2026 Frugal Living Challenge

PipneyJane

Jojo77_2 said:

Just popping on to say hello & have caught up with everyone's posts. I'm struggling for time at the moment as works full on but managing to gave plenty of no spend days & still eating through cupboards.  Looks like ill be leaving my job around the end of Feb so will have to survive on my husbands pension for a while , but at least I have some time to catch up & also apply more of the frugal living ideas from this thread, but it is causing me some anxiety about how we will cope. 

Hi @Jojo77_2 and welcome. Are you retiring or will you be “between jobs”?  Either way, have you done a budget and does your DH’s pension cover all the essentials? Doing a budget may be scary, but it will provide you with some clarity about your expenses and give you an idea about where you can trim/what needs to be trimmed.  You may even feel like a load has been lifted from your shoulders.

- Pip

Gem-gem

Cat fact of the day:
A cat’s grooming process stimulates blood flow to his skin, regulates his body temperature and helps him relax.
NSD
Finished the week with two more NSD. 

Last night, cooked dinner for DM, DH and aunt at my DM. Also did one load of washing whilst there. (Fuel is covered in the cost of her apartment, so no extra cost for her. Plus replacement of white goods is also included).
Today, we had left overs from last night. We will have more leftovers tomorrow. 

Jojo77_2

PipneyJane said:

Jojo77_2 said:

Just popping on to say hello & have caught up with everyone's posts. I'm struggling for time at the moment as works full on but managing to gave plenty of no spend days & still eating through cupboards.  Looks like ill be leaving my job around the end of Feb so will have to survive on my husbands pension for a while , but at least I have some time to catch up & also apply more of the frugal living ideas from this thread, but it is causing me some anxiety about how we will cope. 

Hi @Jojo77_2 and welcome. Are you retiring or will you be “between jobs”?  Either way, have you done a budget and does your DH’s pension cover all the essentials? Doing a budget may be scary, but it will provide you with some clarity about your expenses and give you an idea about where you can trim/what needs to be trimmed.  You may even feel like a load has been lifted from your shoulders.

- Pip

I've got ME/Chronic fatigue & several autoimmune conditions and I'm finding they are getting worse as I get older & full time work is too much now, ive downsized my role & dropped to 4 days last year which helped but im still struggling so going to have a break & try to work out my baseline. I will have to look for something else at some point but planning 6 months to a year off & then looking for something part time & local. Im very old school as I keep a kitchen table planner - it has all our monthly bills in it & then a weekly budget for food & anything else. I track everything & have done for yesrs, but there are lots of areas we will have to change to "cut our cloth" but it's should be achievable.

Thats why I like this thread as for md it's about budgeting to have freedom & peace of mind as im sure Chronic work stress for last 15 years is what has made me ill. 

Sausageroll14

Hello everyone 🤗 long term lurker. Clambering back on the frugal wagon.

Back to eating out of the freezer and so far so good. Turkey pie actually sounds vaguely tempting now. 

Managed to half an online bulk order by actually checking my stores ... Shocker I know 😂

Now to sort this home insurance out! 

fionaandphil

@Sausageroll14 good luck with the frugalling and well done on reducing that order. MBNA and Halifax came up cheapest for me on comparison sites and also offer monthly payments interest free if that helps.  I normally pay upfront but decided that I could pay monthly and make some interest on that money.

RavenRover

Been on hols at home the past week and have had a ball.  I have had a crafty retreat from the comfort of my own home using craft kits that I have never got round to using.  Unfortunately I can't put photos up,  but I finished a Powertex canvas with an Ai generated photo of my dog in steampunk form, made up 3 lego sets I had been gifted, did some button art -not so sure of the results - made some button and bead based jewellery and some polymer clay pieces too.

On the Olio front haven't kept too much as I know how full the freezers are, but did manage to get a lamb fillet which was originally £8! Made a lovely Irish style stew.  I did have around 40 packs of various posh cheeses, which went like snow off a dyke!

mumtoomany

Hi, @PipneyJane, thanks for that. Was in Tesco yesterday, didn't even look for dried beans. They have revamped the whole store, can't find a thing! Did manage to get some sardines though. First time I've seen them in months. 

Will add up the spends later, hugs, mumtoomany.xx 

Gem-gem

Good afternoon, 
Managed to pick up some ys from Asd@. 2 lots of chicken, 1 lot of 5% mince, 3 lots of 1 pint of whole milk, 1 pack of noodles and some sandwich filler. Saved over £7 on the full price. 

Was pleased with myself, went to Bluew@ter to pick up my watch, I came out without buying anything. So another NSD for me. (Paid for the watch battery in November).

Sausageroll14

How wild is the home insurance market at the moment. Absolutely no changes to our circumstances and an additional year of being claim free and the most competitive quote I could get was £50 more expensive! 

Moan over..... 😜😜😜

Van_Girl

Sausageroll14 said:

How wild is the home insurance market at the moment. Absolutely no changes to our circumstances and an additional year of being claim free and the most competitive quote I could get was £50 more expensive! 

Moan over..... 😜😜😜

I've just paid £70 more, which was the absolute cheapest suitable cover I could find. I had the same issue with van insurance which went up by £100 which is almost 20%. I was expecting a reduction on both. It's honestly ridiculous