2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Welcome to the all new 2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Challenge yourself to live a frugal lifestyle so you can afford the freedom to enjoy life. This is about household budgeting, simply living and being creative with your money. Frugality can be a fabulous lifestyle choice for debtbusting, boosting savings or investing in your own happiness.

This is an adaptation of the original NYK 'Living on £4,000 for a Year' challenge. It has been running here on MSE since 2007. We have seen many changes over the years, none so much as affected us all throughout 2020/21 and the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by Brexit and then 'the cost of living crisis'. There could be even more people from all walks of life now finding themselves needing to learn traditional methods of moneysaving, debt-busting and budgeting - a penny saved is a penny earned and each is as important as the other. Frugal living, for some, is the only lifestyle available.

It's time to start thinking ahead into the new year and how we are going to organise our frugal lifestyles, be it to tackle debts, generate extra income or squirrel away some savings. Please take the time to read this post in full and if you have any questions, feel free to message me or ask in the forum.

Your budget is personal to you, it should fit with your personal financial situation. Some of you have already achieved debt freedom and now follow frugal lifestyles for the love of it. Others are still tackling debts and frugal living in an attempt to reach their debt-free and/or mortgage-free day. Whichever stage you are at, feel free to join us and share your progress.

The following links will take you to previous MSE versions of our challenges:

The 2024 Challenge - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6493242/2024-frugal-living-challenge/

The 2023 Challenge -https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6409294/2023-frugal-living-challenge/ 

The 2022 Challenge 
The 2021 Challenge
The 2020 Challenge
The 2019 Challenge
The 2018 Challenge
The 2017 Challenge
The 2016 Challenge
The 2015 Challenge
The 2014 Challenge
The 2013 Challenge
The 2012 Challenge
Part 1 - January to March 2011
Part 2 - April to June 2011
Part 3 - July to December 2011
Introduction to the 2010 Challenge
Part 1 - January to March 2010
Part 2 - April to June 2010
Part 3 - July to September 2010
Part 4 - October to December 2010
Part 1 - January to March 2009
Part 2 - April to June 2009
Part 3 - July to September 2009
Part 4 - October to December 2009
Part 1 - January to March 2008
Part 2 - April to June 2008
Part 3 - July to September 2008
Part 4 - October to December 2008
How it all began - Saving to buy a house without a mortgage 2007 Challenge
The original interest beater challenge
The original £1000 in 100 days challenge
The original free hobbies thread

IMPORTANT - Please respect others' lifestyles and beliefs. We are not here to judge, we are here to support. Thank you

This challenge is about living a frugal, sustainable lifestyle - establishing the true cost of living, sticking to a budget, clearing debts and making savings wherever and however possible to enable you to live the life you really want. Frugal living isn't for everyone, but everyone is welcome to join us.

Methods employed by our merry band of frugalers include: batch cooking, stockpiling, preserving, foraging, mending, shopping in charity shops, reducing, reusing, recycling, Local Exchange Trading Schemes (LETS), Olio app, vegetable and fruit growing, allotments, keeping hens, using cash back sites and earning whatever it takes to become self sufficient in managing the cost of living without incurring debt.

For some, it is initially about clearing debt while for others it is about increasing savings, buying property, becoming stay at home parents or paying off the mortgage. Some choose the lifestyle on ethical grounds. Above all, this is a fun, fairly traditional and supportive way to manage your budget so you have control of your own cost of living.

It's about NEEDS and not WANTS.

Living on a budget = living within our means
Frugal = thrifty, living without waste

Ideas to help you achieve and/or maintain debt free living

Recognise the differences between needs and wants
Spend within your means
Set a proper budget
Quit expensive bad habits
Houseshare
Get a lodger
Shop via cash-back sites and always price compare
Buy reduced items in stores only if you need them
Stockpile & bulk buy only those bargains that you use
Batch cooking
Make the most of charity shops
Join freebie or waste awareness and recycling associations
LETS trading - become active members of trading & exchange groups
Bartering
Grow your own herbs, fruit & veg
Preserving & winemaking
Breadmaking & home baking
Card & gift making
Order splitting/sharing for better discounts & reduced delivery costs
Landsharing, allotments & frugal garden systems
Food sharing
Online trading - auctions, stores, social media pages etc, etc, etc...

Monitoring and revising your budget is part of a good frugal living plan.

If you haven’t already done so, join the MSE forums to share and compare your frugal lifestyle hints, tips and achievements among like-minded friends and supporters.

GOOD LUCK IN 2025

Frugaldom

Thank you for joining us in our challenge

My Frugal Living Budget for 2025

Groceries - £1,200

Heat & light - £1,200

TV licence - £159

Mobiles, landline & internet - £700

Insurances - £400

Clothing & Footwear - £50

Car costs - £1,200

Everything else - £300

Total - £5,209 

(£99.89 per week or £434 per month)

Council Tax of £1,234  is non-negotiable so there are no savings to be made there. This amount may also rise as it's based on 2024 figures. We don't have rent, mortgage or debts to pay, thanks to years of frugal living. The car is a luxury I can't do without as we are in a rural location with no public transport. The above is my frugal living household budget but it does include some business-related (and tax deductable) expenses such as mobile internet, as I spend so much time working outdoors and off-grid. The budget will be juggled accordingly to allow for unexpected expenses.

Things I do to help cut costs:

Needs not wants

Make do and mend

Reduce, reuse, recycle, upcycle

Collect firewood

Olio

Grow fruit, veg & herbs

Swap and barter

Only drive when it's necessary

Socialise with friends at Frugaldom, mostly outdoors

No shopping trips

Online shopping via cashback sites

Pay using a cashback credit card

Play the free postcode lottery

Savings get put into Premium Bonds, 'just in case'

Use portable solar whenever possible for usb lights, phone charging and laptop

Harvest rainwater (not difficult in Scotland)

Composting (I've also got a wormery)

Log burner for heat - make paper and cardboard sticks for kindling

Fleeces and hot water bottles - if the logburner is lit then water for bottles gets warmed

No takeaways or fastfood

Love homemade soup

Only make what costs less than buying or it's false economy

Quit smoking (years ago - challenge is recorded somewhere)

Daily exercise to try and keep relatively fit and healthy

Make the most of offers, cashback and money off coupons only when they are needed

slm6002

Will be joining in and getting some ideas from you all

mama67

Thanks for setting this up again 

Betharooni

Hi all

Im joining in for 2025 and will try to be more active on the thread. I’ve had a massive change of circumstances this year with my Mum, who I lived with, passing away in August. My eldest brother and I are therefore having to take a mortgage on to pay my other two brothers their portion of the estate (house was owned without mortgage by my Mum). Therefore I’m planning to have a massive focus on frugality, reducing spending on my wants, making things to use up Mum’s extensive craft stash, massively decluttering the house, improving my cooking skills and generally getting used to running the household. I have been working on my budget for the year and have a spreadsheet set up to track my spending.

TracyS66

Looking forward to the 2025 thread, always full of good advise and information ❤

amber03

Hoping 2025 is better then 2024, aiming to cut down on unnecessary spending this next year.

nannygladys

I'll be in again, I can't really set an overall budget as costs seem to be going up on everything and I really want to get my front room finished, I already have the paint etc but I also need to save for a carpet, better curtains, a settee and chair! My carpet has holes appearing and now I have a old few rugs covering them up, I need to move forward, so perhaps more miserly than frugal for a few months!!

dND

Thank you @Frugaldom and please count me in. 
This year I will really have to reign in spending as everything I have has been spent on necessary renovations this year.  I still have to get a grip on how expensive everything is here compared to France and as a basic state pensioner, money will be tight and there is still so much to do on the house and garden.
But I'm up for a challenge. 😁

fionaandphil

Thanks @Frugaldom. As well as keeping an eye on spending this year I'm hoping to grow more of our own vegetables. I also need to have a good declutter and sell some of excess 'things'. Looking forward to keeping up with everyone's efforts and ideas.

Dizzycap

A Very BIG Thank you @Frugaldom and please count me in for 2025

My challenge this year is going to be 'A No Spend year' - This means I have budgeted for all the absolute essentials, allowing a 10% disgretionary with emergency funds available for anything major. Aside from that, having already had a huge house declutter and selling 10.5 extra large black sacks full of unnecessary items during November and early December this year. I'm now aiming to fully declutter my 2 large wardrobes, so I starting listing again, thinking it would be slower after Christmas. However, I've already completed one of my crazy impost large shopping trolly night runs and on Christmas evening, no less, complete with an inpost collection this morning Hopefully I will be saying goodbye to a 2nd wardrobe and a warm welcomed hello to yet more space in the house, sooner rather than later

Wishing everyone well with their 2025 frugaling goals xxx Toodle-pip for now frugalites xxxx