Living frugally in 2025......

Justcrackingonwithit

That’s a really good idea @Cherryfudge I have thought for a while I should keep a spending diary. 

And you’ve hit the nail on the head about being over eager, I’m so keen to pay off the debt, I’m sacrificing everything else. I’m realising that although it’s good to be keen, I need to strike that balance….I think that might take some time! 

It’ll  be interesting to see how this month pans out, I’m going to use it as an experiment and see how I feel at the end of it, and whether it’s worth the sacrifice or whether I can be a bit less keen and strike a better balance. 

jwil

I think it's good to have a balance.  If you know you've got a quiet month, you can aim to be quite frugal.  If there's a lot on then you can loosen the purse strings a little.  You'll still make progress but without sacrificing too much.

Cara_

Like Cherryfudge, this year I kept a record of money saved on food by using vouchers, offers and some YS items. Part way through the year it became hard work, but I persevered, and the total money saved is £650 which surprised me. YS reductions are not great where I live and I am too far out to drive back on the off chance I might get something later in the day, so most of my savings are £10 off X spend and just small savings which do add up over the year.

An idea that has been shared on these boards is to put any savings made into a separate account and then the money can go towards debt / frivolous spending at another time. Some people transfer the cost of a coffee, if they wanted one and then decided not to buy one; the idea being it would have been spent so save it. You're just starting your journey so this might not be for you as there are other things to think about.

Yes, I'm up for supporting each other during frugal January.

Sun_Addict

The good thing about cutting back in January is everyone’s doing it so you don’t feel the odd one out. We used to go on holiday in January just to get away from the general feeling of austerity and the miserable weather. 

You definitely need to strike a balance where you’re not depriving yourself too much or you won’t stick to it. It’s too easy to start off with all guns blazing then burn out. A bit like dieting really, deprive yourself too much and you’ll set yourself up for a fail. 

Doris17

I am looking at 15 NSD's in January to start,will be a shock to the system after Christmas spending.Need to get back into the no spending habit.

Justcrackingonwithit

Thanks @jwil @Cara_ @Sun_Addict and @Doris17 for stopping by and for your advice.  It's funny I've been thinking along all of these lines, it's just finding something that motivates you and spurs you on isn't it?  I'm not known for my patience - in fact I'm very impatient, but I'm determined not to be a one hit wonder with my diary and debt busting.  I'm here for the long haul, and don't want to go at it hell for leather and then run out of steam.  So I am really trying to be patient with myself and not to be too hard on myself.  This life is for living and enjoying as well! 

Thank you all though, I appreciate your advice.

Happy New year everyone x

Justcrackingonwithit

Happy New Year!  Hope you're all well.  I've not had the best nights sleep, lots of fireworks that kept me awake and it was so windy and rainy.  Not looking like the best day weatherwise, so likely will be a day tucked up at home. 

Thought I'd do my scores on the doors debt wise, and then I'll do this on the first of every month to track my progress:

CC1 - 3,356.00 - 0% util November 2025
CC2 - 1,597.00 - 0% until April 2026
Loan - 7,000 - 31 months left to run
EF - 350.00
Spare change account - 63.04

The plan is to pay CC1 in full before the 0% ends, so I'll plan to pay 300.00 per month to that, and 200.00 to CC2 and add 250.00 to my EF every month. I'll leave the loan to run as it is and then can think about over paying that once CC1 and 2 are paid off. 

I've been thinking a lot about not burning myself out and trying to pay it all off really quickly, and have given myself the wiggle room to pay a bit less on CC2 if I need to as the 0% doesn't run out until next year.....but we'll see how that mind set goes!!

I'm also toying with doing Payment a Day - and might put the money into my "spare change" account and then transfer that to CC1 as an additional payment. 

I know building an emergency fund is important, and I've also been wondering about increasing that payment rather than paying as much off CC2....but I'll see how that goes. 

Thinking about getting up but my cat is curled up fast asleep at the side of me and I really don't want to disturb him, so I might have to stay in bed a bit longer!

jwil

Happy new year!

You could always reduce your payment to CC2 and then add the extra to your EF until you reach £1000, then go back to upping the CC2 payment.

Good luck with it.  I recommend Padding, it's surprising how it adds up.

MFWannabe

Personally I’d pay £100 per month off cc2 and put more in savings 
£100 per month clears it in the timeframe anyway 🤷‍♀️ 

Doris17

Build an emergency fund, if anything happens it there to pay of the debt.