would be fabulous to know how many achieved their debt free day and have maintained that, building up a nest egg as things improve or struggling to maintain it as the economic climate worsens. (Or has it imroved?)

During this time we paid off our mortgage 7 years earlier than planned and saved enough to build the much needed extension without a loan.
I'm not saying it was easy but it didn't impact our quality of life either.
We eat healthier than my friends and colleagues because it's home grown and cooked from scratch.
We enjoy the simple things. Walking the dog, blackberry picking, making do and mending.  Nothing is wasted and we're not adverse to second hand. 
I've learned so much from MSE and the forum.
Wouldn't change a thing. I turned 60 in August so the next goal is to retire early. 
It's surprising how often people say things like
"I wish I could cook"
" I can't even thread a needle"
" Don't have time to make jam, pickles, cakes etc"

We all have to learn. Just give it a go. I know most of you on here will agree.

Nonnadiluca

Life changing for us: by living the frugal lifestyle the mortgage was paid off, DH was able to give up work and we are living our best, albeit simple life. We eat well, growing some of our own fruit, veg and nuts, I have nice clothes courtesy of charity shops and vinted, and we have time to spend with grandchildren, walk the dogs in the forest every day and pursue our hobbies. We do all this, with no debt, on a joint income of less than half the median income for one person. 
For us understanding the meaning of "enough" was key; we have a big enough house, a big enough car, enough stuff etc. I realise our good fortune every day and am very thankful for it. 

mama67

DH has gone down to 3 days a week as he nears his 60 birthday.

We do still run the log business as a side hustle. 

And we are getting to have trips away. 

In other news DS2 got engaged a couple of weeks ago and they are in the process of buying a house. They aren’t going for a starter home more the next one up so they don’t have to move again when they decide to start a family (few years yet). It is an older property which was a family home so has been looked after. Both have been saving hard since they first got together. 

Nelliegrace

We are going for our members’ free hot drinks at the garden centre this afternoon. (£12 a year for 2 hot drinks a month and a birthday hot drink and cake for 2.) It is a regular date, time to chat without his phone. We are taking the telescopic apple picker to forage some apples in the lanes on the way. That has paid for itself, we got 85 lbs of apples one year which lasted us and the hens into April. 

We used to have lovely autumn raspberries when we had the allotment, and rhubarb, quince, medlars, damsons, pears, all sorts of berries, all sorts of beans, mangetout, potatoes, artichokes, broccoli, and courgettes, flowers, and beehives which benefitted everyone, all for £24 rent and insurance.

We lived frugally out of necessity. I made the best of it, like Grandma Donna in her blog  https://gdonna.com/living-like-the-past/  It was my history project, learning as much as I could about the ration book diet, and remembering the lessons of 1950s austerity. We have lived within our means and have not gone short. 

Prudent

I have loved reading all your responses to @Frugaldom.

One common theme seems to be that no one has felt deprived, in fact there is a sense that people have thrived through learning new things and being content with a simpler life. That really resonates with me. I am deeply content with being ‘Prudent’. I love being creative with my cooking according to what I have available and I find charity shops a treasure trove which supply a fair amount of my material needs. I like to spend time in nature, to craft and spending time with friends. 

I joined MSE very early on when I was a single parent paying a mortgage by myself. I am still in the same house, although my partner now lives here too. I became mortgage free quite quickly due to an opportunity to improve my earnings by training other professionals in addition to my regular job as I had niche skills. 

The house needed renovated which I did over roughly 7 years from purchasing it and over the past few years some of those jobs have been done again like refitting the bathroom. I stopped working at 50 due to ill health and I get a small occupational ill health pension which has just become taxable this year due to the tax bands being frozen. I share the bills with my partner, but otherwise support myself. I budget carefully, but I am a compulsive saver so do have a decent cushion. I am 60 in 18 months and have a specific financial goal in mind for that point. It is the stage I would have normally retired at and I think psychologically I am aiming to move over to my retirement stage in my finances. 

fionaandphil

Frugaldom said:

Next, electricity. I was checking out Octopus and good reviews seem to outweigh bad but I'm still horrified at how high the daily standing charges are. Pretty soon, it's going to cost £5 a week just to have an electrical supply before using any of it and that's just ridiculous.

@Frugaldom don't forget that you can get a referral anda £50 credit for both you and referrer. I can send you one or I'm sure others can also refer. We've found customer service good and they are easy to deal with. We submit meter readings and usually get the bill back within 24 hours.

My mum also with them, there was a problem at the beginning in the transfer from previous provider but she spoke to them and they sorted it out quickly.

fionaandphil

We are continuing to try to live frugally and have learned so many lessons on here from all members.

We have tried Too good to go bags and Lidl veg boxes as well as Olio, none of which we'd know about without the forum. We have been very lucky with yellow sticker reductions this year and have a healthy freezer going into the winter. Lots of blackberries ripening to last through winter, but not a great success with much else this year due to the weather. A number of dying trees removed this year which is providing logs for the fire next year or the year after and helping to keep the bills down.

Trying to make use of all the equipment and resources we have. During this cost of living crisis it's good to not 'need' to spend on things unnecessarily.

The savings means that we are living well within our means and have been able to overpay the mortgage early, saving thousands in interest. Hopefully will help us retire early too.

We will never get to your level of frugality Frugaldom but it's always inspirational seeing what you are doing. 

Frugaldom

What brilliant responses from you guys, it really is heart-warming to read success stories of true frugal lifestyles bringing about change for good. Congratulations to your son, Mama... Seems no time since schooldays! As always, the perception of frugality varies so I think none who pursues and sticks to the lifestyle is on an even par. It is about making financially sound choices and finding happiness in the freedom from debt. I, too, turned 60 in August so I'm now looking forward to bus pass adventures. Since beginning writing & publishing about all things frugal, over 25 years ago, there has been divorce, relocation after relocation, various jobs, family weddings, funerals, arrival of 5 grandchildren and, all the while, debt and mortgage free for the past 15+ of those years, saving every penny possible and trying to invest in projects with passive income. I still save in premium bonds and have won £1200 this year to date - best ever!

Next major projects involve roof repairs &  redecoration of the one-bedroom cottage, find a new tenant, and plan the next stage of development at Frugaldom. Our campervan & motorhome park-up area will remain open throughout the year even although we are a tiny backwater that sees very, very few visitors. Just as well we enjoy peace and quiet

Today... Going to sort out more of the strawberry runners and bag up more horse manure, which could net us a few extra pennies.

Viking_mfw

Started a regular Olio collection with Iceland yesterday and had a phenomenal amount of frozen goods. So much it wouldn't all fit into our freezer so the frozen fried onions I took as my share defrosted overnight and  are being turned into French onion soup for lunch. 

Also grabbed two lidl boxes this morning which were almost all fruit - keeping us in apples and bananas this week was worth the cost alone. A lot of cherry Toms as well which may need creative thinking as I'm really the only one  who eats raw tomatoes.